Dealer problems...Common theme here

[goneballistic]

How's you Tundra "Gone"?

So far, so good Mickey, thanks for asking. I have the lowly 4.7L, which runs just fine for my purposes. The oil filter is a spin on. Much easier oil changes, I'm a DIYer, so that's important to me.

I'm thankful that my Tundra has been trouble free, being it's the 1rst year of production. My intent was to buy one in '09, but "the best laid plans of mice and men"... and all of that. I'll be taking my truck on a road trip in Oct. to Quantico, VA for a rifle match and then another trip next year, all the way to Raton, NM, to compete in the 2009 FCSA World Championship. My truck will be thoroughly good and broke in by then and I'm looking forward to the travel.

But I wouldn't be in a TUNDRA if Chevy and Ford wouldn't have pushed me away with their customer service.

That's a shame. Makes you wonder how a dealership thinks that they can keep customers if they treat people like that. My wife is driving a 2002 Buick Regal, which I bought for her new. It has been a good car, but there were a few warranty issues. 2 electric windows went out, 2 fuel injectors went bad, (I bet that was expensive, glad it happened under warranty), and the Cat. Conv. clogged up, there was a recall. Never had a complaint with the warranty service I got there, so I guess I was lucky again.

[Mickey]

Enjoy your trips Gone and good luck at the rifle meets. Nothing wrong with the 4.7. It's just I happened to see what I want and the engine came with it. Only problem I wanted it in Black but Nautical Blue will do. I wasn't planning on buying another truck at all. In my mind was to keep that 06 Silverado. The problems and all that went wrong in less than 16 months how can I possibly see 3 or 5 years with this. Even with the 6 year 100,000 mile warranty they weren't going to cover the headliner after 36,000 miles but I made them put another 1 year and 12,000 mile warranty each time it was replaced. After the 8x they didn't want to do this anymore so why stay. They knew exactly well what was going on. Buick does make decent cars I had a used 77 Century with the first V6. Boy that V6 was a mistake. Rebuilt twice. Then took it out and dropped a 350 in it.

[blackdemon]

[quote=tawood;83187]Goneballistic:

or for your 8 year old son pulling the interior door trim off closing the door.

not to attack you, but I have a 6 year old special needs son that is categorized as sever, throwing tantrums in the rear seats, but my inside door trim doesn't come off. On your other issue with the dealer, I understand where you're coming from, out here we have 1 Toyota dealer in a 100 mile radius, I took my truck in for a paint issue around September '07 for a strip of paint about 6 inches that stripped off from the wheel well, and they repaired it in 1 day, in November '07, I took it back again for another paint peel issue and they said they'll give me a call back when the Toyota Rep will arrive, inspect, and possibly approve the repair the paint. After a month wait I decided to drive north 250 miles where I bought the truck dropped it off on a Wednesday got inspected Thursday morning, and I lost my truck for 2 weeks for paint work. Its April, and I haven't received a phone call from them atleast to check up, or something. Since then I haven't had any problems, except with my son's tantrums, and therapy workers. Try your luck and go some where else. I was also given a rental due to the lenght of time the truck would remain there free of charge of course. If you're not satisfied, there is always the BBB and file a report through them. Until you do something nothing is going to get fixed just sit there and compile. I'm also military so I know what its like to leave stuff broken until a week before QA comes around and checks things out. Good Luck, and here is the link to my thread some time ago.

peeling paint

[tawood]

Fortunately, I live in an area where there are Toyota dealers everywhere.
First 2 dealers I tried were the worst dealer experiences I've ever had. (One dealer even threatened to have me arrested when I said I would park out on the street, where there is on street parking, with a sign that said how bad they were).
Third dealer is much better. I would rank them as far as Toyota dealers as Exceptional, but in comparison with Ford/Chevy/Dodge as "Good."
They just gave my truck it's third (yes third) paint job, first paint job for them though. They did good work and other than me having to call them when it was done to discover it was done, I don't have any complaints.

[Mickey]

Originally Posted by tawood

Fortunately, I live in an area where there are Toyota dealers everywhere.
First 2 dealers I tried were the worst dealer experiences I've ever had. (One dealer even threatened to have me arrested when I said I would park out on the street, where there is on street parking, with a sign that said how bad they were).
Third dealer is much better. I would rank them as far as Toyota dealers as Exceptional, but in comparison with Ford/Chevy/Dodge as "Good."
They just gave my truck it's third (yes third) paint job, first paint job for them though. They did good work and other than me having to call them when it was done to discover it was done, I don't have any complaints.

