lexlove93

June 9th I took my GS in for scheduled 50k service. Upon arrival I informed my advisor the 45k was not done so I wanted to get that done and the 50k or a mixture.. whatever needed to bring the car up to date. Also, I noticed a vibration around 45mph and mentioned that the cabin a/c smelled a bit musty.

After going through a few different service packages, I agreed to go with the "value plus" option since it included the trans service* and cabin a/c filter. I left in my 2016 RX350 loaner and expected the car to be finished around 2:30. Love the loaner but this story soon goes bad.




Before leaving St Augustine I called to assure the car would be ready. Unable to reach my advisor, I spoke with a lady who said my car had a scheduled out time of 6 pm. I explained that I lived 2.5 hours away and the issue this presented... she went to find my advisor and promised a return call.

My advisor returns my call to inform me my car will indeed be ready at 2:30. The reason it was ready on time is due to him not knowing my car had a sealed transmission and was not to be serviced??** So I get to the dealership to pick up my car.. I paid $270 and left not knowing exactly what was inspected and how things checked out. All he said was everything looks good but mentioned my vibration issue is due to 2 wheels being slightly bent and because of this, they were not able to get them completely balanced. Later reviewing my ticket, I notice the tech states during road test no vibration was felt?

Long story short, I return home 2.5 hours later and leave to go to dinner only to be greeted by the same musty smell. This same smell revealed the dirty cabin filter they neglected to change. I call the dealership and of course it was 2 minutes before the service department closed. The next day I called and spoke with the service manager and informed him of the cabin filter issue and the fact that now my vibration issue is present at speeds from 30-55 mph and again from 60-65 mph, so much so that at some times, I do not feel safe driving the car. During my conversation with the service advisor I asked the cost to replace the wheels... he told me $400-$600 per wheel. Before checking out on Thursday I told him I planned on buying aftermarket wheels and would just hold off. (Thinking they had fixed or at least improved my vibration issue.)

Later in the day, I ask my advisor to meet with his manager and have him call me back. They call back to inform me it is around $1360 to replace the wheels.. I offer $700 due to the issues experienced so far but was told that was the best they could do. After speaking with the service manager again, I asked him to meet with his parts manager or gm to see if they will accept my offer. This was Friday at 3pm.. I asked if he could please return my call by 5pm and thanked him only to have that returned with the slamming of his phone in my ear. I did not hear back from him Friday or Saturday. This morning I decided to call around 11:30... he answers and is clueless when I give him my name. He obviously had no intentions of returning my call. I told him this was unacceptable and asked to speak with the GM.. the service manager continued rambling and we ended the call.

After calling back in and being placed on hold, I spoke with the gm and gave him the entire story. Well I tried to... sadly, even he was hesitant to listen. It has been a constant battle! This afternoon I finally received a call back from the GM, he accepted my offer and we are scheduled to hopefully repair my car this week. I'm not sure if they didn't take me serious due to my age or what but I just want my car to be fixed and this to be over with!

Sorry for the long post but this is extremely disappointing and frustrating to me. I took my car to a Lexus dealer to ensure it received the best care. This way my FIRST service experience with Lexus and I am so let down. How would you feel? Do you think the resolution is fair?

xRYD3Rx

You basically paid $270 for them to park your car at their service parking lot and for them to loan you a 2016 RX for few hours. Bet they didn't even do anything to your car.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

was the A/C filter changed? Take it out and see. This is your starting point.

Sevn86

I would have called corporate and let them know how one of their dealerships was treating their customers. I don't do the in between services like 25k, 35k 45k etc... Those service intervals are mainly checkups and so I don't waste my money on them. I would just do the 30k, 40k, 50k etc services. Even parts of those services can be cut down and you could replace your engine and cabin filters yourself. I would consider myself younger then many on here and each time I go into the dealership I have to put my "don't try to pull a fast one on me face". I make myself extremely clear before I hand over my keys for service. My service experiences with my local Lexus dealer hasn't always been the best in the past either. I've had quite a few issues. I made sure my voice was heard and left a long online review about my experience, and most importantly, how prices are always different each time I bring my cars in for the same service. That got the service manager to respond quick, so I never had to call corporate to complain.

Renrutjw

This very same dealership was able to balance my tires without disturbing the brake dust . I looked at my wheels three or four days after the service expecting to see shiny new weights, but nope, just the same weights completely undisturbed. Spoke with the rep, he said it was new brake dust I was seeing over the new weights. Sorry dude, I know what brake dust looks like after 3-4 days and that wasn't it. Caveat Emptor my friend. Coggin Toyota does my service now.

rld14

This isn't how you should be treated.

However, most any dealership has someone that does wheel repair and slightly bent wheels can usually be fixed for under $100 each.

