Hello TacomaWorld

I guess I joined this forum in part to vent a little frustration and also to get other Toyota owners opinion on issues we are experiencing. But mostly to see if anyone else has faced the same problems and how they solved it. Both my wife and I love our Toyota vehicles, but there are serious problems at both Toyota Canada and our closest dealership.


Last January we bought a 2017 Sequoia Platinum for my wife. We do not have a dealership in our hometown, so we bought the vehicle in a city about 450km away while on a business trip. Let's call this dealership #1. While the deal was in the process, I commented on a poster the salesman had in his office showing a tricked out Tacoma. This guy knows his Tacos. By time the paperwork was done on the wife's Sequoia, I was ready to buy a Tacoma for me. But I did get myself under control and left with only the Sequoia. Well, the control didn't last and I bought a shiny new 2017 Tacoma TRD Sport a month later. I really wish I could say that life is roses and we lived happily ever after. Didn't happen.


We left the dealership with our brand new Sequoia and traveled the 450km home in a January blizzard, through the mountains, on treacherous roads. The Sequoia handled it like a dream! We were both impressed with the handling and despite plowing through snow drifts and stretches of black ice, at no time worried about the vehicle's or our safety. During the drive, I told my wife not to ever use cruise control when roads are icy or in heavy rain. She remembered this and did not use the cruise control for the rest of the winter. As most of her driving is around town, the first opportunity to use the cruise control was in May, and the cruise control did not work. When she let me know about the problem I happened to be going to the dealership in the neighboring city to check on issues with the Tacoma, so I took the Sequoia. I don't know if I am allowed to mention dealership names so I won't. We live in a city in northern British Columbia and like I said, we don't have a dealership here. But there is one in the neighboring city, 75km away. We will call this dealership #2, who I bought the Tacoma from. I didn't have an appointment for the Sequoia, but I got the service manager to come out and look at the Sequoia's cruise control issue. To his credit (or previous experience), he quickly pointed out a small crack in the sensor on the lower front bumper. He says, "That's quite common. That's why Toyota moved that sensor higher into the grill on the newer model. You might want to put in an insurance claim, because it's going to be expensive to fix that." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! There was no way a company like Toyota would treat someone like this. You buy a $70,000 vehicle and the first time you use cruise control it doesn't work? I already had issues with every department of dealership #2 with the new Tacoma. So I thought to myself, "Stay calm and just get a real dealership to look at it when the Sequoia goes in for it's first service." I was sure this was just another example of these guys incompetence. My wife does not put on a lot of miles so the Sequoia's first service just came due. Now, to avoid dealership #2, the next closest dealer is in a city 210km from us. We will call them dealership #3. So this is where I booked the service. I also asked dealership #3 to address the cruise control issue. Three hours later I come back to pick up the Sequoia and pay a $250 service bill. Then the service manager gave me an estimate of over $2100 to fix the cruise control. He said because the sensor had a crack in it, this was not a defect, and was obviously damage and as such, would not be covered by warrantee. I explained this was not acceptable and I am not going to pay $2100 for a sensor that was obviously placed in the wrong spot and in my opinion, is an engineering defect. There is no guarantee the new sensor won't get hit by another pebble five kilometers down the road, and cost me another $2100. If they will not replace the sensor under warrantee, I want sensor removed or bypassed. We would then at least have basic cruise control. He said it can't be done. Pay the $2100 or you have no cruise control.

Unbelievable! We have a $70000 vehicle with no cruise control. Not believing this is happening, I immediately called Toyota Canada to get the issue resolved. After a long conversation, the result was, Toyota Canada knows of no problems concerning the cruise control sensor and even though the customer service person on the phone admitted he/she (I talked to two of them) had no mechanical expertise, if the dealership said it can't be done, it must be true. I asked if there was not any known issues with the sensor, why did Toyota relocate it on the new model? They did not have an opinion on that. Pay $2100 or no cruise.


