Please see dealer reviews Bolton Lexus or go to www.jmgoodman.freeserve.co.uk I've just had the' Lexus experience' and I don't want it again.

well that is a surprise


i highly recomend lexus stockport they are a good bunch

i wonder if the accident repair was done at bolton's body shop

hope you enjoy your new car ... what did you get?

Good stuff.


IMHO you should have got an RAC or AA inspection. Pricey but worth it.

What year was the LS400 ?

Mine was a 93 bought with 105000 on the clock and it's more or less OK.

I look forward to LGB's response on that one

The car was a 1999 S reg up for £17,995. They said it had had an RAC inspection, although I wasn't shown it when I bought the car. the salesperson just said it had sailed through., all approved Lexi are supposed to have been examined by the RAC, but I have also heard from friends who alledge these are not very good?

I bought a 1998 R reg LS400 Mk4 privately, one owner, it has 58000 FLSH, and had even had the cambelts changed early, at a lot less £s.

Had a chat with my local trading standards dept. They were very interested and will take the matter up on my behalf via Bolton Trading Standards. Incidently they tell me that if a manager asks a customer to lie to a potential customer, ie say to anyone who rings up - I just did not like the car and not mention the breakdown, he/she has committed a criminal offence. What is so sad is that had they just made a gesture to compensate me for my actual losses and a bit of goodwill because it ruined my holiday all this would not have been necessary. He seemed more concerned about his own loss repeatedly telling me it would be about £1000.

My Car was orriginaly supplied by the Lexus Bolton (formerly R.R.G Bolton I think) and I had little joy when trying to get some useful info about the radio code from them...

But you have been seriously abused and I would hope that Lexus GB recognise the power of the pen in this instance. You might want to copy any follow up letters to all the Motoring press and local bolton Press. NAME AND SHAME!

Glad you got a bargain and stayed with the brand though.

Hope you and your well educated wife enjoy the rest of your hols.

Loz

As you are no doubt aware your contract is with the dealer, if Lexus GB did want to get involved then the dealer is on their side not yours. Believe me I've been there already.

If you are out of pocket then I suggest you take out a small claims court summons against them. As well as the £100 include a not unreasonable sum for ditress, lack of trust etc. Before you file it take it to Lexus Bolton Centre Manager and ask him to read it in front of you.

Await the outcome.

If you need any contacts either @ Lexus (GB) or the press please pm me.

I am currently waiting for my replacement ( after rejection ) Lexus that is 6 weels old and only done 350 miles to go in for it's third piece of work on faulty paintwork.

ohhhhh what a very great surprise - lexus bolton living up to thier normal standards once again I had a major run around when buying my IS from them, the manager you spoke to wouldnt happen to have the initials C.M by any chance??

I also contacted Lexus GB about the absolutly disgusting attitude i recieved and the answer i got was, and I quote " its nothing to do with us, the dealers are independant and they can do what they want"

great isnt it?

I notice you say lexus GB will not get involved ,I had the same problem with a used volvo about a year ago, it to had a rac warranty but after owning the car for a few weeks i got all sorts of problems wheel wobble ,stiff clutch in fact the pedal was so high my wife and i had to lift our foot completly of the floor to change gear.Volvo uk also would not get involved and insisted it was down to the supplying dealer to sort probs .I took the car to another main dealer for a used car check (£180 )and they found 63 faults on the car yes i said 63 ranging from two buckled rear alloys ,Master cylinder for clutch was seized ,all discs were worn ,The list was massive .The dealer rectified all faults at enormous cost about £4000 in total .The worst thing is to rectify the high clutch pedal they took it off heated it up bent it downwards and stuck it back on.this cured the problem of the high pedal but the biting point for the clutch was at the very top of its travel.I realy do not think dealer rac reports are worth the paper they are written on and i would never trust any garage main dealer or not always do your own checks they are more than worth the money .An example of this is the dealer i bought my car from had rac report done while i was there and i watched him do it from the showrooom it took no longer than 15 mins and he did not look under the car .After a week of driving it i could hear a rattling noise underneath turned out to be the clips that hold on the exhaust sheild had rusted through and were hanging down ,Funning how a rac inspection failed to spot it and all i did was look under the car .I think all main dealers are only as good as the bloke that has bought the franchise because that is all you are dealig with most of the time mr used car salesman made good .
The weirdest thing was when i took my car back to lexus for a service they had a new salesman and it was the one that sold me the volvo a year previous .you should have seen his face it was a picture .He slated volvo and the franchise he worked for and said he now agreed with all of my problems funny how his attitude changed now he is working for lexus.Also he said the volvo garage had lost its franchise due to the amount of complaints.

