Lexus: Frustration with car dealerships

In article <supernews.com>,
"V.H." <com> wrote:
 

That happens sometimes with any business. Haven't you ever phoned an
order in for a pizza to pick up, and gotten there only to find out that
for some reason your order slipped through the cracks?

Mistakes happen.

In article <supernews.com>,
"V.H." <com> wrote:
 

Be aware that ALL mechanics are independents; some of them happen to
work for dealerships, and others don't.

And some of them are good, and some aren't. Me, I've found a couple who
happen to work for dealerships who are extremely good, and I use them
exclusively.

And some shops that are NOT affiliated with a car dealership are as bad
as you describe.

You can't make a blanket claim that all dealerships are bad, and
everyone is better off going to a non-dealership service shop.

With all due respect, pizzas are not a $70000 product and do not command
the same consumer expectations. Part of what I bought, and pay for with
Lexus service prices, is Getting It Done Right. I can service a car
myself and not ding it, break things, soil the upholstery, forget
things, leave rattles behind, mar the trim, damage electronics, put in
the wrong kind of brake fluid or engine oil, tool-mark fasteners, or
leave bolts lying on the carpet. The local dealer can't. It just frosts
me that I have to drive my car almost 200 miles out of state to get it
serviced competently when there's a dealer 7 miles away.

But the good news is, there's a superb dealer only three hours' drive
away in Tulsa. Those gentlemen have Got It. Lexus: pay Tulsa's owner
anything he wants to run your USA service operations.

-- Pete


Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote: 

Well, I had yet another bad experience with a car dealership today. I had an
11:00 appt. for a routine oil change and tire rotation this morning, and at
11:55 I decided to check on the status of my vehicle. The young service rep
came back to the waiting room and said, "I'm sorry, no one ever entered any
information for your vehicle and we haven't even started on it yet."
Needless to say I was starting to get torqued off at this point. I had also
asked them to check out the driver's door latch because it had a tendency to
stick/jam at certain times. Not every time, but on occasion it just required
too much force to release the door latch from inside and outside of the
vehicle. Okay, once they FINALLY finished servicing my car, which included a
half-assed wash and vaccuum job, I sat down with them to settle up on the
bill. For some reason, they charged me $32.00 USD more than they did the
last time I had my oil changed and tires rotated there. So, I had to get the
service manager involved to get my 32 bucks back. Then I went outside to get
in the car and there was white lubricant all of the way up the driver's side
window in about a 3" inch wide pattern. It was also all over the black door
frame's rear, vertical post. How can a technician lubricate a door latch
mechanism and end up smearing white lubricant on such a large area of window
glass?! :-( This 'dealership thing' really, really rots. It has happened to
me at Nissan, Lexus, Ford and GM dealerships over the years. I take a car in
to have it serviced and they end up doing one of the following things to it:
-Scratch it
-Dent/ding it
-Get grease, oil or dirt on large areas of the carpet/headliner/exterior
-Screw up other aspects of the mechanicals or electricals

It's just unbelievable how often this happens to friends, co-workers, family
members and myself. Regardless of the vehicle manufacturer that they
support, these types of dealership behaviors seem to be fairly common. At
least in my neck of the woods. I just cringe at the thought of having to tak
e ANY of my three cars to be serviced at a dealership. The two that are no
longer under warranty are always taken to an independent garage where I
truly trust the owner/mechanic.

Surely I'm not the only one that has had multiple, negative experiences with
automobile dealerships....

V.H.

V.H. wrote: 

Any business that pays folks < $20 an hour will get the same results.

My advice to you is to go to the Lexus website and contact the company
directly with your complaints about this dealer. When searching for a
dealer to give me the best price on my ES300 I requested quotes from local
dealer through the Lexus site. Some replied to me with a quote and some did
not. I also recieved an e-mail from Toyota/Lexus in Japan asking if these
dealers got back to me or not. If the dealership treats you poorly it is
in the best intrest of the manufactuer to straighten these people out or get
rid of them. As a Quality professional myself I would advise you to bypass
them with your complaits and refer them to the factory. This will get their
attention.

WHY post it AGAIN????


"V.H." <com> wrote in message
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"Karl" <net> wrote in message
news:com... 

It was a mistake Karl! Something you've probably never made in your entire
life I would guess. Chill out.

V.H.
 
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