:angry: Rallye Service Used To Be Best, Now Worst

[horselady]

Rallye Lexus of Long Island was long known for its outstanding service and from my first

experience with the service department after buying an ES300 in 1997, they not only lived up to the reputation, they exceeded it all accounts. With Joe (last name?) as the service manager, everyone went out of their way to please the customer....and Joe was the best example of this. I recall one July 3rd, the day before a holiday, I had a front light bulb blow, and though it was well after 5:00, I took a chance and went to Rallye anyway. Of course, the service dept. was closed, but Joe was still there and he personally took the car and changed it himself, not even charging me anything, not even for the bulb. You could get an inspection anytime without an appointment and you could get an appointment always within a few days of a request. And they'd squeeze you in if it was really urgent, the same day.

But that's was just a few of many examples of the way the old Rallye Lexus took care of customers. There are too many more to list, believe me. I sent so many people to buy cars there, only because of this kind of service, and all were equally pleased.

Then, about 2 years, new owners took over, and after one or two service calls (by then we also had an RX300 in addition to the ES300), where I had to wait over a week for an appointment

and at a time at their convenience, not mine, not to mention a steep rise in rates, and a policy of nickeling and diming you to death for everything, I learned that Joe was no longer there and new owners had taken it over. I took it in once to have a small piece of molding by the driver door of the ES300 re-glued on, as it had been when it came loose shortly after purchasing the car some 7 years ago. Only this time they replaced the strip (without telling me) instead of gluing the old one back on and chaged me $150 for it.

But the straw that broke this camel's back just happened today. I recalled that when my ES 300 was at 50,000 miles, the old Rally started reminding me that I'd need to get the timing chain changed by 70,000 mile as it would be very expensive to fix, should it break first. They reminded 2 more time, after which I had the work done. My husband drives the RX300 and remembered

about the other car and the timing chain and asked if/when his needed changing. We had not heard anything about it from new Rallye, even though the last service call we had on that car was

a few months ago, when the car was at around 75,000 miles. I called today to inquire about the timing chain and the girl who answered looked it up and said the car was not due for service at this time. I said, "Are you sure, doesn't that model have a timing chain? Would you please ask someone who knows?" She came back and said, "Oh yes, you do need that done right away. Someone will call you back this afternoon." Did you hear from them? Well neither did I. And this would have been at least a $1,000 job for them.

I wasn't surprised, considering they never called me back with a quote on some body work I had asked for on the last service visit.

I will never use them again. And if the timing chain breaks before I can get it repaired, they'll have a lawsuit from me as well.

Is there anyone at Lexus headquarters I can talk to about this?

Also, does anyone know Joe, the prior service manager's last name or where he currently works?

I'd buy any brand car if he was the service manager there.

[Unlisted]

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im sorry to here this because i use rallye for everything and highly reccomend them as well as a few other people on here. 1st the es timing belt needs to be done around 60k the rx not to 90k . as far as i know there hasnt been any owner changes? owned by the same family since 1960something. seems like they did alot for free, light bulb and molding, but then got upset when they finally had you pay. those things go after 7 years. third, Lexus has grown in leaps and bounds in the 7 years they have alot more cars on the road and alot more to service. try owning a mercedes when the 1st appt you can get is 3 months out and that is for a recall on my sl. if you feel your timing belt is going to go {highly unlikely} go to the dealer. if you felt there was something wrong with you , you wouldnt wait for a doctors appt, you would go in to a hospital. im in the service business, i just hate to see something like this where you spent 10 minutes posting this when you could have called the dealership back and given them the benefit of a doubt about trying to contact you. you pushing them to sell you something you dont need. check your owners manual. i know they recomend serving the car more then every 2 years or were there nothing to complain about so you picked out these experiences??

[LEXUSMASTER]

Wow. What a switch. I service my GS there since 99 and if anything things have gotten way better. You may have had a good experience with Ed and Joe the "old Guys" but I fould they often didn't know what they were talking about. They NEVER helped me keep up with service. I usually had to tell them what the car needed. As for convience, I agree lately if I need a loaner I might wait a week(which I think is not out of the odinary anyware,and if you ever had another luxury car like Mercedes or BMW, they'll tell you 5 weeks.) On top of that all there loaners are brand new Lexus now, the old owner had all these 5 year old beat uo old ES's with a million miles on them.As for emergancies they are the best. Two weeks ago I had to go to see them for an issue that happened out of the blue( I ran over something that fell off a truck on the LIE) a day before I was to drive to FLA. They not only sent a driver to get a part for my car, the technician stayed until several hours after closing to make sure I had my car for my trip the next day and he even delivered the car to my house. REFUSED to take the tip I wanted to give him and told me it was not neccessary because this is what we do, he was just happy to have the chance to do the right thing. If that is not the best customer service I have ever exerienced you must be from another planet. I never even asked for this treatment it just happened. I never had that type of service before.