Even with it's minor flaws I think the Sequoia is a great vehicle and my wife loves to drive it. I think Toyota customer service sucks! I don’t believe this sensor can’t be bypassed. This is why I opted for 2017 models over 2018. The 2018 have even more of these gizmos and unnecessary electronic garbage. If my wife would let me, I would get a big sign for the side of the Sequoia saying “$70,000 But No Cruise Control. Thanks Toyota!” Has anyone else had this cruise control issue? Am I being unreasonable?


Okay, that was my first rant. Now let’s go back to dealership #2, and talk about the new 2017 Tacoma. I am a contractor in the oil patch in northern British Columbia. The roads I travel on a daily basis are horrendous. Occasionally there isn’t even a road there and we have to go down old trails or cut lines. The snow, mud, ruts and muskeg will tear any vehicle apart. Every one of my coworkers including myself, must own at least two trucks to ensure they can have one on the road at all times. Myself, I owned two Chev 2500HD trucks. One was a 2006 and the other a 2015. Both had bush bumpers, leveling kits and the biggest tires that would fit. The 2015 is a nice comfortable truck, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the 2006 as far durability or where it could go. After every weekly shift in the mud and ruts, the 2015 would be in the shop for some expensive repairs. With nothing covered by warrantee. While the 2006 was better in the mud and cheaper to run, both trucks were killing me in the maintenance and fuel costs. Then I saw the Tacoma poster in the salesman’s office when I was buying the Sequoia! I commented, half joking that it would be a good work truck for me. I don’t believe it was because he sensed another sale, but the salesman perked up and passionately started spewing all of the praises of the Tacoma! He knew all the specs and all the best optional accessories to put on it. He said he has a couple buddies in the logging industry and they pound their Tacoma’s on a daily basis in the bush and back roads and the little trucks take it in stride. While he had me hooked after the first hour or so we talked about the Tacoma, I left with buying only the Sequoia.


A week after buying the Sequoia, the salesman called and said they just got a Tacoma that would be perfect for me. A 2017 TRD Sport doublecab six foot box, 3” Icon lift, 33” tires, skid plating and a pretty good price. Now I knew I was going to buy a Tacoma, but I didn’t want to just jump into the first deal that came along. I told him I would consider it and get back to him. I spent the next few weeks researching and talking to many different dealers. While I found a few others a little cheaper than the first one, none had the same quality of parts. I picked up the phone and was about to call the salesman and ask him to start the paperwork on the Tacoma. Then I thought, darn, I should at least give the “local” dealer a chance to meet or beat this deal. My thinking was it wouldn’t be fair to show up and ask for service on two vehicles we had bought from another dealer. I don’t know how Toyota dealerships are, but the local Ford, Dodge, and Chev/GM dealers get right pissy when you show up with a new out of town bought vehicle. Not only are they rude to you, you get very slow and sub-par service.


Trying to stay local, I called the closest dealer to us. The closest dealer is Dealership #2, 75km away. I gave the salesman the specs for the truck I wanted, and with the exact modifications of Dealership #1’s Tacoma. I asked for a price with those exact parts. He came back with a price $500 lower than Dealership #1. He assured me their service department lifted these trucks all the time and there was no problem with any of the specs. While talking to the guy, it became apparent he himself was not really familiar with the Tacoma in general. After arguing with me on the different wheel sizes between the Off-road and the Sport, I took him out to their lot to show him stock Off-Roads come with 16” rims, while the Sport has 17”. This should have been a warning, but I was confident as long as they stuck to the specs, all would be good. So I went ahead with the deal. This was my first mistake. The second mistake was I wanted no delays or problems in receiving the truck, so I went down to the dealership and paid the full amount owing.


As they did not actually have a truck with these specs in stock, they would order the parts and build it. I was assured it would be done within six weeks. I thought this was unusually long, but as it was still February, I had lots of time before the spring thaw and I would not really need the truck until the end of April. While waiting for the parts to arrive, I called the salesman to confirm the truck would come with a spare tire. He says almost insulted,“Of course, all trucks come with a spare tire.” I said a 33” spare? Well no, he did not include that in the quote. So, I paid another $800 for a spare tire and rim. So much for my $500 savings! More warning bells ringing.


