Lexus Customer Satisfaction - A Vehicle For Brand Building? - Brokerblogger

As I said in "2007 Lexus LS 460's Retro 1990 Trunk Lid Mechanism", I turned down my Lexus dealer's offer in 2002/3 to replace my 2001 trunk struts with the exact same ones, as I did not see any long term benefit.  Mine were just starting to not hold up the trunk lid very well, but my wife and I had not got hit in the head by that time.

Around the last week in January of this year, after my warranty was long gone, and many "trunk lid hits in the head", a dealer in San Diego said to call Lexus Customer Satisfaction (AKA = " Lexus Customer Assistance Center"). I did, and got this response on 2/7/07:  "Consumer opinion and perception also play an active role in our ongoing efforts to lead the automobile industry in quality, innovation, styling, and reliability. We apologize that you are displeased with the functionality of the trunk on your 2001 LS 430. We do not have any options available to change the design or functions of the trunk on your vehicle."  Lexus Corporate is basically stating here that Toyota (parent company) had not improved the trunk struts on my 2001 LS 430.

However, based on the fact that Lexus had changed the part number (with no date of change, or reason why, given the dealers), and on what "cneuman" said on 2/23/07 in Edmunds.com "Lexus LS 400/LS 430" chat room, I then had some hope that the replacement struts would, indeed, show "a definite marked improvement" (quoting "cneuman" who just had his 2002 LS trunk struts replaced). 

But, here is how Lexus (Corporate) Customer Satisfaction handled my Los Angeles BBB, 2/23/07 complaint (Id # 98174320).

My 2/23/07 BBB complaint was responded to on 3/1/07.  Let me clarify what Lexus National Headquarters said:  "We offered to assist the customer with a replacement part for the trunk struts. Which was declined since it was essentially the same part as is currently installed in the customer's vehicle."  This is true ONLY for the first time I complained about the problem many years ago.  Recently, I have been turned down by two local dealers and a "District Operations Manager" at HQ's in my request to have the new replacement part # ending in "31" put in at no charge to me, to see if they represented a "beefed-up strut".

Lexus Corporate then says:  "The struts have not been changed because of some fundamental modification in the way the part is made. Had that occurred there would have been a Technical Information Service Bulletin to address the change. There has been no Technical Information Service Bulletin published about the trunk struts in LS 430 vehicles."  While I have my doubts as to whether or not ANY automobile manufacturer would want to admit a "safety problem" which might trigger a recall, I did want to believe in what "cneuman" just said about his recently replaced trunk struts showing "a definite marked improvement" (I assume he meant "over the old struts").  So, due to that, and the fact that there are no aftermarket struts available, I accepted Lexus HQ's 3/1/07 offer of replacing my trunk struts at "no charge" to me.

My local dealer told me during the twelve day period after 3/1/07 that they had not heard anything from Lexus Corporate HQ's about giving me "no charge" struts, so I asked them to find out who posted the BBB response.  They could not find out, and they could not do the "no charge" work until authorized.  So, I called 1-800-25LEXUS again on 3/12/07, and got this response back on 3/15/07:  "As you have requested I am providing you with a written response regarding my offer to replace your trunk struts as a goodwill gesture and in the interest of customer satisfaction. This offer includes all parts and labor at no charge to you."  Again, why did I have to call a second time on 3/12/07, and why did it take two weeks from 3/1/07 to 3/15/07 for someone from Lexus to follow through on the original offer?  I asked these questions along with who was it at Lexus National HQ's in Torrance, Ca. who posted the 3/1/07 original offer, and no one knew, or has ever gotten back to me with those answers!  Communication, at this point, has been cut off by Lexus HQ's!

This blog post by Max Kalehoff entitled "Consumer Empowerment Turns Your Message & Reputation Into the True Vehicle of Your Brand" says:  "The truth is that consumers now have a voice, they have more choice and can hold marketers accountable as never before. Consumers can quickly organize, mobilize, reward and punish."  While he is mainly talking about "Marketing", and he believes the consumer is not really in total control,  he goes on to say:  "The fundamentals – which you (the marketer-seller) can control – include customer respect, your own innovation and product, your storefronts and your customer service among others."  Of course, the consumer has an obligation to be fair, transparent, and engaging with the seller when asking for service.

I believe that the time has come for sellers to have less "Corporate Speak", and more of the realization that "Markets are Conversations" in their customer service engagement with consumers, and definitely more transparency.  I say this because of what I just sent to the NHTSA:  "I now am convinced after seeing my trunk lid go up on its own, once it is past the "half way point" in opening (the old struts never performed that way, to the best of our recollection), that the replacement trunk struts that have a part # ending in "31" are definitely improved (increased "gas force pressure") over the old ones (ending in "30") that came on my car in 10/2000 (even though Lexus HQ's has put it in writing to me that they have not changed or improved those trunk struts).  My wife agrees that they are improved, and that Lexus has done a "Quiet Fix"! (she said that she always had to lift the heavy trunk lid all the way up right from the beginning with the old struts.)  The Lexus mechanic (4 + years with Lexus) who just installed my new struts said that they have been improved over time!"

While I am appreciative of my free replacement struts, I told the NHTSA:  "There are a lot of 2001/2002/2003 or more LS 430 owners who are paying out of their own pockets ($469.64 - Dealer Price Installed) for replacement struts, since there are no aftermarket ones available.  Some owners may not be able to afford replacements and are leaving their trunk lids a safety problem!"

I'm, also, amazed that Lexus Customer Satisfaction HQ's has looked at my first blog post (not my other two, now three) on this matter ONLY ONCE on 3/15/07, and for only 44 seconds (according to my blog analytics tracking software).  So much for "Consumer opinion and perception also play an active role in our ongoing efforts to lead the automobile industry in quality, innovation, styling, and reliability." 

Lastly, on 3/17/07 some anonymous person at Lexus HQ's posted a "Final Response" saying, in effect, that this issue has been resolved to my satisfaction, and "The part number will be whatever is available in the parts system."  Well, I am satisfied that the replacement trunk struts show "a marked improvement", and convinced that what the parts manager at my local dealer told me is true.  That is, that all the replacement trunk struts coming in from Lexus/Toyota for all the LS models are now the ones ending in "31" (64530-50031).  But, I'm hoping that if the NHTSA investigation doesn't warrant a "recall", then at the very least Lexus will do a "SPECIAL SERVICE CAMPAIGN" with letters sent to all Lexus car owners that have trunk (and hood) struts like the ones originally put on my 2001 LS 430.

See previous post on this: "NHTSA LS 430 Trunk Strut Investigation"

See also:  "Has Lexus Read the "Cluetrain Manifesto"?"

Comments

[Raputtak]

Update: Our Lexus dealer will fit them for free and charge $125 each for the struts.

[Brokerblogger]

Since I really don't know all of the details of your situation, like how old your original struts were when they first started to get weaker, I think you got a good deal from the dealer.