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Should I Give Up?


MartyCee
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Hi everyone,

First post here - so be gentle please!

Since the end of last year I been seeking out a good tow car & the Lexus RX400h appeals to me as being (compared to a L**d R***r!) rather more friendly on the pocket & the envirionment.

Went to Lexus-Oxford as my nearest dealer & came away very positive, having left some questions the salesman wanted to run past Lexus Technical to sure I wouldn't make a bad choice. Great! I thought, honesty of ignorance - rather than "hard sell".

From there it went downhill - faster than Lada off a cliff.

The sales guy didn't call back, his colleague did to ask if I was still interested in the car.

I repeated the questions, received the same promises & - you've guessed it, another couple of weeks & still nothing.

Events are moving on for me & have to decide soon, so I went back to the dealership (OK I'm a sucker for punishment), went though the whole thing again, then went home & copied it the original salesman, as requested, by e-mail.

A week later, nothing, nowt, nada.

So I called Lexus Head Office to speak to their Technical support guys - only to be put through to Toyota, then back on hold, then a Customer Service guy answers only to tell me they can't do anything until Monday - can I e-mail it to them?

"Sure" I say & then get the mail bounced because the address given (despite reading it back twice) was wrong.

So now I'm waiting again..........

The questions I need help with are these;

All the competitors to Lexus I went to are supposed to be worse than Lexus in Customer Care, yet all of them either had all the info I wanted to hand, published in the brochure, or mailed it to me within a week.

Are Lexus as useless as my experiences suggest? I.E., they were great, but are now a victim or their own success?

Will I get continues grief if I buy? The RX400h is a complex bit of kit & I don't want to buy into a nightmare.

And does anyone have the contact details of someone at Lexus I can contact to express my icey opinion of their dealership & "unhelpfulness" to date?

My gut feeling right now is to walk away, if incompetence is this bad now how will I feel in a couple years down the road?

How's this for responsibility.... Lexus's sale might well lie in your knowledagable hands!

Oh, by the way, if anyone from Lexus Oxford or Lexus H/O are reading this & feel upset, you only have yourselves to blame.

Thanks in advance!

MartyCee

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The questions I need help with are these;

All the competitors to Lexus I went to are supposed to be worse than Lexus in Customer Care, yet all of them either had all the info I wanted to hand, published in the brochure, or mailed it to me within a week.

Are Lexus as useless as my experiences suggest? I.E., they were great, but are now a victim or their own success?

Will I get continues grief if I buy? The RX400h is a complex bit of kit & I don't want to buy into a nightmare.

Are those the questions you really asked the salesmen? I'm suprised they need Technical to answer those .... they are not really questions are they?

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Welcome to the Club :D

If you put your questions here, there are a lot of knowledgeable people in the Club, so between them all they should have answers to them.

Colin our Knowledge master pops in now and again, and am sure he will have the answers you require

Do not be put off owning a Lexus just because some salesperson does not get back to you. These are quality cars and not much goes wrong with them

You might also find this Linky helpful

Edited by peter026
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Are those the questions you really asked the salesmen? I'm suprised they need Technical to answer those .... they are not really questions are they?

Hi Steve,

First - thanks for your response!

No those aren't the questions I raised with the saleman - those were mainly related to towing with the RX400h & the suitability of the car & any warranty implications.

Although some of these points are common sense, when spending over £40K (as I will) it is prudent to "cover the bases" first, rather than after placing the order.

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Welcome to the Club :D

If you put your questions here, there are a lot of knowledgeable people in the Club, so between them all they should have answers to them.

Colin our Knowledge master pops in now and again, and am sure he will have the answers you require

Do not be put off owning a Lexus just because some salesperson does not get back to you. These are quality cars and not much goes wrong with them

You might also find this Linky helpful

Thanks for the welcome Peter

I've followed the link, but the information I am seeking isn't available on the website, or the brochure for that matter.

It's isn't that a salesman hasn't got back to me that raises concern, it's that 2 of the sales team at Lexus Oxford have failed to get back to me & when I raised the original questions with Lexus direct the experience wasn't any better, i.e. connected to the wrong department, then no one able to answer any technical questions, followed by the wrong address to send questions to.

None of this inspries my confidence for the future if anything went wrong.

The original questions are - & I already have more! :blush:

The following are key points I need a response to.

1) We anticipate towing a caravan will have a maximum weight of 1850kg. I understand that this is within the limits set down by Lexus & I therefore assume that continued towing for a day or two is not likely to cause damage. We will be crossing Europe, north to south & east to west, so long drives (500 mile days)are certain

2) The ideal nose weight of the caravan is over 100kg, that’s the weight put into the tow hitch by caravan whilst standing still on level ground. The limit on the Lexus tow bar is only 80kg. I have found that both Witter & Brink offer a suitable tow bar for the RX400h which will accommodate up to 100kg (a typical normal maximum). Is this an acceptable third party accessory, or will such a fitment invalidate the Lexus warranty?

3) How do Lexus reach their kerb weight figures? I.E. Is this will all fluids & fuel tank full? Or inclusive of driver (75kg) allowance? As I need to ensure we are as close to 85% of this figure as possible with a driver & all fluids included this is a crucial factor for our needs.

4) The downhill retard feature on the RX400h, is this effectively a change down on a normal manual or auto gearbox. Is this simply on the petrol engine, or do the front (or rear, or both) electric motor(s) come into the equation?

5) Are we likely to need any extra cooling fitted to either engine or transmission to cope with the extra load while towing?

6) Can we fit an LPG conversion?

7) Can you apprise me as to the servicing costs for this car?

I really don't think those are too demanding as questions go. Surely after 7 weeks & 4 attempts it is reasonable to have expected answers by now?

Still thanks for the input, keep it coming & I'll post any usful answers/info etc.

MartyCee

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Marty questions there seem pretty reasonable for what you are going to want to do with the car. I would have thought the first few are in you favour, these are guesses from me:

1). no problem

2). Oonly warranty that will be validated will be that to do with the fitting of the alternative tow bar and the electrics

5). no

7). they must have that in service records

others I would have thought are reasonable questions and they should get you answers.

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Marty questions there seem pretty reasonable for what you are going to want to do with the car. I would have thought the first few are in you favour, these are guesses from me:

1). no problem

2). Oonly warranty that will be validated will be that to do with the fitting of the alternative tow bar and the electrics

5). no

7). they must have that in service records

others I would have thought are reasonable questions and they should get you answers.

Hello again Steve,

Thanks for your answers, they fit in with my expectations.

I still think it wise that I have these confirmed by Lexus in writing (i.e. e-mail) so the positionis clear in the event of a problem.

The towbar & fitting has it's own warranty & I would ensure that the drilled holes were treated with a Zinc paint before the bar itself was fitted & then again after over the mounting points to do as much as possible to prevent corrosion. The electrics aren't so much of a concern as these are routine connections.

Both Brink & Witter have had their towbars approved by Lexus (so they claim!) & they offer the option of a detachable tow ball as well. The Lexus standard item for the UK doesn't do this, on the USA site they show one that does, so skinned shins when washing is a possibility.

Still I've decided to try Lexus on Monday am once again & see if I get anywhere, if that fails I'll have to give up, life's too short.

Lexus Oxford have lost a sale, I'll try the recommended list here on the L.O.G. site, they have to be better!

MartyCee

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