CaptSlow

Long time follower of this wonderful forum and just registered.

I bought in my 2006 GS300 to Lexus dealer 2 weeks ago for the engine misfire issue and were told to call corporate 'cuz it's over the 9 yr period for 1 month. Called and told me to bring it back for inspection on the issue. Dealer performed the test and found the misfire, but got a call from dealer that they won't cover it because I missed it by 1 month.

I had explained to the rep that we moved around quite a bit and found out about this not too long ago.

What happened to Lexus's reputation for taking care their customer? Any suggestion how I can appeal this?

2008gs460

I'd suggest you call corporate and complain. They have the diagnosis so they will take it to the "regional parts manager" who will likely look over your case and "deny goodwill". You will say, but, you have a TSB on this issue! They will say, we deny goodwill because its outside of warranty. You will say, come on its a manufacturing defect, they will say, its outside of warranty and we decline goodwill.

Frankly, everything you say will be met with a stern: "Its outside of warranty, we decline goodwill", even if you ask about the horrors of clubbing baby seals. This is exactly what happened to me. BTW, I've bought 3 new lexus in the past.

The point of all of this is don't expect Lexus to step up even if you give them many reasons to. Also The dealer is likely hopeless because they are not going to eat the $5000+ fix you need and will probably blame you for waiting, in their nice parasitic dealer sorta way.

But, hey, maybe someone will step up for you... Keep pestering people, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but, I was really persistant and it didn't make a diff to lexus corp.

I wish you a lot of luck, the Lexus of today is not the Lexus that was trying to knock the German brands off a notch a decade or so ago. They are the germans now.

PS - I believe CaptSlow drives a Ferrari & soon the BMW i3!

CaptSlow

The dealer I took it to is actually pretty cool and really wanted do it right. I thought my car was purchased back in 2006 but their record showed it was in 2005. This is a pretty major issue and common to all owners. To miss it by only 1 month is not the Lexus' way of taking care of their customers. I posted it on their fb page and hopefully they can do something about it.

2008gs460

Well, I wish you the best luck. Would love to hear how it ends up.

BinaryJay

I knew exactly what the in service date of my car was from the online account (which Lexus deemed to get rid of in Canada for reasons unknown, their web site is totally useless now), I managed to squeak the fix in on my car a couple of weeks ago which will turn 9 years old from it's in service date this month.

I know it sucks, but I can understand that they have to draw a line somewhere I guess. Either it's 9 years for everybody or it's 9 years and 3 months for everybody. If you car has any history at all of you bringing it in for complaints about the symptoms that the service is meant to fix in the past then you can try to argue it was obviously an existing condition while still under warranty.

And most cars are actually sold the year prior to the model year so that shouldn't be too big of a surprise.

CaptSlow

From Lexus on FB,

"I apologize after reviewing the last case notes, it has been determined by the District Corporate office that no assistance would be provided. Please be assured that your dissatisfaction has been documented in our records for product improvement consideration."

Who should I contact about getting more info on their decision? How can I approach this?

2008gs460

Boy, do I know how you are feeling right now...

You are in the same bucket as myself. The only information you will get at this point is the following: Lexus will not approve goodwill. You will not be able to speak with the regional manager (who's out in San Ramon, btw) only the Lexus Corp call center.

They no longer consider your problem attached to their TSB/Recall because you are beyond the 9 year timeframe. The best you can try is to go over their heads. I personally went through Mike Groff's office to try to get something, but, really only got "how about $500 of goodwill".

I don't really know what I'd do in your case.

If you are interested in actually getting the problem resolved and you're in the bay area, there are a few independent shops that can do the work for significantly less than Lexus dealers quote. You can also ask whichever dealer diagnosed if they will give you a break and then you will get to see how much they really want to "make it right". Hint: They don't.

Perhaps you should do what I did: Order a Tesla.

CaptSlow

whats above district and how to contact them?

2008gs460

i don't know Toyota's org structure. You could call corporate customer care and just keep asking for escalations. Further you could ask Lexus to get "Dealer Services" to negotiate a deal with the dealership on the fix.

I doubt at this point you will get the fix for free under the TSB.

2008gs460

History of trouble is meaningless. Repairs must be authorized by the "administrator" prior to expiration. No clue who the "administrator" is, but, they are probably pretty busy!

Something has happened at Lexus with respect to goodwill and there has been a change in policies. I'm pretty sure its when they went downmarket with the brand (I'm looking at you ES) and/or the number of expensive engine recall issues over the past few years.

CaptSlow

May I get Mike's office address or his contact info? We moved around quieted a bit 'cuz of work and didn't receive the CSP letter from Lexus due to our address changes. I love my GS and hate to see it go out like this.

Thanks all for the helpful inputs.

BinaryJay

Lexus Canada didn't send any letter of any sort regarding the issue out to anybody. I don't think you really have any case, if you knew there was an issue with the car and chose not to bring it in to them to diagnose it, you're just kind of out of luck.

The way I figure you can't really bash Lexus for not doing a 24 hours labor repair on a car over 9 years old, it's amazing that they covered a repair like this up to that long in the first place. The way I figure it, goodwill is goodwill... if you have a nice neighbor that decides he's going to mow your lawn for you for 3 years you don't go knocking at his door to complain when your grass gets long on the 37th month.

I absolutely do feel like given the circumstances and knowledge of the engineering problem that they probably should have manned up and just decided to do the work on every single 3GR-FSE that is still in service, how many of them could there possibly be with only one model year in north america (I have no idea how many vehicles the engine was used in overseas but I am guessing few there as well). I was lucky to get it done considering that previous cracks they took at the issue simply just reduced/masked the symptoms (especially previously done top engine clean) making it more difficult to diagnose, I barely just squeezed the car misbehaving enough again in before the special warranty expired.

Because, let's face it... 50% of the reason I decided on this car when I bought it what seems like a millennium ago was the fact that it had a Lexus logo and I have had nothing but good experiences with long term quality of other Toyota products. Toyota/Lexus really needs to step up to ensure that their image of building and supporting superior products doesn't erode any further than it already has - if people start to feel like an Audi, for example, is going to be just as reliable and inexpensive to maintain as a Lexus they are going to lose a LOT of business.