My Lemon Law Story
07-26-07, 01:19 PM
#1
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My Lemon Law Story
Well, it’s finally over – Lexus officially bought my car back today. Although I had previously posted that I purchased an Acura RL, I didn’t what to give the details on the buyback until it was done.
I had the valve body replacement at 4,000 miles, a transmission replacement at 5,000 miles, then two more extended service visits (starting at 7,500 miles) where they were trying to replicate the flare. They never did, even though I had video of it. After the flare came back following the transmission replacement, I called customer care and asked for a buyback. They were going to arrange for a regional rep to take the car out, but they never called me back, even after three follow calls by me. At that point, I tried to deal with the dealer, but they pretty much said unless they see it, they can’t do anything.
I had become fairly familiar with the MA lemon law, and I knew that every visit to them helped me, so after the 4th visit, I decided to send them a demand letter (required under MA statute). When I called customer care to get the address for the letter, the rep who failed to return my calls miraculously freed up and got on the phone. She told me that I could start the lemon law process, but if I did, they would be done trying to help me. My response was that I had left her three messages without a return call, and that at this point, I had few other options. She wanted to arrange a regional rep visit, and committed to me that I would receive a status update within two days. I warned her that if I did not, I would pursue legal action.
Two days came and went with no status call, so I hired a law firm. She called back on day 4 and left a message.
Lexus received the paperwork, and agreed to a buyback within two weeks. I received almost all of my money back, with usage being knocked down to 4,000 miles (which I was very happy about). They also paid my lawyers’ fees.
Today, as I was sitting with my attorney waiting for the inspection to be completed, we started talking about how silly the whole thing was – if they were going to settle that quickly, they could have save a few thousand dollars, and kept me as a potential future customer, by simply not letting things get out of hand. I feel like I really tried to work with them, but they just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get their act together.
Here are a few pointers for anyone in a similar situation:
1) YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY – You won’t get a buyback if you don’t go through the repairs. The fact that my transmission was first fixed, and then replaced, made this much easier, but then you’re living with a car that has had its transmission replaced if you don’t succeed with a buyback. It’s a tough call, but they forced me into it by doing the valve body replacement and screwing up the car.
2) HIRE AN ATTORNEY – Some will charge you a portion of the recovery, some are sleazy (I spoke with two who qualified as one or the other). Then I found a good law firm. They made things much easier, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I will provide a reference to anyone who PMs me.
3) STAY AWAY FROM CORPORATE – They don’t help. In fact, it may have made my situation worse. They drag things on and on, when you could resolve it much more quickly on your own by going to the dealer and then pursuing action with a law firm. I currently work with a call center, and I believe the Lexus reps have been trained to avoid closure and drag their responses out on purpose – their goal is to frustrate the customer enough that a certain percentage of us go away or give up.
4) UNDERSTAND YOUR STATE’S LEMON LAW – If you don’t qualify, you probably won’t get a buyback. You might be able to pursue breach of warranty, but that is a drawn out legal action. If you have a flare and are unhappy with it, it’s not going to qualify unless you let them try to fix it, which some people just don’t want to try. Also – be familiar with the statute of limitations of the law – you may be out of luck just based on when you bought it.
All in all, the whole experience sucked. The only thing I feel good about is that I didn’t give up, and that I got them to buy the car back. They’re betting that you’ll live with it, as many of you are, or trade it, as some in the past have done. It seems like the problem is getting less severe with the newer cars, as the frequency of posts has died down, but they lost at least one customer for life with this mess.
Good luck to all of you, and please PM me if you have any questions – this board was an invaluable source of info, and there’s not a lot of guidance out there when you get in a situation like this.
I had the valve body replacement at 4,000 miles, a transmission replacement at 5,000 miles, then two more extended service visits (starting at 7,500 miles) where they were trying to replicate the flare. They never did, even though I had video of it. After the flare came back following the transmission replacement, I called customer care and asked for a buyback. They were going to arrange for a regional rep to take the car out, but they never called me back, even after three follow calls by me. At that point, I tried to deal with the dealer, but they pretty much said unless they see it, they can’t do anything.
I had become fairly familiar with the MA lemon law, and I knew that every visit to them helped me, so after the 4th visit, I decided to send them a demand letter (required under MA statute). When I called customer care to get the address for the letter, the rep who failed to return my calls miraculously freed up and got on the phone. She told me that I could start the lemon law process, but if I did, they would be done trying to help me. My response was that I had left her three messages without a return call, and that at this point, I had few other options. She wanted to arrange a regional rep visit, and committed to me that I would receive a status update within two days. I warned her that if I did not, I would pursue legal action.
