Bad Experience at Chula Vista Toyota Dealership

So three months ago I was driving on the highway when my 1st gear started slipping and it would release like I was in neutral then catch and i'd be off again. Soon all the gears where doing it. Then it wouldn't go into 5th gear since the check engine light came on and thats when I pulled over off the highway.
Soon I called the nearest toyota dealership Chula Vista and boy was that a mistake! They said since its only at 53,000 miles I was covered for my transmission.

Now my truck doesn't have a prerunner bumper or midtravel or long travel shocks. It doesn't have kings or fox 2.5s though now it does have king 2.5 front struts and is going to have long travel rear shocks once I get it into the shop at trac performance in march. It does have fiberglass front fenders, offroad lights, a supercharger, methanol injection and other engine mod goodies mostly unseen to the general toyota mechanic. After a week of working with the dealership and them saying they can't give me a rental untill the toyota corporate rep looks at it. They call and say they are waiting for the results of the oil analysis and that the service manager is the one that receives it. I get a call from the dealership saying that they can't fix it due to the heavy mods and lift kit and offroad tires and that the service rep was there.

I about lost my mind because I immediately corrected the service adviser "Bryan Trudell". One, I do not have a lift or body lift and that shouldn't matter! Two I don't have over sized offroad tires! I have 275/70/r17 BFG mud terrains! Now I have 33's since I got the truck back but I had normal size tires and they had the nerve to tell me that causes problems! I then asked to talk to the service manager "Greg Chalmers" who said there is nothing they can do since the toyota warranty rep said they won't cover it.

On a side note I have this amazing thing I always leave on to see the mechanics test drive and work on my truck which is a vico view dash cam. Its located in the cab and records up to two days of video in 1080P with great sound! So I got that on with a piece of electrical tape to cover the light for the recording indicator light. Turns out not only did they not want to fix my truck but they lied to me on several occasions. They cleared out my speedo sensor codes on my ECU and told me they checked good. But I have a video of them talking in the shop where the service adviser tells the old mechanic "Joe Peter" to clear the codes and give it back to me. They also did an alignment not I understand mechanics have to trash talk some times.

I had to return to the dealership because my alignment was still off when I left the dealership and this apprently is called being a "tweaker" where custmers complain about the small things. So because I returned to the dealership after an alignment was still off and my tires were still riding rough I am a "tweaker". Some how after I get my truck back the truck ran smooth as butter since I had another service team do my alignment. I refuse to ever return to this dealership and I have the videos to prove that they cleared the codes and vocal confessions. Please don't trust the dealership even if its free its not worth your brand new truck. I have taken this up with Toyota corporate and sent in the video for Toyota Corporate to view which has them vocally clearing the codes to give it back to me. It costs me two weeks without my truck because they cleared the codes instead of actually fixing it and the fact they charged me for this is ludicrous I am very disturbingly angry that they can lie to my face and the fact that the service adviser is involved makes it worse. The service manager isn't even apologetic and my concern is even though its not his fault he is responsible for his employees actions. Don't go to the Chula Vista Dealership. -Cowboy out

 

Wow.

 

huh

 

Send it into the local news... Turko files or something

 

Damn, I guess every service dept. has an old guy that looks like that. The one I take my truck to must be that guys twin.

 

Damn, I could've told you that. That's the worst dealer to go to. I know exactly who you are dealing with. I dealt with Greg Chalmers before he was promoted to the supervisor position. He was a piece of crap then and now is training new service managers to be corrupt too.

 

Sucks to hear that man. Glad to hear your truck is going now at least. Some dealerships are dirty.

 

I think Toyota Corporate wants to keep it in house I might a get free TRD T-shirt (maybe even a free oil change which i'll give away) if I keep it off the news haha

 

I would still blast it on the news, or else they will keep doing this to other customers.

I would even contact the dealers corporate ownership that dealership sunroad enterprise and give them the story

 

I agree with @zeekevin I'd media blast the shit out of them. Not just this forum but stuff like Facebook and local sd news. One person screaming and having video can make a dent in at least helping other people not get fucked over.

 

I also say to let everyone know. Who knows how many other people this dealer took advantage of. Why did they have it for two weeks if all they did was plug a reader in and clear some codes?

 

Lazy and shady bastards...I worked at a Toyota Dealership for over 10 years and over that time I saw a lot of people with a complete lack of accountability as well as no integrity.
Glad I wasnt one of them, nor will I ever, there is a reason I work for myself now...I am the captain of the ship and it doesnt leave my shop until its right, sucks that they were jerking you around, that inst cool...sorry to hear that Vance.

 

I'm sure the local news would like to run a piece on this if they knew what the heck all your mods are. I can just imagine someone trying to read that line, "It only has a supercharger and methanol injection..."

 

But should'nt I at least give the owner and managers above the service manager a chance to rectify the situation. It not like they all knew... also im not sure if I really want anyone to lose their job now that the steam has blown from my head. Also id like to stay off the news...

 

I feel like the methanol was the big issue in glad they didn't notice the pulley

 

Just say it's "water injection". That's how it works in the diesel world. I don't blame you from also wanting to not draw media do you.

 

You've got them but don't push it. If your case got blasted via the news everyone in San Diego or S. California with modded trucks could start getting hassled. It would be a knee jerk reaction by Toyota corporate but could still screw over a lot of people unnecessarily. You don't want to be that guy.

 

This is why I don't make rash decesions...

 

Shops don't like dings from The BAR.

https://www.bar.ca.gov/Consumer/Complaints/index.html