Since last year, about 300 owners of Land Rover Discovery 4 throughout China have sued this carmaker for its false advertising. Among them, Mrs.Gao’s cases was the first to enter into court session.
Mrs.Gao paid 850,000 rmb for her Land Rover in 2014, but then found out many accessories listed in the user’s manual were actually uninstalled. Mrs.Gao sued the sales company where she brought her car as well as Land Rover, claiming a compensation of 2.62 million rmb, which is three times the purchasing price. Shunyi District Court held a hearing about this case in the afternoon of the day before yesterday.
Mrs.Gao said many accessories listed in the user manual of Land Rover were actually uninstalled or replaced. To be more specific, the Center Differential Locker and seat lateral fastening function was uninstalled, Meridian audio system was replaced by a Harman/Kardon product, the Rear View Camera System was not original but a replace one made in China, and the sales company charged consumers 14,000 rmb for an only 5000 rmb pedal. Mrs.Gao believed the sales company and Land Rover had constituted a consumer fraud for these behaviors.
Both of the accused pled not guilty. The agent representing the sales company justified Mrs.Gao hadn’t asked for any information about car’s configuration nor brochure while the agent representing Land Rover said the carmaker had already reminded the consumer highlighted in Bold in the brochure that this brochure was an international version and should not been seen as a guarantee or warranty to the car.
To be noted, Land Rover once admitted the car was missing the center differential locker and seat lateral fastening function described in the brochurelast year on its official website, but explained this situation as a “printing error” in the brochure.
