cduluk

My only worry about filing a lawsuit against the dealer is the fact that i don't have 100% proof. The only pictures i have of my car that show the damaged areas were taken several months ago. I "could" lie and say i took them more recently, but in the background there are trees with green leaves and such, a definite indicator that they're not recent... AND, the limit for small claims here in RI is $2500. That won't even cover the navigation unit! http://www.courts.ri.gov/district/rightsinsmallclaims.htm So i don't have many options...

ah! i never thought about talking to other customers :whistles: I like that idea! There's always a ton of people waiting for their cars to finish, and it's right near the doors to the service bay too. The service people are constantly walking in and out, hopefully one of them hears me :D I wish really i was older, i bet my age has a lot to do with this. My parents don't want to deal with it, they told me to just "leave it alone, it's only a car"... YEAH OK. But i'll keep on the dealer and hold my ground. All i've got is time, and hopefully with a little i can persuade them into fixing what they screwed up.

So the speed limit before the 35mph sign was 15mph? From where he was sitting, he can't see any of the road that's in the 15mph section. As soon as he sees you, you've already passed the 35mph sign, therefore the speed limit at that point is 35. That's a bum ticket... Was he using a hand held radar gun? Or was it the radar type that's mounted in the car? I wonder if he was using "instant on" radar, not running radar. So as soon as he sees you come into view, he turns on the radar and has your speed JUST as a radar detector would go off- so it wouldn't help you slow down. But i bet he was running constant radar. Just sits in that spot with the radar mounted on the windshield, lets it run 24/7. He can sit there and do paperwork, and when the radar senses a speeding car, it emits a "beeping" sound that alerts the officer that you've come into radar, and he can chase you down... This is the type of radar that a radar detector will help with, as it gives you warning radar is ON about half a mile before that spot.

UGHHHHH!!! I was supposed to call the dealer Monday morning to see if the head service manager was in so i could meet with him, but i had to stay with a professor Monday morning after class so i couldn't go... So i called this morning (Tuesday) and my service advisor told me he was in! I asked if i could drop by between 11-1pm to see him, and she assured me he would be there. Well, i got there 11:15am and he was at a "general" meeting across the street at Mercedes Benz (apparently all the service managers for every car brand at the auto mall have meetings??). My service advisor assured me that he'd be back "shortly". Well, about 45 minutes later my service advisor came into the waiting room and told me that he called to say he wasn't going to be back until later in the afternoon. Since i had class from 2-6 i couldn't meet with him today. So my service advisor assured me once again that he would be there 11am on Thursday... so i will go back then! This is so frustrating... They've made it clear they want nothing to do with me, it seems like they're trying to tire me out. HA! I'm relentless, especially about my car. If they're trying to wait me out, they've got another thing coming... I'll meet with this head service manager on Thursday and try to be reasonable and calm, and just keep insisting that the parts need to be replaced. I'll see if he shows any intent to "make things right", but if not, i've got another idea... What if, (yes, i know this is probably the "wrong" thing to do... but it's just an idea...) what if the navigation screen, unit and radio were to mysteriously "not work" with no signs of external damage? Would another lexus dealer determine they're faulty and replace them under the car's warranty? :whistles: I'm desperate at this point... I can't see myself having to go through the trouble of filing a lawsuit if i don't have to...

Well i just returned from the dealer because they had to put my inspection sticker on. I spoke to the assistant service manager and he said they weren't going to do anything about the damage! He said he spoke to the head service manager who said they didn't do the damage. BUT HE NEVER EVEN SAW THE DAMAGE HIMSELF! This head service manager doesn't work on Weekends apparently so i'm going to show him personally first thing Monday morning. I'm SO frustrated right now. These *BLEEP*s raped my car and are denying anything. I am absolutely livid.

Thanks SW, i really appreciate that <_< Still haven't received the call yet, but i'm pretty sure what they're gonna tell me! I'll try to insist that i show the head manager in person too, that might make a bigger impact.

If i sue, could i ever show my face there again? The next nearest Lexus dealer is about an hour+ away...

not "right before" but maybe a month or so ago?

