New LX-470 Fiasco - Need To Vent

[ShottsUZJ100]

Well it's another day and another story .

I just got a call from the always friendly service consultant. The deal for today is that the bumper has been dealt with (parts replaced, repainted), the vibration problem is mostly taken care of (they still aren't quite happy with it, so want to keep it another day), and they have ordered a replacement wiring harness. Supposedly, the harness will take a couple of weeks to get.

He said I should probably be able to pick up the vehicle tomorrow and then bring it back in when the harness arrives. He didn't say it, but I got the impression I could choose to just keep the loaner vehicle until the replacement harness is installed. Keeping the loaner is probably the smart choice, but I'd also really like to get a chance to drive my own vehicle a bit before I have to make my first car payment and I just don't like the RX-330 very much - I'm not really comfortable in it (I'm 6'1" and a big guy), it's not really fun to drive, and the radio sucks compared to the Mark Levinson system in the LX. The plus side for keeping the loaner is that it costs them money every day and it drives the point home that I'm dead serious (no pun intended) about having the wiring problem resolved.

I called a lawyer's office today, but haven't heard back yet - I just got their answering service.

Better not make that 1st finance payment...........and if you take it home now to await the harness........oh, boy.

 

[sleeoffroad]

I just got a call from the always friendly service consultant. The deal for today is that the bumper has been dealt with (parts replaced, repainted)

Now ask them to put that one on a similar car on the lot and take the factory painted one from the other car and put it on yours Would still preffer factory paint.

, the vibration problem is mostly taken care of (they still aren't quite happy with it,

This part bugs me a lot. If it was tires, why not swap a new fresh set from a truck that just arrived onto the truck. A brand new 06 LX should not have a vibration.

 

[Landpimp]

OK, I just skimed this thread.

But there is no way in hell I would want a NEW 2006 LX that has been torn apart to replace the SRS harness..........NO WAY, I promise you, things will never be right again, you will be chasing squeks/rattles and all kinds of crap down for years......this rig will be a nightmare.

Its real simple, the asshats who fawked up the harness should now own a 2006 LX or the dealer as they contracted with these fools. I am alsmost sure that tapping into the SRS harness is a HUGE NO NO. I know where Lojack goes in a new LX.....there is really only one spot and it aint the SRS harness, its a very easy spot.....even a monkey couldn't fawk it up.

regarding the bumper, I would be pissed, not sure what the best option is.

My feeling is they need to unwind the deal and get ya a new LX or cut ya a nice check back for the now used and damaged on. Maybe GM will buy it to tear apart......

I would call the attonrey(sp) general and or Lexus

John

 

[ed97fzj80]

I'd also really like to get a chance to drive my own vehicle a bit before I have to make my first car payment.

Understandable, but don't do it.

 

[MoJ]

OK, I just skimed this thread.

But there is no way in hell I would want a NEW 2006 LX that has been torn apart to replace the SRS harness..........NO WAY, I promise you, things will never be right again, you will be chasing squeks/rattles and all kinds of crap down for years......this rig will be a nightmare.

Its real simple, the asshats who fawked up the harness should now own a 2006 LX or the dealer as they contracted with these fools. I am alsmost sure that tapping into the SRS harness is a HUGE NO NO. I know where Lojack goes in a new LX.....there is really only one spot and it aint the SRS harness, its a very easy spot.....even a monkey couldn't fawk it up.

regarding the bumper, I would be pissed, not sure what the best option is.

My feeling is they need to unwind the deal and get ya a new LX or cut ya a nice check back for the now used and damaged on. Maybe GM will buy it to tear apart......

I would call the attonrey(sp) general and or Lexus

John

Exactly. Refuse delivery of it. Refuse to pick it up. Return your loaner car. Contact Lexus Corp. Don't pay Lexus a dime. Get a lawyer.

No way would I take it after some much has been disassembled to replace that harness. From then on everytime I heard a rattle in the interior I would wonder if removing all the panels etc to replace that harness had caused it. And what the hell is up with a new Lexus having a vibration? It's a freakin' Lexus, it's supposed to be the "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection".

You should feel zero responsibility to be a nice guy. They screwed it up, not you.

 

[greynolds]

Now ask them to put that one on a similar car on the lot and take the factory painted one from the other car and put it on yours Would still preffer factory paint.

Well, they don't have another silver one on the lot - I believe the only one they currently have is the Sand Dollar Pearl one that's on the showroom floor - I don't think the bumper from that one would match mine very well.

