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I’m sorry this happened to you RCFGrandpa. I had similar treatment at my local Porsche dealership with a Macan S. I was so enraged I traded it in for a RC F immediately. I hate to say it but it looks like every dealership is scamming to a certain extent. And dishonesty and bad behavior is like a plague in America.
I agree with you RandallNYC. It is like the Vacation movie, How much is it? How much do you got? I guess it’s time to trade in or sell my 1,900 miles on the odometer, 2018 LC500. Wife loves her NX300h but I can always trade for a Toyota Rav 4 version. It is still burning my craw on the estimate to replace a trim piece for $307.00 + 10.9% tax, a 10-20 minute job. At $198.00 an hour labor rate, they were asking for $1,000.00+ an hour labor rate. I don’t even want to bring any of my vehicles back to Seattle Lexus. If I do, it will be for recalls and oil changes. Glorified Jiffy Lube mechanics working there. Maybe the Jiffy Lube mechanic at Lexus takes him over an hour and a half to replace the 10 minute trim piece. From wash boy to transmission repair with no experience,” I always wanted to work on a transmission”!
By the way, it is the principal of the scam, not the dollar amount. Scamming senior citizens is a crime but not enforced now days because like you said, they are all doing it.
My RC-F has never been to the dealership since I bought it, my independent shop does everything to that car. I may have totally lucked out (your mileage may vary) but when I got to St Pete about 2 years ago, I went to google maps (not google) and started researching. Type in your address, then once it's centered on your house type in auto mechanic. You'll get 10s, maybe even 100 push pins in your area. Then start looking at the reviews. Every shop is going to have one or two reviews to the effect of "He's crook!" or "Broke my car worse" but when you find a shop with a lot of reviews and the overwhelming majority of them are "these guys are good people, saved me a couple of hundred over the dealership" and reviews like "honest quote, fair price, did the job right" and I mean lots of reviews like that, that's a shop worth checking out. Go to a few shops and talk to them, it's worth the effort.
My RC-F has never been to the dealership since I bought it, my independent shop does everything to that car. I may have totally lucked out (your mileage may vary) but when I got to St Pete about 2 years ago, I went to google maps (not google) and started researching. Type in your address, then once it's centered on your house type in auto mechanic. You'll get 10s, maybe even 100 push pins in your area. Then start looking at the reviews. Every shop is going to have one or two reviews to the effect of "He's crook!" or "Broke my car worse" but when you find a shop with a lot of reviews and the overwhelming majority of them are "these guys are good people, saved me a couple of hundred over the dealership" and reviews like "honest quote, fair price, did the job right" and I mean lots of reviews like that, that's a shop worth checking out. Go to a few shops and talk to them, it's worth the effort.
Sqlboy2000 - Great idea! I don’t want to get rid of my RCF or LC500. They both are excellent cars. I’m just upset that I have to find someone I can really trust. So many terrible businesses and employees trained to get as much money as you can.
Nigel,
I paid $450.00 to get my door panels installed. I watched the technician do it in less than an hour. I complained about that and the service manager banned me from the service area. I don’t know why they all of a sudden are acting like jerks. The last time I was in just a couple weeks ago to get my seat parts installed that they broke, I was at the retail parts counter listening to the technician talk about the job, my car, and me at the shop counter. The two shop counter parts guys both told the technician that I was at the retail counter listening. I told my advisor that I didn’t want a Jiffy Lube mechanic working on my car. The advisor said nothing. Also it was my second time I have driven to the dealership and it was a complete waste of time. Technician was sick both times. I think that is why he gave me a ridiculous price of installing a trim piece that would take the “mechanic” 10 minutes for $307.00 plus tax. Also Lexus has a special this month for tires. I made an appointment 4 days before the tire special began and had top of the line Michelin 17” tires installed on the wife’s Lexus. You think they would have said come back in 4 days and I can save you money with a free alignment. I mentioned it to the advisor and he did not respond. I really need to look for a reputable company to service my vehicles in the very near future. What state do you reside in? I have had it with the political bull in this state, Seattle, once the most beautiful city in the country is turning into LA and SF. Looking for a new place to live my retirement years and drive my RCF until the day I die.
Yea that dealer sounds like they suck or at least the service dept does... If people were talking about me at a place where I am giving them money I'd never go back again. And I'd be writing a letter to who ever owns the dealer about the experience. I've found that calling just puts off, but actually writing a letter and sending it and someone has to read it ALWAYS gets me a response. Yea the door panels are like 4 screws and then you just pop them off and undo the two cables for the locks/handles. Super easy.
I've in northern VA/DC area. I used to love Seattle. I've been there many times, at one point I wanted to move there (I'm in IT, so working at Microsoft would have bee nice), but now (no offense), I don't want to go back. It was actually sad seeing it in the state that it's in. It did very much remind me of SF when were were there a year or so back... it's a shame, because I really like SF as well... but those are two places that I'd not go back or live.
My wife and I want to retire to Costa Rica here sometime. VA is WAY too tax happy... and we got too many people here.. .traffic is awful.
Nigel,
I paid $450.00 to get my door panels installed. I watched the technician do it in less than an hour. I complained about that and the service manager banned me from the service area.
This reminds me of some mechanic memes I've seen lately along the lines of: "If you see me get a job done in an hour it's because I've spent 10 years learning how to get it done in an hour. You owe me for my experience, not the hour."