Two days came and went with no status call, so I hired a law firm. She called back on day 4 and left a message.
Lexus received the paperwork, and agreed to a buyback within two weeks. I received almost all of my money back, with usage being knocked down to 4,000 miles (which I was very happy about). They also paid my lawyers’ fees.
Today, as I was sitting with my attorney waiting for the inspection to be completed, we started talking about how silly the whole thing was – if they were going to settle that quickly, they could have save a few thousand dollars, and kept me as a potential future customer, by simply not letting things get out of hand. I feel like I really tried to work with them, but they just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get their act together.
Here are a few pointers for anyone in a similar situation:
1) YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY – You won’t get a buyback if you don’t go through the repairs. The fact that my transmission was first fixed, and then replaced, made this much easier, but then you’re living with a car that has had its transmission replaced if you don’t succeed with a buyback. It’s a tough call, but they forced me into it by doing the valve body replacement and screwing up the car.
2) HIRE AN ATTORNEY – Some will charge you a portion of the recovery, some are sleazy (I spoke with two who qualified as one or the other). Then I found a good law firm. They made things much easier, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I will provide a reference to anyone who PMs me.
3) STAY AWAY FROM CORPORATE – They don’t help. In fact, it may have made my situation worse. They drag things on and on, when you could resolve it much more quickly on your own by going to the dealer and then pursuing action with a law firm. I currently work with a call center, and I believe the Lexus reps have been trained to avoid closure and drag their responses out on purpose – their goal is to frustrate the customer enough that a certain percentage of us go away or give up.
4) UNDERSTAND YOUR STATE’S LEMON LAW – If you don’t qualify, you probably won’t get a buyback. You might be able to pursue breach of warranty, but that is a drawn out legal action. If you have a flare and are unhappy with it, it’s not going to qualify unless you let them try to fix it, which some people just don’t want to try. Also – be familiar with the statute of limitations of the law – you may be out of luck just based on when you bought it.
All in all, the whole experience sucked. The only thing I feel good about is that I didn’t give up, and that I got them to buy the car back. They’re betting that you’ll live with it, as many of you are, or trade it, as some in the past have done. It seems like the problem is getting less severe with the newer cars, as the frequency of posts has died down, but they lost at least one customer for life with this mess.
Good luck to all of you, and please PM me if you have any questions – this board was an invaluable source of info, and there’s not a lot of guidance out there when you get in a situation like this.
07-26-07, 01:41 PM
#2
Thanks for your time and energy in sharing the details of your story. I particularly appreciate your objective approach - something that had to be difficult given how much grief you've encountered.
I am always amazed at the power of anything written on an attorney's letterhead. It is indeed a shame that Lexus lost you as a customer over their obvious unwillingness to confront the issue and deal with it equitably.
It's great that this worked out well for you even if resolution was well overdue. Enjoy the new car!
I am always amazed at the power of anything written on an attorney's letterhead. It is indeed a shame that Lexus lost you as a customer over their obvious unwillingness to confront the issue and deal with it equitably.
It's great that this worked out well for you even if resolution was well overdue. Enjoy the new car!
07-26-07, 02:37 PM
#3
Thanks for sharing your experiences and thanks especially for persevering through a nasty situation. You were in the right from the start and kept hammering at an unresponsive company until you got justice.
We need more people willing to stand up for their rights.
We need more people willing to stand up for their rights.
07-28-07, 08:50 AM
#4
Kudos to you for keeping up the good fight! In my profession, I work with a variety of attorneys on a daily basis. And as previously mentioned, it takes an attorney's letterhead (i.e. start of litigation) to get to the beginning of the end.
On a related note, I just went from an RL to a GS350. The RL is a great car. I just found the GS better suits my needs.
On a related note, I just went from an RL to a GS350. The RL is a great car. I just found the GS better suits my needs.
03-01-20, 08:36 AM
#5
Driver School Candidate
Well, it’s finally over – Lexus officially bought my car back today. Although I had previously posted that I purchased an Acura RL, I didn’t what to give the details on the buyback until it was done.
I had the valve body replacement at 4,000 miles, a transmission replacement at 5,000 miles, then two more extended service visits (starting at 7,500 miles) where they were trying to replicate the flare. They never did, even though I had video of it. After the flare came back following the transmission replacement, I called customer care and asked for a buyback. They were going to arrange for a regional rep to take the car out, but they never called me back, even after three follow calls by me. At that point, I tried to deal with the dealer, but they pretty much said unless they see it, they can’t do anything.