A little over six weeks go by, and Dealership #2’s service department calls to let me know all the parts are in, and want me to bring in the truck. They said it will take two days at the most to get it done. Spring is coming a bit early, so this is perfect. I said, “Great, I will drop it off today!” The service manager says, “Well actually, we are pretty busy and can’t get to it for at least two weeks. What day works for you?” Being a little sarcastic, I said, “How about in two weeks?” Two weeks later I dropped off the truck. I told the service manager that I was going out of town for a week, so no rush in getting it all done in two days. I also showed him where I ran a cell antenna cable through the back of the cab and asked if he could install a proper grommet so the cable wouldn’t be damaged and seal it up. Also one of the rubber pieces covering the roof rack mounts blew off while I was going down the highway, and asked if they could reattach it. And finally, it’s due for a service. Not a problem. Then I went to the parts counter and asked for a toggle switch that fit the blank in the center console. I needed this so I could run a switched power wire to the cell booster. The parts manager says, “Why? We normally just buck a hole in the blank and put in a Canadian Tire toggle.” When I insisted no, if not a Toyota switch, I at least want one that looks factory. He scratched his head and said he would have to do some research to find something. More bells! I politely said not to bother, I would find one somewhere else.


Two days later I get a call from the salesman. He says they got the lift installed, but the front wheels can’t turn because they are too big. The service guys did all they could, but there is no whacking some fender to make it work. He assured me they had all the right parts as requested, and that the other dealer must have done some fender mod to make it work. I knew this was complete BS, because the other guys had told me there were no mods to the truck fenders. I said okay, don’t be cutting anything, go one size smaller on the tire. The next day the salesman calls and said the truck was ready to go.

Four days later, a day before I have to go back to work in full blown spring conditions, I went to the dealership to pick up my nice newly lifted truck with kind of big-ass tires. There she is. Right in front of the building, beside another brand new stock Tacoma! The salesman sees me and rushes out with a big smile. The smile quickly disappeared when I say, “WTF is this?” The poor guy looked confused, but said nothing. My truck is almost exactly the same height as the stock one, with an upgraded but same size tires. After a few seconds the salesman says, “I will go get the service manager, be right back!” and runs off. Service guy comes out and asks what the problem is. I say, “Well... I bought a truck with a three inch lift and 33” tires. This isn’t lifted and has stock size tires on it. That is the problem.” He says, “We put all the parts for the kit you ordered on this truck, but the larger tires won’t fit. What else can we do?”. I replied, “Obviously there is a problem, because after you put the parts on, the truck did not go up. This might be why the bigger tires won’t work. Maybe you could call Icon and ask them why it didn’t go up.”. He agreed this was probably the right course of action. I took the truck and went home.


A day or two later the salesman calls and says all is good. All the right parts were installed, it was just that the service department was not familiar with that particular lift kit and they didn’t know it was adjustable. So twenty minutes in the shop and a wheel alignment, voila! Great I said. I will be back in there tomorrow morning, first thing. Then he says, sorry we are kind of booked up, how about in two weeks. Not just a little pissed, I booked an appointment two weeks away. Then I asked why the service guys had not done the service, installed the requested grommet, reinstalled the roof rubber and why do the tire sensors not work? He apologized for these issues and assured me they would be addressed at the next appointment. Two weeks later I dropped off the truck again. They say they will call as soon as it’s ready, most likely tomorrow.


Five days later, I assumed someone must have simply forgot to call and let me know my truck was ready. So I went back to the shop to pick it up. While the rubber was back on the roof, it was sitting in the same place I had left it, looking exactly like it did five days ago. Turns out to everyone’s amazement, you need an Icon spanner to adjust an Icon lift. They didn’t have one and had to order one.