This part bugs me a lot. If it was tires, why not swap a new fresh set from a truck that just arrived onto the truck. A brand new 06 LX should not have a vibration.

The whole thing bugs me a lot. They messed up the air bag harness, something was/is wrong with the tires and/or suspension, and they damaged the rear bumper. I've "owned" a $68k vehicle for just about 2 weeks now and still haven't had it anywhere close to 100% yet - not for 1 second.

 

[e9999]

dammit!

you have now heard the opinions of the absolute top best (if somewhat anal ) minds in the 100 Cruiser world.

Seems to me like a strong consensus developing.

Whatever you do, you can't blame us for not having strong opinions...

time to bite the bullet! time is of the essence. The faster you move, the better off you'll be.

 

[SWUtah]

Plus your Lawyer isn't calling you back?? Have you talked to the Regional Lexus rep yet?

 

[kcdude]

Plus your Lawyer isn't calling you back?? Have you talked to the Regional Lexus rep yet?

Regional rep.....a must. I would be raising all hell with the rep.

By the way...what is the Lemon Law in your state? Clearly it should not apply....unless they have your vehicle how many days? Let them take their sweet time in getting that harness, let em take the whole thing apart, they have had it 10+ days??? No way you take delivery of the vehicle with a hacked up SRS system and clear direction in the Lexus provided documentation that the harness should be replaced....as far as I am concerned that vehicle is out of service until that harness is in...2weeks to order a new one plus the days already in the shop and it would fall under my state's Lemon Law....maybe an angle for you.

 

[cary]

And the brilliant legal minds on the board just continue to dole out legal advice that is so wrong it isn't even funny.

Go ahead, don't make the payment on the vehicle and see what happens. I'll give you an idea. The leinholder (loan company) will tell you if you don't make the payment, they will simply take posession of the car. Once they do that, they will turn around, sell the car at wholesale and then send you a bill for the difference between the loan plus their legal fees and costs, less the amount they received at wholesale for the car. When you don't pay that bill, they will then sue you and obtain a judgement against you for that amount plus more legal fees. BTW, they will also trash your credit in the process.

BTW, this happens all the time. It is called recourse financing. The funny part is it often happens because some DUMBASS tells a person to not make their payments because their car isn't working.


After thinking about it further, you should work with an attorney on this and stop reading the posts on this board. If you listen to the majority of the advice here you are going to end up with no LX 470 and a bill for about $15,000 for the deficiency. At least a lawyer in your area will give you some good advice for a few hundred dollars.

 

[jjbodean1970]

Sat on a plane next to a guy who underwrites those extended warranty policies. Dealer pays about $350, anything above is pure profit and completely negotiable.

maybe from a fly-by-night company, yes. cost on the 7/100 lexus platinum for an lx 470 with $2675 retail is about $1800

 

[greynolds]

Plus your Lawyer isn't calling you back?? Have you talked to the Regional Lexus rep yet?

I don't have a lawyer on retainer - I'm trying to find one, preferably one covered by the legal plan I get through my company to keep the cost reasonable. It seems perfectly reasonable that the lawyer was busy today and/or didn't understand the potential urgency of the situation.

I have no intention of not making my first payment when it is due - it would be credit rating suicide to play that game.

Now that the dealer appears to have agreed to replace the wiring harness again, I suspect I may be back in the situation where they're doing everything they're supposed to and a lawyer may not be much/any help, but I do intend to pursue things at this point. Given how things went on the phone last night with the GM, I'm not sure getting a lawyer involved would really hurt the "good will" situation that much - there doesn't really seem to be much good will going on...

I've got an incident opened with Lexus Customer Satisfaction. I expect to hear something from them tomorrow.

Resisting the urge to pick up my vehicle when they say it's ready (before the wiring harness arrives) may or may not help my case, but I suspect it can't hurt either, so unless I receive advice to the contrary from a lawyer or I am unable to keep the loaner vehicle (I don't have another vehicle to get to work in and am not inclined to pay for a rental car for several weeks while this mess gets resolved), I will stick with the loaner vehicle for now. I will need to stop by the dealer and get a few things out of my vehicle (such as my sunglasses) if I'm going to be without it for a few more weeks.

Lexus is going to have a really hard time winning me over as a happy / repeat customer unless they step up to the plate here. The Ira motor group is going to have to work a miracle to make me happy enough to purchase another vehicle from any of their dealerships in the future. It's really sad - all they look at is if they're making a big enough profit on this current sale. They're too short sighted to see that they're pissing off someone who just purchased the most expensive vehicle in the Lexus line, who is presumably going to purchase another new vehicle sooner or later, and presumably has relatives, friends, and coworkers who are going to purchase new vehicles sooner or later. Not to mention the great internet publicity they're getting.

