McDermott Lexus of New Haven

The service department at this dealership left a lot to be desired. Because of that, I am going to bring my car to a different Lexus location in the future even though I live five minutes away from McDermott Lexus. I had bought my car at a different location (Lexus of Las Vegas) and had experienced far higher standards of customer service at that dealership.
As far as my specific criticisms are concerned:
1. They would not return phone calls. On the Monday I brought in my car, an employee at their desk told me she would call me later that day to go over their initial assessment and discuss a pickup date. This never happened. I called on Tuesday to ask about this and was told someone at the front desk would call me back. This callback also failed to happen. I called again on Thursday, and finally received a callback on Friday which informed me that pickup would be available on Wednesday. They also declined to call me on Tuesday to inform me about the exact time the car would be available; I called Tuesday afternoon to find that the Wed pickup time was after 4pm and thus conflicting with an appointment I had made that morning, resulting in an actual pickup on Thursday.
2. I had arranged to bring in my car two weeks in advance for a scratch on the right rear door. I was still able to drive the car and the damage ended up coming to roughly $ 2000. In light of this, it seems odd that the work took nine full days rather than just a few days.
3. After I picked up my car and drove to a nearby restaurant, I walked around and discovered that a large scratch was still present on the front right portion of the car. I had specifically asked that this scratch be fixed when I had brought my car in for work, and couldn’t believe that they would fail to work on it. When I called up the service department to ask about this, the staff member told me it was her colleague’s fault for failing to correctly handle the service order on the prior Monday.

I would skip this dealership. I have been a Lexus lease owner for over 10 years. I had a deal with Kaitlin who is a manager and we agreed. I took a drive up there which by the way was an hour one way, and when I got there, Kaitlin referred me to a saleman by the name of Mr. Moody who politely took me for test drive and when it came to completely the deal, my deal was thrown out the window. They had Kaitlin McDermott’s deal on file but chose to renege on it. I was levied. They tried to convince me that the deal was a December offering, but in an email from Kaitlin there was no mention of this, or the fact that the December deal had included $ 1000 back and the first payment on Lexus. They offered me no water nor did they have a lounge area. My advice is to skip this dealership, because you cannot trust their word.

The service department as McDermott is outstanding! The customer service staff explains everything that needs to be done. The fees are appropriate given the expertise of the staff and hi-​tech diagnostic equipment. After each servicing, they email a feedback form. They really care about satisfying customers. I can’t speak to the sales department as both our Lexi were purchased elsewhere, before we moved to Madison. However, given the shabby work done by some other dealerships, we are particularly happy to have found McDermott and service manager Doug Summerton. Thanks to Doug and the service staff!

Incredible service department. Always offer brand new Lexus as loaner when vehicle in for service. Great inventory, do your research before negotiation for the best deal.

One of their sales guys asked me, «So you’re not one of those people out for a JOY RIDE, are you??»
He said that with a straight face when I asked to take a Lexus for a test drive. Great sales pitch I thought. I did do the test drive but I stopped considering buying a Lexus the second he pulled that line out between his butt cheeks.
Hearing the words Lexus and joy ride in the same sentence made me smile a bit because the brand doesn’t exactly stir up images of excitement. In my mind, Lexus drivers typically fall into one of two categories: either retired senior citizens or big-​haired-​suburban-​female real estate agents. But really, I can think of other brands that get my blood pumping. I just wanted to test drive a Lexus to see if my presumptions were right (and they were). If I were really out for a joy ride I would have picked up a Corvette next door (McDermott also sells Chevrolets).
Maybe I shouldn’t be so critical of the guy. Maybe he was really busy that day. Maybe he had to sell extra rustproofing or expensive window etching to potential buyers (er, suckers?). Or maybe I interrupted his donut break. If that’s the case, then I could understand how my perceived joy ride might inconvenience him on his Saturday afternoon. Yea, that’s it.