anniversar

About 3 weeks ago, my wife and I returned from an overseas trip and when we arrived at Milwaukee airport, my LS430 would not start. It was cranking but just not starting. I have a 3 year CPO warranty that includes Lexus breakdown assistance and so I made the phone call. The adviser on the call was helpful and given that it was a Sunday arranged for me to be towed into the nearest Lexus dealership and told me to rent a car from the airport. He explained that their coverage includes car rental for up to 5 days.

On the Monday morning I called the Lexus dealer to touch base and they advised that the problem was a faulty fuel pump and that they had ordered a new one which would arrive on the Tuesday. As promised the car was ready by Tuesday afternoon and so I drove to the dealership to collect it and then on to the airport to drop off the rental car.

Later that evening I mailed in the rental car receipt for reimbursement.

Friday of this week I receive a call from a very officious representative of Lexus Breakdown Assistance who advised me that my claim for reimbursement had been denied by her "Leadership" (code for supervisor). The reason was that because their policy is not to cover rental car payment if the breakdown occurs less than 100 miles from home. (I was 65 miles from home).

I explained that her service adviser had been the one to tell me to take a rental car and that he further advised me that it was covered under the breakdown assistance program. She was clearly not interested in listening to this and kept reading from what I believe was a prepared script and stated that she was unable to do anything about the matter.

I also explained that I needed the rental car to keep me mobile until the dealership repaired the vehicle. She then stated that Lexus breakdown is nothing to do with Lexus itself and is an independent company.

I filed a verbal complaint and forcefully explained that her employee had completely misled me and therefore they should take responsibility for that mistake. I requested that they get back to me within 5 business days.

I have also separately complained directly to Lexus customer service and they are presently looking into the matter and have promised me an answer within 3 days.

I guess we will see what happens but one thing is for sure, the Lexus breakdown program is not all it is cracked up to be.

To add insult to injury the rental car was a Hyundai Elantra!!

Jabberwock

Yikes - stick to your guns - you did exactly as you were told to do by their agent. They should pay for their mistake and not you. Keep moving up the management ladder at the service company even if you have to mail or request a call with the CEO. Usually for a small claim they will likely pay you as you move the request up the ranks just to get rid of the problem. Placing a call to the CEO or company president usually gets results.

CarGuy89

Wow that sounds awful! Hope you get that taken care of. The first person clearly neglected to mention the mileage part (though it absolutely should not affect anything....a breakdown is a breakdown no matter how far from your house....inconvenience regardless and unexpected from the LS). Keep sending your complaints, Lexus can't afford to have unhappy customers esp those who might keep buying their flagship models.