94 Es -lextech Lighting

[njoymylex]

Hi all,

I've got an ES300 with dead needles. I've read as much as I could here and decided to try to use Lextech to replace them. I have had no luck trying to reach them ... is a common problem? I'm worried about doing business with people that don't reply to emails (I tried to join their forum but I don't seem to have posting privledges)

The website says no refunds due to the high quality service they provide before the purchase but I'm not seeing that.

Is this a trust worthy company?

oh and DIY is not an option for me, the way I handle a soldering iron it might as well be a blow torch ;)

Thanks for the advise.

[Lexucan]

I've never used Lextech so I don't know how reputable they are or are not. Seems a bit odd to me though that no one is responding to your e-mails.

As far as the DIY is concerned, hand soldering is very easy to learn how to do. There is a link to a short Youtube soldering tutorial video included in the DIY write-up. It outlines the basics very well.

My concerns about shipping the cluster off somewhere to have it fixed would be the expense and the possibility of damage occurring to it while in transit. If you decide to do that, I'd recommend you make sure it is heavily insured (making it even more expensive an option). :(

[SAFRO.COM]

sounds like john deere with their customers tractors. No reply. I hope they return your email or else you might as well find another company

[njoymylex]

Thanks guys.

I guess I'm glad I don't see a bunch of complaints .... but no praise either?

Today I tried to go to their store and the website is screwed up. My confidence is pretty well shot, I guess I'll learn to solder

[raylove1]

Thanks guys.

I guess I'm glad I don't see a bunch of complaints .... but no praise either?

Today I tried to go to their store and the website is screwed up. My confidence is pretty well shot, I guess I'll learn to solder

had my 1993 ES 300 done by them in dec 07 with no problems they dont answer much but get the job it took them about 2 weeks and i got it back all working

[dcfish]

Thanks guys.

I guess I'm glad I don't see a bunch of complaints .... but no praise either?

Today I tried to go to their store and the website is screwed up. My confidence is pretty well shot, I guess I'll learn to solder

had my 1993 ES 300 done by them in dec 07 with no problems they dont answer much but get the job it took them about 2 weeks and i got it back all working

When I had my 93 es I had lextech repair the cluster and everything was perfect, Turnaround was 5 days. Thanks Brian AKA - OLT ;)

[njoymylex]

Update on my experience with Lextech.

Due to the fear of "retaliation" and potential embarrassment of my situation, I did not state that Lextech already had my cluster.

Since only two others shared their experience I decided I would share all my thoughts. Perhaps I can prevent others from having the same level of frustration during their experience.

Here is quote from their site "Returns or refunds are not allowed due to the extreme level of customer service we provide before the purchase... " It was "extreme" alright ... extremely poor.

Impressions of the business and customer service:

First, I hate their website; it is very poorly done and left me confused and frustrated. I sent a message asking for clarification on the proper item to order and never received a reply. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, assuming they were busy or missed the e-mail.

I went ahead and placed the order and received a confirmation email charging the list price $99.99. The price was what I expected until I saw a post in the forum saying all purchases in Feb were 10% off ... oh well just the tip of the poor service.

I sent my cluster out and based on experience with other (high quality) companies I really expected to get an e-mail stating they had it or at least an update on the website indicating my cluster was in line for repair. Obviously this is my error but because of the website quote above I did have a fairly high expectations.

One week after UPS showed delivery I sent an email asking for an update on status but never received a reply.

The following week I sent another email (just prior to my post here and another forum), I did get a response but it was very curt and unapologetic. Frankly as a business owner myself I would have apologized to my customer for the communications issue regardless of the fault. They said the cluster was reshipped and FedEx would update them shortly.... Two days later I had to send another email asking for the tracking number.

My impression of these guys: they think the customer is lucky to do business with Lextech not the other way around, apparently being a monopoly has driven real customer service out the door.

I did get my cluster back and immediately installed it to see the quality of the work. Again I wasn't impressed, OK now the needles light up but based on the website pictures I was expecting more. Even though my needles were a "red" color I ordered "amber" because that appeared to be the only option on the website for the ES. That was reason I sent the very first inquiry(that was ignored).