Glad to see you finally got a little justice and have your ride fixed. If I was parked on the street and had a sign on it I would tell them it's their dime and you have every right to park in the street. They don't own the street. Something they would've found out when the cops got there. If it's free parking or you paid a meter they can't do diddley squat about it. But maybe they can change their attitude and fix your truck this wouldn't be a situation they didn't like.

[hollow point]

i for one have had no problem's with my tundra or the dealership, once when i went in for a replacement visor that had a small hole in it when i bought the truck they could not find the part they ordered , so they gave me a free tank of gas for my trouble and when i had my alarm turned on they did it for free. that is what a dealer should do if they want too keep the customer happy. but this is in texas.

[Possum]

I sold Fords in Denver (briefly as a respite from nursing) The indoctrination was truly a marvel. First there was the 'new math' that demonstrates how leasing is better for everbody, then came the BS videos (like WallyGator shared) then the real gem: There are 2 kinds of customers 1) piece-of-shit = someone smart enough to walk away from a bad deal 2) rollover = someone dumb enough to go for it. No kidding, actual language used by management on down. No respect...just contempt for all. When someone had an after-sale problem, or even a question, the hostility and paranoia was reflexive. Such an environment is the norm at most dealerships and has nothing to do with brand , country-of-origin, etc. There are many exceptions! It's worth your time to find them. Nowadays, I expect candid, bottomline-first negotiations ( no back and forth to the Tower crap). I let them make profit on extended warranties, holdbacks, internal incentives, but the numbers had better be close to what my homework revealed. If not, I know I've been labeled and it's time to go. I don't mind sharing how genuinely peeved (For days!) mgt was after a disgruntled customer spent his afternoon waiting...with a razor to all indoor upholstery and a few cars as well. I'll bet it made him feel better 'sure gave me a chuckle.

[Mickey]

[quote=blackdemon;87193]

Originally Posted by tawood

Goneballistic:

or for your 8 year old son pulling the interior door trim off closing the door.

not to attack you, but I have a 6 year old special needs son that is categorized as sever, throwing tantrums in the rear seats, but my inside door trim doesn't come off. On your other issue with the dealer, I understand where you're coming from, out here we have 1 Toyota dealer in a 100 mile radius, I took my truck in for a paint issue around September '07 for a strip of paint about 6 inches that stripped off from the wheel well, and they repaired it in 1 day, in November '07, I took it back again for another paint peel issue and they said they'll give me a call back when the Toyota Rep will arrive, inspect, and possibly approve the repair the paint. After a month wait I decided to drive north 250 miles where I bought the truck dropped it off on a Wednesday got inspected Thursday morning, and I lost my truck for 2 weeks for paint work. Its April, and I haven't received a phone call from them atleast to check up, or something. Since then I haven't had any problems, except with my son's tantrums, and therapy workers. Try your luck and go some where else. I was also given a rental due to the lenght of time the truck would remain there free of charge of course. If you're not satisfied, there is always the BBB and file a report through them. Until you do something nothing is going to get fixed just sit there and compile. I'm also military so I know what its like to leave stuff broken until a week before QA comes around and checks things out. Good Luck, and here is the link to my thread some time ago.

peeling paint

Glad some help was there for you. It's nice to see some dealerships take up the slack where others don't. Possum I know I was labeled at ford and chevy everytime I brought my truck in. No one wanted to come up to me because they knew what I was there about. When I traded in the chevy especially the warranty people didn't want to talk with me also.

[jonathan]

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?

hey tawood,

i've had a terrible time with toyota, my tundra, and the dealership (prime toyota, dedham ma). i too was accused of damaging my vehicle, and toyota has taken every line to avoid replacing my vehicle even though after 20 days out of sevice since august it's still not right. disgusting - - but what to do now? one of the worst things i've experienced is that toyota pretends to listen, collecting free feedback while using us a lab rats. beware customer care! i imaginne there's a lot of PO'd folks out there. maybe time for action...
i'm gonna post all the documentation from my toyota "experience" online - - maybe it will help others in their dealing in the future.

oh, is it cool to suggest class action on this blog? i'm kinda new to this so please let me know if i'm out of line!

