Peeling On The Door Panel? And A Good Story To Boot

[jenny marie]

I bought my '08 350 in April of 07. In November '07 an odd peeling of the material which covers the inside of the door (I thought it was leather, I guess it isn't)

became noticeable. It occurred mostly on the part of the door closest to where the door opens, above and below the part which has the window controls, locks, etc. It was also evident on the inside part of the door, the part you can see only when the door is open.

I can only describe it as peeling. If you rubbed your finger on it small patches of this covering came off. Also, the black gasket which lines the door body attached-to-the-car-but-which-corresponds-to-this-portion-when-the-door-is-closed (whew!) was coorroded and open. If I wanted to pull it the whole gasket would peel off.

Lexus fixed it, but a few weeks ago it has come back.

NOW when I brought it back (visit #1) the new Service Manager says he has never seen anything like it, this is Very Unusual and has to call the Factory Rep. Fac Rep is apparently very busy with other Very Unusual Problems b/c I couldn't get an appt. to bring the car back until couple of weeks later (visit #2). When I get to have the Rep look at he says my CarFax report shows an accident (NONONO??!!) and he believes this problem (that was fixed without fuss before) is a result of an accident!!

After my Service Adjuster calls and tells me I have to get a Police Report about an accident I haven't had, I ask to speak to the Serv Manager again. He agrees I have to contact 1) Carfax, though he has no contact info for me or 2) Police Department although I repeat I did not have an accident or 3) my Ins Co. I choose Door #3. They tell me yes, a driver claimed I had clipped their driver's side view mirror. This person took my License info and made a claim thru their Ins. Co. My People paid $183 to their People and never thought to ask me or notify me about this (my Dollars at work for me). SO now I have an accident claim in CyberSpace which will no doubt come back to bite me again and again and a paid Ins Claim for an Accident I never had....

It's not over yet, folks!!

I just brought an affadavit from my Ins Co stating all this to Lexus to pick up my car (since they couldn't make the repair) and make a new appt. (visit #3)

When they brought my car out to me there is a DENT to my Passenger Door....are you as tired as I am??? I SWEAR....if I had Children I guess I would swear on their eyes, isn't that what parents' say,... this is TRUE.

Sooooo, back to the furry fungus on my door....anybody hear of anything like this or have an idea what this could be...?

I hope y'all are not having Service People problems like I am (unfortunately this is just another is a long list of Service SNAFUs here in Rockville Center/Massapequa, NY LexusLand). AND I hope you don't get caught in the WORLDWIDEWEB's prison of Dubious Info Lockdown.

Have a Nice Day Grrrr

Jenny IfIDidn'tLoveTheCarIWouldBeOnAnotherAutomobileSiteWithDifferentComplaints

[smooth1]

Well, first of all, Welcome to the LOC.

As for your escapade with the dealer and the the accident issue, that is strange. Atleast the insurance co. should have called you to verify the incident. I mean isn't there any burden of proof first?

I haven't heard of any issues like your having. I would really press the issue with the dealer though.

[jondoe888]

All this, plus you got to talk to a lying service mgr too!

Love that insurance! I was in an Allstate once, and I guy was telling me he was in a minor accident and was having with the insurance. The other driver also had Allstate, which one would think would simplify things. Instead, it was like the 2 offices were speaking different languages, and he had to keep going back to explain something!

My wife was at a light and got rear ended. It wasn't hard, but was enough to knock her foot off of the brake and allow her to hit the car in front of her. She's a therapist, and checked to make sure everyone was OK. They all exchanged their insurance info and all was well. They all drove off contented. The next morning, the insurance agent called to say everyone involved went to the emergency room with complaints - all 5! - and no one had insurance.

My wife tracked down the driver that hit her, living with his mother, and gave the info to her agent. They already had her deductible, and couldn't be bothered to follow up on the claim.

[jenny marie]

All this, plus you got to talk to a lying service mgr too!

Love that insurance! I was in an Allstate once, and I guy was telling me he was in a minor accident and was having with the insurance. The other driver also had Allstate, which one would think would simplify things. Instead, it was like the 2 offices were speaking different languages, and he had to keep going back to explain something!

My wife was at a light and got rear ended. It wasn't hard, but was enough to knock her foot off of the brake and allow her to hit the car in front of her. She's a therapist, and checked to make sure everyone was OK. They all exchanged their insurance info and all was well. They all drove off contented. The next morning, the insurance agent called to say everyone involved went to the emergency room with complaints - all 5! - and no one had insurance.

My wife tracked down the driver that hit her, living with his mother, and gave the info to her agent. They already had her deductible, and couldn't be bothered to follow up on the claim.

[jenny marie]

Thank you Smooth and Jondoe...

I got a call yesterday from Lexus asking about how I felt my Service Visit had gone!!!!

I told the Poor Unsuspecting Thing...you have hit the jackpot by calling me...I gave her the Full Monty, every detail, spared none of the disgusted and frustrated emphasis. She "tsked tsked" at everything, added a few "Oh nos" and repeated often how sorry she was. When I was fully vented I asked her who else I could contact to gripe to. She replied "Mr. #$**@@!!", guess what my Fine Friends...he's the Service Manager at the dealership. I said I was SUR-R-R-R-e he knew I was unhappy, who else? How about Lexus Corporate? "I don't know anything about that", she sweetly replied...are you ready for this...."I work for Mr. #$**@!!"

I had been so happy to know Lexus was at least following up with customers after service,felt sure this would get back to Mr.#$**@!!, now I see this dealership is only interested in keeping its dirty laundry a Big Dirty Secret. Anyway, I found an 800 number for Lexus, will give that a try one day soon when I have a few hours to kill, similar, I guess, to when you have to call Microsoft or your computer company.

Jondoe, I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago...I was hit...really... TWICE by the same driver, a very young girl, trembling and I'm sorrying all over. She was on my right and tried to change lanes without checking, she swiped me, corrected too hard, came back again and hit me in the rear. We both had GEICO, she admitted to the cops it was her fault, she had another scrape on her already scraped, dented 8-9 year old bumper for which she had an estimate of of almost $2000!!! My scrapes amounted to about $400.

Like you, I thought it was going to be a cinch, both covered by the same ins, she admitted in writing to cops she was at fault, yadayadayada.

After speaking to Daddy, she decided she maybe wasn't so much at fault...GEICO went SOLOMAN on me and found us each 50% liable!!

Thanks for listening you guys...

Still looking for an explanantion for my funky fungus..

Jenny Marie

[smooth1]

Still looking for an explanantion for my funky fungus..

Is the peeling happening where a vent blows on it?

[Dick_Lake_Tahoe_NV]

This may sound strange, but I pass it on for your consideration. I had the same kind of "peeling" on my Porsche inside-door "leather". Turns out that it was Sun-tan lotion I had on my arms that was getting onto the arm rest and causing the peeling.