Nigel C

Poor service and misleading feedback

In 2019 Snows Plymouth took my Lexus NX into their Plymouth facility for fault finding on the defective front parking sensors that had been reported on several occasions with no effective solution having been found. On the first occasion I reported the parking sensor issue I was advised by the service team that the fault was caused when I had my windscreen replaced by a third party and they had failed to recalibrate the forward-looking camera correctly, not a problem Snows Plymouth could recalibrate the camera but it would not be covered under the warranty and would cost me £240.00+vat. I was suspicious of this diagnosis as I could not see how the parking sensors and the forward-looking camera were associated. Additionally, my research suggested that it would not be Snows Plymouth who would be doing the camera recalibration as they did not have the equipment, and they would take the car to the same windscreen specialist company who had already done the work. This fault analysis “appeared” to move on as Snows Plymouth made additional attempts to fault find on the car culminating in the arrangements where the car would be taken in in 2019 for extensive testing to resolve the issues with the parking sensors. At the end of this fault finding effort, I collected the car from Snows Plymouth they advised me that they could find no issues with the parking sensors but “through extensive road testing” they had identified an issue with the forward-looking camera and it would require recalibration, again, it’s not covered by the warranty and would cost me £240.00+vat for them to recalibrate it. Again, I declined their kind offer. On getting the car home I noted several discrepancies with what I had been advised by Snows Plymouth • The mileage that must have been covered during the “extensive road testing” did not register on the car’s odometer. • The Dashcam, that had been active throughout the period the vehicle was in the custody of Snows Plymouth had failed to record any “extensive road testing” • The invoice for the work provided showed the car’s milage on arrival at 14925 miles and on collection by me at 14925 miles, so Snows Plymouth also appeared to have failed to record the miles completed during the ‘extensive road testing” We then went into a period of negotiations with Snows Plymouth during which they advised me, at the Plymouth facility “we do not wish to discuss the matter” and from the franchise manager “this is your evidence to do with as you wish, but I will not be considering it”. Even when contacted the company at director level, they did not wish to see the evidence and were insistent that “extensive road tests had been completed” During this period Lexus GB offered to move my vehicle to Lexus Cardiff for further testing of the parking sensors and to check the forward-looking camera. On the return Lexus GB provided me with a copy of the findings of Lexus Cardiff in that report Lexus Cardiff stated, “Lexus Cardiff have confirmed that they recalibrated the front camera as a precaution, as they had no way to confirm that it had been done correctly previously, but they found no issues.” So, while the selected franchise of Lexus GB, could not find anything wrong with the forward-looking camera, the Snows Motor Group continued to maintain its position that they had conducted “extensive road tests” and had determined that there was a problem with the forward-looking camera. As we had reached an impasse I raised a complaint with the Motor Industry Ombudsman (TMO). During the investigation of my complaint Snows Plymouth submitted the job card for the work done on my car and this clearly shows that the milage on the job card on arrival at Snows Plymouth was 14925 and the mileage on my collection of the car from Snows Plymouth was 14925, again the incremental milage for the “extensive road testing” was not recorded by Snows Plymouth on the job card. As of October 2024, the Lexus franchise operated by Snows Plymouth has closed, the same franchisee still operates the Toyota Plymouth franchise, in addition to around 60 other car manufacturer franchises across the UK with, I expect a considerable customer base. As the actions of Snows Lexus in this issue have been endorsed across the company up to director level, including the managing director, inaccurate recommendations to the benefit of Snows supported with denial and sustained use of all routes available them to avoid accepting responsibility when called to account appear to be the companywide modus operandi, information worthy of sharing across their customer base, hence I have uploaded a video to YouTube which can be searched for “Where’s the Test Drive Snows Plymouth copy” In the words of Sir Walter Scott, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”