lexusk8

I feel that this month of December is not a great one for my ES. It started about a week and a half ago when the 'BRAKE' warning light was triggered on and off intermittently, especially during cold morning drives. Turned out that the brake fluid was getting a bit on the dark side and near the low level, so I had to fork over $100 at a tire/service shop to get the fluid bled, flushed and refilled. No more warning light. Fine, let's move on..

For a while, I noticed that my passenger rear tire (Bridgestone Turanza LS-H) had been losing pressure at a faster rate than the other tires. When I brought the car into Firestone for a quick inspection, the mechanic pointed out to me that there is a nail punctured near the back sidewall section of the tire. No wonder I couldn't notice it from the ground level. Unfortunately, the location of the nail is in the non-repairable zone of the tire, so the only choice is to have the tire replaced. I bought road hazard with the tires 6 months ago, but Firestone wouldn't be able to do it since I had the install done at a Midas (when I lived in CT). So I went over to the nearby Midas and inquired about using the road hazard to get the tire replaced at no charge. This particular Midas shop never sold a road hazard program, even though I was under the impression that my purchased road hazard should be utilized at all Midas shops nationwide. So I called up Midas Corporate and filed in a complaint for that particular Midas shop in not granting my road hazard. You can probably tell where this is going...

A few hours later, I received a call from the Midas shop, saying that they had discussed with corporate, and plan to resolve the issue by giving me a free tire replacement for the punctured tire, but I had to be responsible for mounting and balancing services, which came out to $40 including tax. I said fine, I'll take my ES over there, get the tire replaced, and be out of there lickety-split. Right? Wrong! After I paid and got the car delivered back to me, I noticed on the brand new tire that part of the wheel lock lug nut was broken. The wheel lock key still fits in the nut, only about 1/4" of the face was broken. I motioned for the service manager and the technician to come over and take a look at the problem. They of course claimed that they had never seen something like this (at that point I knew they were covering up the blame). The manager told me that he has already felt the sting after being forced to sell a new Bridgestone tire to me at no charge when he was not supposed to by the Midas shop owner. It was obvious at that point that we were both at the peak of having a bad day that day, so I parted ways from the shop and filed another complaint to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) for the poor workmanship of that Midas shop. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime I'm going to have dump another $50 (again) for a wheel lock set

On top of that, this afternoon after I finished skateboarding at a skatepark, when I came back home, I noticed a fresh dent and paint scrape on the passenger front fender on my ES. I just had that fender replaced and painted after an accident back in March, and now it has a horrible looking dent! AARRGGHHH!!! Unfortunately I was already home, so I couldn't find out if the car parked next to me at the skatepark was the culprit. Still, I don't understand why people can't be more careful of other people's property when parking..

At this point, I really feel like I want to find a hole I can crawl into and forget all the bad things happening to my ES. Life is just not fair..

lexsterES

Man lexusk8, I feel your pain. Trouble always seems to show up at bad times and for some reason all at once. Keep your chin up bro, "mama said there’ll be days like this" just hang in there buddy! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!!

badgis

I am so sorry to hear about your "curse." I too was a victim of the curse last year. Someone ran into my 2003 Diamante last thanksgiving on the way to my parents house for a visit. The damage was to the back bumper, brake lights, and the trunk. I took the car in to get it repaired, and three weeks later got the call that it was ready. When i picked the car up i noticed that the front grill was cracked and that the car was damaged on the side, where they used the lift to raise the car. After complaining to the body shop, they agreed to fix the damage. One week later i picked the car up and stopped to fill up the tank on the way home. After paying for the gas and buying a soda i walked back out to my car to find that someone backed into the side of the car , hit the car on the passenger side front while i was in paying. Did anyone wait to take responsibility? No. I then had to file a claim on my own insurance and bring it in for repairs again.


This year a thanksgiving rolled around i decided to get my ES that i have been wanting to get for several years. I traded in the Diamante and hope to never have the "curse" again.


Scott