3GS almost wrecked, caused by dealership negligence, thoughts?
05-15-10, 04:26 PM
#1
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3GS almost wrecked, caused by dealership negligence, thoughts?
Hey,
I am a user on CL but I made this account to conceal my identity for now (feel free to PM and I'll send you my actual CL user name to confirm I'm not a troll) mainly because I don't want to bad mouth the dealership I am working with unless they cannot come to a resolution with me next week.
My situation is that on May 14, 2010 I brought the vehicle in to ______ Lexus to have some maintenance done on my 3GS, and one of which is that the parking brake needed to be adjusted, so I paid out of pocket because the dealership claimed that this was 'wear and tear'. At the same time he told me that they would rotate all the tires, I agreed.
2.5 hours later I got a call saying the vehicle was done, I came back and picked it up, I personally noticed their was still excess slack in the parking brake, but I was reassured by my service adviser that this was common on Lexus and even with the parking brake fully depressed my vehicle moved around with no hesitation.
I came back within 10 minutes feeling as if it wasn't repaired correctly, my service adviser checked with 2 different techs and they both agreed with me that definitely something was wrong with the vehicle. At this time I waited an additional hour and a half and the vehicle was the last to be pulled out of the service bay at 6:30pm, I still felt as if it wasn't repaired correctly, as I compared it with a new 3GS but was reassured the repairs were done properly
I pick the vehicle back up and drive home in traffic and the only time I hit above 35-40 mph I noticed a vibration, I didn't think much of it and when I backed it in the garage, their was a smell of burning brakes, I showered and had to take someone out to dinner that night, it was almost 9PM
I head onto the freeway and 5 minutes later, I hear a extensively loud 'clunking' sound and a bad vibration in the entire cabin and steering, I quickly pull over to the shoulder and fortunately I done this at the proper time because as I did this, 3 out of the 5 lug nuts on the driver rear fell off and the wheel was held on with 2 lug nuts
I called Lexus roadside but was advised because I was 3 days out of my roadside assistance that I would be on my own even though this problem was caused by the dealership, I didn't have my AAA towing card on me so I decided to call a local towing company, I got the car home, and it still smelled like burning brakes, I jacked it up, torqued each wheel down to the proper specs, only to find out 2 out of the 5 lugs in front were hand tight and both rear were all lose
I called the dealership in the morning and told them my situation and was advised one of two options
A.) Drive the car slowly to the dealer because there was no traffic on the freeway and if it breaks down call my own tow truck
B.) Tow the vehicle to the dealership on my own expense
Considering the fact that the dealership has their own tow service I thought this was a joke, I called AAA they picked up the car and had it towed there
I dropped off the car at 8am, and my service adviser was reassuring me that he watched the technician put on the wheel and torque it down, I asked him, "do you watch every single of your clients car get put back together?" I got no answer, I was put into a Enterprise loaner, in which I waited 3 and a half hours and they had no cars ready for me, throughout this wait, I was on the phone with Lexus corporate western region customer service supervisor explaining my situation
I ended up not taking the loaner and waited for my car, and at this time the shop foreman came out and admit the fact that, the parking brake was
1. Adjusted improperly (the tech adjusted something that didn't have to be touched, causing the caliper to be seized on the rotors)
2. The wheels were not torqued down because most likely the tech wanted to get the last car out of the shop (that specific tech was off today)
At this time, my service adviser came out and said he actually only watched the tech work on the right side of the vehicle but not the side that had everything falling apart on
Honestly, at this point, I talked to my attorney about everything before going to the dealership, I'm told if I want to pursue something I have a good case because the foreman admit to everything and even gave me his personal cell number if I have any issues in the future, but how would you guys want to pursue this? The dealership has admit to their fault and asked how I would like to be compensated. If the dealership does not work something out with me by next week, I will definitely post the detailed story of who I worked with and the dealership name
I am a user on CL but I made this account to conceal my identity for now (feel free to PM and I'll send you my actual CL user name to confirm I'm not a troll) mainly because I don't want to bad mouth the dealership I am working with unless they cannot come to a resolution with me next week.
