Fed Up! Time For A Rant!

[Andrew 1976]

Is it just me or does anyone else ever hold their heads in despair at the state of how things are becoming.

This was highlighted even more for me recently whilst having problems with my 1993 LS 400

I use my Lexus for work as well as leisure and my cars normally cover 30 to 40k a year. I, like many others am required to work at any time during a seven day week including 24 hr call outs weekends and evenings, holiday times etc.

Just after christmas on the 27th my car developed the rumbling grinding noise at the front end. Quick inspection, reading around and using common sense (1993 car with 180k) i diagnosed it as the fan bearing/fan bracket that would require repair.

I took the car to my local garage on the Tuesday (29th) after the bank holiday and left it with them telling them what i thought it was. Understandably like any good garage they inspected it to be sure but called me later in the day saying it was the water pump. After a discussion i told them to do the work. The following day (wednesday) another call to me saying it was the fan bearing bracket not the water pump and that they now due to new year could not get a part until the following wednesday. I decided to source the part myself to get the part delivered earlier so after phoning around and eventually sourcing a part and following a long discussion with the parts supplier, clarifying at least half a dozen times the part i needed, with full description (i.e fan bracket) i bought the part off him and he told me the courier would collect same day. Happy days :D

An hour later telephone call received saying the courier could not collect until the Monday (last Monday). By this time i had paid and had limited options so agreed to this.

Fast forward to Tuesday and the part arrives BUT i open it up to find ive been sent a fan clutch and fan assembly NOT the fan bracket despite my repeated descriptions and clarification to the supplier. :tsktsk:

By this point i am now getting a little hacked off so speak in desperation to my local garage again who say yes we can get the part and have it done within next couple of days. This was Tuesday afternoon. On Friday morning having heard nothing i ring them back to ask if the car will be ready and get told "sorry our supplier also sent the wrong part and it will be Monday or Tuesday next week" because of the weekend and weather etc.

Now i have nothing against people having time off work over the holiday period, i also understand first hand having worked around road haulage most of my life and with my father doing long distance for over fourty years that adverse weather conditions affect infrastructure espescially transport.

However i am currently without my car and have been for two weeks now which appears to be due to two things. Firstly our developed and modern country seems to shut down for nearly two weeks for christmas and new year This is then further impacted upon by our developed and modern countries inability to deal with adverse weather , although i will admit it has been bad.

Secondly and more upsetting for me because it can be avoided seems to be the levels of incompetance of other people in this case both suppliers who have just created more problems by not supplying the correct parts.

I dont intend to use this to have a go at anybody as i am sure that millions of people out there are struggling and have done fantastic jobs dealing with things in what has been an extremely difficult week in this country and i am sure my problems are insignificant compared to the atrocities in this world but i do feel that two and an half weeks to fix a car in this day and age is ludicrous !!!!!!!

What makes it worse is that i am using my fathers Mazda 5 series people carrier for work. It might be only two years old compared to the 16 year old Lexus i drive but my god its horrible , no style, no feeling and just like all the other modern junk my friends and colleagues drive. i will be so glad to get the lexus back !!!

Anyway rant over and i feel much better now :D

[Sean Peyton]

I've got to say- I enjoyed that and I agree.

Here in ireland we've gotten about 2 inches of snow this week and a good bit of ice the last 2.5 weeks. The entire country seems to be going into shutdown. Schools are closed, the government is constantly panicking having run out of grit and salt (again and again)... Can you imagine if we had it as bad as you do over in England??...

[plastic orange]

To give another side of the coin, I phoned a supplier on Wednesday (Real Steel) for some bits for the Rover V8 engine in my Morris Minor, and was told (after a general chat about the weather) that I may not get parts as speedily as usual.

To my surprise, they were there the next day. I put the cylinder heads in to a local engineering shop for a skim yesterday and will get them out on Monday.

There are still folk out there giving service (Morris Minor parts invariably arrive next day btw).

My experience with Lexus parts so far is mixed I have to say.

Pete

[Andrew 1976]

To give another side of the coin, I phoned a supplier on Wednesday (Real Steel) for some bits for the Rover V8 engine in my Morris Minor, and was told (after a general chat about the weather) that I may not get parts as speedily as usual.

To my surprise, they were there the next day. I put the cylinder heads in to a local engineering shop for a skim yesterday and will get them out on Monday.

There are still folk out there giving service (Morris Minor parts invariably arrive next day btw).

My experience with Lexus parts so far is mixed I have to say.

