My Armrest Saga

[Yaumeister]

I have just received the IS300 armrest from the US, purchased from lexus-parts.com at a total of ONLY £170, and 5 quid was from my credit card for a thieving "foreign transaction fee".

Anyway, followed the instructions from the workshop forum and proceeded to take everything apart, then bolted the tower hinge all ready for the armrest to go on top..... THEN DISASTER STRUCK

WHERE ON :tsktsk: EARTH IS THE REPLACEMENT CONSOLE BOX

Pictured below box which replaces the full size cubby hole box

Further scrummage inside the package reveals that they have sent me 2 idential parts (the cover that goes over the tower hinge) of another but the BOX IS MISSING!

Depressingly I put the centre console back in its place, without the screws and the rear cup holder sitting on my rear seats, sent an e-mail to lexus-parts.com telling them about the problem, and hope they will send me the missing part soon.

NOT A HAPPY BUNNY, RANT OVER

[lee_iceman]

Sorry to hear that mate, hope you get it sorted soon. Free of charge hopefully.

[Rikos]

Really sorry about this mate it will hopefully be sorted sooner rather than later

[Mike_B]

..... and 5 quid was from my credit card for a thieving "foreign transaction fee".

Name and shame this thieving scumbag credit card company. That's appalling... :tsktsk:

FWIW, neither my Mint (Mastercard), nor my Amex, charge a fee for foreign transactions. So if you do a lot of business with places abroad, get one of those to use.

[Rikos]

Banks charge business's for receiving cash from foreign customers!!

Why it's the business's money???

Thieving :tsktsk:

[Yaumeister]

For those interested in not getting ripped off by your bank/credit card companies while buying from aborad, there are only few choices:

Nationwide debit/credit cards

Post Office credit card

SAGA credit card (you have to be 50+)

Otherwise your bank/credit card company either charges it as an extra transaction "foreign transaction fee", or they have included it in the total.

Article from MoneySavingExpert

[Unregistered_User]

Hey matey, sorry to read that the wrong part was sent and hopefully sorted soon! Looking forward to seeing the installed images :)

Jamie

[St3v3_C]

..... and 5 quid was from my credit card for a thieving "foreign transaction fee".

Name and shame this thieving scumbag credit card company. That's appalling... :tsktsk:

FWIW, neither my Mint (Mastercard), nor my Amex, charge a fee for foreign transactions. So if you do a lot of business with places abroad, get one of those to use.

They all charge, it's just that with the above you get a worse exchange rate.

You never get something for nothing!!

[Unregistered_User]

How are you doing with this, Yaumeister?

J

[Yaumeister]

I received the missing part on Tuesday by FedEx, so that was pretty quick as I told lexus-parts.com about the problem on the previous Friday.

Only problem is now that the box has an extra hole for a ciggy lighter, so now I want to wire it to make it a proper working one, but the lighter unit I got don't seem to be the right one, so I need to source one first.

Anyway, a pic below with the lighter installed, but not wired up.

[Rikos]

Glad your getting it sorted mate

Look forward to seeing it on 10th hopefully all finished.

[Rob's Lexx]

where did you get the extra lighter port from?? does it come with the armrest kit

[Yaumeister]

where did you get the extra lighter port from?? does it come with the armrest kit

The ciggy hole is part of the box that goes beneath the armrest.