Servicing Annoyances

Odysseus · April 30, 2019

Having a bit of a stroppy time with Lexus Cambridge at the moment.

Booked my GS450h in for a bunch of work including 80,000 mile service, rear brake discs and pads, an MOT and two wheel refurbs, and the only things they did were the service and the MOT. It looks like a breakdown of communication between the ‘contact centre’ who handled my booking and the actual dealer doing the work, but it’s highly annoying.

The other irritating things are that the MOT (which has an expiry date a month before its supposed to, but that’s another story) has advisories on a broken earth strap on the gearbox, and a misting front shock.

I’m asking why these are not being replaced under warranty, and will let you know what the outcome is.

Things aren’t supposed to be this hard with Lexus!

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Farqui · April 30, 2019

Hi Andrew, it's odd that the dealer didn't jump at the chance to do the extra items but if the call center didn't pass it on then they wouldn't know. To prevent 'Chinese Whispers' in the future, does this dealer have a direct contact telephone number?

As for the broken strap and legendary shock misting, don't warranty claims have to be taken up with Lexus UK before the dealer gets the nod to proceed? A broken strap isn't going to break the bank so you'd have thought they'd have done that there/then. A misting shock eh, if it were me then I'd want to see that for myself as mine were apparently 'bad' 2 years ago and are still going strong/dry some 20k miles later.

My experience with my local Lexus dealer is poor but Sheffield appeared to be much more customer focused and attentive across several departments I've visited them for. I guess we're at the will of the post code lottery here :schmoll:

Good luck getting it all sorted.

Odysseus · April 30, 2019

4 hours ago, Farqui said:

it's odd that the dealer didn't jump at the chance to do the extra items but if the call center didn't pass it on then they wouldn't know. To prevent 'Chinese Whispers' in the future, does this dealer have a direct contact telephone number?

I know what you mean. When you call the Cambridge dealer number depending on how busy it is you'll either get through to them directly or the contact centre for the Steven Eagell group. I don't have a problem with this in principle as they are perfectly pleasant to deal with, but from my perspective as the customer it shouldn't matter who I talk to.

I summarised all my niggles in an email so hopefully the response will be encouraging.

Odysseus · May 10, 2019

I'm told by Lexus Cambridge it's going to be sorted, and I'll be getting a courtesy car in the mean time. I'm due to drop the car off with them on Monday.

If they're as good as their word, I'll be getting a new front damper under warranty, a new gearbox earth strap under warranty, a new differential drain plug under warranty, and a fresh MOT, as well as the rear discs and pads fitted as I requested when I made the booking.

Getting this far has taken quite a lot of chasing however, and isn't the kind of hassle free Lexus owning experience I was hoping for. I'll let you all know how it goes.