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.

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.