Pete

Hi Peter,

I do have to agree with you on that some suppliers espescially it seems classic car part suppliers are exceptionally good. I have a 1964 Ford Corsair and whenever i have needed parts service has been excellent.

To be honest though with the Lexus i think it must just be the case that the parts might not be in high demand when compared to fiestas, focuses, micras etc.

Someone at work did suggest i buy a modern reliable more economical car. I didnt wish to offend them so actually told her that whilst their focus was a nice car it was not for me

BTW i will upload some pics of my corsair and lexus to my album later today if i get chance

[steveskeggy]

Hi Peter,

I do have to agree with you on that some suppliers espescially it seems classic car part suppliers are exceptionally good. I have a 1964 Ford Corsair and whenever i have needed parts service has been excellent.

BTW i will upload some pics of my corsair and lexus to my album later today if i get chance

WOW! Ford Pubic, long time since I saw one of those.

Very good car in its time, one of my favourites, alongside the Classic and the Classic Capri.

Never seen one up close, but have seen a few photos of Corsair convertables including these:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/insectman/2193897474/

http://www.fordcorsair.com/1966-crayford-gt

http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagetaker1/3055148209/

And a Capri ragtop:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertsbite/2952119580/

Once saw a Corsair in a custom mag with a drop top, white leather interior, in red with a 3L Essex V6, that was Nice!

[steve2006]

Did the garage replace the water pump before they realised it was indeed the fan bracket?

I remember the Ford Corsair in the 70's I think they made a 1600 V4 and a 2000 V6 a mate had one and it was fine until his wife came in it to collect him from work misjudged the entrance and hit the steel gate post,try filling those pointed wings in with filler!!!!!!!

[Dodgydave]

My dad had two Corsairs when I was young. His first one was when I was about 16 and it was the 1600GT variety, in red. To me at that age it was like owning a Ferrari. I remember when he first got it we drove up to Maidstone to get it taxed at the main tax office (no online applications in those days) and it's and experience I have remember all my life.

The second one he had when I was about 18 and had passed my test so I drove it sometimes. It was the one with the V4 engine which was a crap engine. I think it was actually 1700cc, I know it was the same engine they put in the Transit van at the time.

I also had a Classic Capri at one time in the past and it was a lovely car. It was a few years old when I got and the front wings had rotted out so I got hold of some grp ones which I sprayed up and fitted. I've got a picture of it but it's on my other computer at the moment. I'll post the picture up later.

[ROYT]

andrew1976 is right! incompetance is rife!

Modern parts suppliers can't seem to operate if the picture and part number doesn't

come up on that computer screen for them

I dread to think what would happen if the electricity supply failed for any length of time.

We are so reliant on computer technology now, if the power goes off it will be as bad as a war.

I'm just hope some of these people don't get jobs at Boeing.........

[OluGTR]

To give another side of the coin, I phoned a supplier on Wednesday (Real Steel) for some bits for the Rover V8 engine in my Morris Minor, and was told (after a general chat about the weather) that I may not get parts as speedily as usual.

To my surprise, they were there the next day. I put the cylinder heads in to a local engineering shop for a skim yesterday and will get them out on Monday.

There are still folk out there giving service (Morris Minor parts invariably arrive next day btw).

My experience with Lexus parts so far is mixed I have to say.

Pete

Hi Peter,

I do have to agree with you on that some suppliers espescially it seems classic car part suppliers are exceptionally good. I have a 1964 Ford Corsair and whenever i have needed parts service has been excellent.

To be honest though with the Lexus i think it must just be the case that the parts might not be in high demand when compared to fiestas, focuses, micras etc.

Someone at work did suggest i buy a modern reliable more economical car. I didnt wish to offend them so actually told her that whilst their focus was a nice car it was not for me

BTW i will upload some pics of my corsair and lexus to my album later today if i get chance

You should have educated the focus owner about the joys of owning a lexus. Considering the age of the LS, it's amazing how they are still some years ahead of other vehicles. A remarkable achievement!! Anyway, if you were to give her a lift in your car she may just leave the focus at home...

[bazgtr]

I would have just either put up with it until xmas over and just spray some wd40 on it if it was making a noise. It's not a part that fails and must be done straight away.

Also you should know what the country is like by now. It's the same every xmas. Rubbish.

On a better note at least when you get your lexus back it will feel much better and like a new car compared to the mazda you've been driving.

If you drive a car everyday you can forget how it felt the first time you drove it. Sometimes you need time away to remember how good it is.