Complaint Review: Len Stoler Lexus - Owings Mills Maryland

Although I am largely satisfied with my Lexus RX 330 vehicle, I am very displeased with my purchase experience at Len Stoler Lexus, in Owings Mills, Maryland.

My displeasure began in August 2003. When I placed the original order for the vehicle, I was told it would be a two- to three-month wait for a RX 330 with the color and options I wanted. If we were using carrier pigeons and sailing ships I could understand that it takes a while to sail around the Horn with a vehicle from Japan. But this not the case and I find it incredible that in the age of Just-In-Time (perhaps a concept Lexus management could brush up on) that it takes this long to get a car ordered.

If the car actually arrived in two to three months I would not have been happy but it would have been a far cry from the four months it actually took for the car to be delivered. The waiting game was extended in November when, after waiting for three months, I was told that the vehicle would arrive at the beginning of December. It finally arrived in mid-December, necessitating further inconvenience and expense in the form of a car rental a week after I returned a car borrowed from a friend in anticipation of the RX 330 actually showing up when promised.

Dealership sales personnel, primarily Al Skulsky, rarely did what was promised. Approximately three months after I ordered the car, the dealership notified me they had received a VIN. I anticipated being out of town for more than a month so I coordinated to complete the purchase and registration paperwork prior to my departure. I wanted to get it done ahead of time in order that when I returned to the area from my business trip and the car had arrived, I could minimize any delay picking it up. (What a waste of time that plan was!)

Through a telephone call to Al Skulsky, I set a date to arrive at the dealership and sign the necessary papers. I followed up with two more phone calls to absolutely confirm the paperwork would be ready so I would not waste any time once I arrived. After spending an hour and a half driving to the Baltimore area dealership from my home in northern Virginia, I discover the trip was a complete waste of time because the papers were not accomplished as promised.

Four months after ordering the vehicle it finally arrived and was prepared for pick up. During the preparation process, someone at the dealership decided it was necessary to put two screws in the front bumper. NO ONE AT THE DELAERSHIP ASKED MY PERMISSION TO PERMANENTLY MAR MY $44,000 VEHICLE. Someone ASSUMED it was OK to screw two self-tapping machine screws through my plastic bumper in order to place a Len Stoler license plate on the vehicle before delivery.

I planned to register the car in Florida (as anyone could have determined by reading the purchase paperwork). Florida does not issue or use a front license plate. In order to not have two ugly holes showing in my front bumper, I am forced to either have a decorative license plate frame on the front of my vehicle or pay $283.73 plus the cost of paint plus installation, to have a new bumper cover put on, in addition to the inconvenience and expense of missing a day or two of work and driving up and back to the Len Stoler dealership.

When I arrived at Len Stoler to take delivery of the vehicle, my name was misspelled on all of the purchase paperwork. This demonstrates very poor attention to detail. I had previously written my name (spelled properly) on numerous documents and had provided Al Skulsky with my business card on which my name was printed correctly. He failed to proofread and correct the documents prior to my arrival an indication to me of the lack of regard he has for his clients' time.

I am military and a legal resident of Florida. I made it clear I intended to register the vehicle in Florida. On numerous pieces of purchase paperwork, however, I indicated my current residence address as Alexandria, Virginia. Again, the abject lack of attention to detail was manifest when the Florida license plate (rear plate only!) was mailed to the registration address in Florida and sat on the front porch of my (unoccupied) house for days.

It was only when I followed up to find the plate that Al Skulsky confirmed that it was sent to Florida and not my Virginia residence address as I had requested. When I asked Mr. Skulsky to fix this and get the plates to my Virginia address, he threw the problem back on me and stated that the shipping company (Airborne) would only reroute the shipment at the request of the recipient. When I contacted Airborne they said this was completely inaccurate that only the shipper could reroute the shipment. In the end, I had to have my realtor pick up the package and mail it at my expense to my Virginia address. This is NOT the kind of customer service I expected from Lexus, which makes so much noise in their advertising about outstanding customer service.

Al further stated that is impossible to have two addresses in an owner's record. He stated that the only address allowed to be on an owner's official Lexus customer database record is the one at which the car is registered. If this is true, then for the life of my ownership of the vehicle, all of my Lexus correspondence -- little things like safety or recall notices -- will go to an address at which I no longer physically live but am entitled to legally claim as my home of residence.

My only complaint with regard to the vehicle itself it there far too many places in the RX 330 Owner's Manual where, describing an option for changing a particular setting, the owner is required to, as the book states, Ask your Lexus Dealer for details. The book should detail all the applicable settings or at least state why an owner has to go to the dealer to change something that the owner should be able to change.

No one spends a couple of hours typing a detailed critique unless they are seriously unhappy. That is the message you need to read into this. Without some serious effort on the part of the dealership (starting with completely defraying the cost of replacing my bumper, including the gasoline to drive to the dealership and back and a loaner car if required), I will make it a point to ensure that everyone within my sphere of influence knows about the extremely poor customer service experience I had at Len Stoler.

I have contacted Lexus Customer Service NINE times. They have finally made the determination that there is NOTHING they can do and they are not going to replace the bumper on my car.

Jim

Alexandria, Virginia
U.S.A.

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