BEWARE: Faulkner Toyota Service Harrisburg PA

Thank you Faulkner Toyota - Scion of Harrisburg for screwing up my truck multiple times, the latest would be my trailer hitch wiring no longer works since the frame replacement and you won't fix it. Not only did you try to give me my truck back (after the frame replacement) not once but TWICE with serious safety issues. You know the first time you tried to give it back to me with LOOSE CONTROL ARM BOLTS! I left it there, come back a 2nd time and find you STRIPPED the bolt going into the passenger side spindle and tried to give it back to me AGAIN with something that could have caused me to kill MYSELF or wreck into someone else and KILL them. You brushed it off like it was no big deal. THESE ARE MAJOR safety concerns.

Lets rewind a bit and i'll tell you the whole story of how I had to come back to you 10 times to show you issues on my truck. I dropped the truck off to you April 28th around 330pm. I trusted you to work on my truck only for you to loose that trust ( after you tried to give it back to me with loose bolts ) I got a phone call from you on friday May 1st at 4 pm stating the truck was done. I said i can't get it until monday please keep my truck inside, and you said okay. I go to pick it up on monday and see the truck sitting outside with shiny tires ( strike 1 ). I PERSONALLY wrote in big letters across the RO " NO WASH! " they washed it anyways and put tire shine on it. This is petty i know, not really big a big deal but still. I go into the dealership he takes me right to the cashier to get my keys and pay my bill (i asked for an inspection while it was there) I said whoa whoa whoa i want to check over the truck first. This is where all the problems start and I find problem, after problem, after problem, ( shown in the video ) Blocks were mounted backwards and they tried to charge me for an inspection and never even did it (these are minor details, but still shouldn't have happened) I walk back in and you take the keys back and say you will call me back after you fix it, and perform an alignment again.

I get a call Wednesday to get the truck again, said i couldn't make it in and tell them they lost all my trust and told them i'm seriously considering selling the truck because i don't even feel safe driving it. They said they wanted to make it up to me and go over the truck with me in their shop to show that all bolts are properly torqued. I said okay it might make me feel a little more safe to drive the truck. I go in thursday, the truck is in the shop and we start to go over the truck, everything appears to be okay. Then i see shiny metal between the ball joint mount and spindle. He goes to torque it and turns it 3 times, i say "it's not getting tight is it? " he said no, i said "that means your tech stripped it out and you tried to give my truck back to me again a 2nd time with a loose bolt for the steering and suspension" They said they would order me a new one in and get it fixed and perform yet another alignment.

I get a phone call another 2 weeks later saying the truck is finally done and ready to pick up. I go to pick the truck up and start checking over the whole thing again. This time i found grease on my gray seats along with greasy finger prints all over the interior of the truck ( i let it slide because i just want my truck home ) before i take the truck i see everything is completed and it appears safe to drive home. I told them I WILL go over every bolt and fastener to make sure it is all torqued to spec. The next day i spend 3 hours in my garage going over the ENTIRE truck and find another list of problems that i did not have before i took the truck in ( see attached list in the picture ) i call and tell them about it. They said that is it your truck is back in your possession and we didn't cause these issues and we will not help you. I called toyota corporate and talked to a few of my inside contacts i still have at toyota corportate for some advice and suggestions on what to do. Toyota called Tony the service manager at Faulkner Toyota and told them the run down of my concerns. No response, so i show up at the dealer and walk right into Tony's office and express my concerns and tell him what the tech did to my truck. He asks me what i want. I said i want my truck fixed! I shouldn't have to come in here in person to tell you the issues that i now have with my truck that i didn't have before. He agreed to replace the leaky front diff axle seal and put the correct OEM bolt (instead of the random one that was incorrect sized in length and girth ) back in the lower shock.