As I tried to explain to Lexus GB it is they who pay for and produce the Lexus advertising that contains the claims about how good the 'Lexus Experience' is. I think, therefore, they have some responsibility when it doesn't turn out as they promise. Is is after all they who through their advertising induce us to visit a dealership to make a purchase. I personally think Lexus have got overconfident with the JD Power results etc. It doesn't take much bad publicity to undue a great deal of good, after all bad news travels faster than good! It would have been so easy for them to resolve this issue but they just can't bring themselves to do this, even though they repeatedly state that' the customer comes first' . If they do sort this out I will of course be the first one to let everyone know, because I am honest. The really sad thing is the cars are so good, good job they sell themselves without the need for Lexus salespersons.

I bought my W plate IS200 Sport navigator from Lexus Bolton in January and have to say recevied top class service. The missus jammed the CD changer moments after leaving the dealership (entirely her fault, didnt wait for the lights to flash before inserting another cd) so we went back and they fitted a new head unit the very next day. Also a few days after having the car, I noticed a few scrapes on the n/s front wheel arch which I know I didnt do so I took it back and they sent me to MCR (Manchester Car Refurbishment) and said they would pay for it (as they should). Clive the dealership manager also noticed a scratch on the bonnet and said they would take care of that for me as well. The car was repaired and valeted and looking like new within days. The chrome gear knob was also worn but I wasnt that fussed at the time as I was going to get a different one. But last month I was passing Lexus Bolton and popped in, said I wasnt happy with my knob (ooo errr!!!) and they gave me a brand new knob straight away. Coming up for my 60k service soon though and am not sure whether to go back or go to Stockport. I'm a bit concerned after reading about Bolton on this fantastic site!

How come I've come up as a new member with 1 post?? Is it cos all my other posts (not many!) have been in Gold? Or am I just having a spaz day?????

Stockport does seem to get excellent comments, thats where I'm going now.

Lets be honest, with 20/20 hindsight, you should have walked out as soon as you didn't like the salesman. I had an unhelpful experience with Lexus Leeds. The salesman knew nothing about the car, offered pathetic trade-ins and was not interested in negotiating.

Then 2 days later I was speaking to a business colleague who - it turned out - had a relation who had just purchased the Leeds Franchise. I was contacted by the Leeds Boss who arranged to see me. I was then treated like a fool, offered a discount of so called £1500, but it was actually only a £1000 because they'd restickered the forecourt price (and on the internet). He reduced the Trade in I'd been offered the previous week on 2 cars by £750. I was then offered a test drive accompanied by a very new young salesman, which was a joke because the car hadn't even been valeted. It also was very scruffy.

I sold my 2 cars IN THE TRADE for £1500 more, bought a s/h Harrier (RX-300) with 18,000 miles on which is pristine and My vendor was Braham Garage (not a Lexus Dealer), who have been superb. They even helped reprogram the ECU after the car was stolen with the keys and I needed to get it so the ToeRags could not get back into it.

Sadly Lexus is about marketing a great range of cars.

All the rest is just guff in the UK. Its no better or worse than any Prestige car dealer. They all shortcut on service unless you give them no opportunity to get it wrong, by being very very careful, obviously looking under the bonnet, checking the oil colour after a service, giving them a list of faults and getting it back with the words "rectified" written against it. I mean think of the labour rates they're charging, realise they do as little as possible. Most of what they do is just connect up the diagnosis cable and read off the display.

