Rant, incoming..

[MadJam250]

Significant rant about a main dealer to follow. Get the popcorn ready. I'm off to destress first before I put pen to paper. 

[dutchie01]

Tell us Martin please tell us!

[J Henderson]

[RXtoNX]

[MadJam250]

Good morning. 

So, for starters. I had two tyres fitted to the rear by Lexus a few months ago and felt they may need to go to the front, which was offered at my MOT by the main dealer this week. Any idea how much this would cost the customer? 

Also, after that was done, the steering wheel was found to be way out of alignment - so have a guess how much it would have cost the customer to rectify this (their own) fault? 

I'll leave it there for now as intrigued to see some views before I elaborate. 

[DF-300 Sport]

I'll guess first, given my experience of my 1st two visits at my local Lexus dealership.......hopefully, i'm way out (over)....£400?

[DF-300 Sport]

.......P.S..... This might be the most popular thread?..... I have a rant of my own to share!😯

[Bluemarlin]

I had front and rears swapped recently by my local garage. Think it cost about a tenner.

That said, my view is that if you had two new tyres fitted, then they should stay on the rear. I believe most tyre manufacturers state that the newest tyres should be on the rear. In fact I think Costco will only fit new tyres to the rear (if fitting two) and, if they're replacing front ones, will rotate them to the rear.

[Spacewagon52]

15 minutes ago, Bluemarlin said:

I had front and rears swapped recently by my local garage. Think it cost about a tenner.

That said, my view is that if you had two new tyres fitted, then they should stay on the rear. I believe most tyre manufacturers state that the newest tyres should be on the rear. In fact I think Costco will only fit new tyres to the rear (if fitting two) and, if they're replacing front ones, will rotate them to the rear.

That surprises me. I thought the driving wheels should have the newest tyres on. Rear wheel drive - rear  /  front wheel drive - front?

[J Henderson]

I would want the newest tyres on the driven wheels too, but I think this policy being enforced is because worn tyres on the front axle will likely result in understeer, and understeer is viewed as more "safe" for the average driver to deal with.

 

[ganzoom]

2 hours ago, MadJam250 said:

Good morning. 

So, for starters. I had two tyres fitted to the rear by Lexus a few months ago and felt they may need to go to the front, which was offered at my MOT by the main dealer this week. Any idea how much this would cost the customer? 

Also, after that was done, the steering wheel was found to be way out of alignment - so have a guess how much it would have cost the customer to rectify this (their own) fault? 

So literally just moving moving from wheels to back or refitting tires front to back (though am not sure why you would the latter). Surely if its just a wheel swap, £5 (or just good will), a tire garage will charge you £10 per wheel for a tire mount which is alot more work than just taking wheels off and putting them on again - 5 minutes job.

Alignment £50 max, though I've NEVER had to do any kind of alignment EVER on any car I have owned. 

 

 

[Herbie]

This whole thing seems like a non-problem anyway, or at least one of the OP's own making. 

In the very first line at the top of the page he mentions two words, i.e. "main dealer".

Absolutely everyone knows that main dealers are expensive (they're not nicknamed main stealers for nothing) but it would appear that the OP didn't know that. Last time I looked I think it was in the region of about £135 + VAT/hour, maybe even more.

I strongly believe in 'horses for courses' and would go to an aircon specialist to deal with aircon problems; an auto electrician to deal with electrical problems; a mechanic to deal with engine problems and so on, including a tyre specialist to deal with tyres/alignment issues - all of which would, without doubt, charge considerably less than a main Lexus dealer.

[Bluemarlin]

6 hours ago, Spacewagon52 said:

That surprises me. I thought the driving wheels should have the newest tyres on. Rear wheel drive - rear  /  front wheel drive - front?

Instinctively that's what I would think too, but it seems it's the other way round. Here's an article from Michelin:

https://thetiredigest.michelin.com/every-day-if-you-only-change-two-tires

[PaulWhitt20]

Yes, it’s not as you might think, but if you loose the back end you are in big trouble, hence the new tyres go on the rear. 

[MadJam250]

So, back to my original post. I was told that as a loyal customer they wouldn't charge be to swap the tyres over but ordinarily this should have been £145!!

After that work, I noticed the steering wheel was 30 degrees off. They arranged to have the car back in and would give me a lift to work the next morning. Great. So the next morning I go in and immediately there's all this confusion about the steering wheel being rectified and then after a quick chat with the boss, I was told it would take 10 mins, which was great cause I could still get to work on time. 45 mins later, no news. The service chap is there and I ask what's happening to be told they're working on it - so rather than argue I asked for a lift to work ASAP, which they duly did but no apology. 

Later the car is returned, no apology for making me late for work and to rub salt in the wound I should feel lucky because the rectifying work (wheel alignment) should have cost me £145, something I had paid a few months before. Still no apology, yet guilt tripped into thinking their lost Labour (rectifying the problem they created) was my fault. Thereafter a long and heated chat face to face with the manager and not a single ounce of apology for making me late for work etc. I added that the customer service lately wasn't a patch on their old standards and he couldn't care less. I stated that I would likely use another branch or an independent and his response : "well, we don't make any business from servicing, so no loss to us". 