I literally must have 20 wheels a week unbent but I'm also in NJ as opposed to FL.

rjm

Good luck with that. I had a dealer/warranty issue with a dealer and was very unhappy with the way they handled it. I contacted Lexus Corporate via mail and direct telephone contact. They told me that the issue had to be handled by the dealer and that Corporate would not get involved in any warranty or dealer issue. After I told the dealer that I had already consulted with an attorney I was called by the owner of the this dealership and several other dealerships in the DFW area who told me he would take care of the matter personally, which he did. My point is, Lexus Corporate was USELESS in dealing with this issue.

lexlove93

I contacted Lexus and documented the issue. I made an agreement with the GM to fix my car. I will never return to them after this but i'm glad I was able to get it resolved.

Sevn86

Glad to hear it was resolved.

rld14

I see the real problem.. you appear to have parked the loaner next to a demented, cigar smoking Cookie Monster.

See?

lexlove93

Well, I unfortunately have round 2 for you guys... after the issues on my first visit, picking my car up was 10x worse. From being yelled at by there GSM to having my keys and car held hostage, I am absolutely DONE with Lexus of Jacksonville. Thankfully I called Lexus at the beginning of my issues yesterday and they were on the other end of the phone during Moe's temper tantrum.

Thursday, June 16th I dropped my car off to have new wheels put on, a cabin ac filter installed and an ac system cleaning/treatment. Please keep in mind this visit was supposed to be to "make things right."

Thursday evening I received a phone call from my mom informing me my 12 year old black lab was diagnosed with cancer and was having trouble breathing. In our family, dogs are people so this was obviously not easy to deal with.

Friday morning I called Lex of Jax to see when my GS would be ready, I didn't know when I would be back in town and didn't want to keep their loaner tied up. I explained the situation and my advisor told me the car was ready but he wanted to road test the vehicle first. I told him no worries, I was just leaving work and still needed to run home and pack.

12:32 arrive at Lex of JAX. Once at the dealership, I drove my GS with svc advisor. We circled the block but vibration issue did not seem to be present. When we got back to the dealership, I inspected the car/wheels. I immediately noticed the new wheels were not the same finish. I told my advisor this was not going to work and asked for him to go get his GM. --The service manager who I had issues with last week was off, come to find out, so was the GM.--

After a few minutes, my advisor returns with a gentleman. I ask if he is the GM, he says his name is Moe and he is the acting GM for the day. Brian, GM of Lex of Jax was off.. Moe and I have had no prior communication... I told him that my advisor asked me to send him a picture of my wheels before ordering them due to different styles and options. I sent the text and assumed everything would be proper. The GSM lost his cool immediately. As soon as I told him I was not satisfied, would not be paying for the wheels as they do not match and requested to speak with the GM, he became furious.

This is when he began yelling at me in the service lobby, in front of all other employees/customers. Not one employee tried to stop him or calm him down. I told him I didn't know who he thought he was but I don't get yelled at at home or work and I sure as hell will not deal with it here. He yelled as loud as he could for me to "realize who I was talking to and for me to not raise my voice at him" He then yelled to my advisor, "DON'T GIVE HIM HIS KEYS UNTIL HE PAYS" I told him he was a joke and went to the front of the dealership. He was still yelling in the background so I loudly asked for a manager... multiple times! No one helped me, my advisor stood by looking clueless and the GSM disappeared.

While pacing through the dealership, shocked at what had just happened, I called Lexus and went over everything. Thankfully, they were on the phone with me while walking around not getting any help. While still on the phone, I walked back to the service drive and ran into Moe and my advisor again.. they were discussing my car. Moe was going over possible options with my advisor but I already told him I wanted to speak with the GM. Since he could not handle the issue without being in my face or yelling, I did not want to speak with him. We continued going back and forth and I told him, keep it up, I'm on the phone with Lexus. They've heard you yelling and know about everything that is going on. I told him if the wheels matched I would have no problem paying but I'm not paying for wheels that don't match... he tells me my wheels have been painted.. to my knowledge they have not been. Even if they had, shouldn't my advisor have noticed this when I sent him the photo of the wheels or when they installed them? Again, no customer service or concern for quality of work. Instead of making things right or being calm enough to resolve this issue, Moe continued being an ***. So much so that I told him he was the only person holding me up from a 5.5 hour drive to see my dog dying of cancer. After smiling in my face, he said " I DON'T CARE." I told him I had nothing else to say to him and for him to say another word to me, I only wanted to speak with the GM. He shoves his iPhone in my face and shows me his recent call history, showing he has called Brian but he won't answer. I turned to Khai and told him I needed to speak with his GM, NOW!