I reckon to go to the dealer JUST for the service and take it to a real garage to get anything else done. Also a safety check by your favoured real garage may save your life.

Cynical Nick.

read this just in time. Bolton is my nearest dealer and I was about to purchase an ls430. Think I will go to Stockport instead. Stockport does seem to get much better write ups. Thanks for the insight.

Wondering at what point this is going to get printed off and sent to the OWNER of Lexus Bolton...

Copied to the Editor of:

Auto Express
Top Gear
Car
Japanese Performance
Autocar
The Sunday Times Motoring Section
Mike Rutherford (of Talksport Motor show and Daily Mirror)
James Whale ( cos he is a C U Next Tuesday)


And the CEO of:

Lexus GB
LEXUS
Sytner Group
Parragon
Reg Vardy
JCT 600

I'm sure they would all find a use for it somewhere....


Feel free to delete this post when you do send it off if you think its inappropriate

Loz

errr IS430.......

blumin' power junkies!

I would just like to add that Lexus GB cannot just blame the dealer and leave it at that.

Recently we have been having an issue over something and it can't be sorted without the dealer going to Lexus GB for advice/guidance/ approval.

If it's the case that the problems stayed with the dealer and Lexus GB don't get involved then why would they have to be involved in our case ???

OK, so do they just roll over and go to sleep then

Incidentally, i saw an IS200 being RAC inspected.
The car was in the showroom and didn't move.
Nothing more than a wander round and note the stone chips.

Iam so glad that I have never wasted any money on these then... I guess its only worth having if there is a guarantee attached. IF the RAC man says its groovy and then it aint, surely you have recourse. Or is it like the MOT, worth Sweet Fanny Adams once you drive off the lot?

Makes me more and more certain that you just don't buy from crooks. Went to THe Leodis Centre lastnight and expressed my interest in the New Aston Martin AMV8 due out in 2005. they have 350 letters of intent already which means letters now would produce a car in 2008! still, its nice to know I'll get it when I have the money and not have to hock my twins for the balance!

Did I mention I want an Aston martin before I am forty? Oh yeah! Boy has to have his toys, expect I will have had my TVR by then too....

The AA and RAC inspections that customers pay for should include a road test. Maybe the dealer inspections are just cosmetic?

WARNING

Loz

If you want an Aston go to Car Care Works (www.db7centre.co.uk) I bought mine from them and can't praise them highly enough - their knowledge of the product and customer care is second to none and you don't get any hint of being patronised (as was my experience with 3 main dealers )

Sorry for a quick hijack of the topic

I paid about £300 for an external (non-garage ) AA inspection that was very critical , included up on the lift and a road test and didn't pull any punches - when it came to negotiate it was like gold in the pocket.


Caveat Emptor. Remember at the end of the day you are dealing with a 'used car salesman'.

Since I'm in Ireland - was the price LexusLexus paid above or below the norm for the car ?

Don't forget Honest John the Saturday Telegraph's motoring chap

(We like his website, too)

The price I paid was about right - but it has been suggested to me that as the car had accident damage and the underneath was covered in thick mud it may have been in an accident and perhaps off road into a field. Maybe the gearbox was damaged and as the mud was not cleaned off they couldn't have checked the undeneath for damage very carefully. What is interesting is that I rang the previous keeper who told me the car had had no accident damage. I think you are right about the quality of the RAC inspections, this car had paint flaking off but t was not reported. I have emailled this thread to Lexus Bolton and asked LGB to have a look. Strangely the customer services person who I spoke to seemed not to be aware of this website - heads in sand?

