Lexus Service = worse than you might think

AlBoston · 10-31-03, 06:16

Took my car in for a rattling passenger seat and to get new tires installed... seems simple enough right? WRONG! First off, they had the car for the weekend and two business days, way too long to do that. Then they changed the tires and knicked one of the rims, I also had noticed that one of my centercaps was changed to the wrong style (silver instead of chrome). Now to the seat, i specifically told them passenger seat and i could hear it with no one sitting in it. He said they took apart the DRIVERS seat and tightened all the bolts, didn't touch the passenger seat

. Took the car home, and the drivers seats started shifting around in its tracks!!! The service manager apologized several times and said he would order the new parts and "make it right". I said ok, I'll give them another chance. They order me the new center cap and it took 2 tries to get the correct style center cap to match the rest of my wheels.

So, I take the car in again this past friday. Tell them fix both seats, change my centercap, and fix a squeaky window. The guy tells me it will be done tommorow, then calls me tommorow (saturday) and says he will have parts in tuesday and to keep the loaner. Tuesday rolls around, no phone call. I tried calling Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, no answer/busy. OK, I am getting kind of annoyed at this point. Finally he is in the office wednesday, says he order the wrong parts and that he doesn't know what is rattling in the passenger seat and he is gonna guess and just change the whole seat (can we say lousy techs?). He calls thursday and says he fixed the drivers seat but the passenger seat is on back order for 2 weeks and that I can pick up the car. I go to the dealer to pick up the car, they washed it and put gobs o tire dressing on my brand new tires

, they cut the plastic and completely scratched my door sill all the way through the paint to the metal, greasey spots all over the interior, and the plastic trim around the drivers seat was cracked in half!!!! I was rip s**t. I showed the manager right away the damage they had done. He apologized several times and said he would fix it next friday Nov 7th. I told him I don't want the passenger seat done in fear of what they will screw up next. I am so bummed with this lousy Lexus service. I am going to raise my concerns with the general manager of the dealer and lexus corporate. I cannot believe that this is supposed to be the pinnacle of service/car care in the industry

. I really hope the tech that scratched the car gets disciplined. BTW the Dealer is Lexus of Norwood in East Walpole, MA. Do not take your car there for service.

blkZ28Conv · 10-31-03, 07:08

Ali,
my Lexus dealership in Greensboro (Flow Lexus) would be a little to far to have your service done. Excellent dealership.

Have you tried Lexus of Watertown? They are the oldest Lexus dealership in the Greater Boston area.

BK1 · 10-31-03, 07:10

That doesn't sound right for a Lexus dealership. I swear dealerships hire people who don't care about customer service anymore. I had my Dodge in for an oil change and when I got back in the car there were oil spots all over the leather on the passenger seat from the techs hands. I immediately went back in and complained and wound up getting a free detail (the entire works) free of charge.

I agree, I would follow up with Lexus corporate.

Good Luck

AlBoston · 10-31-03, 07:18

Quote:

Originally posted by blkZ28Conv
Ali,
my Lexus dealership in Greensboro (Flow Lexus) would be a little to far to have your service done. Excellent dealership.

Have you tried Lexus of Watertown? They are the oldest Lexus dealership in the Greater Boston area.

I do believe I will start going there. They are the closest to me anyway (in boston). I only went to norwood because that is where I bought my vehicle.

Frankie · 10-31-03, 10:05

wow why would you even go to a lexus dealer i have several lexus's and NEVER go to the dealer, its not like there mechanics are special or something plus there rates are overcharging you. bring it locally a lexus isnt a ferrari that needs special dealer service, i wouldnt take ANY car i own to the dealer there always known for screwing you the worst and have the highest prices. find a reputable shop they can fix it

blkZ28Conv · 10-31-03, 10:40

Ali, correct me if I am wrong.
Ali's car is still under warranty. I personally only let a good dealership of the make that needs warranty do my repairs. Afterwards it depends on what work is necessary. I travel 30 miles to have work done on the Z28 because they are excellent in quality, honesty and customer service.
In my book - warranty = dealership.

BradE · 10-31-03, 10:40

I believe Ali's car is under warranty, which is why he goes to the dealer.

AlBoston · 10-31-03, 11:43

Thank you Brad and Edwin. Yes my vehicle is still under the new car warranty, this is why i take it to the dealership.

GoodnClean · 10-31-03, 01:22

DO report the dealership to Lexus corporate.

Like any other private business, every car dealership is different. Yeah Lexus dealers are generally great, but there are always some that just dont measure up. We have one here that is terrible, but we also have 4 great ones...

Ask the dealer that blk said is a little far from you if they'd pickup and dropoff the car? Some will even do this on a flatbed if you dont want them driving it.

PhilStatic · 10-31-03, 02:24

That so reminds me of the Lexus dealership I used to work for. I can remember one of the techs always wore these huge beltbuckles he was a bit of a hillbilly, anyway while working on a car he decided to do it without putting anything over the fenders and his beltbuckle scratched the hell out of the car. After he was finished he let the porters try and cover them up with some rubbing compound which didnt work. Sadly it must've slipped past becouse I didnt see it come back.

Aurora40 · 10-31-03, 03:02

Quote:

Originally posted by BK1
I swear dealerships hire people who don't care about customer service anymore.

This is one of the main reasons I can't stand Virginia's Vehicle Inspection program... I don't need some slap-*** messing my car up every year to tell me it's "safe". Other than that, it's always a heavily weighed decision to take a car in... Fortunately the Aurora has been a jewel and only went in for one PCM reprogram recall, but of course it has been in twice for that stupid inspection requirement...

Sorry your service was so horrible AlBoston! That really sucks. Especially that so much of it was not-easily-fixable stuff like the sill scratches and cracked/cut plastic.

swhtech · 11-05-03, 07:56

Al,
If you think that service is bad....I just heard that a technician at Lexus of Norwood was pulling a car around the front of the dealership for the customer....he went to back it up for the customer, and backed right into a glass window of the dealership......glass everywhere, huge damage to the car (LS430), etc!!
My friends father was there and witnessed this! And to top it off, Herb Chambers himself was there, and went crazy when he saw what happened! I'm sure that tech was fired on the spot!!