I go home and wash the truck and find yet another issue. Marks on my wheels! Like water streak marks that wont go away. I call Tony and tell him the issue, he said bring it in and I'll look at it. Remember when i told them NO WASH?! This is why? They used some sort of acid to remove the tire shine from the tires and let it get on the wheels which ruined the finish on ALL of my wheels. Surprisingly it was a no questions ask and he ordered in all 4 new wheels in for me. ( i am thankful that they took responsibility and fixed their mistake )

I go in again about a week later to get the wheels replaced, they do it under my supervision. All is well until i see the tech using a gray torque stick ( if you are a tech you know the gray is rated at 100ft lbs) this is WAY over toyota's specific torque rating for their lugs/studs 79 ft lbs is Toyota Spec for wheel nuts.Now i'm worried. They do the wheels and i take it home and I go over the wheels again after about 100 miles and retorque to spec. Only to find one of my lugs is now messed up, the splines on the lug are deformed and can't even get the key on the lugs. I call Tony again and he said you will have to bring it in and we will look at it i told him it will need new lug nuts, he said he had them there.

I take it in again for them to do the lug nut and the tech said, yup it needs lugs. We will have to order them in. I said Tony said you had them here. He said no we have to order them. So that means i gotta come back in AGAIN? They replaced them a few days later.

Now the most recent issue i go to hook up my trailer and find all the lights dont work on the trailer. I find the trailer has some chewed wiring and my dad took the trailer to get it fixed. When my dad picked the trailer up i find that all but 1 light is working on the trailer. DING, that means the dealer screwed up yet another thing on my truck. My trailer hitch wiring. I call Tony and tell him about it and he goes " there is a junction box back there, it is not covered under warranty and we will not fix it " now they replaced the frame and they DID something to it to cause it to not work because it worked before i took the truck into them and now it doesn't. So i call toyota corporate again. They say they can't make the dealer do something and is at their digression on fixing it or not. So my trailer wiring is broke and they wont fix the issue that they caused. So long story short if you have a death wish Faulkner Toyota can work on your vehicle and make it happen, because they are good at not checking items that should have NEVER been missed. I will say i'm glad they fixed the issues they did BUT i shouldn't have had to call Toyota Corporate, or show up in person and tell them with proof and pictures of what they did. I gave them their chance to correct their mistake and they didn't hence why this post. I'm done for now.

If you read this all, Bravo, I hope you can see my side and their side to this story. This is the longest post I have ever posted. But there is good reason behind all of this, some things are minor and can be overlooked. Put yourself in my shoes, what would you have done? What if you had a vehicle serviced by them? Only to leave the parking lot, get on 83 south and get in a fatal accident due to their negligence. What if you lived and killed someone else in an accident? What would you do ?

 

TL;DR

 

exactly

But I do hope the OP feels better now that he's vented. FWIW, probably would have read if I lived in the area. Sorry OP, sincerely.

 

What?

 

Too Long; Didn't Read

But you do have our sympathies. @DCSBFTMFW

 

TL;DR=Too long; didn't read. In other words, provide us with a one -sentence synopsis of events.

 

A little mood lightening..

I hope you get proper recourse and a safe vehicle, and never have to deal with them again!

 

exactly ... situation sucks ... good luck OP.

 

I honestly shouldn't have to, & I wont. If you live in the Northeast and plan to have your truck serviced in the Pennsylvania area this is a warning to those. Maybe it doesn't apply to you, and that's okay. But this is a warning and a heads up for other Tacoma owners or Toyota owners that live in this Harrisburg area

 

It means Too Long; Didn't Read

 

I can totally appreciate that.

 

And now we've cycled this across the home page a few times now ... so the people will get the info. Cool?

 

Is there another local dealer or are you totally stuck with these people for Toyota issues?

 

There are 2... one is just as bad as this company... The other I have never had dealings with so I can't say

 

Try Diamond Toyota in Lebanon. (used to be Fredericks) They have a pretty good service/body shop. I haven't used them in a while but my parents really like them. The manager there Jeff Innocent is good guy.

 

Lebanon is over an hour away.. If I wanted to drive that far I would have gone to Fitzgerald toyota in Chambersburg. Had I known that I would have had this many problems and these serious saftey problem. I would have gladly drove an hour no questions asked but that's already too late

 

And you guys all thought frame replacement is usually done smoothly with no major issues or electrical gremlins.

 

I knew it was a risk for frame replacement. But better then frame folding in half due to holes and rust. ALL the issues that arrised NEVER would have happened if the tech took his time and did it right the first time. I understand flat rate is flat rate for warranty and you only get paid so much but for god sakes its safety of the vehicle!

 

bump to the top

 

Sucks, but seems like you should be working on your own truck. I've never had any issues with any of the work or regular maintenance I've performed, I keep the dealership out of the equation.