 

[cruiserdan]

Send them an e-mail with a link to this thread...

 

[tech_dog]

Send them an e-mail with a link to this thread...

2,000 views and counting.

Hey, lexus, could this be me if I buy another car from you?

 

[Da Hapa]

Ah man, GR, I was hoping the dealership was going to "man up" and do what is right.

My suggestions are as follows:
1) Do not pick up the car from the dealership until such time as the harness has been fixed to your satisfaction. Driving it off the lot as it is now could be misconstrued by some a-hole attorney as an acceptance of condition. It's not worth the risk.
2) Do make your payments. You don't want to walk that rope.
3) Call Lexus Customer Service again first thing tomorrow AM and ask to speak to a manager or something more senior than the individual who gave you a "ticket" number already. Focus on the safety aspect and the back and forth you're having with this dealership.
4) Unless you don't have other means of transportation, take the loaner back. I would be doing everything I can to distance myself from this dealership.
5) Continue to be the levelheaded gentleman that you've shown yourself to be throughout this entire ordeal. It never hurts and usually helps.
6) Recall that each dealership is essentially a franchise. While it is extremely regrettable that this dealership is putting you through the ringer while you try and purchase the most expensive car that Lexus makes, you have to remember that this experience isn't necessarily indicative of the brand as a whole nor the avg. person's experience.

Hang in there bud. I feel for you.

 

[LXPearl]

I am really disappointed to hear how the Lexus dealer is treating you. This not the customer service Lexus has worked hard to establish. Even the up and down responses of fixing it properly is a unnerving. It makes me think they know more about the vehicle than they are letting on.

The vehicle has an air bag malfunction (is it really the sub-contracted Guide Point installer?); a serious safety problem. Are there other related undisclosed and/or undiscovered problems? Have they pulled the codes to determine how many there are?

The inability to fix the front end is problematic. If the alignment is in spec, it should be smooth. Did someone mess up the vehicle in transit?

This vehicle is defective, the dealership has been unable to correct its deficiencies in a reasonable timeframe. They really need to refund your money in full with interest so you can get one at another dealership that will treat you right.

It is time to go above the dealer's head to the regional and national Lexus representatives. You may want to contact the NHTSA about the air bag safety, and contact your Atty General about the Lemon Law for your state.

Unfortunately, not all Lexus dealers are top notch. The regional and national offices need to know your dealer is attempting to force you to take a sub standard and defective LX470 as a new vehicle. I think they would have a vested interest in correcting or culling out a poor dealership before it causes a black mark on the Lexus name that will cost a lot more than one vehicle to recover.

If you get the refund, you may want to contact Parker Lexus in Little Rock. They were the top Lexus dealership nationwide last year on new car satisfaction.

 

[greynolds]

Looks like things have been resolved to my satisfaction today.

I had a meeting with the service manager and the shop foreman this afternoon and we had a little show and tell session. They showed me the wire that was tapped into and the wiring diagram. I don't remember the specific wire number or exact location, but it was a main power feed that various things tap off of for power, including the ignition and the air bag system. It was NOT part of the special yellow "don't look at these the wrong way" wire harness. The affected wire has a piece of electrical tape covering up where the GuidePoint installer had initially tapped into. The GuidePoint wiring has been located to another power source that should not cause any interference with the air bag systems.

They were willing to replace the wiring harness if I insisted, but did stress that doing so could potentially create more problems than it solves, and I would tend to agree with that assessment. Given the whole situation and seeing exactly what was done, it simply isn't reasonable for me to expect a replacement vehicle or a full refund.

My disgust with the situation really boiled down to poor communication from various people at the dealership. The general manager has absolutely no idea how these things go together and pretty much assumed the wiring harness was a simple 1/2 repair job until he found out how much it would cost and was, naturally, shocked. He then handled the situation poorly by trying to back out. Given the poor communication (for example, the bumper situation), I got (justifyably) very upset.

I think everyone is now on the same page and I can start enjoying my vehicle and the dealer can try to get their communication act together so that next time a problem like this happens it is handled in a much more professional manner. They all seem to be pleasant, reasonable people at the end of the day.

