Has Anyone Experienced This?

[kam05]

Right people, not sure where I should post this topic, but since I drive an IS200 I'll post it in the IS200 area.....

Went to my local Lexus dealer to get a quote for a 70K service, got quoted £150 (basically they wanted £150 to change the oil and oil filter and general inspection of the car, (eg: check out brakes etc).

Told them to :tsktsk:, I wasn't willing to pay that much for an oil change, so the guy said to me "if you want, you can take your Lex to an independent garage of your choice for an oil change and we can sell you a service stamp for £30".

Was a bit wary of this at first, but the guy at Lexus said he can do this, anyhow, I bought an oil filter from Lexus and I bought my oil from from my local motor factors, went to an independent garage (where I used to get my old car serviced from) got the oil changed and I got a general check up of the car all done for a tenner. Then went back to Lexus and the guy at the service desk stamped my service book. Total cost of oil change: £65.

My question is: Can Lexus dealers do this or did I come across a dodgy person on the take at my local Lexus dealer???? Has anyone else experienced this???

Your thoughts please...

[ByggareBob]

Your thoughts please...

Whoa! That doesn´t sound right to me! What happens when you are going to sell the car and someone wants to check the servicebook?

[javadude]

Which dealer was it? If I bought a car with a full lexus service history I would want it to mean just that, not just that the car may or may not have been serviced to some standard by someone and then got a lexus stamp.

[Tony-Bones]

Did you get a receipt for the stamp?

[squarehead]

Sounds like the sort of thing you could buy from Liverpool market!!!

[kam05]

To be honest, the car is over 3 years old, so there shouldn't be any warranty issues, as the car is out of warranty anyway.

You have to admit when buying a car, how many of us actually ring up the dealers to confirm if they did service that particular car you may want to buy, selling the car shouldn't be a problem. Most people, including myself see a dealer service stamp in the book and take that as proof that a service took place at the appropriate time....if you saw a lexus dealer service stamp in a service book, wouldn't you assume that the car was serviced by lexus?

Your thoughts please...

Whoa! That doesn´t sound right to me! What happens when you are going to sell the car and someone wants to check the servicebook?

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[Tony-Bones]

Did they give you a "receipt" for the stamp!

[kam05]

Yes

Did they give you a "receipt" for the stamp!

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[MacRS200]

To be honest

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That's the thing, to have a service stamp in the book from Lexus if they didn't do the service, and then to sell the car with a "full Lexus service history" is not honest.

And as for Lexus, I could walk into a Lexus Dealer pay £30 for a stamp to say that they serviced it when in fact I'd done SFA to the car. That brings the whole Lexus name into disrepute.

If I were you I would contact Lexus GB and give them the name of the dealer along with proof of this scam

[adz]

"if you want, you can take your Lex to an independent garage of your choice for an oil change and we can sell you a service stamp for £30".

He wasn't wearing a shell suit and a curly wig was he?

When you got wound up did he say "Eh, camm down, camm down!"

Sounds dodgy to me mate. I think you should contact Lexus GB like the other guys recommend.

[Tony-Bones]

Yes

Did they give you a "receipt" for the stamp!

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Then i think that is illegal ( Scarface were are you! )... The stamp should mean Lexus has "validated" the service themself.

[Sipey]

From my experience of Lexus servicing you're probably best off doing the service yourself anyway

[legendswraith]

with tony on this selling a stamp to keep up a FLSH smacks of fraud to me

[Rob]

people might not agree with me but..... i can see the advantages of this, as said before rather than paying upto £200 for an oil change and a quick once over of the car, i would rather do the work myself and get the stamp - dodgy or not it wouldnt bother me, at least i know the work has been done, unlike some dealers i have experienced!

[MacRS200]

people might not agree with me  but.....  i can see the advantages of this, as said before rather than paying  upto  £200 for an oil change  and a quick once over of the car, i would rather do the work myself and get the stamp - dodgy or not it wouldnt bother me, at least i know the work has been done, unlike some dealers i have experienced!

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The flip side of that is that anyone can get a stamp and NOT DO/GET ANY WORK DONE, then you buy the car thinking it has been serviced, but it's not seen a spanner since it was bought by the "really not bothered" con man, who changed the oil and filled the diff with sawdust just before YOU test drove it.

[Rob]

very true, there are +ve and -ve sides to everything i suppose, but for me it would be an ideal situation.

[Purvesh]

You have to admit when buying a car, how many of us actually ring up the dealers to confirm if they did service that particular car you may want to buy, selling the car shouldn't be a problem.  Most people, including myself see a dealer service stamp in the book and take that as proof that a service took place at the appropriate time....if you saw a lexus dealer service stamp in a service book, wouldn't you assume that the car was serviced by lexus?

I definately call each and everyone (if different) and ensure mileage and service carried out is what it says it is.

I even get the print out of all warranty work carried out, to check the sellers story.

It has proved invaluable to me.

[baby_lexus]

I am not too impressed by what I've heard here.

I think the dealer in question needs to be reported to Lexus GB. This is not right, and certainly can't be in their "Code of conduct".

So... I go and buy a 4 year old car at a Lexus dealer... with 4 stamps in it, 3 proper services and this dodgy 4th stamp. They sell the car with full "Lexus Service". This amounts to fraud, and miss selling the product. You could sue them for all sorts of things.

I would urge you to report the dealer...I thought Ford/Vauhall dealers were like this ( from past experiences )... not Lexus.

Someone else stated earlier that they had a bad experience with a service. I'd be interested to find out what happened.

[Steve]

i had better carve a Lexus stamp into a spud then...

I would report the dealer!

[dhs]

I should think that the Lexus Executives following many years of blood sweat and tears to build a world class premier brand name would be extreemely p :tsktsk: ssed by this back street manouver.

[Rob]

why doesnt someone just call lexus and find out what the score is - which dealer was it!!!???????

[mudzs]

its 100% illegal ,the stamp is to show that that garage did the service .years ago when main dealers did not put everything on computor we used to buy a john ball kit and stamp them up ourselves .if i buy a car i always phone the dealers to check service book is not forged ,what the daeler gonna say when they get a call from a person buying your car "we only stamped the book",the buyer will run a mile and your car will be unsellable .just think you could do 100,000 miles, never service the car and still have a full lexus history .its not the 1st of april again is it ?.i would phone trading standards and tell them all about this so called main dealer as it is in all our interest to stop this sort of thing happening as i for one do not want my next lexus to have a fully stamp lexus service history when its realy been done by kwick chit .

[eXOBeX]

He's in West Yorkshire, that points to either Leeds or Bradford.

[gsportcars]

I find this very hard to believe and quite annoying. At the same time though, It would be spot on for me cos I would not want to pay extortionate prices for a silly service when I can do it myself.

My solution is service the car Myself and staple all the reciepts of the oil, oil filter, pads, plugs etc etc etc into the service book with the dates etc on the reciepts.

When it comes to sell the car the buyer will think what is the point of buying all the stuff just for proof and not fitting it anyway so hopefully will be happy enough!!!

[Bob King]

How many of you with used lexus cars 2nd or 3rd owner,have ever contacted the dealer ,that has a stamp in your service book to check that the work has been do, you could be in for a nasty shock :o .