The missing part was just a casing, but she got upset when the shop claimed it was already missing when she brought her car in in. She says that's not true and says taking your car in for repairs shouldn't mean losing pieces of it.
Judy Kronick of Walnut Creek is meticulous about maintaining her 2003 Lexus. She takes it to the shop for even the slightest problem.
"The visor was loose, I needed it tightened and a button on my radio was coming off," Kronick said.
The SUV was originally owned by Kronick's mom and together they've kept every single service record from the past 10 years. That's why it was so perplexing when the car came back from the shop with a missing part.
"This was a significant piece that was missing off the back of the car," Kronick said.
Kronick had taken the car to Lexus of Concord with a list of minor problems, including a mysterious rattling noise. The technicians told her they had to tighten the roof rack.
"They must've taken off the back end to tighten it. When I came back to pick it up there was a piece missing off the roof rack." Kronick said.
She says a foot long piece of casing was gone and asked Lexus where it was.
"They said they'd go look in the car wash for it and when they went back to look and came back they said it wasn't there," Kronick said.
Instead, Lexus told her the piece was already missing when she drove into the service center.
"There's no way because I take such good care of this car," Kronick said.
Her mom, Audrey Kirk, had followed Kronick to drop off the car.
"I was absolutely positive that part was not missing. It would have been so obvious," Kirk said.
Lexus said it had video of her driving in with the piece missing. However, when Kronick went to view it the video had been erased.
"They could show it up on the rack with the piece missing, but they couldn't show me in the film bringing it in," Kronick said.
She could not prove the piece was there when she drove in either.
Lexus no longer makes this 10-year-old part, so Kronick wouldn't be able to replace it.
"He said I'll see if I can get a look at some salvage yards. And so then I contacted 7 On Your Side," Kronick said.
7 On Your Side contacted Lexus corporate offices and requested that the company search for a new part and a day later Kronick got a call.
"She says I've got goood news. We've got your part. And I said what?" Kronick said.
The part snapped right back on and even matched her color perfectly.
Lexus of Concord declined an interview with 7 On Your Side, but did provide a statement:
"Thank you very much. By calling Lexus you were able to facilitate getting us a replacement part to satisfy our customer."
"The rattle's gone, my car's looking beautiful and I'm a very happy girl," Kornick said.
When you take your car in for repairs the technician should do a walk around. That's when they go around the car making sure there aren't any missing pieces, dents or dings. That's when they mark down any of that damage, so that way you know what was there or what wasn't.