As for your question on the timing belt. The old Rallye recomended them at 60000 miles which was 30000 mile before you need it at 90k. Being your car is a 97 you can replace it because of age( belt not chain). The reason they quoted you $1000 is because when they get old you may need other things when it is all apart that you should do. ( I had a Toyota years ago and they did "just" a timing belt for a special low price and a month later the water pump was bad and they had to do the whole job over again.)

It sounds like you like Joe for whatever reason, hey everyone has a different relationship with people. But everyone I have had to deal with in the last two years have bent over backwards for me without me asking.

Pam, Sheila and Andrew have been the best.........

Go try some of the other Lexus dealers on the Island, They might look pretty but their customer service is stuck in the 50's. That's how I came to Rallye.

[horselady]

Obviously, both of you know a lot more about cars than I do and can get along without the extra attention that the old Rallye used to provide. Andy yes, it was the old Rallye as according to Pam, who has been there a long time, they did change owners approx. 2 years ago. By the way,

I did speak to Pam today, who always has been most accommodating. At other times when I tried to speak to her, I was told she was not available and whomever was on the line with me could do the same as Pam. I found out that is not the case.

I only learned from her that the timing thing on the RX was not due for changing until 90,000 miles. That is NOT what I heard from the girl I spoke to yesterday. After I told her to check on that item specifically, she came back and said that "yes", it would need changing "right away" - not 10,000 miles from now. Then she said someone else would call me later which no one ever did. Had she told me I could wait until 90,000, I would not have been so upset at not getting a call back that day. But since I didn't hear from them, I went ahead and scheduled an appointment to have it done today by my old mechanic, as my husband uses it for long business trips, and cannot riska breakdown like that far away.

It has never been a question of money. My mechanic has always been much less expensive than Rallye, even the old one. But I felt the extra cost at Rallye was worth it for the superior service they provided and I never felt they were trying to get me for every last penny, as they are now. And the old Rallye never once failed to return a call about a problem, an estimate, an appoiutment when they said they would. I had to call new Rallye 3 times to get the promised estimate on some body work, only to be told I'd have to take it somewhere else to a body shop, because they couldn't do it there. Why didn't they just tell me that 3 weeks earlier when I had the car there for the estimate?

Maybe I'm just spoiled from the way things used to be at Rallye. But don't tell me to compare them to BMW or Mercedes where the service is much worse. Maybe that's why I never would buy one those cars in the first place. I bought my first Lexus because of the car's reputation, but the second one because of Rallye's service, as it used to be. If you never experienced it, you have no basis for comparison and the current service dept probably does seem good compared to the other companies you mentioned.

As for the condition of the loaner cars, who gives a damn about that? It's for a day or two at best, I really don't care or expect the car to be brand new. In fact, I'd prefer they use older models if it would reduce their service prices or at least make it less apparent that they are nickeling and diming me for every last thing.

I love my ES, but the RX has not performed nearly so well...with many things needing repair in the first 3 years - not that they were serious - electrical malfunctions, light bulbs blowing every other month, engine light coming on - not serious, just annoying as I did have to take off a day from work each time to bring the car in. I would like to buy another ES, but it won't be from Rallye for sure.

[Unlisted]

you can buy a car anywhere but you took the time here to slam someones business with such little justification. as a small business owner myself i just hate to see that. then it just happened to be the dealer i use and frequently recomend . I had days to were i wish the car wash got my car cleaner but i also realize its a small thing in life. happy new year

[vcv10guy]

you can buy a car anywhere but you took the time here to slam someones business with such little justification. as a small business owner myself i just hate to see that. then it just happened to be the dealer i use and frequently recomend . I had days to were i wish the car wash got my car cleaner but i also realize its a small thing in life. happy new year

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Little justification? I don't know Unlisted, if she's a regular customer at that dealership who initially always provided her with superb service and then started to slip up, I could understand why she wouldn't be happy with them. However, it would be more constructive if she spoke to the General Manager at the dealership about her unsatisfactory experience, and/or go to another dealership. That's what I did with "past" dealer. I specifically though returned there my old dealer's survey and expressed my unhappiness with there service, and now I go to another dealership who meets my expectations.

[Unlisted]

my problem was with her posting in headlines the dealer name and slamming them . meanwhile if anyone took the time to read on they would realize she had no problems. They for 7 years fixed something for free until it was time for it to be replaced? Being this is mostly a consumer forum alot of people get upset at dealers and there right to earn a profit. But to come on here on try and hurt there business is malicious and immature.

