TeamBone6

I have had some poor customer service issues with Lexus of Shreveport, but nothing like your experience. How hard is customer service... really? Years back, I owned a Saturn (economy car). From the purchasing process through 11 years of service at dealerships, I never once was unsatisfied with my Saturn ownership experience. I was always treated like a valued customer. I purchased 2 brand new Lexus in Shreveport in less than a year, but couldn't even get a return phone call from the dealership's staff (except the GM). The Shreveport GM did a good job of smoothing things over with me, but his staff wasn't even professional enough to return phone calls. Go figure... buy an economy car and be treated like a hero... or buy over $100k worth of luxury cars and be treat like a zero.
At any rate, don't roll over for them. Be polite, but firm. If they can't earn your business, take it elsewhere. As people who pay a premium for our cars, I would think that most people on this forum would be quite interested to hear both good and bad reports regarding customer service at various dealerships. So, keep us informed. To end on a positive note, Lexus of Little Rock has done right by me thus far.

lexlove93

Lexus issued a $500 service credit. I took my car to Reinhart Lexus... they were awesome! I submitted my receipt for the repairs and should hear back from Lexus tomorrow. I was lucky enough to have another 16 RX as a loaner.. a few days with it and i'm definitely a fan!

Deven

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have had my car serviced at the dealer for a few reasons. First, piece of mind that they will do a 'good' job (at the end the technician that works on your car may not be any better or knowledgeable than someone at a Toyota dealership or even a firestone type place but you have hope that they are). The head mechanic however probably is and hopefully supervises them when things get challenging.

Secondly, for me and my wife, we need a loaner car. We both work and need to get around, so the premium that is paid to the dealership is almost worth it for the loaner. At the same time I let them keep my car as long as they like so they are never pressured to meet a time deadline, and they usually let me keep the loaner and work around my schedule.

I cannot comment about the odor in your car, but it can be more than just the air filter. Condensation and or mold in the vents and A/C system could be the problem. If they charged you for changing the filter and it was not done, then that is fraudulent. It could be a simple mistake, but that would definitely upset me if that were true.

I cannot comment negatively or positively about your wheel issue, as something does not seem right. If the wheels were dented, then rebalancing them is not going to help obviously. As an outsider trying to understand what happened, one could argue that you were using the initial poor service experience as leverage to get a discount on new wheels. Fair enough. At the same time, I do not understand why you would want to get new wheels when taking them to a wheel repair center would be much cheaper. Many dealers have relations with such places and could have that done for you (though it would be cheaper to do it yourself).

However, if your wheels are OEM, and they do not match, either the dealer is not giving you the correct wheels (possible, but not likely) or the wheels on your car are not OEM (possible, especially if the car is used), or they were painted (possible). If either of the last two possibilities are true then I could understand why the service advisor was not happy dealing with you. He is probably thinking you ordered wheels instead of repairing them (they may have had to special order them and get them shipped in), they unmounted and mounted them with your tires, and gave you an almost 50% discount over their regular pricing after you argued with them over dissatisfaction on a previous service. Then after all that, you are complaining again (at this point he is thinking for no good reason) and refusing to pay for services rendered (this is probably what got the advisor upset). Sounds to me that there probably is/was some significant miscommunication.

With that being said, I agree, there should absolutely be no yelling. If there is a misunderstanding, the 'manager' needed to take the lead and get the situation resolved one way or another. Hopefully you will have a better experience with the new dealership.

lexlove93

Thanks for your input. I took my car to Reinhart Lexus and could not be happier.

NJLEXES

First off, very sorry to hear about your dog. We lost our dog of 13 years to cancer (lymphoma) last year.
It's never easy.

As far as the issue with dealer holding your car hostage....can't imagine that ever happening again elsewhere, but if so feel free to call the police. You have every right to do so.

Interesting story....
Many years ago (in the 70's ) my father bought a new car at ford dealer. He was very specific as to the price of the car that was owed.
On the day of pickup, he came down with a company check in that exact amount.
The salesman told him they calculated the price incorrectly and he owed several hundred dollars more than that.
My father emphatically said no he didn't.

Salesman says he'll go talk to his manager and disappears towards the back of the dealership.

After many minutes, he does not come back out.
My father goes looking for him and finds all of them laughing and joking back in the dealership.
My dad then asks for the check back and the sales manager says "Don't be hasty". My father asks for the check back again. He won't give him the check back,

My father then calls the cops.
When the cops arrive, my father explains the situation to them.
The officer tells the sales manager "Give the man his check back". He then gives the check to my dad.
My father leaves the dealership.

