[Mickey]

Originally Posted by tawood

Hi all,
I've noticed a common theme among the dealer/vehicle problems here, and my own experience has shown it is true...

It appears the Toyota Dealers are much harder to deal with than other car makers. My own Toyota experience has been a difficult one to say the least: My truck has been a real lemon yet you will not find anyone who babies their truck more than me (I'm that guy that you see doing 60mph on the interstate, 5 mph on the dirt roads, has towels on my mats on my carpet, and cuts the suggested maintenance intervals in half)...yet every time I have a problem, the dealer is quick to either dismiss or blame me.

I was thinking I needed to change dealers, yet nearly every comment on this site by others seems to be similar to my own experiences. I am hearing people afraid to change their own oil for fear of warranty problems. I keep reading about people constantly being dismissed by the dealer, only to call Toyota, meet a rep, and then be dismissed by them as well (quite a few posts listed in the top 20 right now express this). Even posts about being carefull towing because the dealer might try to prove you towed too much and void the warranty.

I've owned at least 1 new truck by each of Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet, and even with the biggest lemon of them all (a Chevy Colorado) I never ONCE had a dealer accuse me of causing the damage, or try to void my warranty...NOT ONCE!!! My Toyota dealer, on the other hand, has tried to blame me EVERY TIME!!!!!

What gives?

All you have is one Toyota dealership in the area? What you're saying is a replica of what happen to me with GM. I eventually went through 3 different dealerships to replace my headliner 8x on my 06 SIlverado LT3. You have to find the one who listens. If not get the tech rep. Bottom line you paid for your truck put the issue on their front burner. Speak loud and carry a big stick. When GM listen to me was when the factory rep accused me of pulling my headliner down and that I was the only one that had the problem and the dealership just replace those to please me. He pushed up the headliner I forced him to open and close the door and on the fourth time I was 2 inches from his face screaming at him when it fell down again! I curl my fist ready to start swinging at him when I was pulled back and the truth came out that they had more than mine in the shop with that problem and I knew he was trying to intimidate me. I exercise my right and I didn't replace it there with that dealership again. The rep wouldn't look me in the face. The crowd around us wanted to know what was going on. I made sure everyone knew. This stuff happen to all manufacturers not just Toyota or Ford etc. A similar incident at the Ford dealership also when I had this little guy constantly telling me you're going to pay mileage. He said that 12x while I was arguing with the GM of that Ford dealership over the 10x trying to fix my computer on the truck. I wanted to swat him like a bug but I made my point, and to make sure everyone in the sales room heard also. They don't want bad publicity. But not going to another dealership is bad on your part. Now you will never know about the other dealership. It shows that these dealerships of all makes have problems with customer service. Hell most people would have attitudes when you're constantly bombarded with complaints and their attitudes. Try another dealership. If you have the same problem speak to a factory rep. I've seen great results on here from factory reps like replacing bumpers with rust on them. You never mention what was your problems!!!! You just mention what you heard or seen on the forum..... Gone I have to have the dealership do the maintenace for the lifetime warranty......