Well i went to Lexus today to show someone else the damage. My service person introduced me to the "assistant service manager" who looked at the car. He insisted that they didn't cause the damage! I told them the damage wasn't present before i dropped the car off, but he did not show any sympathy. He told me he needed to speak to the "first in command" manager and that he'd call me. I told him i had detailed pictures of the car, which seemed to be the only thing that caught his interest. So as of right now, it doesn't look like they're willing to help. So for now i wait for a phone call. When i get this phone call, what should i then say if they deny to replace the damaged parts? So i threaten with a lawsuit yet? Because i swear i am THIS close. I am so frustrated with this situation. Those *BLEEP*S abused my car and there's nothing i can do

Thanks SW :( I truly feel like crap about this. They just abused my car. I'm still playing phone tag with the head of the service department. Apparently he doesn't work on Friday's or Weekends, and he's been "sick" and whatever else excuse one could come up with... I was ordered to call again tomorrow and make an apt to come in and show him the damage. I'll try to be cool, but if they start denying they damaged everything, i don't know what i'm going to do. I'll bring in pictures and what not, so hopefully they don't give me too much of an issue. I'll definitely keep you guys updated on this issue though.

good idea, i think that's my best bet. If they refuse, or only decide to replace "some" of the damaged parts, should i then take things to the next level? Should i get a police report or something? Should i call Lexus corporate?

Thanks for caring guys, i really am feeling a lot of pain :( I called my service advisor today 4 times, went directly to voice mail. I left her a message asking her to call me back, but haven't received a call yet! I'll have to try again tomorrow, hopefully whoever it is i need to speak to comes to work. I really hope they don't give me a hard time about fixing this issue. There is NO way i will accept the car back the way it is. I'm meticulous about my car, i can't stand little scratches and what not. And bottom line, i shouldn't have to! I dropped the car off "damage-less", and got it back with damage. They are responsible. It's clear these parts were not handled with care. I've done a lot of work removing parts etc, and i know how easy it is to scratch stuff if you're not careful. If whoever worked on the car just took the time to CAREFULLY place and secure the parts, they wouldn't have gotten dinged up. I'll do whatever it takes to get everything fixed, at NO expense to me. I'm not living with any of the damage they caused. OH, and today i noticed my dash is covered with the little white particles again. I assume it's just left over crap from before, but i'll keep an eye on it. I do also need to replace the cabin air filter, that might be causing the residual powder as well... But when i end up going back and showing whoever it is they told me needed to see it about the damage, what should i say? What should i do? Any advice?

And here's the invoice sheet So what do you guys think?

Last week i was on vacation to Florida, so i decided to have the "white dust on dash" problem fixed while i was away (since i knew it took a few days to complete). The week prior to leaving i showed up at the dealer and told my service advisor what i was experiencing, and she knew right away what the problem was. She advised me that there was indeed a "re-designed" replacement part (evaporator core i think?) so that i should never have the white dust issue again. The morning of my flight, i dropped the car off and my service advisor assured me that she'd call my cell whenever it was ready (not like i was in a rush since i was going to be away for 8 days anyway...). I also told her i needed an inspection sticker since i needed one by RI law... Well, 7 days later and still no phone call. I called my service advisor and she said, "Oh hi! Yes the car is done, we just lost the keys- but we found them!" I told her i'd be arriving back around 5 so i would pick it up. I arrived back in RI and went to the Lexus dealer. I signed some paperwork and my service advisor said she'd get my car ready. She proceeded to walk towards a white 04-06 Rx330 in the service garage. She entered it, started it up and moved it outside, and said, "Here you go! We even did a wash!" I replied that it was the WRONG CAR and she said, "Oh it's behind it!" (there was a gray 2010 Rx350 behind it) and i AGAIN replied that it wasn't my car either! She said, "Oh yeah, sorry about that. It must be in the back." So she ran in the back and brought out my car... I guess my last name being on the license plate wasn't enough of a hint to her So i got in my car and noticed there was no inspection sticker! I showed my advisor and she said, "Oh i wonder what happened?" She went to speak to someone and came back to tell me that the guy who's supposed to do the stickers had a death in the family and hasn't been to work.... I just said FINE and told her to call me when he's back so i can get the sticker... So i left the dealership to go home. But on the way home, i started to look at the inside of the car. And i COULD NOT believe what i found. There were tiny nicks and tears all over the inside of the dash! There was grease on the steering wheel and column, nicks on the silver areas around the center nav and radio, a nick in the wood , a scratch on the center shifter panel, i noticed gaps on the left and right sides of the upper dash, and more importantly, a SCRATCH in the nav screen! Then when i got home, i noticed even more... On the right side of the shifter, there was a tear in the vinyl and on the right lower side of the dash, some more tears in the vinyl. These parts took some serious ABUSE. ALL OF WHICH were NOT there before i dropped the car off! You all know how i am about my car... So i went back to the dealer and showed the service advisor the damage. She went back and brought back some "tech" that worked on my car. Couldn't have been much older than me, and he didn't look like much of a college graduate. My service advisor asked him what he thought, and he replied with, "I don't remember, i mean, i mean i wouldn't have left it like this, i wasn't tryin to cover anything up or anything, blah blah, blah." I replied telling them it wasn't like that when i dropped the car off, and the tech replied with, "Well it is what it is." That's when i FLIPPED. Apparently there's some 'man behind the curtain' person who would need to look at it, and he wasn't there last night. So i am supposed to call today to see if he's there so i can show him the damage. I am absolutely OUTRAGED. I can't believe the damage left to this car, i just can't believe it. These parts where NOT handled with any care, AT ALL. This dealership has shown NO signs of quality. Here are a few pictures...