[idaho181]

I tried to buy a Crewmax here in Boise from Peterson Toyota last November. They were nice , but we couldn't put a deal together as they were not able to 'find' me a unit with the Limited set up. I finally bought my 07 in Portland from Ron Tonkin. Brought the Crewmax home and had all kinds of issues with getting the Bluetooth to work. Tom Scott Toyota (Nampa Idaho)worked with me until the system was perfect. Had 4 visits and there was no charge. I then had problems with the rubber strips on the roof being blown off in the car wash. Tom Scott ordered the strips and finally got the correct ones after 3 tries. I agree with WILDBILL, Tom Scott in Nampa Idaho is great. It's 28 miles round trip for me to take my Crewmax to them and only 4 miles to Peterson. They do a great job.

[EVOL ARDNUT]

clock didn't work -fixed first week of ownership
rear differential seal leak- fixed at 3rd dealership after other two said "it has to leak on concrete to be considered leak"
chipped paint at bottom where drivers door hits "its your heels kicking it, we sell touch up paint". My previous truck never had that problem.
I CAN GO ON A LITTLE BIT LONGER, but you guys get the idea.
07 TUNDRA OWNER, I like my truck but don't like taking it in due to issues.
It is my first toyota.... and yes I expected better quality.

MAN who started thread, no you are not a troll, and you are not alone as far as problems with truck.

Dealers are a P.I.T.A. especially the part about differential oil on concrete on a truck that had 8,000 miles on it at the time.
I keep them for the long haul unless they turn out to be NON RELIABLE...and time will tell.

I bought cause I liked it....I AM STILL TRYING TO LIKE IT!

[jonathan]

Originally Posted by EVOL ARDNUT

clock didn't work -fixed first week of ownership
rear differential seal leak- fixed at 3rd dealership after other two said "it has to leak on concrete to be considered leak"
chipped paint at bottom where drivers door hits "its your heels kicking it, we sell touch up paint". My previous truck never had that problem.
I CAN GO ON A LITTLE BIT LONGER, but you guys get the idea.
07 TUNDRA OWNER, I like my truck but don't like taking it in due to issues.
It is my first toyota.... and yes I expected better quality.

MAN who started thread, no you are not a troll, and you are not alone as far as problems with truck.

Dealers are a P.I.T.A. especially the part about differential oil on concrete on a truck that had 8,000 miles on it at the time.
I keep them for the long haul unless they turn out to be NON RELIABLE...and time will tell.

I bought cause I liked it....I AM STILL TRYING TO LIKE IT!

i'll bet you if there's a troll in the house, it works for toyota. EVOL, you have it right my friend - - you want to like your truck, but you can't because you're being slapped around by the one you want to love. it's not psych 101 exactly, but more on the grad school level. bad relationships often come from situations where there's alot to love, but there's also something that dances along the ridge of abuse. for all of you who can't quite reconcile while you feel so bad everytime you get in your tundra it's because of this syndrome. we bought the truck, it's very good on many levels but when legitimate issues arise again and again your loved one tells you you're the problem. ahhh, peace at last.

subaru and BMW know well how to love you back, and ford does too, sort-of. granted, the f-150 love fest is limited in someways, in need of some education and refinement maybe. but she's there when you come home, and willing to offer a nice backrub and a hot meal. and you don't have drive to work mad everyday.

wake up folks, toyota has taken advantage of the fact that we want to believe and the temptation looks tasty. i'm getting a divorce, and i'm inviting anybody who needs to heal to join me. good relationships come from way more than nice bodies and a hot soapy shower for two. toyota, take care and take care of that body cause you're gonna look like crap in a few short years. plus, quit interfering with my baseball season by flashing yourself like a drunken who-knows-what between every inning.

and please, toyota, challenge me here if you dare! i'll back up every word, and every circumstance. i've got the letters, images, the phone calls, the repair orders, and so on. and look forward to more in the near future. let the healing begin!