I had become fairly familiar with the MA lemon law, and I knew that every visit to them helped me, so after the 4th visit, I decided to send them a demand letter (required under MA statute). When I called customer care to get the address for the letter, the rep who failed to return my calls miraculously freed up and got on the phone. She told me that I could start the lemon law process, but if I did, they would be done trying to help me. My response was that I had left her three messages without a return call, and that at this point, I had few other options. She wanted to arrange a regional rep visit, and committed to me that I would receive a status update within two days. I warned her that if I did not, I would pursue legal action.
Two days came and went with no status call, so I hired a law firm. She called back on day 4 and left a message.
Lexus received the paperwork, and agreed to a buyback within two weeks. I received almost all of my money back, with usage being knocked down to 4,000 miles (which I was very happy about). They also paid my lawyers’ fees.
Today, as I was sitting with my attorney waiting for the inspection to be completed, we started talking about how silly the whole thing was – if they were going to settle that quickly, they could have save a few thousand dollars, and kept me as a potential future customer, by simply not letting things get out of hand. I feel like I really tried to work with them, but they just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get their act together.
Here are a few pointers for anyone in a similar situation:
1) YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY – You won’t get a buyback if you don’t go through the repairs. The fact that my transmission was first fixed, and then replaced, made this much easier, but then you’re living with a car that has had its transmission replaced if you don’t succeed with a buyback. It’s a tough call, but they forced me into it by doing the valve body replacement and screwing up the car.
2) HIRE AN ATTORNEY – Some will charge you a portion of the recovery, some are sleazy (I spoke with two who qualified as one or the other). Then I found a good law firm. They made things much easier, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I will provide a reference to anyone who PMs me.
3) STAY AWAY FROM CORPORATE – They don’t help. In fact, it may have made my situation worse. They drag things on and on, when you could resolve it much more quickly on your own by going to the dealer and then pursuing action with a law firm. I currently work with a call center, and I believe the Lexus reps have been trained to avoid closure and drag their responses out on purpose – their goal is to frustrate the customer enough that a certain percentage of us go away or give up.
4) UNDERSTAND YOUR STATE’S LEMON LAW – If you don’t qualify, you probably won’t get a buyback. You might be able to pursue breach of warranty, but that is a drawn out legal action. If you have a flare and are unhappy with it, it’s not going to qualify unless you let them try to fix it, which some people just don’t want to try. Also – be familiar with the statute of limitations of the law – you may be out of luck just based on when you bought it.
All in all, the whole experience sucked. The only thing I feel good about is that I didn’t give up, and that I got them to buy the car back. They’re betting that you’ll live with it, as many of you are, or trade it, as some in the past have done. It seems like the problem is getting less severe with the newer cars, as the frequency of posts has died down, but they lost at least one customer for life with this mess.
Good luck to all of you, and please PM me if you have any questions – this board was an invaluable source of info, and there’s not a lot of guidance out there when you get in a situation like this.
I had the valve body replacement at 4,000 miles, a transmission replacement at 5,000 miles, then two more extended service visits (starting at 7,500 miles) where they were trying to replicate the flare. They never did, even though I had video of it. After the flare came back following the transmission replacement, I called customer care and asked for a buyback. They were going to arrange for a regional rep to take the car out, but they never called me back, even after three follow calls by me. At that point, I tried to deal with the dealer, but they pretty much said unless they see it, they can’t do anything.
I had become fairly familiar with the MA lemon law, and I knew that every visit to them helped me, so after the 4th visit, I decided to send them a demand letter (required under MA statute). When I called customer care to get the address for the letter, the rep who failed to return my calls miraculously freed up and got on the phone. She told me that I could start the lemon law process, but if I did, they would be done trying to help me. My response was that I had left her three messages without a return call, and that at this point, I had few other options. She wanted to arrange a regional rep visit, and committed to me that I would receive a status update within two days. I warned her that if I did not, I would pursue legal action.
Two days came and went with no status call, so I hired a law firm. She called back on day 4 and left a message.
Lexus received the paperwork, and agreed to a buyback within two weeks. I received almost all of my money back, with usage being knocked down to 4,000 miles (which I was very happy about). They also paid my lawyers’ fees.
Today, as I was sitting with my attorney waiting for the inspection to be completed, we started talking about how silly the whole thing was – if they were going to settle that quickly, they could have save a few thousand dollars, and kept me as a potential future customer, by simply not letting things get out of hand. I feel like I really tried to work with them, but they just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get their act together.
Here are a few pointers for anyone in a similar situation:
1) YOU CAN’T WIN IF YOU DON’T PLAY – You won’t get a buyback if you don’t go through the repairs. The fact that my transmission was first fixed, and then replaced, made this much easier, but then you’re living with a car that has had its transmission replaced if you don’t succeed with a buyback. It’s a tough call, but they forced me into it by doing the valve body replacement and screwing up the car.
