i completely agree.
the company is not to blame as they've basically franchised their dealerships to private owners afterwards.
how the dealer behaves is based upon the individual personalities of the people that we have to deal with. whether the service advisor, tech, or the manager.
i have heard great things about greenwich lexus in CT. and i plan on taking the lx to them for my next scheduled service. let's see how that turns out.

 

Who provided the service? They say you can't prove it but neither can they disprove that such damage was done during their service.

If only they could subject the service technician to a lie-detector test.

I say write to some of the ombudsman services at magazines, or to a Consumer Protection Agency, or take them to Small-Claims Court!!!!

This is an outrage, this dealer should be ashamed, what is their exact name so that this story can be spread throughout the internet and their reputation besmirched and them lose $$$ in business!

"Doing you a favor with $200?" What a joke, they should be ashamed of themselves. Not to mention how insulting it is to the customer. At Lexus, The Customer Comes First...seems this dealer has fallen off that path!

 

I know how you feel. Your dealer's not treating you right and that used to be my situation with my local dealer. Before my GX, I bought an RX300 out of town. Once it was time for my services, they didn't provide me with "The Lexus Promise" of free car washes, and loaner Lexus, and good treatment. What I got was always a "I'm sorry, I can't give you a loaner. The shuttle is waiting for you outside" while I think that's all BS.

It should be a goal of Lexus that all the dealers should be "uniform" in that they all have the same treatment, same policies, and same goal. They should have a surprise inspection of their dealerships across America to see if the name LEXUS lives up to their standards when it comes to customer care and SATISFACTION!

 

Here's a more realistic approach that has worked for me each and every time even if this goes somewhat aginst your personality.

First off always inspect the car before you leave, particularly where the work was done i.e. dash area if radio related, If you then see or find something they broke politely bring it to the service manager's attention. If they refuse to fix for what ever reason under the sun, go and grab a chair and sit right out side his/her office (I call this my civil protest mode). With your car keys a cup of coffee and a news paper refuse to leave until the problem is fixed, leaving the car right where they parked it. So if they asked you to move it for customers bringing their cars in you can refuse and if they threaten you with security you can simply inform them that they are the ones who parked it there and the work is not complete. Out of sheer discuss or not wanting to risk causing a scene or simply just wanting the problem to go away they will (everytime I've used this technique) take care of it, this method has yet to fail. You have to be just as stubborn as they are and don't give in.

 

hmmm, sounds like a good idea! well if anything goes wrong now when i take my car in, I'll go DIRECTLY to the owner of the dealership(s) because I once had a good talk with him while waiting for my car wash and he told me "If there's anything wrong, talk to me and let me know". (he owns 3 dealerships).

 

I think this is the part where you post his Cell phone number, and we call him and threaten that we will not service our cars in that dealership if that problem is not resolved. Because we cannot trust our cars to anyone who fundles with them, then requires proof, we have better things to do and that LEXUS owners DO commmunicate with eachother.

All its going to take is three of four calls to get this GM on his *** trying to order you that peice of wood.

If you really want to do this, just PM me... lol... it really works, tried it in another industry and they fell for it, we gotta help out fellew Lexus owner

 

Sounds like you may have gotten screwed a bit here, but you (all) have to look at things from the dealerships perspective too. My wife works at Lexus of Manhattan and they CONSTATNLY get complaints about you did this to my car and that wasn't there before etc...one time some woman was complaining about highway rock chips trying to blame the delaership - the car looked like an absolute disaster area - crap everywhere inside etc. and unknown to her several employees who were "hanging out" that day happened to over hear her telling her husband to shut his mouth because she's going to get the hood re-painted for free.

Not only does this happen but my wife has to deal with a dozen or so "slip and fall" claims per week where someone alleges that the floor was wet and they slipped and hurt their head or back or whatever.

What should happen (it does now at L of M - since I gave them the procedures to follow for the totally **** customer using myself as the example) When a car is brought in and the customer is greeted they perform a walkaround of the car - noting any bumps, dings, scrapes etc on the exterior of the vehicle. For any work that is being performed on the interior of the vehicle if the tech notices anything outside of the ordinary - i.e. scratches etc... it is also written up and if necessary brought to the customer's/svc manager's attention - before work is performed on that particular part area/item. It's not always feasible, but it has cut down alot on the cases of alleged dealer error.

SO I guess what I'm trying to say is - is it possible that the dealer scratched it? sure, are they ever going to admit it - most times no. It's easy to say the customer is right and Lexus shouldn't argue, but unfortuantely not everyone is honest and we all know that it ruins it for us. I would suggest to anyone bringing a car in for service - if you KNOW that they have to remove something , a console, wood trim, bumper cover whatever - take pictures before hand, or point out to the service writer that the part is in immaculate condition and you expect it returned that way....HAVE THEM SIGN OFF ON THAT, then there will never be an issue.

Anyway sorry for your troubles, if there is anything I can do as far as parts pricing or anything let me know.

 

Maybe I should bring a camcorder when I go to dealership for services and video tape the entire vehicle just before drop off.

 

Yeah, something like those cams on those reality shows that film from every angle

 

I love some of these replies; especially those which want to do mayhem to dealer demos.
I suspect that that scratch might have originated elsewhere.

leot

 

This is a good idea.

If all else fails, within a reasonable amount of time....cancel the charge that they made on your credit card. They'll listen to you then. You shouldn't have to pay for service you didn't receive, and that includes the customer service you should have received.