My Lexus LS 460 L 2009 overheated while on the job in San - John Ford
My Lexus LS 460 L 2009 overheated while on the job in San Bernardino, Ca on July 10 2024. I uber'ed to the dealership from the hotel, and purchased 2 gallons of coolant. I put the coolant in the car at the hotel and filled it according to the manual. The radiator failed, so I drove the car to Lexus of Riverside. Lexus provided a loaner car, even though I live near Bakersfield. Lance Lee worked with me. I showed Lance the unused gallon of coolant and asked that he use it to save a little cost. I also told Lance the that service maintenance on my 2009 was often way more than the car was worth. I love the car, it is paid for, and I do what I can to keep up with all the repairs. I also showed him the engine cowling in the trunk so that he could replace it when the car was done. We agreed to replace the radiator and do an oil change and surface the front rotors (suggested by Lexus of Bakersfield) . The first contact from the dealership was a text from Rafael Gamez and a video of what was wrong with my car. Unfortunately it was not my car. The video showed a mechanic flippantly show me what was broken old and otherwise the poor condition this car was in. Even if it was my car, I could only imagine how this customer was going to be treated, it is expensive to service a car at the dealership, they are aware of this and it appears from this video that they would provide an extensive list and costly repairs. to whoever owned it. The more I thought about it the more heated I got, Lance knew I was not about repairing the car to brand new. I responded to the text and asked that The service manager contact me before going any further. David Churchill (service Director) called me, unfortunately I was at work in meetings and could not take the call. He had Lance call me and again I was in meetings. the texts went back and forth with Lance because we could not come to a total bill. We worked out a deal to replace the radiator and instead of surfacing the rotors, I agreed to replace them. I was given a discount. The car would be done on Friday. I drove nearly 4 hours to pick up the car on the 12th. Lance had gone home for the day and the department took my payment. They suggested I had two other issues that needed to be fixed and to take it to my dealership in Bakersfield. Two fan motors were close to failing. My wife and I moved my items in the trunk from the loaner to the my car. When we got in the car, the gas was on EMPTY. and the air conditioner was not working. It would try to start and failed. They did not tell of that the fan had failed or broke while in service. The temperature outside was 109 and where I was going was even hotter. The car was not drive-able, so I went back into service and asked that someone come out and look and see what was wrong with the vehicle. Of course it was the most expensive of the two fans and the other fan was associated with cooling the engine down. Needless to say I was livid. I will pay for work that needs to be done. I moved my materiel back from my trunk and to the loaner and drove home arriving near 10 PM. The Service department new I was mad. George Alverez? (I apologize if this name is not right) the service lead heard me out and understood how misguided the service was to date. He checked the fan in the glove box and said it was broken. It my head, tell me whats wrong and I fix it. Don't ask me to pick up a car that is broken and on top of that leave it empty, make me drive 8 hours both ways and spend $100's on gas to fill the loaner. I am in customer service too, and I felt like I was taken advantage of by a service department and dealership that just counts the $$ they can bill for. On Sat the 13th I was called by George. He notified me that the he had talked with David and the ownership there? They agreed to replace both fans and fill the car with gas, all at no charge to me. The problem was parts, They were not available till the 19th. I picked up the car on the 20th. There is more...
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