Land Rover Sandton Service - ****************

<p>I recently (4 months ago) bought a 4 year old Discovery 4 with 60,000kms on it and it went through a complete check with another Land Rover dealership before purchasing. Booking it in with Land Rover Sandton (Bryanston) the service booking person found the vehicles details, knew exactly when it was last serviced and what was due. I asked how much the standard service would cost, and was told by one of the service managers that it would cost R5,500 unless anything extra was needed. Expensive, but not out of expectations. </p> <p>The day of the service I was called by my service manager - Liberty - to be told that the brake discs need replacing and the control arm is "knocking badly" and also needed replacing on top of the normal service, and the bill was R37,000. Having had a 4x4 with a control arm issue before I know the sound well, and had not heard this on my Discovery. Also having received a clean bill of health 4 months earlier I was surprised to hear this. So I decided that I'd get a second opinion on the control arm and asked Liberty for the cost of just the service + brake discs. R25,000 was the answer! Amazed that brake discs could take me from R5k to R25K I asked Liberty to brake down the quote showing the standard service and the brake discs. The quote for the standard service was R16,000! This was R11,000 more than was quoted me on the phone. </p> <p>I naturally kicked up a fuss about this and eventually someone more senior said no problem, they'd do the service for the R5,500 that was promised. Just like that from R5,500 to R16,000 and back again! I wonder how many people don't ask for a cost upfront and get fleeced with exorbitant service costs and added replacelements that may or may not be needed. </p> <p>Needless to say I don't trust Land Rover Sandton as far as I could throw my Discovery and will avoid them like the plague! Time to find a good trustworthy independent Land Rover service shop. </p>