[vcv10guy]

Oh I see what is bothering you now. Thank you for clearing that up. That is correct what you said about a business' right to earn a profit. That's half the reason why a business exists, the other half is offering a service to make a profit off of. Therefore, charging her for replacing a part and/or a service is acceptable. What is not correct in my eyes is there poor handling of her request for an estimate for her car damage and them taking three weeks to tell her they can't do it. Not to mention giving her false information about when the timing belt is supposed to be replaced, and not following her instructions regarding the molding piece on her ES300. Besides, not doing things correctly is going to hurt your business, as in this case I'm certain Rallye Lexus is not going to have her as a customer anymore. I apologize Unlisted if it sounded like I was attacking you, which was not my intent. Horselady, to ensure that you don't run into problems like when you have to replace your timing belt or how often you need to have something done or replaced, be sure to consult your owner's manual. They have a maintenance schedule of when things need to be done.

[Unlisted]

i understand everything that was said. i was just bothered after reading her statement that all of her problems were along the lines of communication. which is a 2 way street. if she would have called and had spoken with an advisor or a manager there would be no need for this post.

[nicksan]

What's wrong with slamming the dealer?

You know, I see the trend, especially in NY. The service has declined so much now. But as consumers we now have a easy way of communicating our frustrations, and that is the internet and forums such as this one.

I have been living in NY for over 25 years, and although I love NY to death, I hate the fact that the standard of everything (service, ethics, common courtesy) is VERY, VERY, low.

Why wouldn't someone taking phone calls for the service department not be able to answer questions or professionally forward calls to someone who can.

They hired the person. They are responsible. That person is acting as the face of the service departmen. When you got some stupid girl chewing gum, answering the phone like she's got a negative IQ, I have a problem with that. This is Lexus. You are dealing with people who have paid lots of money to buy a Lexus.

So screw that about business ownership.

It all comes down to money. All business owners want is more bottom line.

And they will screw each and every customer to get that.

So screw that.

You play bad...we'll play bad...we'll slam you!

Lexus of Massapequa is the perfect example.

They think they rule the world...well I reported them to corporate, each and every one of the A-holes who treated my like a second hand citizen, right down to their last names. And that stupid little survey they ask you to fill out, I gave them the lowest mark across the board.

What's that? You have to feed your children?

Yeah, then honor up, and act like someone who they can be proud of, not some snake!

So you see...you get a lot of that in NY...a lot of cons.

[Unlisted]

compare your story to the top of this post and see the difference. There is a difference between bad service and bad communication.

[vcv10guy]

What's wrong with slamming the dealer?

You know, I see the trend, especially in NY. The service has declined so much now. But as consumers we now have a easy way of communicating our frustrations, and that is the internet and forums such as this one.

I have been living in NY for over 25 years, and although I love NY to death, I hate the fact that the standard of everything (service, ethics, common courtesy) is VERY, VERY, low.

Why wouldn't someone taking phone calls for the service department not be able to answer questions or professionally forward calls to someone who can.

They hired the person. They are responsible. That person is acting as the face of the service departmen. When you got some stupid girl chewing gum, answering the phone like she's got a negative IQ, I have a problem with that. This is Lexus. You are dealing with people who have paid lots of money to buy a Lexus.

So screw that about business ownership.

It all comes down to money. All business owners want is more bottom line.

And they will screw each and every customer to get that.

So screw that.

You play bad...we'll play bad...we'll slam you!

Lexus of Massapequa is the perfect example.

They think they rule the world...well I reported them to corporate, each and every one of the A-holes who treated my like a second hand citizen, right down to their last names. And that stupid little survey they ask you to fill out, I gave them the lowest mark across the board.

What's that? You have to feed your children?

Yeah, then honor up, and act like someone who they can be proud of, not some snake!

So you see...you get a lot of that in NY...a lot of cons.

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I agree with you whole heartly on being professional and not being a snake.

[LEXUSMASTER]

What's wrong with slamming the dealer?

I agree with you whole heartly on being professional and not being a snake.

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I agree , Massapequa, I have never heard anything good about them. I had an issue with them. I guess when I read about somebody that is currently treating me like gold I get offended like it was directed at me. Horselady might have had a bad experience but to slam all the people that work there, I would not agree with. I haved lived in New York all my life and I have never had a dealer extend themselves like these guys. They always seem to be proactive at doing the right thing. I feel lucky I found them and because of that I plan on another Lexus and will see if their sale department can do the same. From the convo in the waiting area they do.