Furious with Toyota

Contact the media, radio, TV and print. Contact the better business bureau. Are they doing so much business that they can blow off a customer? Does your local TV have a consumer watch dog kind of segment, check there web sites. I would think they would love to jump on this kind of story when the car companies are crying about business. Park your truck out in front of the dealer all day Saturday with a huge sign detailing the problems. Let's see how many customers buy a car from a dealer that won't take care of the ones they just sold! Go onto the lemon law site, I know this does not fall under that yet, but it may give you some ideas. I know it will be hard, but stay calm, keep your cool.

 

Ya know, they came over with superior products back in the day & as soon as they start being built over here, all of a sudden their shit sucks. Serves them right for coming over here & trying to force our shitty car companies out of business. Now they're stuck over here using the same workers that made the inferior products to begin with.

Sorry, not sure what got into me...........I'm sure that has nothing to do with this situation. I might have said it backwards.

 

You know. I saw a used black 2009 nissan frontier 4x4, auto, V6, crew, with all the bells and whistles i could want... and its faster and has a steel bed....

and thanks to the magic of depreciation.(a magic toyotas seem immune to.) i can get this beauty for the tune of 22 grand.... sticker... meaning i could probably get them under 20.

so tempting.... but... damn.... despite all this shit. the toyota's so much cooler!

 

Yea, if I were to stop driving a tacoma.. I would be done with trucks, it would be cars for me.

 

What I said to the service rep:
Look I know about 85 percent of the people that buy these double cabs never haaul anything more than a pooch or rubbish bags in the back. I'm not one of those people. I've got a lot heavy hauling to do. mson blocks bags of concrete, lumber and such cause I'm always working around my house. I bought a double cab cause I also have two daughters ages 4 and 7. I needed a trade off. I didn't think that I would be trading off so much that I would worry about bringing my kids with me to Home Depot to buy 6-700 pouns of concrete. Honestly that bed gets so saggy and the handling a little squirrely on the highway when its got only half its payload.
I believe the TSB is intended for a customer just like me and I would appreciate your considering my situation when inspecting my vehicle. The frame has obviously been hitting on the bump stops a lot. Load it up if you have to, you'll see.
That was it. They did have to inspect the vehicle because it is a warranty issue.
That was my first interaction with Toyota service, ever.
I try to keep it positive always. They never give me shit for lifting my truck. And they're up front about what they require to do to keep it in warranty and how much it will cost.

 

Push the issue bro..they gave me the same speech for my '09, but i just got the tsb done today. The service dept. was really good about it, they said it was a no brainer to change the springs and shocks because the part #'s matched with the tsb, but servco (suppliers of toyotas in hawaii) said they wouldn't approve it because it was an '09. So the service dept. did some tests (put a loaded 55 gallon drum in the bed and drove over a speed bump) and it bottomed out...after sending the results to servco, they approved the order...so if your part #s and vin #s match up with the '05-'08 tsb, push the issue. ask them to even do this test...they will have to grant you the tsb...good luck Also what they did for the test was put white grease on the bump stops, and took pictures of the frame where the grease touched the frame from the bump stops to show the bottoming out...

 

ok update

i have brought it back to the dealer when my clutch parts finally came in

they inspected it and saw that i had the part numbers, saw that my suspension was bottoming out and still refuse to do the service saying that i had a option of upgrading to the heavy duty springs when i bought the vehicle which is bullshit and i told them that. he refuses to realize that the tsb replaces the 3 leaf pack with 4 and told me all the TRD trucks have 4 leafs in them. i asked him to go with me and look at the other TRD's on the lot to prove him wrong but he wouldn't. we called toyota from the service desk and they still denied it saying that they cant do it because its a 09.

at this point i dont know what to do. i told customer service on the phoen that i am highly disappointed with the truck and its not even a truck its a eco box with a box on the back that you cant put anything in, and that i would like to return the truck to toyota because of how unsatisfied i am with it.

hopefully my experience changes this weekend when i try bringing it to the dealer i bought it from, problem is that it is a hour and a half away and i dont want to waste my time driving there for no reason.

 

you called the 800#?

 

As much as it sucks- The truck in question is an '09 model year...which is not covered by the TSB no matter what the VIN or manufacture date it. The TSB does not reference the VIN any more. Sucks it does- But by the letter of the company policy..They are right.

In the spirit of customer service- They are sucking. I hope someone pulls their head outta their ass and hooks you up bro...

 

3 times now


i dont get this, i spend $28,000 on a truck that i am EXTREMELY unhappy with and they wont do anything about it

i have toyotas for 8 years now..... and i feel as tho this will be the last one i own....

 

Call the 800 number again and ask them to forward your case to a case manager. It is the case manager that approves the TSB.

 

It might help to have a print out of the TSB showing the part numbers, then you can take a picture of the top of your leaf springs showing the same part numbers on the leaf springs that the TSB replaces. I told my service manager that I know the TSB doesn't cover the '09s yet, but that I have the same parts reference in it on my truck, and I wanted them replaced. He told me he had an extra pair of TSB springs in stock, and to bring it by for them to replace them... Easy as could be. I believe that it's entirely up to the dealer as to whether they will honor the TSB. My suggestion is to find a Toyota dealer that wants your future business. I've been going to the same dealer for 10 years now, and for good reason, they've always taken care of me.

 

i did just that, i had a printout, and my part numbers with me, they even looked at the truck

the 800# was no better, i have talked to 3 people now, and each of them seems to know less then the one before them.

 

I don't know why some dealerships deny the TSB, I know someone who works in Toyota Service and he would love it when they came in, cause he makes the commission!

 

Because they lose money. Toyota doesn't pay full labor rate and they don't make any money on the parts. So some customer comes in for pay for labor and they have to make them wait or delay doing the work because they are doing reduced rate labor on a TSB...they lose money.

I'm sure there is a warranty service tracking matrix too...Might play into some service ratings or something... Get 100% of the warranty services done right...but don't do too many cause it costs money??

 

Man, I must be lucky. I didn't even have a problem with my rear suspension and upon asking my dealer about it the simply said "when can you drop it off?" It was done the next day. Have not had any other problems with the truck other than that.

 

This is the most screwed up story I have heard as far as sorry customer service is concerned. I would make it my mission in life to give this dealer fits every day just for shits and giggles. Myself and others have had the TSB done on our 09 models without any problems and yours should be no different.

Is it possible that Toyota just figured out that they were approving too many for the 09s and decided to just stop doing it for now? I can not see any other reason they would suddenly stop now after doing so many already. Maybe they are actually starting to 'feel" the crunch of replacing so many suspension parts for free.

I would go at this from a safety perspective making sure to explain you often carry weight and if an accident occurs due to improper suspension you will take legal action. Maybe you can get a local lawyer to draft you up a letter just to maybe get a reaction. I would call Toyota and say you are concerned as to your safety and simply ask if they will send you a formal letter explaining why they will not remedy a safety hazard.

I would explain that you will need such a letter to proceed forward with legal action as your lawyer must confirm that they are refusing. Of course you would be bluffing at first however when safety is an issue many companies tend to change their opinions quickly. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Pretty much backwards..
Parts like clutches are usually made somewhere else. (Mexico) as for american assembly line workers, they don't say put three leaf springs instead of four.
Not to mention if you did your research Toyota took the plant in Cali off of GM's hands and made it out perform whatever GM was doing there. GM was going to close that plant because it had the worst labor relation problems in the country. Toyota turned that around.

 

Call the service dept at Boch in Norwood. See if you can get ahold of Corey. Very good dude.