Underwhelmed with 5000 mile service.
04-20-14, 10:50 AM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Underwhelmed with 5000 mile service.
We went in for our free 5000 mile/6 month service today at 4401 miles and a few days over 6 months.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
04-20-14, 11:09 AM
#2
We went in for our free 5000 mile/6 month service today at 4401 miles and a few days over 6 months.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
That's quite odd. When I bought my CPO Lexus. I had the owner of the dealership call to ask how I like my car (no lie!). I think it's time to go to another dealer even if it means driving further.
04-20-14, 12:05 PM
#4
Intermediate
Thread Starter
No, we shopped there but purchased our RX at the Concord dealership. We were pleased with the sales experience, the RX350 we ended up with and the price we paid.
Last edited by Tom558; 04-20-14 at 12:08 PM. Reason: added sales satisfaction comment.
04-20-14, 12:29 PM
#5
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Could just be the service advisor. Don't discard the dealership all together yet, try a different guy the next time you go in. The techs are assigned to each service advisor, so going to a different one will give you different people working on your car
04-20-14, 12:48 PM
#6
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Our experience has us rethinking the whole dealer service idea. We prepaid for the first 50,000 miles of service but it is cancellable at any time. I felt at the time of purchase our investment in a Lexus warranted spending the extra for dealer service. We will be stopping by the Toyota dealership in town and discussing getting service done there and using the dealer if there are any warranty issues.
04-20-14, 12:51 PM
#7
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04-20-14, 12:58 PM
#8
Intermediate
Thread Starter
The process with this dealership is to stand in the service area driveway with your vehicle till someone notices you and goes to get a service advisor (took about 5 minutes). They have signs all over saying to stay with your vehicle so I don't see how we can choose which service advisor takes care of us.
04-20-14, 01:04 PM
#9
No, I don't play soccer!
Weekends are probably the worst time to go in for service, at least from my experience. If I have to, I'm there when they open at 7. Not exactly fun since it's a 45 minute drive. But I'm out within an hour. I wind up spending more time behind the wheel than sitting in the waiting room. Try a different day and service advisor.
04-20-14, 02:11 PM
#10
No, this last Friday, 4/18/2014, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The process with this dealership is to stand in the service area driveway with your vehicle till someone notices you and goes to get a service advisor (took about 5 minutes). They have signs all over saying to stay with your vehicle so I don't see how we can choose which service advisor takes care of us.
The process with this dealership is to stand in the service area driveway with your vehicle till someone notices you and goes to get a service advisor (took about 5 minutes). They have signs all over saying to stay with your vehicle so I don't see how we can choose which service advisor takes care of us.
Did you call for an appointment in advance? Usually they assign you to a service advisor at that point and not when you get there. Has been my experience. Next time you set an appointment I would ask to be assigned to a new service writer/advisor.
04-20-14, 02:23 PM
#11
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Yeah, it sounds like you didn't know who you were going to see when you made the appointment? Usually when you call the the main service line to make an appointment, they assign you a person. If you like that person, you can usually call that person directly for future appointments.
04-20-14, 02:50 PM
#12
Not sure this part is the same at most dealerships. For most I dealt with you could request an appointment online or when you called you only got a reservation team to make your appointment. At least that is the way it is locally. If you call the service writer direct you always go to voicemail and they "may" get back to you by the end of the day. They prefer you not tie up the service folks when all you need is someone to take down your information. At the end of the call I was always told who I was to meet with at the assigned time. Kind of like a doctor's office.
04-20-14, 03:29 PM
#13
No, this last Friday, 4/18/2014, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The process with this dealership is to stand in the service area driveway with your vehicle till someone notices you and goes to get a service advisor (took about 5 minutes). They have signs all over saying to stay with your vehicle so I don't see how we can choose which service advisor takes care of us.
The process with this dealership is to stand in the service area driveway with your vehicle till someone notices you and goes to get a service advisor (took about 5 minutes). They have signs all over saying to stay with your vehicle so I don't see how we can choose which service advisor takes care of us.
So are you guys saying that when they call in early July to confirm our appointment (it was set up when we purchased the car) I should ask who our Service Advisor is?
Also, I think I read somewhere that it is ok to take our Lexus to a Toyota Dealer for an oil change? There is one nearby. I hate to pay the "Lexus premium" if Toyota can do it in the future. I also don't want to take it to Jiffy Lube either.
04-20-14, 03:55 PM
#14
Instructor
We went in for our free 5000 mile/6 month service today at 4401 miles and a few days over 6 months.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
I asked specifically about the tires being rotated and he said yes and showed me a printed list of the stuff that was done.
The drive to the dealer is a bit over 30 minutes and my wife and I reviewed the preference settings PDF printout and discussed our questions and issues with the RX.
The service advisor acted like he had never seen the list of preferences and could not answer one of our questions about the RX. We had experienced some frustration in getting the rear door opened and asked about that and he seemed very unfamiliar with how the RX350 worked, at one time asking, "Didn't your salesman go over this with you?". Well, even if he had it was 6 months ago and something we had questions about and I expected better answers. He entered all of our questions into the service request and it was obvious that he didn't really understand what we were asking about as he kept having to rephrase the questions after reading them back to us. (He had an award on his desk for "2012 Service advisor of the Year" so he wasn't a new hire.)
We waited for the RX as I expected the whole process to take about an hour. It ended up taking two hours, so, a lot of waiting. The car sat in the service entry area for 15 minutes before our advisor came out of his office to let us know it was ready.
I expected to see tire rotation on the service invoice as a line item that was performed but it was not. When I questioned it I was told it was all part of the WORLD CLASS INSPECTION and that the tires had been rotated. (Trust us.)
All in all, we were underwhelmed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Our service advisor never asked how we liked the RX after 6 months of driving and never seemed interested in our questions or concerns.
We love the RX350, not so excited about the dealer experience.
You will get a survey from Lexus. Let them know everything. Advisor's name, number, dates, VIN#, order #, etc. You may not get a reply, but you will be on record as being disappointed.
Also, you may want to call the dealership manager/owner and voice your concern. Again, you may not get the answer you want, but at least you'll know you got it off your chest.
Lastly, go to a different service advisor next time. In fact, INSIST on a different advisor. Now that this board knows your dealership, you may get a recommendation here.
All the best with your new baby.
Ray A.
04-20-14, 04:56 PM
#15
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Not sure this part is the same at most dealerships. For most I dealt with you could request an appointment online or when you called you only got a reservation team to make your appointment. At least that is the way it is locally. If you call the service writer direct you always go to voicemail and they "may" get back to you by the end of the day. They prefer you not tie up the service folks when all you need is someone to take down your information. At the end of the call I was always told who I was to meet with at the assigned time. Kind of like a doctor's office.