Think he ever set foot in there again ?

People really suck sometimes.

jhall1jax

On a side note, I believe Lexus of Orange Park is now Fields Lexus, and no longer associated with Brumos. Might want to give them a try, since they are just outside Jacksonville.

Sorry about your dog. Good luck.

rijc99

No, the bill wasn't paid. They don't have to release the car and they have a mechanics lien on the car. Police can't do anything about it. It's a civil matter.

You can work it out civilly or pay the bill and sue in court.

jjslexus

recently had an unpleasant experience at Orange park.
"
“I own a 2006 GX470, 246K miles. Bought it used from Indlpls Lexus dealer. Was a one owner with a 40+ page maintenance history. I use it for long drives to do photography off the beaten path. Forest roads, trails etc. Love the vehicleWhile in central Florida in late March, I noticed the dreaded “back end bounce”. I took it to Lexus dealer in Jacksonville area. I suspected it was something related to air suspension. Dealer diagnosed “leaky air bags”. The repair in Florida cost $1,450.00 ($900 for the bags and $550 for labor including $150 diagnostic fee). I told them I was out of town and heading back to Indiana the next day. When I paid they also informed the console switch for the height control was defective and it shouldn’t bother anything since I don’t tow nor ever use the height control anyway. So off I went thinking I was good to go. Oh, the system had worked fine up to that point, IE no overnight sagging, no uneven leveling, it just started the hard bounce on big bumps (railroad crossing etc ) one day. So, I head north and after 2 days driving and app 800 mile…It starts doing the same thing. I pulled over and cycled the car off/on and I could hear the compressor running. I called the service tech and was told take it to my nearest Dealer and they would sort it out as their service was guaranteed nation wide for 12month/12,000 miles. After a visit to my local dealer in Indpls, their diagnosis is something within the solenoid/valving isn’t allowing air to get from the compressor to the bags. Option 1 was replacing the compressor (app $2,000); or Option 2 (what they recommended) was the conversion to coil springs. After a couple phone calls to the dealer in Florida, they said essentially, I was on my own and they would do nothing to offset the new repair.My supposition is that the original root problem was/is something in the control system/valves and I literally wasted $1,450 on new airbags. . After a few calls to Lexus corporate received a $150 service credit.

leisinjp

Sorry to hear about your dog.

I have never had an experience where the advisers are yelling at me. I have worked in service at a Mercedes-Benz dealer and a Honda dealer. I have owned many Honda's and will probably never own a Benz but the service we provided along with honesty, integrity, and actual customer service by bending over backwards for customers was off the charts at Benz. The Honda dealer, not so much. Now you could say one person bought their new Honda for the 1/4 the price of the new Benz so shouldn't the service be better? I would say no. It all comes down to the ethics of the owner which then flows into the GM which then gets spoken into the managers and advisers. We drove loaner cars two hours away and picked up a clients car just for a normal oil change. Then drove two hours back the same day to deliver their car. All because we wanted that life long customer. Honda didn't care at all about any of the logistics once you dropped your car off.

With all that said, I believe your age also probably had to do with it. I'm in my early 20s and even I caught myself being somewhat frustrated with the 18-25 year old that would drop their "daddies" benz off and treat us like trash in the meantime. So I somewhat understand why I am treated with less respect when I take my Lexus to the dealership and I am younger than the advisers kids haha. But in the end that is no reason to yell or threaten a customer no matter how wrong that customer is. (Not saying you were wrong).

It sounds like you have found a different Lexus dealership though so hopefully they treat you well. I do agree with the forum member who stated not telling them you are never coming back and will post nasty reviews. That will never get you anywhere. When people used to say that we would hope they never came back. But someone who is willing to be patient and work with us, most times mutual ground was found. But none of us were there when this happened so it is tough to know all of the emotions and factors that played into it.

Good luck with the new dealership experience!

bclexus

jjslexus - You are posting about your dealership experience you had concerning your 2006 GX470 in the GS 350 forum.

jjslexus & leisinjp - Do you realize that you are responding to a thread that is almost 3 years old?

leisinjp

I literally just realized that once I logged back in now...haha my bad!

Hey, maybe 3 years later he still is looking for advice! How did a 3 year old thread even get revived???