My situation is that on May 14, 2010 I brought the vehicle in to ______ Lexus to have some maintenance done on my 3GS, and one of which is that the parking brake needed to be adjusted, so I paid out of pocket because the dealership claimed that this was 'wear and tear'. At the same time he told me that they would rotate all the tires, I agreed.
2.5 hours later I got a call saying the vehicle was done, I came back and picked it up, I personally noticed their was still excess slack in the parking brake, but I was reassured by my service adviser that this was common on Lexus and even with the parking brake fully depressed my vehicle moved around with no hesitation.
I came back within 10 minutes feeling as if it wasn't repaired correctly, my service adviser checked with 2 different techs and they both agreed with me that definitely something was wrong with the vehicle. At this time I waited an additional hour and a half and the vehicle was the last to be pulled out of the service bay at 6:30pm, I still felt as if it wasn't repaired correctly, as I compared it with a new 3GS but was reassured the repairs were done properly
I pick the vehicle back up and drive home in traffic and the only time I hit above 35-40 mph I noticed a vibration, I didn't think much of it and when I backed it in the garage, their was a smell of burning brakes, I showered and had to take someone out to dinner that night, it was almost 9PM
I head onto the freeway and 5 minutes later, I hear a extensively loud 'clunking' sound and a bad vibration in the entire cabin and steering, I quickly pull over to the shoulder and fortunately I done this at the proper time because as I did this, 3 out of the 5 lug nuts on the driver rear fell off and the wheel was held on with 2 lug nuts
I called Lexus roadside but was advised because I was 3 days out of my roadside assistance that I would be on my own even though this problem was caused by the dealership, I didn't have my AAA towing card on me so I decided to call a local towing company, I got the car home, and it still smelled like burning brakes, I jacked it up, torqued each wheel down to the proper specs, only to find out 2 out of the 5 lugs in front were hand tight and both rear were all lose
I called the dealership in the morning and told them my situation and was advised one of two options
A.) Drive the car slowly to the dealer because there was no traffic on the freeway and if it breaks down call my own tow truck
B.) Tow the vehicle to the dealership on my own expense
Considering the fact that the dealership has their own tow service I thought this was a joke, I called AAA they picked up the car and had it towed there
I dropped off the car at 8am, and my service adviser was reassuring me that he watched the technician put on the wheel and torque it down, I asked him, "do you watch every single of your clients car get put back together?" I got no answer, I was put into a Enterprise loaner, in which I waited 3 and a half hours and they had no cars ready for me, throughout this wait, I was on the phone with Lexus corporate western region customer service supervisor explaining my situation
I ended up not taking the loaner and waited for my car, and at this time the shop foreman came out and admit the fact that, the parking brake was
1. Adjusted improperly (the tech adjusted something that didn't have to be touched, causing the caliper to be seized on the rotors)
2. The wheels were not torqued down because most likely the tech wanted to get the last car out of the shop (that specific tech was off today)
At this time, my service adviser came out and said he actually only watched the tech work on the right side of the vehicle but not the side that had everything falling apart on
Honestly, at this point, I talked to my attorney about everything before going to the dealership, I'm told if I want to pursue something I have a good case because the foreman admit to everything and even gave me his personal cell number if I have any issues in the future, but how would you guys want to pursue this? The dealership has admit to their fault and asked how I would like to be compensated. If the dealership does not work something out with me by next week, I will definitely post the detailed story of who I worked with and the dealership name
Last edited by 3GSdriver; 05-15-10 at 04:51 PM.
05-15-10, 04:33 PM
#3
They need to repair everything, free of charge.
You already paid for the first service, that they screwed up. Now they get to fix it for free, as they screwed up the car, it's their responsibility to replace the parts they messed up. If they refuse to, talk to your lawyer, but don't take your car back until it is fixed. If you take it back, they will have charged you, and since you agreed to pay to get it out, you'll have a harder time fighting this.
