Lexus Of Bellevue

[Scotsman2]

Came to live in USA in February. Went to Local Lexus dealer looking for new LS460. After a couple of visits which were bordering on just passable I arranged a test drive. For examlpe the cars in this lot were not parked by type so searching through their stock was a long & winding walk. Flagship dealer in Bellevue WA. by the way.

Arrived for the test drive at appointed time to find the test LS was out with someone else. So we were treated to an hour of time wasting with not as much as a coffee hoping the test car would return. After an hour we left still not having test driven a car!!

Yes they only have 1 LS460 test car. Yes I did buy one from Lexus of Seattle who were brilliant (awesome I should say. Just learning the lingo!!)

Oh did I get any follow up from Lexus of Bellevue? Yes someone posing as the Sales Manager phoned to say sorry there was no car to test at my appointment time. Invite me back? No!! Ask if I there was anything he could do to apologise? NO

My first Lexus too. I am a Mercedes man, nearly stayed with them.

[smooth1]

Well first of all, Welcome to the LOC!

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I find it hard to believe that they only had 1 LS 460! You should ask to take thier customer satisfaction survey. They put alot of weight on those.

[RX in NC]

Another shining example of how customer service differs so greatly from dealership to dealership. And not just with the Lexus brand. Sad but true, and very unfortunate for folks who live near the lousy ones and have to put up with being treated like crap because the local management and staff believe they can get away with it. Never stand for treatment like that and eventually these owners and general managers will learn that if the employees don't respect their customers all the way down through the chain-of-command, it won't be long before they don't have any customers....

[1990LS400]

I don't think Scotman2's Lexus dealer experiences are particularly unusual.

Here are a couple of my Lexus dealer stories for you.

Sometime in early 2000 my wife and I visited the local Lexus dealer looking to buy a new 2000 LS400. We had bought a LS400 new from the same dealership ten years earlier. The dealership did not have a car like I wanted on the lot so I gave my requirements and contact information to a saleswoman. The saleswoman was effusive about how she would search and quickly find the car I was looking for. My requirements were not particularly difficult to fulfill - mainly white exterior and HID headlights.

The saleswoman had to have known that I was a "live one" since I had previously bought a new LS400 there. Did she ever call me? No. Did I ever hear from her or anyone else at the dealership? No. I don't get all that excited about buying cars - the 90 LS was doing OK - and I let the matter drop.

By late summer 2003, I was getting desperate to replace the old 90 LS due to the 90's crappy headlights and my vision issues. I realized that the last of the 2000 LS400s were coming off 3-year leases and time was running out to find a nice low mileage one. I visited the same dealership and gave a salesmen the same specs - mainly white and HID headlights. The salesman was willing to cut a great deal on a new LS430 - which I have since grown to appreciate - and assured me that he could quickly find an off lease 2000 LS400 like I wanted within 2 or 3 days. Did the salesman ever call me? No. Did I ever hear from him or anyone else at the dealership? No. After a couple of weeks I visited the dealer to see what was going on. The salesman no longer worked there.

Not being a "salesman type", I really don't understand what is going on in their heads which makes some sales people treat customers like they do. Perhaps they are looking for "low hanging fruit" customers who are the easiest targets to sell to. Maybe they mislable some people as "tire kickers". Maybe they are just lazy.

Here is my favorite story about how a person was treated by a car salesman ...

It's about how a person I knew while in the Army in 1971-72. The guy was in his mid-20s and a medic. He unexpectedly inherited a s#it load of money a year or so before his scheduled discharge. He went on a spending spree -- got an incredible place to live in a nearby town and started throwing wild parties. He went to a Rolls Royce dealer inquiring about a used Silver Cloud they had in their inventory. It was his "dream car". The salesman would not talk with him. He ended up returning to the dealership later with a cashier's check and then left with his Silver Cloud. One odd aspect of his new wealth was the hostility towards him by the military brass -- probably just plain jealousy. It sure was fun seeing that Rolls Royce driving around the base.

[jcrome04]

Glad to hear someone else is in WA! :D haha Sorry to hear your experience at Bellevue sucked. But I think Lexus of Seattle, and Tacoma at Fife are the best ones in WA.

VERY glad to hear you still got a 460 B) How do you like it???

[rickgus]

Was that Barrier Lexus by any chance? (Used to buy my Benz parts at Barrier Mercedes when I lived up there.)

[Scotsman2]

No I went to Barrier to buy a Mercedes before I looked at Lexus. It was Lexus of Bellevue the so called flagship WA. dealership. Barrier experience was what started me on Lexus! but still not as bad as Lexus of Bellevue.

I did phone Lexus Corporate who did listen but a letter is on it's way.

[jcrome04]

Glad you called corporate! :) I think it's part of the "O'Brien Auto Group" (lots of high end dealerships)

[eatingupblacktop]

Not sure if there's any difference between dealers in Canada and the States. My experience with Lexus has been mainly with the parts and service departments. Athough expensive, no complaints and the level of service and quality of parts is as good as it gets. I have, however, had experiences with MB & BMW that surprised me, even astonished me. Jaguar, Honda and others want you to set up an appt for a test drive. One time I was browsing at an MB dealership. No one swarmed me like they do at GM or Chrysler ("are you buying today?"). Instead I was allowed to enter as many cars in their showroom as I wanted. When I paused to look at a particular model a bit longer before moving on to the next, a impeccably dressed rep approached and asked if I would like to test drive any of them. When I declined (because I didn't have time and was basically killing time in their showroom until my next meeting, he suggested that if I preferred, they could deliver the car to my residence or office for a test drive at my convenience. Absolutely the most civilized sales technique I've come across. Still don't know what I did to warrant this treatment. On another visit to a BMW dealer, after a similar experience, I was given a 2 year old 535 for the weekend as long as I didn't rack up the mileage and filled up the car before bringing it back. Could not believe it. The best test drive I've ever had ... drove out to the country, visited a freind's cottage, almost bought the car. Now, I don't have the time to visit showrooms very often, usually just taking a peak at the IS models when I'm waiting for my car, so I don't know if the visits to the German dealers were aberrations to the norm. Nevertheless, those two ocassions were the best examples of "treating the customer like royalty" that I've experienced and definitely never expected.