Disgraceful Dealers Uk

[glyn1206]

Well it is with great sadness that I must say goodbye to all things toyota .

I have spent the last two years listening to the lies from the servicing department and on deciding to buy my first 'brand new' Avensis' have been given even more bullsh#t from the sales department.

I WAS still going to go elsewhere for my new avensis but on checking the reviews,they all seem to be tarred with the same brush.

If this post does not get removed by admin I would urge ALL owners dealing with main dealers to be very cautious and get second opinions if you can

I will not be allowed to say which dealers are a disgrace to Toyota and maybe there are a few that are decent and honest but not within the Guildford area

[FROSTYBALLS]

Whilst not wishing to show bias for or against any party this post relates to, the major issue with a post like this is there is nothing to substantiate what is being claimed in the first post of a new member.

People reading the post don't know whether the post relates to:

a. one vehicle, which may or may not have specific problems, or more than one vehicle,

b. what work was done by the servicing department on the vehicle or vehicles

c. what the person's expectations were of the servicing department/sales department concerned, and whether those expectations were realistic or not

d. what the specific issues were - was it quality of work done, pricing, whether work done was actually required, issues over fuel consumption information, vehicle valuation and/or part exchange, etc.

e. lack of communication

etc.

As regards reviews, from searching on Google this morning, reviews for Toyota dealers in and around the area mentioned, appear limited. Whether that is good or bad, one doesn't know.

[3S-FSE Corona]

Buy a Corona and stop crying.

Sent from my iPad using Toyota OC

[Raistlin]

I bought my car from said dealer in Guildford and they have been superb, service is second to none.

[Heidfirst]

I have bought an Avensis from 2 different dealers & had them serviced at 4 different ones. All have been very good>superb & certainly better than my experiences with Ford & Vauxhall & way better than my sister's experiences with Volvo.

If you have an issue with 1 dealer there are others (I bought my latest Avensis from 300 miles away - the price difference was worth travelling for).

Having said that 1 of my friends recently bought a Peugeot 508SW which seems like a really nice car beating the Avensis for ride & handling imo (albeit not convinced that it is as practical an estate as the Avensis if you really use the load space a lot)..

[crofter]

As has been previously mentioned sometimes it comes down to understanding the work that has been done and to what part of the car Not saying that this is the case here but is not unknown for customers to come stomping in to the garage saying that their car has broken down after being in there the day before, even though it was for it,s MOT.

In another case a customer came in insisting a new tyre that had been fitted was faulty even when it was pointed out that there was a wood screw piercing the tread

Alas I could go on!!

Del

[glyn1206]

As a fully qualified mechanic since the early eighties I think I know when someone is talking lies.

1. Faulty engine mounts was told it was no3 injector after a week they then agreed that it was the 'engine isalator' bullsh#t for the engine mounts

Then told after they were 'fitted' that a pipe was perforated and one was pinched.

The alledged perforated pipe would have been spotted straight away before any work was done this job took them two weeks

2. Booked in three weeks before the next job

Two rear shock absorbers both have a misting of oil on them.i can see nothing.it also passed the mot.they priced at 849.00each

I checked the thursday before to make sure all was good to go and was told all was fine.

Collected car on the day and phoned an hour later to say the parts aren't there

3 interim service. Six weeks later the oil change warning light comes on.If the serviced the car it should have been cleared

4.went to buy a new avensis was booked for a test drive in a weeks time and got a call to say they have sold the last one the night before - really?

I then gave them another week to fond one and got a text this time to say they dont have one yet ( checked the group website )and the seem to have one a a different branch

Then I get a call from customer service to ask how my experience was that morning.

[3S-FSE Corona]

So how was your experience then ?

Sent from my iPad using Toyota OC

[crofter]

As I posted "Not saying this is the case here",I expect you know only to well what I was getting at.

No offence intended Glyn

Del

[mrpj]

As "a fully qualified mechanic since the early eighties" why on earth do you entrust your servicing and repairs to a main dealer or anyone else?

[glyn1206]

Only because I'm too old to be grovelling around under cars !

[Uncle Buck]

Certainly doesn't sound like a good dealer experience to me, but then I would have gone elsewhere after treatment like that. I much prefer a dealer which is further away from me than the more local one. Why ? Because I've always been treated well & fairly there. I think you need to move to another garage, although I can understand that it's frustrating as you shouldn't have to !

[Whitewagon]

Glynn you need to get real, you are tarring everyone with the same brush. You clearly feel you have had a bad experience with a dealer but that doesn't mean all dealers or the manufacturer are bad. If you look around the forums for various manufacturers on the web you will see numerous reports of bad service from just about every manufacturer. Some of the so called "prestige" marques get a real slating for customer service and satisfaction. If you go to a dentist for treatment and get bad service and aftercare you don't say "I need a new head because I've had a bad service" you go and find another dentist who does the job to your satisfaction. Same applies to a Toyota car, don't throw it away because it's been badly serviced or repaired by one dealer, find a dealer who will do it properly.

[glyn1206]

Thanx for the comments guys. Mike I actually bought my car from somerset county cars at yeovil so as you can see I am prepared to travel but I need to be realistic as to getting it serviced.

This is also not an isolated ,one off but it seems to me they just dont get it.

I was also told by two of their employees that when they have a land cruiser in they rub their hands together and usually send out a bill of about £1000

Another instance was a fault with the bluetooth setup menu. The 'voice' would say something like "setup menu - say a command"

Not always but often enough to be annoying it even did it after the key was removed from the ignition.

The service manager said it was quite normal.

