advice on complaint

[JoeBloggs]

hi all, want advice on how to complain, maybe someone has been in a similar issue.

 

I ordered a vehicle from Land Rover through Lex Autolease.

 

Ordered in April from July Delivery 12 weeks.

 

Went through all the usual stuff, ID checking, proof of address, credit check (my a mark on my credit file), jumped through all the paper work as you would expect and they set up a direct debit on my bank.

 

The date got pushed back to Aug, then Sept, now I've been told its cancelled.

 

That's pretty much it, no alternative options, just sorry its cancelled.

 

It's all to do with the semi conductor shortage, but this has been going on for some time, surely they shouldn't accept orders they can't knowingly fulfil?

 

Anyway, looking at ways to complain as I am really annoyed and frustrated, had to keep extending my current lease, and I could be in a new car now if not wasted my time with these!

 

Any help appreciated.

Edited July 27, 2021 by JoeBloggs

[bald_pig]

What do you expect to get out of the complaint? You've tried to order a car during a time where there are issues with production, they appear to have given you timely notice of the delays, and the cancellation looks to be before the original delivery date?

 

You say they can't knowingly fulfil, but it will be Land Rover that's supplying that data, not the leasing firm? If Land Rover tells the leasing firm they can have a car in 12 weeks, then change their minds, that's nothing to do with the leasing firm.

 

Don't forget, the leasing firm will be losing out as they will have paid out for all the checks etc.

 

I'd suggest asking if they have any alternatives, but beyond that I wouldn't expect much else.

[JoeBloggs]

The lease company is: Lex Autolease Limited trading as Land Rover Contract Hire

 

I've tried ordering a car whilst they have production issues, but I wasn't aware of this at the time. They were aware of the production issues, so why accept the order? Car was due 1st July.

 

I've basically waited 14/15 weeks for nothing. By changing the delivery date several times recently, they've given me false hope that the car would arrive.

 

EDIT: I don't want to bash the leasing company, its more directed at LandRover for accepting orders they can't build!

Edited July 27, 2021 by JoeBloggs

[hardtailstar]

The lease company is: Lex Autolease Limited trading as Land Rover Contract Hire

 

I've tried ordering a car whilst they have production issues, but I wasn't aware of this at the time. They were aware of the production issues, so why accept the order? Car was due 1st July.

 

I've basically waited 14/15 weeks for nothing. By changing the delivery date several times recently, they've given me false hope that the car would arrive.

 

EDIT: I don't want to bash the leasing company, its more directed at LandRover for accepting orders they can't build!

 

They may have been able to fufil the order at the time.

 

I ordered my car through Ford and was told of issues but they managed to provide a car.

[Theblacksheep]

It's not just your car, Land Rover has lost 100m because of it.

 

Chip companies are slow to start back up and have huge demand. Toyota reworked their JIT model to help compensate for chip shortage, Tesla rewrote their firmware to support other chips and companies that rely on 3rd parties suffered the most. This problem isn't going away.

 

Annoying as it is, you've not lost anything and a contract has not been broken.

[jmak]

I'd push for some kind of deal on inventory stock - not sure what model it was that you're after, but whatever car you want at the minute you're likely to have to make compromises on spec. Unfortunately for you, it's definitely a seller's market at the minute as manufacturers can't meet demand.

[ZeroHour]

I think the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is the body who you would complain with but its massively backlogged and I dont know if they would do anything tbh.

One thing I would do is try and get them to remove the hard search on your credit file if possible or at least ensure its marked as a closed account as it may affect getting a new lease deal later.

[elsiegee40]

All the car companies are struggling to supply due to the chip shortage and covid.

 

We were told our new Volvo would be delayed by up to 6 weeks… but somehow we got bumped onto a newer spec vehicle than the one we’d ordered and it was delivered just 2 weeks later than anticipated.

 

Just after we took delivery, Volvo announced it isn’t accepting any new orders and any outstanding orders were cancelled. We were lucky.

 

I don’t think you will get anywhere with challenging the cancellation. They literally don’t have the parts to make the cars and they couldn’t have anticipated at the time how desperate it was going to get.

 

This factory in China literally makes all the chips. There is nowhere else to pick up the slack. Until either they rebuild or other manufacturers tool up there is nothing to make cars or any other device with.

[Edu-IT]

What is the actual reason for the shortage?

[elsiegee40]

What is the actual reason for the shortage?

 

The one and only chip factory burned to the ground. There is no alternative manufacturer.

[Anonymous2000]

Talk about first world problems!

[PotNoodleTech]

Just do what I do buy a 20 yr old car for £3k pay for it there and then and get delivery/drive away on the same day, and no having to waste £400 a month for the next 36 months to lease a car you don't own?

 

I'd say you had a lucky escape actually!

[HPlum78]

Can you tell me what vehicle you ordered? I know a thing or two about LR, I owen a Defender and Disco @ the min but have owned almost all of them throughout my time.... My guess is that you ordered a Disco Sport?

[HPlum78]

Oh and while on picking up a cheap car LR have been having issues with balancer shafts on the Ingenium engines (they have a handle on it now) but you can pick up cars with this issue that have only done 500 miles for virtually no money at all, as long as you are prepared for doing a body off they can be repaired and the latest release (as there has now been a few) do actually fix the issue. Edited July 29, 2021 by HPlum78