lexus gb dont in fact pay for local dealer advirtising that is dealer specific although lexus as far as i am aware have guidelines and templates dealers r supposed to use to sell the brand,lgb are aware of the club and of this site as are many dealers,people sometimes are to ready to blame lgb for everything rather than battling with the dealer who sold/damaged or just fails to deliver the experience and ownership that the customer expects.lexus as a company work very hard at impressing on dealers the need to deliver and live up to the lexus experience and in particular to deliver this to customers at all times,it is a shame not all dealers/salespeople/technichans are able to perform to these standards,i know this doesnt help anybody who has been let down by their dealer but sometimes there r things going on behind the public eye and people working to get these problems resolved and while things cud always be better the cars and most of the dealers do deliver, suppose people r gonna say what a t**t and have a pop at me now for posting this but sometimes there r things going on that people arnt aware of and unfortunatley bad dealers are always going to be present as all companies have sum bad personnel

well said insider...........

insider why would people have a pop, your comments are true and straight to the point and needed to be sadi

Local dealers may well pay for their own local advertising but they cetainly don't pay directly for, or design, the various glossy brochures that you can pick up in any Lexus dealership. or for the website. Next time your'e in one have a read of the claims that Lexus GB make about 'the lexus experience', 'putting customers first' and I quote - 'At Lexus, we believe what makes owning a Lexus special, unique even, is the way we treat our customers' This I presume is a corporate 'We' - Just have a look at some of their claims on their website. My point is that you should get what you pay for. If I wanted this kind of service I would have gone to a back street garage. I reckon I paid nearly £2k extra to get the security and quality of the 'Lexus experience' and look what I got. When you compare this with my experience of buying privately - one owner car, FLSH, cambelts changed early, no faults, a '98 car with 58000mls for £12400 and the man I bought it off was charming and honest or the Bolton Lexus car - '99 with 57500 miles, 3 owners, accident damage, mud caked underside, just coming up to cambelts, poor rear tyres, at £17000. and the salesman treated me like a fool. I appreciate I had no warranty so I have just put an AA parts and labour warranty on for £52 for the year.

Still hope they take some action though, this seems a resolvable situation.

I think Lexus are getting a little complacent due to their success with the JD Powers survey etc. Ever heard of not resting on their laurels ?!

very resolveable - I have already told them I would accept a sum of £200 to cover my expenses but so far no response - I will litigate in the County Court on the 1st Sept. if I don't receive a response soon. Incidently I registered the car in my wife's name and we are still waiting for the V5 to come back to us from Swansea, problem is we are going away on holiday for up to a month soon.

Tip,

Take the papers you intend to submit to the court to the dealer principle. Ask him to read them in front of you and Respond before you submit them to the county court.

I am almost certain you will not wind up in court. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, if nothing else I said is worth a damn. take this advice on board!

wrote to Lexus GB on the 6th August - still had no response from them or Bolton. Lexus GB told me ( when I phoned them) they had posted a letter 1st class last wednesday, its now Sat and no sign of it. Wrote to Bolton stating my intention to go to County Court on Sept 1st. to recover my expenses etc. I'll post the outcome of that action in a few months.

Update - I have still not received a response letter from LGB for my letter of 6th Aug. I have received no response from Bolton Lexus. LGB tell me that Bolton Lexus are refusing to talk to me. ( ahh didums ). So presumeably they have no interest in resolving this matter out of court - so much for customer service. I am awaiting an update from Bolton Trading Standards later today and I will litigate in the Salford County Court on Monday 1st Sept. Interestingly though, Bolton keep phoning me for the V5 for this car, sadly I am about to go away caravaning for a month so unless I feel like going to the trouble of having a friend check the mail and post it on they are in for a long wait.

Bolton Lexus are now re advertising this car ( on the lexus website ) - 1999 fiord mist ls400 at £17995. I wonder if they will describe it correctly to a new enquiry - should be 58,000 miles and now 4 owners, and they should mention the breakdown if asked directly. Anyone want to try? If they do then at least some good has come of all this. Interesting how they are going to sell it with no V5?

interesting.... I feel some mischief comming on....

now when was the last time I accidentally left my mobile phone in the "record" mode...?