My impression of the work:

I am disappointed the original color was not available (maybe it is, but the website sucks).

The new needles appear to have only one LED located at the base on the needle. That would be fine if it was made clear on the website. They are VERY dim in direct sunlight but work ok at night. Better then nothing..... yeah I guess.

Overall I would not recommend them unless you have extremely low expectations (hopefully I have given you that)

[Lexucan]

Update on my experience with Lextech.

First, I hate their website; it is very poorly done and left me confused and frustrated. I sent a message asking for clarification on the proper item to order and never received a reply.

After reading your posts I thought I'd go to the lextech site and have a look for myself.

Wow, what a dog's breakfast!

No wonder you were confused. I found myself going around in circles trying to find info on ES needles. So, after a while of getting nowhere I decided to try the "Quick Find" search box. I entered "cluster needles" into the search engine and pressed enter. This was the result:

Products meeting the search criteria

1054 - Unknown column 'p.products_id' in 'on clause'

select count(distinct p.products_id) as total from products p left join manufacturers m using(manufacturers_id), products_description pd left join specials s on p.products_id = s.products_id, categories c, products_to_categories p2c where p.products_status = '1' and p.products_id = pd.products_id and pd.language_id = '1' and p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id and ((pd.products_name like '%cluster%' or p.products_model like '%cluster%' or m.manufacturers_name like '%cluster%') and (pd.products_name like '%needles%' or p.products_model like '%needles%' or m.manufacturers_name like '%needles%') )

So, I tried entering "es needles". The lextech search engine didn't find any products related to es needles...it just came back with the same 1054 error.

Needless to say, this wasn't getting me anywhere either. :(

Here is quote from their site "Returns or refunds are not allowed due to the extreme level of customer service we provide before the purchase... " It was "extreme" alright ... extremely poor.

Hmmm...even if it were true that lextech provided excellent customer service before the purchase, does that excuse them from backing up their product after they get their money? I guess so...

I did get my cluster back and immediately installed it to see the quality of the work. Again I wasn't impressed, OK now the needles light up but based on the website pictures I was expecting more. Even though my needles were a "red" color I ordered "amber" because that appeared to be the only option on the website for the ES. That was reason I sent the very first inquiry (that was ignored).

I am disappointed the original color was not available (maybe it is, but the website sucks).

The new needles appear to have only one LED located at the base on the needle. That would be fine if it was made clear on the website. They are VERY dim in direct sunlight but work ok at night. Better then nothing..... yeah I guess.

Well, after a long while on the lextech site, I finally stumbled upon *some* info about ES needles. Apparently, back in 2006 (according to the lextech forum page I was on...or at least I think it was a forum page, but I'm not too sure how I got there) all LED colors other than yellow were discontinued for the Lexus ES needles. Someone in the forums was asking questions about the needles and he seemed as confused as you were about the info on the site. The reply he got said something about the ES needle being amber so nothing but yellow LEDs would work with it. (???)

I don't know about yours, but my needles fired up an orangy RED when they were originally working, not yellow or amber.

Anyways, someone else posted a message saying: but when my 93 ES300 needles worked they would light up RED

The Lextech response was: No they'd light up amber.

So, I guess Lextech knows the car better than its owner...

I also found a post by Lextech dated October of 2006 and was updated in January of this year (2008) stating: The yellow faced one's are ES models and can only be fired yellow. (update 1-1-2008 new technoogy has given us strong enough led's to fire red into the es needles).

"...new technoogy has given us strong enough led's..." ??

TWO YEARS ago, in early 2006, I put some run of the mill, off-the-shelf (read: they were about as "new technoogy" as the Lextech website! :P ) red LEDs into my ES needles, and guess what...they fired up BRIGHT RED not amber or yellow. So why they were offering yellow as the only LED option for the ES needles is a mystery to me.

And as you can see, I put the LED at the tip of the needle, not at the base. I wasn't concerned about illuminating the rest of the needle. The tip is the important part for reading the gauge correctly. It also shows up fine in broad daylight.