I've worked on both sides of the coin, and I'll just say there are two sides to every story. Without hearing the dealer's version, no one here can really make any conclusions. In the end though, you have no choice but to take your car(s) elsewhere. They are turning you away.
Good luck.

 

Agree 100%. I think a red flag when a Lexus dealership says do not come back.

 

In most cases, yes. Ask your Toyota dealer directly, but my experience has been "yes." I have been taking our 2 Lexus vehicles to my Toyota dealer for about 7 years now. Sorry to hear about your situation.

 

Absolutely, there is a valid dealer's side to this story for sure. Businesses don't just turn away paying customers on a whim. Based on the original story I see some of where they're coming from.

 

it's an 11 year old car with lots of issues. get rid of it. the dealer doesn't want to deal with your car, which, i'm sorry to say, must have been the result of some of your conduct/attitude also even if they weren't completely professional.

with all the problems you've mentioned, i wouldn't want to even deal with a good independent shop at this point. i'd just move on. your other es, under warranty, is a different matter, and i'd continue to expect the dealer to do any warranty work and scheduled maintenance.

i don't work on old computers for this reason, they're too slow, take too long to fix, information and parts are hard to find sometimes, and then the client is unhappy to spend so much when they should have bought a new one years before getting to this point.

 

Unfortunately all roads to the dealership, are probably closed if everyone at the dealership has the same story.

If you really feel the dealerships at fault, and theyre not stepping up, then you need to find a good indy who can confirm that story to bad parts or labor. Then take those findings to small claims court. You might find some resolution there.

-------------------------
Now heres the opinion part that you can skip if you hate constructive criticism.

1) Its an out of warranty vehicle...why is the dealership involved in the first place? Zero obligation to continue performing service with them after warranty ends.

2) Just because you purchased a vehicle or had service done continuously at a dealership never automatically qualifies you for extra level of care. Personal relationships you make with the Service Manager or advisors maybe, but in this day, turnover is so high that you probably will never see the same person for too long.

3) Its a 11 year old car, exposed to the elements, noises rattles are probably going to exist. If you cant live with em,a newer car is probably the unfortunate solution

4) The belt tensonier quote for 1200 is crazy high. If you keep the car, which honestly I still would since its a Lexus and your the only owner, find a good indy (please get the quote from multiple places) will be far less. You can find the parts cost online through rockauto amazon mNC car chains. Then compare the indy quotes.

5) Headlights cleaning, is usually a continuous process as most detail shops are no different from the crap 3m kit they sell in store. Sand and then apply some delicate polish. Plastic headlights dont last, and hence you get the hazing compared to older glass lenses. Anyways, if you want an expensive solution for a 4 year life, then replace the units with OE headlamps assemblies from the dealership. If you want a cheaper solution, try some ebay assemblies (wont anywhere nearly as long). If you want to keep the stock assemblies, then get a detailer do them for you, and then keep polishing them every 6 months or so (no sanding)

 

Amen! Dealer would not turn away someone who was willing to pay without a valid reason. Although the dealer should absolutely stand behind their work, it sounds like you might have been a bit too demanding (I'm not saying you're in the wrong, though). It does, however, sound like you're expecting a bit too much out of an 11 year old car. Most, if not all, cars will have some sort of repairs and for sure rattles at 10+ years old.

 

I recently had a similar experience at the dealer. They refused to fix my 11 years old IS, instead advised me to buy a new car from them. Talked to manager about this and he also told me to go away. If the car is out of warranty they dont want you there. Had to go Toyota dealer to get fixed. Last lexus I´l ever buy.

 

Nothing wrong with an 11-year-old car. We have a 2001 Lincoln LS in the family still going strong, and that's a car not remotely in the same league as Lexus for reliability reputation.

But although I love the marble and leather waiting room at the local Lexus dealer, I'd never take an out-of-warranty car there unless it was something only they could fix (unlikely) simply because someone is paying for that marble and leather and that someone is you. Toyota or Independent with a very good reputation.

 

This again, doesn't make sense. Dealers make more money on service than they do new car sales. They will LOVE to fix your old Lexus and charge you for it. The issue is an interpersonal one, if they don't think they can satisfy you, etc.

 

+1. When my wife had her previous Nissan, which was out of warranty, they still wanted to fix things. In fact, they were creative in coming up with things to fix. There is more to the story.

 

The issue for the dealer is when a customer has what they feel are unrealistic expectations, and are very difficult or impossible to please it becomes no longer profitable to have them as a customer. They constantly have to be worried about being hammered on surveys for things that are outside of their control, etc. Then there's subjecting their dealer personnel to a customer who is rude or abusive, etc. I'm not saying this is whats happening here, but these are reasons why a company turns a paying customer away.

Thats how I am in my business. We will work as hard as is possible to provide great service and secure great outcomes for our clients but if you're going to have expectations that we cannot meet and cant be made to understand that you're not being realistic, or if you're going to be rude or abusive to me or my staff outside of understandable stress fueled isolated outbursts then we're just not going to work with you. I don't care how much potential money we're turning away. Plenty of customers out there.

 

^^^ excellent post.

 

It is not just the customers all the time, it is not like some Dealers are not known to screw over customer's, do subpar work, etc. It has been a big problem for decades. There are shady dealers that would save money by having their mechanics skip steps, not take as much time, not wasting time/money trying to fix a rattle, etc and if a customer finds that kind of work unacceptable it is not out of the ordinary that they would rather just not deal with the customer anymore. Many dealers get swamped by repairs and losing a costumer is not a big deal.

I have heard of so many issues with dealers and private mechanics it is one reason I try to do everything myself. I used to take my Eclipse to a place that would find something new and expensive to fix every single time I went there, I had my brake pads changed at Sears and 3 months later had a mechanic tell me they were never changed, I looked at them and saw they were not new pads, took it back to Sears and they actually tried denying it at first while other customers were complaining they did the same thing, did subpar work, and after I raised my voice they finally got moving, guy who used to work there said they do that all the time and anyone that complains in put on a list to not work on their cars anymore.

 

Agreed, but I see inklings here of some unreasonable expectations. Its one thing to bring your older car in for repair for an issue that bothers you, its another thing to expect the dealer to take responsibility for that issue. Example is the headlights. Headlights yellow over time if the car sits outside. Thats just a fact, and a repair of those headlights is not permanent, they're going to yellow again and faster next time. Bringing the car back into the dealership and expecting them to polish the headlights for free again because the last repair only lasted a year isn't reasonable. Those repairs only last a year. An 11 year old car is not warrantied against rattles, and sometimes rattles can't be easily repaired. The implication that the dealer is responsible for the car "falling apart" when they had paid for an unrelated 90k service and been given a "clean bill of health" a year prior. "Just 2 months after the water pump replacement there was a drive belt tensioner noise" and the implication this is their fault, its unrelated if the customer didn't ask them to replace the tensioner preemptively as part of the water pump replacement.

It sounds to me like this customer has high expectations for their vehicle despite its age, and expects the dealer to go above and beyond to make sure those unrealistic expectations are met.