Land Rover Repair: LR 2 A/C, ac compressor, customer relations

Question
Hi John, I have a 2008 LR 2 that i bought in July '07. A few months after i had it i noticed what sounded to me as a 'barking dog" noise every time i ran the a/c. I took it up to Landrover and they said they could not replicate the noise?? I brought it up 2 weeks later and made one of the service guys ride with me who heard it quickly. He said that should not occur and mentioned possible causes (which of course went right over my head as i know nothing about cars). They put a part in it and sent me on my way. Well, i heard the noise again the next day; brought it BACK up and was told that this is normal and that i am hearing air flow???? Now, out of warranty and 2.5 yrs later my compressor is gone. A friend of mine is a mechanic said i should NEVER hear a noise coming fro my A/C like this. I called Landrover and explained all of this and I took my car up and they are looking into it. Do i have reason to believe the "barking dog" should have been resolved thus avoiding the failed compressor?

Thanks, Andra

Answer
I have no idea if the original "barking dog" noise was related to the subsequent failure of the AC compressor.  In any case, this is really matter for you to bring to the attention of Land Rover customer relations.  LR has a budget for addressing unusual failures out of warranty, and as an original owner you should be eligible for consideration.  I can't say what they will do but that should be your next step.  Call the 800 number and talk to them, and ask them to send a rep to your dealer to talk over the problem.

The other thing I suggest is that you should get the LR Assured extended warranty on the vehicle . . . the dealer should have offered that to you and this would be a non-issue if you had it.

Best of luck with this
John Elder Robison

Check out my car blog at http://robisonservice.blogspot.com and my regular website at www.robisonservice.com