2) HIRE AN ATTORNEY – Some will charge you a portion of the recovery, some are sleazy (I spoke with two who qualified as one or the other). Then I found a good law firm. They made things much easier, and it didn’t cost me a thing. I will provide a reference to anyone who PMs me.
3) STAY AWAY FROM CORPORATE – They don’t help. In fact, it may have made my situation worse. They drag things on and on, when you could resolve it much more quickly on your own by going to the dealer and then pursuing action with a law firm. I currently work with a call center, and I believe the Lexus reps have been trained to avoid closure and drag their responses out on purpose – their goal is to frustrate the customer enough that a certain percentage of us go away or give up.
4) UNDERSTAND YOUR STATE’S LEMON LAW – If you don’t qualify, you probably won’t get a buyback. You might be able to pursue breach of warranty, but that is a drawn out legal action. If you have a flare and are unhappy with it, it’s not going to qualify unless you let them try to fix it, which some people just don’t want to try. Also – be familiar with the statute of limitations of the law – you may be out of luck just based on when you bought it.
All in all, the whole experience sucked. The only thing I feel good about is that I didn’t give up, and that I got them to buy the car back. They’re betting that you’ll live with it, as many of you are, or trade it, as some in the past have done. It seems like the problem is getting less severe with the newer cars, as the frequency of posts has died down, but they lost at least one customer for life with this mess.
Good luck to all of you, and please PM me if you have any questions – this board was an invaluable source of info, and there’s not a lot of guidance out there when you get in a situation like this.
Great Post
Can you please see this video
Thanks
03-01-20, 04:36 PM
#6
Hi
Great Post
Can you please see this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkEdpR53aRs
It may not seem like big deal to most. But there is no guarantee that there wont be future water damage.
Thanks
Great Post
Can you please see this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkEdpR53aRs
It may not seem like big deal to most. But there is no guarantee that there wont be future water damage.
Thanks
They fixed the issue and you are still requesting a new vehicle? Vehicles are only lemoned if they require multiple fixes of the same problem within a certain time span. If they fixed it after the first time, you wouldn't be entitled to a new vehicle.
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03-01-20, 05:37 PM
#8
Lead Lap
iTrader: (1)
No, he's telling you what the lemon law is, though it may vary slightly by state. It's horrible to have this happen to your car. I wish I had a solution for you.
Last edited by swfla; 03-01-20 at 05:41 PM.
03-01-20, 05:41 PM
#9
Driver School Candidate
Here is what another forum member said and I completely agree with him:
Water intrusion is the worst in most modern cars. From the pictures you have standing water on the most valuable electronics such as the Remote touch, i assume the center console has water in it as well. If they simply replace the gasket, and dont check every connector in that console.....gremlins will pop up.
While pushing for the lemon is not the best of situations, its one of the things I`d want to resolve this situation for the better.
Water intrusion is the worst in most modern cars. From the pictures you have standing water on the most valuable electronics such as the Remote touch, i assume the center console has water in it as well. If they simply replace the gasket, and dont check every connector in that console.....gremlins will pop up.
While pushing for the lemon is not the best of situations, its one of the things I`d want to resolve this situation for the better.
03-01-20, 05:48 PM
#10
Lead Lap
iTrader: (1)
I agree, you could have hidden water damage down the line. Your situation is awful. I had a Lexus damaged by a mechanic once. They repaired the damage but I wasn't happy as I knew problems could occur down the line. I ended up trading it in to a non Lexus dealer at a loss before any more damage could occur. I'm not suggesting you do this, just sharing my story.
03-01-20, 05:55 PM
#11
Driver School Candidate
I agree, you could have hidden water damage down the line. Your situation is awful. I had a Lexus damaged by a mechanic once. They repaired the damage but I wasn't happy as I knew problems could occur down the line. I ended up trading it in to a non Lexus dealer at a loss before any more damage could occur. I'm not suggesting you do this, just sharing my story.
03-01-20, 06:04 PM
#12
Yes, but they did the right thing by repairing the leak. Giving you a whole new car for a problem they fixed is unreasonable. If you really want a new car, you need to show that the leak is still there, and that after multiple repairs, it could not be resolved. The potential for water damage is not enough. Your other option is to trade it in and take a loss, but not what I would do.
03-02-20, 07:06 AM
#14
Lead Lap
iTrader: (1)
I slept on your situation. You may have an auto insurance claim. I can't guarantee they will cover you but I think it's a better chance than getting anything from Lexus. You're paying insurance against damage, read your policy.
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