[Mickey]

Originally Posted by jonathan

i'll bet you if there's a troll in the house, it works for toyota. EVOL, you have it right my friend - - you want to like your truck, but you can't because you're being slapped around by the one you want to love. it's not psych 101 exactly, but more on the grad school level. bad relationships often come from situations where there's alot to love, but there's also something that dances along the ridge of abuse. for all of you who can't quite reconcile while you feel so bad everytime you get in your tundra it's because of this syndrome. we bought the truck, it's very good on many levels but when legitimate issues arise again and again your loved one tells you you're the problem. ahhh, peace at last.

subaru and BMW know well how to love you back, and ford does too, sort-of. granted, the f-150 love fest is limited in someways, in need of some education and refinement maybe. but she's there when you come home, and willing to offer a nice backrub and a hot meal. and you don't have drive to work mad everyday.

wake up folks, toyota has taken advantage of the fact that we want to believe and the temptation looks tasty. i'm getting a divorce, and i'm inviting anybody who needs to heal to join me. good relationships come from way more than nice bodies and a hot soapy shower for two. toyota, take care and take care of that body cause you're gonna look like crap in a few short years. plus, quit interfering with my baseball season by flashing yourself like a drunken who-knows-what between every inning.

and please, toyota, challenge me here if you dare! i'll back up every word, and every circumstance. i've got the letters, images, the phone calls, the repair orders, and so on. and look forward to more in the near future. let the healing begin!

Lets put this in prospective here. If you don't like your truck get rid of it. Goin on like you wrote is in left field watching the signs. That ads guy You have them all over. You feel the love for a ford? why hang around here. I'm sure ford would love to love you. I do admit toyota's not perfect but you must have had a run in with the dealer. Just today I went in for an oil change and I told the service rep just the past week I had issues with the center console not staying close or opening by itself. He stated we will fix it by replacing it. Toyota forced the part supplier to make it good. So I got a complete new cover done in less than 15 minutes and another 30 for the oil change. No questions asked. Now that's the way a dealer takes care of it's customers. So not all Toyota's don't love the one they with.

[jonathan]

Originally Posted by Mickey

Lets put this in prospective here. If you don't like your truck get rid of it. Goin on like you wrote is in left field watching the signs. That ads guy You have them all over. You feel the love for a ford? why hang around here. I'm sure ford would love to love you. I do admit toyota's not perfect but you must have had a run in with the dealer. Just today I went in for an oil change and I told the service rep just the past week I had issues with the center console not staying close or opening by itself. He stated we will fix it by replacing it. Toyota forced the part supplier to make it good. So I got a complete new cover done in less than 15 minutes and another 30 for the oil change. No questions asked. Now that's the way a dealer takes care of it's customers. So not all Toyota's don't love the one they with.

mickey, i agree with you, but it's not about perspective. what folks are saying, and it's certainly been my experience, is that it has been difficult to get toyota to take responsibilty for problems that do exist with the new tundra. like others, i feel very stuck in that my truck has been out of service for 20 days since august, and even though the truck is still not put together correctly, toyota says it's fixed. like the other times this claim was made, when it goes back to prime toyota, there's repairs made. last time it went in it stayed seven days, and the local field rep (mansfield ma) came to work on it. it's still not right and i'll be happy to meet with anyone who wants proof of that. after i wrote a letter to jim lentz, i got a call from toyota's executive offices who, after speaking with the regional reps, say's there's really nothing more to do as they claim the vehicle is fixed when it's not. more, the company rep i spoke with suggests that i have a "new set of eyes" look at the problems. but why should i? 20 days out of service already and i need the use of my truck. plus, if the field technician can't fix it then who can? again, i'll prove to anybody who want to see that real probelms exist.

so, i am sorry to bring this sad tale here, but i'd back you up if you were getting screwed. toyota's actions are unjust and they've treated me, and seemingly others, badly. if there are hundreds of us, or more, then some action should be taken. personally, i won't deal with certain businesses just becase their product is good; those who mistreat their employees and companies who pollute and damage the environment are others.

the fact is, i like the tundra. but i spent 32000 on a new vehicle that has been defective since new and i'm incensed that i have to live with rattles, paint wearing off the dash, and things falling off i tried every way i could think of to resolve my delimma, even considering the purcahse of a new tundra. the selling and servicing dealer offered me a "deal" the same exact truck for 8500.00 more (there is a dent in the rear passeger door, so it's really more like 7000.00). still, that's a lot of cash for the same thing i already have and the truck's only 8 months old. so it's not that i want a ford, i wanted the toyota, but what would you do if you were me?

toyota: repeat after me "we're sorry, we were wrong, what can we do to make it right?"