Luxury Brand : Luxury Customer Service

It was September 2010, I know it has taken some time to document this experience, but I have been busy. I was the owner of a 2001 Lexus IS 200, as a result of seeing my first Lexus IS 200 in 1999 in North Sydney, it was royal blue and I said to myself, I want one of those, it was the rear lights that caught my eye. In 2001 I was given a company car allowance and purchased the car immediately after 3 years I kept the car and ran it as my own, I loved driving the car, the sound was amazing but after 10 years and 125,000 miles it was time for an upgrade. 

As a marketer I understand the power of the brand and also as a consumer I am drawn towards products as a result of strong brand values, in which I can believe and trust. I was a Lexus brand advocate, although when I test drove the Lexus IS 250 the sales man described the owners as older drivers with no-one under the age of 30 considered driving a Lexus, I guess I was the exception to the rule as I bought my first Lexus at 26.

Anyway with the advent of CT 200h and the Kylie Minogue advertising campaign the under 25’s are the next Lexus target market. As I was well over 30 I was quite happy with a used Lexus IS 250. I researched the Lexus Used Car website for a couple of months; I knew my criteria, Black, Low Mileage, Manual and Petrol. It turns out that manual and petrol are the rarest combination when it comes to Lexus Used Car’s so I had to adjust my criteria. On the Lexus site you are offered various symbols for each used vehicle, I clicked on the purple symbol which meant “You can negotiate the price of this vehicle”, I put in an offer and waited to be contacted, I received a confirmation email etc.

I was contacted eventually, and ‘the salesman’ said, “The car owes us more than your offer”, to which I said, “How much more would you accept?” to which he said, “I will speak with my manager, and he hung up” I heard nothing for a week or two, not impressed at this stage, I am a buyer ready to purchase, a salesman's dream I would have thought. I was then called by the service department, my service was due and I mentioned to the young lady I was thinking of upgrading my car, but I never heard back from ‘the salesman’, within 15 minutes I had a call from Martin, “how can I help?” he said. Martin eventually sold me a Black, Low Mileage, Semi Auto and Petrol Lexus IS 250, so 3 out of 4 criteria was an excellent result.

I was called a few days after I picked the car by Lexus Customer service, to rate my customer experience, I rated Lexus a 6 or 7, given my first sales experience or should I say non event (he never called back), to which the agent’s reaction was priceless, she said “oh really, are you sure, we don’t usually receive below 8. I will need to pass your comments on the branch manager and they will follow up with you, if that is OK?” I answered, “Yes that will be fine.”

A couple days later I was emailed and then called by Wendy Preston, General Manager, Lexus Guildford. We had a great conversation whereby Wendy offered a free 40K service because my experience with the sales team did not live up to the ‘The Lexus Experience’. I thought this was very generous, so I gratefully accepted. I was very happy with the speed and generosity of the team at Lexus Guildford. But that was not the end of my experience.

I live in a small remote village in Surrey; some of the access roads are in need of repair. I was driving to an appointment and I felt a knock on my front left tyre and drove on to a safe place to get out and take a look, the road had ripped the tyre completely apart. I called Lexus Roadside Care (you receive 1 year when you buy a Used Car) and out came the AA, he looked at the two front tyres and said “they are both barely legal” you will need a set of new tyres”, to which I replied, “I have only had this car six weeks”.

I contacted Wendy again to inform her of my situation, clearly I was not a happy Lexus Guildford customer. Without hesitation and again true to ‘The Lexus Experience’, Wendy offered (even though the car had passed the MOT before I picked it up) to pay for two new tyres to restore my faith in the Lexus brand and Lexus Guildford. Thank you to Wendy Preston and thank you Lexus Guildford, I think this experience answers my next question, do I stay with Lexus for my next vehicle…