When I told him that the problem was put on a land cruiser forum and had over seventy views but no replies and I pointed out that if it was normal then I should have had seventy replies saying so,his next answer was "we can turn it down"

I took it to an audio specialist and within 30 minutes said it was a faulty bluetooth module - blatant lying by anyones standards . I have no problem with toyota as a product I also own a yaris,it is merely dealers who enjoy taking people for a ride.

[glyn1206]

Further to the above post I would also point out that the nearest dealers to me are the same group so not practical

[Mike169]

OK then read this email from the bottom up and tell me this Toyota dealership in Rayleigh, Essex is good enough!

Dear Mr ****

Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding but Allan Collier has unfortunately been out of the business for a few days.

Allan has asked me to email you on his behalf to sincerely apologise to both yourself and your wife for the events that occurred and to advise you that he will be personally speaking to all concerned today and be in touch with you as soon as possible to discuss the matter further.

In the meanwhile if I can be of any further assistance, then please do not
hesitate to contact me either via email or on 01708 386168.

With Kind Regards

Emma

Emma Harding
Dealership PA

Lancaster Toyota Romford & Lancaster Toyota Rayleigh Gallows Corner, A127 Southend Arterial Road, Romford, Essex RM3 0DZ
A127 Southend Arterial Road, Rayleigh, Essex SS6 7UQ
Tel: 01708 386168 / 01268 748 999

For details of our latest offers visit

http://www.jardinemotors.co.uk/toyota

To: Mistry, Deni; James, Ashley; Ireland, Mark; Collier, Allan

Hi Deni and Gentleman.

Deni, thank you so much for your swift reply.

Deni you are fine and give very good service.

Ashley you are fine and excellent at you job.

Mark and Allan we have never spoken so i cannot comment on you but the fact you hold senior positions i am prepared to accept your are also good at your jobs until proven otherwise.

As you know Deni my car came in for it's 2 year service yesterday, still the car has only covered less than 5,500 miles and you fitted a Roof Rack for me, i am sure all the work has been carried out to a high standard.

My issue is with you driver, Bill, a very large man, who collected and delivered the car. When i bought the car from Ashley i was led to believe it was a good car. All Bill seemed wanted
to do was say my car 'isn't all that' (Quote) and it was brought out to compete with a certain model Land Rover but the Land Rover was a much better car and a better buy.

He told me he has 'driven them all' and a Land Rover Discovery 2 i believe he said is what i should of gone for. I kept polite and composed but this man is now starting to annoy me.

My wife couldn't cope with his overpowering personality and she had to leave the room and stay out until he had gone, so in my own house my wife felt uncomfortable so now of course i am very annoyed but i still kept my composure.

All he was trying to do was push me into a service contract even though he had 'knocked' my car several times, perhaps he couldn't realise the error of his ways.

When getting in my car he started fiddling with the drivers seat as he thought due to his very large size he wouldn't fit behind the steering wheel, i explained the seat is fully back and then he started complaining that the seat won't lower as apparently they don't on this model. I even stated to think he was going to break the controls, he may have, i have not checked them yet. He kept saying to me to test drive the now new shape Rav4 as they were far better than my car and as good as Land Rovers equivalent vehicle and the drivers seat went back further and also went up and down and were far superior to my car even though i paid something like 23-24k for it only a year ago with very low mileage.

As he got in my car it almost seemed to groan due to his immense weight and i started to worry about my car.

Please do not EVER send this man back to my house, my wife does not like him, i do not like him, if he of been a nice man i would of took out the 3 year contract paying in one big instalment just after the middle of this month (Paid monthly), now there is no chance. I feel i can make a very quick judgement about a person, without exception everyone i have met at the Rayleigh branch including the parts dep't down the road have been decent people but Bill is someone i never want to see again.

With regards Michael ****

[FROSTYBALLS]

"I was also told by two of their employees that when they have a land cruiser in they rub their hands together and usually send out a bill of about £1000"

That would have been enough for me to contact the dealer principal as the comment calls into question the integrity of the service department and the dealership.

Although the other location is part of the same group, that doesn't necessarily mean their service department will operate in the same way, so I might be inclined to try the other location.

A few years ago when we were looking to change one of our cars, we were considering a Toyota and a Nissan - from dealerships within the same dealer group. At the time PCP's were the 'in thing', and the Nissan dealer would only talk to us about a PCP. When we politely stated we were using a personal loan through our bank for the finance, the dealer refused to give us a part exchange price for the three year old Nissan we were changing - so we walked away. The Toyota dealer (part of the same group) had a totally different approach, and we bought our first Toyota Corolla from them, using the finance method we wanted (personal loan)

[glyn1206]

Thanks again for the replies guys

I fully understand your points but as sad as I am to move away from Toyota I am just not prepared to throw good money after bad and even consider any of the dealers within my area.

I am totally gutted after having got the land cruiser up to exactly how I wanted it to look I must say goodbye and hopefully not get another dealer who is as bad.

Once bitten twice shy is the term I would use regarding my experiences thus far.

As I stated in my opening post this was only a warning not to take what they say at face value and get a second opinion if there are ANY suspicions.

To the person who said they are 'superb',well ,all I can say is,if you are happy then thats just fine

[glyn1206]

Further to the above replies

1. It really is not practical nor should I need to trave half way round the country to get good service

2. I do not 'drop' people in it,so to speak

[FROSTYBALLS]

It isn't a case of dropping people in it. If a customer doesn't find either the comments or attitude of employees acceptable (and from post 14 it appears you didn't), unless the company concerned is made aware of the situation, they won't take any action to prevent such occurences happening again, or to make amends with you.

Anyway, it appears that you may be moving onto another marque and franchise, so I wish you the best with whatever move you make.