99alta

On Oct. 11 I signed a deal for a new AWD GS350. They didn't have the car I wanted in stock so they had to bring it in from another dealer that is about 600 miles away. Then install a remote starter and Xpel protection.

I asked the salesman to keep me abreast of status via text as my life is hectic these days. Oh, sure I'll keep you informed was his response in front of the sales manger.

Well here it is the 25th and not a single call/text from the guy
I've texted him a few times and he chooses to ignore me. Finally I phoned to see if he's still alive and he tells me they are arranging transport. Again I ask please text me on progress as I live out of town, need to arrange my time for pickup as well as transfer some investments around so I can get the certified cheque you want. It wasn't good enough for them to put a hold on my Amex card for the outstanding balance until my cheque clears.

So the car was to arrive at the dealership today and still no text either way,I'm starting to get upset with the lack of communication and common courtesy !!

Am I asking too much of a luxury car dealership?

Kayman

You have every right. Call the owner. If you don't get some comps for service or parts because of the miscommunication I would cancel the order. Another dealership will be happy to provide better communication and service.

FastTags

I had a very similar situation. Same as you It was a dealer trade, I've waited over 2 weeks, for the time being I was given a loaner es350( i sold my car and they processed the dicumets, so i was going to be without a ride).
The salemab was not very informative but once the car arrived he called me .

FYI remote start is a complete crap. I had mibe installed by the dealer too and I regret. I never use it as it never works. $500 out the window

99alta

Well I just called the sales manager and told him I figure I made a mistake in buying from their dealership and wanted out of the contract.
I had put $5000 down ( which was stupid), and he was willing to refund my deposit and let me out of the deal. He asked for a second chance and gave me his personal cell # and promised to respond to communications. Also offered to deliver the car 90 miles away, etc. We had a good chat, he apologized for the poor service was very congenial even in the face of losing the deal. So I said fine lets get it done.

5 minutes later I get a text from him, he had called the trucking outfit and said it would arrive late tonight or tomorrow morning, ready for a Tuesday pickup and would text me Monday to ensure everything was on track. So now I'm excited again

As for the remote start, the dealership was good enough to tell me the Lexus unit was not advised (nice way of saying crap). So they are installing a Compstar Pro 901, which an excellent unit, but pricey. When it's 30 or 40 below zero a remote start is almost a MUST have.

jvinhj240

That's not even ask for too much, they didn't do their job especially with Lexus dealership. Now, I would ask for free remote start now that's I would call that EVEN.

ItzFilyO

I've done the same thing with a Toyota dealer for my Camry 3 yrs ago. I agreed on the price and asked the salesman to keep me posted cause they had to dealer trade the car as well. I had to wait for a few days and kept texting my salesman about it but this guy was nice and know that I'm not one who likes to wait and he kept me posted every day and even sent me pics of the car as soon as it rolled into the dealership still unprepped. He sent me pics of every angle of the car, inside and out. He even parked it on the photoshoot booth when I picked it up.

So I guess it depends on the guy if he likes to keep his customers happy or not.

SW17LS

The only issue to me is the request to be texted by the salesman. You can't text from an office line, and I really don't blame the guy if he doesn't want to use his personal cell phone for work business. He should have called you or emailed you though...

Afrosheen

Unless it's a 2015 you can't even get the "good" remote start on the GS. The good one is RES+ which has a cell connection in the car and you can operate things remotely via a smartphone app. Us poor 2013 and 2014 owners don't even get to dream of this.

Of all the excellent things on my 2013 GS F Sport, that's one thing that chapped my hide. To think they just kinda forgot about trying to implement it on the GS but it's on the IS and all over the place on other models that are cheaper.

FastTags

One of the reasons why sometimes it takes linger to get the dealer trade happend, is sometimes the dealers wait till they get 5-6 cars traded from that dealer so they could save on the transportation.

SW17LS

I have a very similar system to the new RES+ on our Jeep, Smartphone app and you can do all that stuff from great distance over your cell connection. We aren't missing much. It takes time for the signal to get to the car, and just in reality I don't find much utility over a normal remote start.

NoDak

you could have looked into the drone mobile system from compustar, its comparable to the RES+.

the RES+/Drone mobile is best for long distance building remote start. its not for locking/unlocking as the time delay/lag is was too long.

being inside a metal building and 1200 ft from the vehicle, the normal compustar remote start fobs never reach for me.

praetor

The please advise me by text thing is a tad silly. My GS was special order as well and my salesman kept be abreast via email. He was very polite and courteous. It took about a month before the car arrived.

We had one issue where they didn't accept my personal check as I didn't have enough credit history. I buy cars once every 10+ years and most I had financed was $10K way back when. I had to get a certified check which I was OK with but it was kind of rude for the manager to call my bank in front of me to verify the check. But oh well.

jj14

While that is true, it would have been a good idea to let the customer know that text was not possible - instead of agreeing to customer's request and letting the customer down after that.

caha14

Exactly! Who cares whether we are talking text, email, phone call, telegraph or smoke signals! The point is that the sales person agreed to keep the OP posted and failed.

I don't think the OP is being unreasonable, and I also wish I could say I am surprised... Unfortunately, I have been rather unimpressed with many Lexus sales people these days; many behave as if they don't need your business and are doing you a favor.

FWIW, though, most sales people these days have dealer-issued phones. Also, most have iPhones, and iMessages are free, so let's not lose sight of the real issue here.

SW17LS

I agree 100%