So in the end, I'll be getting something in writing that guarantees that the affected wiring ever has any issues the Ira motor group will cover any repairs that are needed including any refused warranty coverage if I go to another dealer for repairs at some point. I'll also be getting the 7 year / 100k mile platinum warranty, free 15k service, and the Red Sox tickets as previously agreed to. I think this is fair for everyone involved. It gets the dealer off the hook in terms of replacing the vehicle or wiring harness and gets the vehicle back in my possession with excellent warranty coverage and something in writing to cover any problems related the the wire that was tapped into.

The bumper repair consisted of a new bumper cover and a new tread plate along with repainting the rear bumper cover. It looks perfect and the repair (including the paint job) is guaranteed for life.

The rough ride issue seems to have been addressed. They did nothing other than work out flat spots in the tires and rebalance them a few times. No suspension work or realignment was needed.

I hope those who have been following this thread agree that this is a reasonable resolution. I imagine some will still insist that I'm entitled to a replacement vehicle and that I don't have a spine, but once I saw exactly what the deal was, I really didn't see how I could justify pushing even for as much as I got in the end.

I also thank everyone for their support and advice - much of it really was helpful if only to get me thinking about how to properly handle this situation.

Now to get my post count up writing about fun stuff related to my new toy!

 

[SWUtah]

Sounds great and you are happy which is the important part. I think you really hit a home run on the extended warranty and the free service It is funny how we always say go to the top and raise hell, when you ended up talking to the people in the know "in person" and everyone communicated it all worked out and everyone knows what happened. I think this poor communications worked out to your advantage.

 

[e9999]

Enjoy!
go take it out there and see what it's capable of!

 

[Da Hapa]

Looks like things have been resolved to my satisfaction today.

I had a meeting with the service manager and the shop foreman this afternoon and we had a little show and tell session. They showed me the wire that was tapped into and the wiring diagram. I don't remember the specific wire number or exact location, but it was a main power feed that various things tap off of for power, including the ignition and the air bag system. It was NOT part of the special yellow "don't look at these the wrong way" wire harness. The affected wire has a piece of electrical tape covering up where the GuidePoint installer had initially tapped into. The GuidePoint wiring has been located to another power source that should not cause any interference with the air bag systems.

They were willing to replace the wiring harness if I insisted, but did stress that doing so could potentially create more problems than it solves, and I would tend to agree with that assessment. Given the whole situation and seeing exactly what was done, it simply isn't reasonable for me to expect a replacement vehicle or a full refund.

My disgust with the situation really boiled down to poor communication from various people at the dealership. The general manager has absolutely no idea how these things go together and pretty much assumed the wiring harness was a simple 1/2 repair job until he found out how much it would cost and was, naturally, shocked. He then handled the situation poorly by trying to back out. Given the poor communication (for example, the bumper situation), I got (justifyably) very upset.

I think everyone is now on the same page and I can start enjoying my vehicle and the dealer can try to get their communication act together so that next time a problem like this happens it is handled in a much more professional manner. They all seem to be pleasant, reasonable people at the end of the day.

So in the end, I'll be getting something in writing that guarantees that the affected wiring ever has any issues the Ira motor group will cover any repairs that are needed including any refused warranty coverage if I go to another dealer for repairs at some point. I'll also be getting the 7 year / 100k mile platinum warranty, free 15k service, and the Red Sox tickets as previously agreed to. I think this is fair for everyone involved. It gets the dealer off the hook in terms of replacing the vehicle or wiring harness and gets the vehicle back in my possession with excellent warranty coverage and something in writing to cover any problems related the the wire that was tapped into.

The bumper repair consisted of a new bumper cover and a new tread plate along with repainting the rear bumper cover. It looks perfect and the repair (including the paint job) is guaranteed for life.

The rough ride issue seems to have been addressed. They did nothing other than work out flat spots in the tires and rebalance them a few times. No suspension work or realignment was needed.

I hope those who have been following this thread agree that this is a reasonable resolution. I imagine some will still insist that I'm entitled to a replacement vehicle and that I don't have a spine, but once I saw exactly what the deal was, I really didn't see how I could justify pushing even for as much as I got in the end.

I also thank everyone for their support and advice - much of it really was helpful if only to get me thinking about how to properly handle this situation.

Now to get my post count up writing about fun stuff related to my new toy!

Sounds reasonable to me. I just hope this is but a brief ugly moment for you and that months from now you smile with joy every time you fire up that beast and enjoy the ride.

I am curious about one thing... how will you rate the dealership in the inevitable survey? It sounds like your satisfied now and that you believe that the dealership is now behaving and acting reasonably but I wonder if you could assess the entire situation as excellent as opposed to merely satisfactory.