And there's more.. 

[J Henderson]

I've no idea how the steering could be misaligned by as much as 30 degrees just by swapping wheels. That's just bizarre.

It shouldn't be affected. At all. I've swapped the wheels on my own car countless times during the past 6 years and it still drives straight and true with  no evidence of abnormal tyre wear.

Anyway, it sounds like your experience has been less than satisfactory. I would invest in a decent trolley jack and wheel brace, so a trip to the dealer can be eliminated for something as simple as a wheel swap.

 

[MadJam250]

15 hours ago, Herbie said:

This whole thing seems like a non-problem anyway, or at least one of the OP's own making. 

In the very first line at the top of the page he mentions two words, i.e. "main dealer".

Absolutely everyone knows that main dealers are expensive (they're not nicknamed main stealers for nothing) but it would appear that the OP didn't know that. Last time I looked I think it was in the region of about £135 + VAT/hour, maybe even more.

I strongly believe in 'horses for courses' and would go to an aircon specialist to deal with aircon problems; an auto electrician to deal with electrical problems; a mechanic to deal with engine problems and so on, including a tyre specialist to deal with tyres/alignment issues - all of which would, without doubt, charge considerably less than a main Lexus dealer.

I'm highlighting how a previously excellent main dealer is now completely the opposite. Considering Lexus keeps winning awards for customer service satisfaction, my experiences show quite the opposite now. Lexus rely on repeat custom yet after my saying that I'll now be using an alternative garage they happily accepted that and didn't try once to apologise or retain a loyal customer. 

I again pointed out to them that their prices doubling for some costs is not sustainable and plain greedy and was told "we're a business, we need to make money", which is of course true but it's a middle finger to the customer. The customer of course has the freedom to go elsewhere and I'll now do so. If Lexus treated all their customers with such disdain they'd be out of business quickly.

I guess to them the owner of an 8 year old car isn't worthy of retaining and, in their own words, isn't making them any money. Lexus dropping their brilliant 'Essential Care' servicing and parts package is evidence of that too, I feel. I was hoping to buy another Lexus in due course but that won't now happen unless an alternative dealer can be respectful and worthy of custom, or I change marque altogether. I've been impressed with Mazda lately so may give them some more thought. But from own experience of being a Lexus owner (4x) they'll still be hard to beat - just a shame the overall relationship with them has ended so sourly. 

[MadJam250]

On 9/17/2022 at 4:49 PM, Herbie said:

 

I forgot to add that the dealer defended Lexus's (high) servicing costs saying that prices are fairly compared across the industry, so when I pointed out that the dealer adjoined, Toyota, is charging much less for servicing a Prius (the same engine etc) how can that justify their statement. Silence. 

And then to add insult to injury.. 

 

[royoftherovers]

Martin, please name the Dealership for the benefit of Members and has ownership of it changed hands within the last 12 months ?

[Spock66]

It sounds like your interaction was with the service department and service manager, I would suggest escalating this to the dealership principle and then the Managing Director of the business concerned.

You also need to be clear in what resolution you are seeking, rework, refund, apology or something else?

[MadJam250]

Indeed. That is ongoing now. I am most concerned as to why my steering wheel was so significantly misaligned after the MOT and wheel swap and why it has been driven around without my permission (see other thread). 

[VFR]

So which dealership ?

So we can avoid the place ourselves.  

[MadJam250]

I'll name the dealer in due course. Giving them a chance to make this right first and will go from there. They've been an excellent dealer for years so my hope is they can follow their mission statement, re putting the customer first etc. 

[Hamish2015]

If the steering wheel has moved from being central to off centre i would suspect there has either been some kind of suspension / steering damage such as hitting a kerb or the wheel alignment has been incorrectly adjusted. I would certainly be following this up with the dealers and request a diagnostic report of the suspension and steering systems. When driving i would also check whether the car pulls to one side when reducing grip on the steering wheel, this would give you an idea of how good the steering geometry is. 

[MadJam250]

On 9/23/2022 at 7:32 AM, MadJam250 said:

I'll name the dealer in due course. Giving them a chance to make this right first and will go from there. They've been an excellent dealer for years so my hope is they can follow their mission statement, re putting the customer first etc. 

It was Listers Cheltenham. 

The head office have allegedly done an investigation and have found no wrong doing and the matter in their eyes is closed. I shall now be addressing this with Lexus HQ. 

Cross referred to this is my other complaint that they have used my car without my permission (separate thread). The satnav settings had been adjusted and an entry inputted by them yet they deny the car made that journey despite the calculation of additional mileage made ties up with that address. The excuse was a valeter may have accidently adjusted the satnav (!!), which is an utterly bizarre excuse. How can you accidentally input a satnav entry when cleaning a car?! 

I will never use Listers Cheltenham again. Hoping Lexus HQ listen.