Goodbye

Cliff notes for anyone

Says goodbye, but doesn't leave

Buys truck with known problem, prior to purchase

Finally leaves after realizing he could have prevented all of this and he is the person at fault

The End

 

^^

 

It is pretty hard to argue with blind brand loyalty. However, that is something I didn't get when my 2013 Ford SHO turned out to be a lemon and I posted about it on a SHO forum. There is a very different dynamic/mentality here, that's for sure...

 

I took a FWD 1989 Plymouth Voyager with highway tires up a 3 mile washed out, rutted mountain trail into our hunting lease once and made it just fine. So did the 4x4 trucks for 6 years, so goes to show you it isn't always anything more than how you drive, not what you drive.

 

I agree...but what is worse is that you can't get that kind of problem fixed by going through the dealer and the corporate customer reps.

Here is the review I posted on Yelp:

DO NOT BUY A VEHICLE FROM RUSSELL TOYOTA!!

This dealer is the textbook example of the worst case car buying experience.

Called and talked to James at Russell, then went to see a new Tacoma. I liked the truck, so I test drove it. Very bad shake in the front end at around 60 mph. Told James when I got back, and he said that he'd let the service manager know.

Now we start the sit and wait games dealers play. I knew what my trade was worth, and was not willing to accept less than that. I told James this number the first time he "went to talk to his boss". James comes back with a number a full $2k less than what I was willing to accept. I should have left right then!! Even after telling James what the acceptable trade number was, he still came back under. So after 4 trips to talk to his boss (each no less than 15 minutes)....he comes back with the numbers that work out pretty close to where we wanted. Classic wear you down routine, and I just should have got my keys back and left then.

When you trade in a vehicle, the value is determined by the party purchasing the vehicle, not the person selling it. You can't force them to pay for something they don't own. Everyone needs to make margins on sales, or it's not worth their time.

Add in another wait...
Then there is the usual undercoating, paint sealer, stain resistant treatment...etc sales pitch.

I've never found a law that states that it is illegal to upsell. This is part of sales.

Add in another wait...
Then the finance guy, who had already added in upcharges. Just the usual low class dealership tactic to get you to pay more.

What upcharges? Be specific.

Add in another wait....
James finally got the service manager to take the truck for a drive, and guess what....there was a vibration around 60 mph. 3 of the 4 tires significantly out of balance. So now it's over an hour wait (I'm being generous here) until they can get the tires balanced.

What tires? Also, you're not the only one in line for the service department. Patience.

Overall almost 5 hours to buy a vehicle. My last vehicle...from beginning to end....less than 2 hours. (Subaru - Fantastic buying experience by the way)

Apples to Oranges. You asked them to address the tire balance issue which added time.

On the drive home things seemed ok, but after a few days I was able to confirm that the vibration had moved to the 65 - 70 mph range. Not as bad as before, but not right...especially for a new vehicle.

Again, what tires? What are the road conditions that you drive on?

I get a call for a survey from Jill, I explain the tires still are not right and she asks me if I'd like her to talk to the service manager to get it squared away. I said that would be great. Not great. Jill disappeared. I sent 4 follow up emails, none of which were answered. I spoke to Chris the GM, seemed like he wanted to help, but still no closer to making the truck right. Long story short, it took over 3 weeks of trying to get someone to do something. Finally I get a manager on the phone, and I tell him I fully regret ever walking into Russell Toyota. Now that I have his attention, I explain the problem to him. He gets me set up with a service appointment, and that I'd be expedited so I could be in and out quickly. Didn't happen. Got to my service appointment, waited over an hour before the tech even started with my tires. After a test drive he could not see what was wrong. I went on a drive with him and pointed out when it happened. Tech says new tires are what will cure it. Long story short again, I guess "expedited" means over 4 1/2 hours of waiting around.

Service departments are busy. The tires could be made incorrectly. Again, what tires?

Now to the kicker. Because I do maintain my vehicles well, I was checking my air pressure in the tires. Right rear tire has a hiss to it when I take the valve cap off. THE VALVE IN THE STEM WAS LOOSE! I've already driven over 500 miles on these tires, with my family, on vacation.....and I find a loose valve stem. I'm going to follow up with Toyota Corporate. This is the WORST buying and servicing dealership experience I've ever been witness to.

Tighten up the valve core and be a man about it. Quit making yourself seem like such a victim. Deal with a simple problem like this and move on.

We are buying my wife a new car also. Told folks at Russell this, and that it depended on the buying experience if we'd buy the second from them also. It won't be from Russell. Likely it won't be a Toyota. Not after this horrible experience.

Do you want people write you off permanently when you make a mistake?

I'd like to end on that there seem to be some good people at Russell Toyota. However they are far overshadowed by the dealership process, disorganization, low rent tactics, and the majority that don't care about the customer buying / service experience. I will not be going back to Russell for anything. Hopefully Corporate Toyota will be more helpful. If not, I will never buy another one.[/QUOTE]

I run a service department at our family business selling/supporting agricultural equipment. We try 110% to do our best every day we show up at work. Sometimes we mess up. The customers who show us grace and give us a chance to work things out are the customers we LOVE working with. The customers who write us off after we make a single error are the customers who find out we don't really miss that much anyway.

 

That was the most retarded thing I've ever read. If you made it up in a van, that only proves you didn't need 4x4. There are still plenty of places that require 4x4.


And just to stir the pot: Don't the Xterras and Frontiers have a cast aluminum front diff housing? That doesn't seem very off-road worthy.

 

Actually you did need 4x4. The difference was I was using all throttle in a beat up POS and I hit the trail at 20mph and tried to maintain momentum. Our trail Bronco nor Chevy could make it in 4x2 under normal crawling 4x4 speed.

It was a 10 year lease, by the way, with 14 other guys in camp, so I'm pretty much qualified to say it was most definitely a 4x4 trail. I wasn't climbing boulders, and that isn't the only wheeling to be done. My old Shasta trailer blew a tire on the same trail and my Chevy struggled pulling it up with 3 tires and a rim. No video, sorry.

 

What the hell did you do red??

(eric Forman voice)

 

I'm confused, you did need 4x4, but you didn't? Maybe your Voyager was just badass? Did you drive the trail bronco? Because I'm pretty sure your point was that you are a good driver and you didn't need 4x4. So a good driver in a voyager, but not a bronco? I'm so confused.

 

Has any one in this thread actually owned a Nissan? Cause I have and the interior is absolute horseshit. Hellen Keller could design a better automobile interior. They handle like you are driving an ugly brick shithouse. Frontier and Titan, you couldn't pay me to drive em now after getting a taco. Owning a Nissan is a lot like popcorn on a ceiling it seemed like a good idea at the time but now you just wanna scape if off.

 

Sooooo the jeep has had less problems?

 

I cared about the Bronco. The van was a designated clunker and California bought it from me, so I didn't care about it at all. The van got thrashed, hit a rock I couldn't avoid and shattered the grill. I backed off and was able to keep going downhill.

The Bronco was a need-to-be-reliable trail rig, so there's no point in beat running it for.the sake of best running it. I'm sure if I drove it 20 mph in 4x2 it'd get up the hill also, but that isn't safe or smart.

Kinda like wings on a car will make it fly if you go fast enough, but it still isn't a plane.

 

Ok then. Thanks for the info, your entire point is invalid and I don't know what they hell it has to do with anything.

 

#honesty

 

You drunk....

 

So you had a hardbody in what the late 90s. Pretty sure that's different then the frontier or Titan,xTerra of today

 

Rightio, dewd.