So my advisor finally gets ahold of his GM.. I tell him about everything that is going down and that I just wanted my car to be fixed right. After him hearing what Moe did, he agreed that was NOT the way it should have been handled and even said that was insensitive of him. The GM basically told me to pay the $700 and leave with mismatched wheels because they "did what they said they were going to do" or I could have my old wheels put on and leave. I was so ready to get out of that hell hole after 2 hours of games, I told him I would never be back and would be leaving reviews everywhere. He said if thats what I wanted to do to go ahead. I hung up and gave the phone back to Khai. I told him to put my wheels so I could leave and reminded him for a print of the inspection from last week (first visit) he told me they would just do another one today and give that to me. When they finished my car he handed me my key with no explanation or printout of requested inspection... he prints it and I walk out to my car. I left around 2:40. (2 hours of dealing with this craziness)

Once home, I read the inspection.. it said brake fluid dirty/contaminated...ODD since LAST THURSDAY they had my car and supposedly performed this inspection... during the inspection and service last week after having to ASK how my car was, he said everything looked good! What the hell?!?!

I am still blown away by this. How would you feel? Lexus told me the only way they can reimburse me is if I paid the dealer but I refuse to give them another penny. Also, Lexus told me they cant make lex of jax give me my keys back since they are private owned... Thankfully my car is home safe and I won't have to deal with them anymore!

How can someone be so heartless? As if my experience hasn't been bad enough, he has the audacity to respond with such hatred. Moe is truly the epitome of unprofessionalism. I can't wait to hear from Lexus Monday. Sorry for such a long post, just seeking help. I've never been treated this way and can't believe it happened in a Lexus store!

How would you feel? What would you do? What is a fair resolution?

For those of you that are dog people.. here is my buddy Trygg. Please keep him in your thoughts! Feel free to send prayes and good vibes!

litesoarer

Your posts ooze of belligerence to me, And believe me, i'd have been livid too..

But it sounds like you may have made an *** out of yourself in public with these people, Was it right for them to goad you into that corner? Perhaps not, but you played right into it. As for the "Acting GM", I probably would have had you go sit at one of the offices to cool down before it even got to that point, failing that i'd have put you back in a loaner until the GM got back just to get you to go away for the time being.

I don't mean to be mean, but you'll catch more flies (people sympathetic to your needs) with honey than vinegar. My suggestion to you is to shop a few Lexus dealers and find the one that will suit your needs better.

Maikerusan

Why would you pay and leave without know what was inspected and what the results were?

I think you recently bought this car? Did you in fact have vibration issues prior to bringing it in?

When you get confrontational and start saying things like "never will be back" or "will write terrible reviews on your dealership"", that mostly alienates them. Why would they bend over backwards to help you when you point blank told them you will never be back? The better approach is that you tell them you want to use them for your service for many more years to come, and you would appreciate them helping you out and assisting in resolution of your problem.

Obviously if you don't trust them, you probably will in fact never go back...but don't tell them that to their face. It removes leverage you have.

Sorry to hear about your dog. My sympathies.

lexlove93

Thanks for your input. I did not have any issues with vibration when I purchased the vehicle. I told him I hit a pothole in the rain a few days prior and that it may have been the cause.

As far as getting confrontational is concerned, I did not tell him that until after the entire fiasco. In our first few talks I told him the only reasons I came to him in the first place were his reviews and the fact that I wanted my car to be regularly maintained by a Lexus dealer so It lasts as long as possible. If you were in my shoes and were treated poorly along with someone making a comment about someone/something important in your life, I'm sure you'd be a bit upset too.

Either way, I respect your opinion. With that being said, I did not tell him about the reviews or that I will never be back until he had left me with two options that sucked, leave with wheels that don't match and still pay for everything or leave with my old wheels. Also, due to playing games for 2 hours with Moe, I was not able to make it to SC in time to be with my mom and trygg for his vet appt. The entire reason I was going to SC was to see my dog and be part of the appt about chemo and treatment plan.

Again, thanks for your input, look forward to chatting soon.

Thanks for thinking of Trygg, really appreciate it. Thats what I'm upset the most about right now. Enjoy your weekend!

bclexus

Something is really strange about all this. Lexus of Jacksonville sells and services a whole lot of Lexus vehicles, many for repeat long-term customers that are obviously pleased with their service and customer treatment. It sounds like maybe you and your advisor never fully understood one another on exactly what services and additional work you wanted to have done...or you two couldn't agree on the cost of some of the things you expected to have fixed (e.g. bent wheels, vibration), thus that work wasn't done.

Did you ever check the Cabin Air Filter after the first service visit to see if they replaced it? Were you charged for it being replaced?

I'm curious - don't you have a Lexus dealership closer than 2½ hours from where you live? If you do, why don't you use them?

All the best for your dog Trygg.