Finally got LGB to email me a response - if that is what you can call it, pasted below:

Thank you for your recent letter dated 6 August 2003, and for taking the trouble to write to us.

May I firstly take this opportunity to say how disappointed I was to read your detailed and thorough account of your experience with Lexus Bolton. The service that you received is certainly not indicative of the usual excellence that is associated with our brand.

We are of course sorry that you have had cause to write us about your dealings with this Lexus Centre. As I am sure you can appreciate we are not privy to the conversations that have taken place between yourself and the staff at Lexus Bolton, so it is very difficult in these types of situations to pass comment on what has or has not happened.

However, given your strength of feeling expressed in your letter I felt that it was necessary to escalate your concerns to Lexus Bolton for their attention. I have therefore spoken to Nick Bailey, General Manager of the RRG Group. He strongly refutes the accusations that have been made about the service that you have received. Nick maintains that, that there was nothing wrong with your LS400 and is more than happy for this car to undergo another RAC inspection to prove this point. He does concede that certain aspects of the sale could have been handled better, and he will of course take any necessary action to ensure that this does not happen again.

It is always unfortunate when an amicable resolution cannot be met and I am conscious that your confidence in the Lexus brand has been damaged as a result. I would advise that although we are able to monitor this situation we are not able to enforce a particular course of action on Lexus Bolton.

Your comments are invaluable in our progression to provide Lexus customers with the service that they expect and require. Lexus (GB) Ltd will continue to work closely with our Centre Network with the aim of improving all aspects of customer handling.

In closing, I would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and please again accept our apologies for the service you have received. I do hope that we will be able to restore your faith in Lexus in the near future. If I can help in any other way please do let me know.

Another RAC inspection -

Ask them to consider an independant inspection and watch them back track.

I really think you've given them all opportunity to resolve the situation and Lexus Bolton are behaving like school kids. Hope your litigation goes well and that you'll get some satisfaction in knowing how many people see this site and will read your dealer review. I can't imagine any of us hurrying to bolster Lexus Bolton's profits.

I,ll go along with that , Stockport it is in future, had no problems with them so far, can't believe Bolton are being so childish. Good luck with your litigation.

Seeing as RRG are being absolute Bast*rds about this, I'd be quite happy to give up a saturday morning or afternoon (maybe even the day) to park up outside with a few of our Lexus Brethren and protest ( peacefully) about the service levels. Wouldn't be hard to get some banners made up and even a handful of protesters would be very "news worthy" if someone were to tip off the local and trade press...

I say lets 'ave em! but lets 'ave em legit. Anything that would put a dent in there rediculous approach to customer service works with me.

Guess I woke up feeling militant ths morning...

.........sounds like a bit of a fob off from LGB....umbrellas at dawn maybe

whos militant ??

It would be nice to know just how much lexus garages pay to trade under the lexus name your letter sounds so familier to the one i got from volvo .I think lexus gb will stick by them as they have to much to lose .Have you tried to contact any of the previous owners of this car for some ammo should it go to court.

I think you'll find she was a character from Viz

not one of the fat s l a g s I hope.... no. I remember her... black pig tails! right stroppy mare!

went to Stockport today to have some work done on my car - what a friendly bunch they are, ran me home, rather than keep me waiting, when it became clear the job would take longer that anticipated. Even reduced the bill because they had forgotten to 'phone me with a quote before hand. Now that is customer service

Received a letter from Bolton Lexus's solicitors today. I quote: 'They ( my clients ) are satisfied that they/or members of their staff have commited no act or default which renders an apology necessary. .......my clients don't intend to pay you any compensation ..... . ' Just about what I would expect. So they don't think it necessary to apologise for telling me it had 2 owners when it had 3, advertising it as 56k miles when it had 57500+ miles, telling me they would back their staff and say I was told all along it had 3 owners, and asking me to lie to a new potential owner about why I rejected the car. I wonder what they do apologise for. Strange but I forgot to hand in the service history when I returned the car so I phoned them immediately and apologised, posted it that day with an apology. Strange sort of world isn't it.