I can confirm you can remove the low beam HID bulbs along with the directional and high beam/DRL bulbs and the little parking bulbs in the high beam reflectors without removing the headlights themselves. Not sure abot the little light for the orange reflector though... It's just a little tight to get your hands in there... but its do-able.

So you bought a used set of Rx seats and are trying to retrofit them into another car? And you're trying to get the seats to "work" as far as seat adjustments and what not? Are you trying to get the memory seats to function? I doubt the seat adjustment motors in there can be controlled with just straight DC voltage. I would assume they're some type of stepper motor. You may need a stepper motor controller box to get them to work. Remove the motors and look for a brand and/or model numbers, and try to determine which type of motors they are to see how they work. And I'm not sure how you could get the memory seats to function without the cars ECU or proper switches... Can you be more specific as to what you're trying to do exactly?

Awesome, glad I could help. =) I think you did the right thing not replacing just the leather covers, they're a pain to remove and install (made that mistake myself).

What do you mean when you say you converted the left side from an '02 to the right side of your '99? So you took a drivers side bottom from a 2002 and put it in the passenger side bottom of your 1999? Or do you mean you replaced the passenger side bottom of the 2002 with the drivers side bottom of your 1999? The passenger side bottom of the 01-03 will have an extra wire than the drivers side, as the passenger side seat bottom has a sensor installed to detect if a passenger is sitting in the seat. Not sure if this is what you could be talking about? And yeh, the 01-03 Rx300ls have the upper side of the seats heated as well as the bottoms. Thought the 99 and 00 rx300 seats did this as well, but I could be wrong... Also, the seat bottoms aren't symmetrical. The left thigh support for the drivers side is larger than its right side, and the same goes for the passenger side bottom. The thigh supports adjacent to the doors are wider than the ones adjacent to the center console.

I had replaced the seats in my old Rx300 once before, but ones from a 2002 into my 2003. All the cabes were the same. Did you connect the cables from the upper part of the seat to the bottom? The upper part of the seat has a heating element and the side airbag. In the lower part, you've got another heating element, the seatbelt wires, and position controls. I don't see how your old seat could have only had one plug... make sure you're not missing anything, especially not with the airbag or seatbelt plug wires.

Awesome! Good luck :D

...roll your fenders? What do you mean?

..for your high beam/DRL bulbs? Led's won't last in there. There isn't a pair of pnp LED 9005 replacements with enough heat-sink and voltage regulation to last more than... maybe a month with regular use. Nor will they be bright enough to be seen during the day nor even be somewhat adequate when you need your high beams at night or for signaling. You'd also need to run a load resistor as the LED's will make the computer the bulbs are out and will shut the circuit.

Awesome, so then for the ding i would use a cotton cloth with some 3M scratch remover and rub the area until the paint goes away, it'll also get rid of the scuffed area. For the chip, i would apply a thin layer of touch-up once daily until the paint is a little higher than the surrounding paint. Let it cure for about a week, then wetsand and polish. Just gotta make sure you don't wetsand the surrounding areas too much or you'll burn through the clear...

For the chips on the hood, you're probably best to remove the whole "bubble" as you call it, prep the area with rubbing alcohol (on a cotton cloth) then apply the paint in thin layers. I wouldn't worry about rust, just make sure the area's clean before applying the paint. As for the door ding, is the "white" the primer or maybe paint left by another car? Can you feel the white area with your fingernail? Is it deep? If it's just paint transfer from another cars door, you could try a compound to remove it. If it's just a chip showing your cars white primer, then there isn't much you can do besides applying some touch up. But if it's just paint transfer (white paint over yours), do NOT apply touchup... Dings suck, i had one on my last car and i looked at it everyday :( Now i try to park far from ANYONE so i don't get kids bumping their doors into mine <_< Parallel parking works well too...