Basically the service manager charged you the book rate for R&R of those panels. Dealerships that don't normally do that kind of work just default to what the book says, every now and then you'll get a good service writer that can inject some common sense and realize that no they shouldn't charge someone 3.5 hours of labor for an easy task. That's the main reason dealerships get the reputation of being crooks, while you're local mechanic or specialty shop will generally charge you more in line with actual time vs book time.
I finally received most of my front seat parts and installed today. 5 minutes to install. Just waiting for right hand side vent bezel to arrive. One set of seat back parts Finished seat back
This reminds me of some mechanic memes I've seen lately along the lines of: "If you see me get a job done in an hour it's because I've spent 10 years learning how to get it done in an hour. You owe me for my experience, not the hour."
Basically the service manager charged you the book rate for R&R of those panels. Dealerships that don't normally do that kind of work just default to what the book says, every now and then you'll get a good service writer that can inject some common sense and realize that no they shouldn't charge someone 3.5 hours of labor for an easy task. That's the main reason dealerships get the reputation of being crooks, while you're local mechanic or specialty shop will generally charge you more in line with actual time vs book time.
The same Lexus dealership, different advisor, only charged me $125.00 to install my new orange steering wheel from Japan. Unfortunately he went to a Ford dealership. I know that the advisor wants to get their hours per repair order numbers up but don’t rape your loyal customers who bring in three Lexus vehicles serviced every six months, especially if they are senior citizens.
So I just received my new seat cushion from Lexus(another $1,450.00) just to gut it out and put them in the orange Japanese cushion. The airbag sensor is made into the seat cushion and since the Japanese RH cushion is the driver’s side is the reason for the new seat cushion. I did not want to use my current seat cushion so I will be able to possibly sell my black interior in the future.
I have my black interior all boxed up and ready to ship out to a new RCF. Perfect for someone who wants to change their interior to black. This is leather, not the fake kind. It was an $800 option for leather. I haven’t figured out how much to sell it for yet and if I want to sell it. Anyway, packed up carefully for storage at this time.
Store owner Tim Paull says 99% sure that he can do the job. It’s in his hands now and the wait begins. Because the seat cover is molded to the cushion it will take a lot of care removing it. Along with ClubLexus member Nigel, they both said that I’m probably the first person to do this and that I will be the only RCF in American with the Japanese special edition RCF interior.
Totally awesome! It's going to be complete soon! I'd be worried if he would have said something like yea, it's a 50-50 chance of getting this to work. But if the owner is saying 99% sure, you know you are in good hands.
I can't wait to see the finished project! Did they give you any type of ETA at all? When this is all done you should take pictures and send it to Lexus and tell them that you are in fact the only one in the USA that has a japanese spec interior all the way through... they might throw something your way..? lol
Totally awesome! It's going to be complete soon! I'd be worried if he would have said something like yea, it's a 50-50 chance of getting this to work. But if the owner is saying 99% sure, you know you are in good hands.
I can't wait to see the finished project! Did they give you any type of ETA at all? When this is all done you should take pictures and send it to Lexus and tell them that you are in fact the only one in the USA that has a japanese spec interior all the way through... they might throw something your way..? lol
-Nigel
I received a phone call while I was getting my Tacoma serviced at the Toyota dealership from Tim and after some digging, looks like I am the 1%. He told me that the cover is massively glued to the cushion and it sounds like it will get destroyed removing it and the Japanese one. He is looking now at possibly removing the occupant sensor. One other option would be to run a jumper cable from the left side cushion(occupant sensor is on the Japanese LH cushion) to the harness on the right hand side. Only thing is that it would always sense someone sitting on the right side. That is the only option other than that if Tim can replace the sensor. I will keep you posted.
Dang it! You would think there is some type of glue adhesive solvent that would be able to dissolve the glue to be able to get the covers off.
I'm pretty sure someone posted on facebook about doing something similar with the occupancy sensor and being able to trick it or have it always on even if someone wasn't in the seat... I think they did this when they changed out their seat.
Don't give up, you are almost there!
Is there a way he can take the orange stripe from the jdm seat and sew it onto the USDM seat or also match the orange stitching? IE: Stitch the usdm seat so it's orange and attach the orange stripe?
Dang it! You would think there is some type of glue adhesive solvent that would be able to dissolve the glue to be able to get the covers off.
I'm pretty sure someone posted on facebook about doing something similar with the occupancy sensor and being able to trick it or have it always on even if someone wasn't in the seat... I think they did this when they changed out their seat.
Don't give up, you are almost there!
Is there a way he can take the orange stripe from the jdm seat and sew it onto the USDM seat or also match the orange stitching? IE: Stitch the usdm seat so it's orange and attach the orange stripe?
-Nigel
After I got off the phone with Tim, he felt bad that he couldn’t do it. He called Lexus in Seattle and had them fax him the schematic for the seat. Long story short, $200.00(a bargain), I just got back from Marysville with my finished seat cushion. Passed all electrical tests. Hopefully I can get in soon to get the final two parts installed and project 2015 RCF Japanese Special Edition interior will be complete.
Last edited by RCFGrandpa; 06-16-22 at 04:34 PM.
Reason: Add photo
04-30-22, 01:21 PM
How Much Do You Got?