You already paid for the first service, that they screwed up. Now they get to fix it for free, as they screwed up the car, it's their responsibility to replace the parts they messed up. If they refuse to, talk to your lawyer, but don't take your car back until it is fixed. If you take it back, they will have charged you, and since you agreed to pay to get it out, you'll have a harder time fighting this.
05-15-10, 04:37 PM
#4
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They need to repair everything, free of charge.
You already paid for the first service, that they screwed up. Now they get to fix it for free, as they screwed up the car, it's their responsibility to replace the parts they messed up. If they refuse to, talk to your lawyer, but don't take your car back until it is fixed. If you take it back, they will have charged you, and since you agreed to pay to get it out, you'll have a harder time fighting this.
You already paid for the first service, that they screwed up. Now they get to fix it for free, as they screwed up the car, it's their responsibility to replace the parts they messed up. If they refuse to, talk to your lawyer, but don't take your car back until it is fixed. If you take it back, they will have charged you, and since you agreed to pay to get it out, you'll have a harder time fighting this.
This comes at a bad time too because my family was considering buying a Lexus LX570, and something like this brought me to the edge of selling my 3GS as I've been looking at a E60 M5 for awhile and this defiantly doesn't make me want to keep my car with horrible treatment from the Lexus brand
?
05-15-10, 05:57 PM
#6
Very poor. I would not do business with that dealer again - unless they make a gesture to show they are serious like firing the tech. Most likely, I would buy something else next time.
It's a shame when a great car company loses customers because of bad dealers. I stopped driving BMW for exactly this reason.
It's a shame when a great car company loses customers because of bad dealers. I stopped driving BMW for exactly this reason.
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05-17-10, 03:11 AM
#12
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It is understandable that they are making the repairs that you paid for. But it there could be other damages to the vehicle caused by their negligence. For example, the short amount of time the wheels were on 2 lugs it could have bent the bolts.
05-17-10, 04:25 AM
#13
Lexus Test Driver
well luckly u werent in any serious accident but thye have to pony up some serious perks for making you go thru all this trouble like they say time is money, and theyve made you waste both
05-17-10, 05:33 AM
#14
I'm glad you're OK. Sounds like you've handled this pretty well. Obviously better than they have.
I think it's completely reasonable to expect them to reimburse you for all costs and damages that resulted, both directly and indirectly. That means in addition to paying for or performing all repairs, they should pay for towing, gas, phone charges, dry cleaning if your clothes got dirty checking out your car, etc. Document every expense you incurred because of the accident and get reimbursed.
On top of this, you have every right to be concerned about damage that may not be evident until some point in the future. All sorts of things could have happened to the car after being shaken like that. I would ask them to extend your warranty both in terms of time as well as coverage, including roadside assistance.
I think that these are the most basic things that they must provide you. They should be bending over backwards to make up for something like this. What if you weren't able to pull over when you did? Obviously you're lucky you did, but so are they.
You don't want to take advantage of someones mistake, but you shouldn't suffer for it either.
Good luck and keep us posted!
I think it's completely reasonable to expect them to reimburse you for all costs and damages that resulted, both directly and indirectly. That means in addition to paying for or performing all repairs, they should pay for towing, gas, phone charges, dry cleaning if your clothes got dirty checking out your car, etc. Document every expense you incurred because of the accident and get reimbursed.
On top of this, you have every right to be concerned about damage that may not be evident until some point in the future. All sorts of things could have happened to the car after being shaken like that. I would ask them to extend your warranty both in terms of time as well as coverage, including roadside assistance.
I think that these are the most basic things that they must provide you. They should be bending over backwards to make up for something like this. What if you weren't able to pull over when you did? Obviously you're lucky you did, but so are they.
You don't want to take advantage of someones mistake, but you shouldn't suffer for it either.
Good luck and keep us posted!
