‘This time it caused an HGV behind me on the M25 to swerve to avoid colliding with me’

After two months the dealership called and insisted there was nothing wrong with it. However as a “goodwill gesture” it agreed to fix the windscreen wiper.

I took the car in and received a call in the middle of a significant religious festival, which I did not pick up.

When I checked my messages that evening I saw the dealership had emailed earlier that day stating that unless I collected the car immediately it would start charging storage fees. I felt this was in extremely poor taste, given how useless they had been.

And to add insult to injury, when I collected the vehicle, I noticed several scratches and some damage to the paint work which had not been there previously. Several days later, while driving on the M25 the vehicle once again went into restricted performance mode. This time it caused an HGV behind me to swerve to avoid colliding with me. I thought I was going to be killed.

The incident has left me fearful of driving, especially on the motorway. Once again, I took the car back to the dealer and I was told there was nothing wrong with it, despite me supplying photographs of the dashboard indicating the restricted performance issue each time it happened. I felt I was being fobbed off and disbelieved.

Finally I managed to talk to a manager. I said I was not prepared to collect the car until it had been properly examined by a competent authority.

The vehicle remains with the dealer and now six months later, I have still not heard from it. Throughout this ordeal I have felt that my safety, concerns, and clear evidence of an issue with the vehicle were dismissed. I find the dealership’s attitude both condescending and the lack of customer service has been appalling. It seems that once it has taken your money, you are merely an inconvenience.

– JB, London

AFinally, just before you wrote to me, the dealer confirmed that there were serious issues with your car after all. You were told it needed a new engine and turbo unit, and that this was being taken care of. Why it took the dealership this long to come to this conclusion I have no idea, but it certainly seems like you were repeatedly fobbed off and ignored over serious issues, many of which appear to have been there since you bought the vehicle. All of them certainly arose during the warranty period. You say you feel you have spent a year being gaslighted by staff. If this is how this branch of JLR treats its most loyal and long-standing customers, then I dread to think how it treats everyone else.

For you, this offer of remedial action to make the car safe again came way too late, as you had already lost all faith in the integrity of the vehicle and the dealership. The incidents on the motorway have left you extremely uncomfortable and anxious to drive it at all, and I can completely understand why. As a result of this you have decided you want no further relationship with this dealer, or with JLR. You said you never want to see this car again, and you want your finance agreement cancelled.

I said I would see what I could do, and you were elated when I went above the dealership’s head and arranged with JLR’s head office for the remaining £43,000 on your lease to be wiped, and the £4,260 you had paid since July last year to be refunded. Now the financial side of things are settled, JLR needs to conduct a thorough investigation into why you were ever sold this lemon in the first place, and why your consumer rights were unfairly denied for so long, ultimately leading to your safety being put at risk.

A JLR spokesman said: “During JLR’s review of the case, we found that there were times that Mrs B did not receive the high levels of care we hold ourselves accountable to. In recognition of that, and considering Mrs B’s long relationship with our brands, we have collectively arranged to honour her request to return the vehicle. We sincerely apologise to Mrs B for the time it has taken to resolve this.”