Apparently Icon must have been fresh out of spanners and had get some made, because it was over four weeks later when the service guy called to say they had the spanner in. Great I say! I will be down there this afternoon. Well... we are kind of busy, how about in two weeks? The sad thing is, at this point, not only was I not surprised, but I expected as much. Two weeks later I drop off the truck again.


Four days later the service guy calls and says the truck is ready for pickup. He just has to finish some invoicing and will be done by time I drive the 75km down there again. “Invoicing?” I ask. He says, “Well someone has to pay for that other set of tires we put on your truck. We just put the 33 inch tires on.” I explained, no, I was not paying for those tires. I bought a truck with 33” tires. The upgraded tires were not requested by me and if he wanted clarification, he could talk to the sales department. He said he would talk to them and call me back. Two hours later he called back and said there was no charge for the tires, but the paperwork would not be done till morning.


The next day, I arrange to duck out of work early to go pick up my truck. We may have gone slightly over the speed limit to arrive at the dealership before they closed. I went inside to sign whatever they had and the salesman went to pull my truck around. As he pulled up, I started laughing. Yup. They figured out how to get the front end up and got the 33” tires on. The back end was still at stock height!


“Just give me my keys.” I said and walked away.


The next day I brought the truck into a local shop and asked them the finish the lift. After he quit laughing, he ordered some Icon parts. Two days and another $300 later, my truck was done properly and I drove away from the shop on a beautiful July afternoon.



P.S. The first day I went back to work after finally getting my truck back, I noticed my cell booster was not working. Checking to find the problem, I found the booster gone. Antenna and power cords were there, just no booster. Oh ya, the grommet was not installed either. I called the salesman and asked him to check in the shop to see if my booster is there.

He says, “Sure. If it’s not there, I will call Canadian Tire to see if they have it.”

“What? Why would they have it?” I replied.

His response was, “Our shop can’t do wheel alignments, so we get Canadian Tire to do them for us.” I hung up.


I have never heard back from dealership #2 again. Kiss a $700 booster goodbye. And my tire pressure sensors still don’t work.

 

holy shit! I would have killed someone by now if I had gone through this. You are patient man that's for sure. Call corporate and send them a email.... and I hope the dealers send you a survey.

 

Wow

 

It's been great entertainment for my co-workers. The start of every shift they were all eager to hear the latest chapter of The Toyota Saga. Just got to laugh. If not... I probably would lose it..

 

A lot of us have had dealer issues but nothing like this. I would be seriously looking to email the dealership head office , owner, or the main guy in charge.

 

Hey Steves104x4, I think that's the service manager!

 

JaCado, I thought of it. But at this point, I want no contact with that dealership ever again. There is nothing they can do or say to get me to come back.

 

I understand that completely.

 

Welcome!

 

Thanks NAAC3TACO.

 

The way to tag people is to use the quote button in their post or to use the "@" in front of the user name like this @rhan

 

Still learning. Thanks.

 

Welcome to TW...All I can say is WTF!!!!

 

Thanks

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld!
That is ridiculous! They are either truly ignorant or they just don't care. Either way, that is terrible customer service.

 

Sounds to me like they must of had the 3 Stooges working there!!

 

Both. The other dealers up here are not much better. They get so much industry work, the little guys just don't matter. There is no such thing as customer service here. If you don't like it, your next option is at least another five hours away.

 

That's crazy. I think I would just avoid them altogether and use the shop that finished your lift or do it yourself from here on out.

 

Yes, I agree. The local Signature Tire shop here is great. They do all of my maintenance. The reason I wanted the dealership to do the lift was the first dealership told me that as long as all upgrades were done by a Toyota dealer, with Toyota approved parts, it would not affect the warrantee. In hindsight, I would have been far better off by either buying the truck from Dealership #1 or buying the base truck from dealership #2 and getting Signature Tire to install the lift and other extras. Live and learn. I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive!