The Consumer Complaints Blog

Toyota Canada demonstrates what a terrible company they are.

I have a 2001 first generation Prius. We bought it new, are the first and only owners, and keep it serviced at Toyota Dealers-first Richmond Open Road Toyota and then Granville Toyota, near our home.

Except for the car’s odd over-sensitivity to set off engine warning lights if the gas cap isn’t quite closed, and a tendency to fire off all the alarms during a cold spell, we have been happy.
But not so with Toyota Canada. Our car was re-ended in downtown Vancovuer in August 2009. It sustained quite a bit of damage-suprisingly, and my daughter and her partner were knocked about. The collison repair people removed the bumper to discover that the bumper was simply a hollow shell. The bolts were clean, indicating no rebar had ever been installed, nor had foam to absorb the impact. The insurance company paid for the repair costs and injuries, but would not pay to repair the bumper’s missing parts-rebar and foam -since they weren’t there to begin with. I contacted the dealer, Open Road Toyota, and they told me to bring in the paper work when I picked up the car and they would contact Toyota Canada. I did and then proceded to be jerked around by Toyota Canada for months.

First, two weeks after I contacted the dealer and Toyota Canada, they wanted the bumper (despite the insurance and collison repair photos and my early contact with the dealer, they wanted the old shell of the bumper. the repair shop had recycled it and neither the dealer nor Toyota Canada had indicated that the bumper should be kept. )

Second, they had to run it all by the legal department.
I reasonably asked that they check into the car and examine it for safety/. Was the car properly built-for example, was the front bumper complete with the specified rebar and foam? the door panels? Toyota Canada replied that since my 7 year purchased full warranty had expired, they had absolutely no obligation to look into that. If I was concerned about the car, I would have to pay to have it looked at. Presumably, I was to guess whether it was safe to drive. After a few weeks of pointless conversations with Toyota Canada and “Mike” at 1-888- Toyota 8 local 3361 should anyone wish to call Mike from Toyota Canada-I called Open Road and the service manager offered to take off the door panels and bumper to check that the car was safe. He seemed suprised Toyota Canada hadn’t immediately arranged that, and agreed the concern was valid.

Second, Toyota Canada via Mike informed me they would reimburse me for the costs of the rebar and foam in my new bumper (800 plus dollars) as a good will gesture if i would sign a release absolving Toyota Canada of any future claims by me or by anyother party. In essence, this meant that I would be sued by the Insurance corporation should they decide to pursue the incident because the car itself was unsafe and shouldn’t have been on the road.
Mike agrued that Toyota couldn’t proved (substitute my name here) that the bumper was a Toyota bumper. This despite the photographs taken at the collison repair shop, the insurance appraisers’ reports, the unblemished service record from Toyota dealers who presumably can’t tell a toyota bumper and paint job from a fake bumper in all the year the car, the tires, and even the battery have been subject to their service technicians ministrations.
Even the service technicians, both Prius trained, were stunned by Toyota Canada’s attitude and refusal to check over the car.

So I want to be clear I am not out of pocket-ICBC will not pursue a law suit against me-the Richmond Open Road Toyota Dealer service department was lovely and checked out the car for free.

But I find the treatment by Toyota Canada and their complete lack of concern for whether their cars are safe despite what was an obvious manufacturer’s defect astounds me.
There comment that the warranty had expired in 2008 and so they had absolutely no reason to look at the car was shocking.

My only consolation is that among my family, my adult children’s families, my brothers, sisters, inlaws and cousins we own 23 Toyotas-camrays, priuses, echoes, Rav4s, two vans and even a convertible.

And as a close knit group with a shared sense of outrage, none of us will buy another, despite a fondness for the cars (dating, in my case, back to the early Tercel). We vow to become a Honda family, extended.

I believe Toyota makes good cars, that Mike (at local 3361) is a pleasant human being, but that Toyota Canada doesn’t take any corporate responsibility to make sure their cars and their consumers driving the cars, are safe. They are a bad company.

My advice is, buy another manufacturers’ product. or if you buy a Toyota, realize you are on your own.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Auto Dealer Complaint – Whiteoak Ford Deceptive “Bait & Switch” Sales Program

I contacted Whiteoak Ford on Saturday October 31 about an advertised special on the internet. I spoke with Ray Kulchysky, a salesperson at the dealership and went through the line by line financing on the Ford F-150 pricing advertised. Ray said that they had vehicles in stock although colours were limited unless I went with the XLT package (an additional $2K). Ray advised that the price would be available until end of day November 2.

When I called today to make an appointment to view and purchase the vehicle, Ray advised that the vehicle was no longer available. When I pointed out that the vehicle was still advertised with the same price, ($24,995), he said that there were no more available, and the best price he had was $28K for the same year, vehicle, and model. I then spoke with sales manager Ben Cliff, and dealership co-owner Dave McQuillan. All said the same thing, that they couldn’t honour the advertised deal.

I contacted Ford Canada because this “bait and switch” practice is appalling. Ford Canada was able to view the same advertised price on the internet, and also said that there was not too much they could do except contact the dealership and give them feedback. I told Dave McQuillen that I would be contacting Ford Canada and he told me that they couldn’t do anything.

I believe this kind of response to consumer complaint is a problem. It seems to me that deceptive advertising practices are all too common and frankly, car dealerships have enough problems with perceived lack of integrity to perpetuate it in this obvious way. I’ve now done some searches to see if other consumers are having a similar experience and as one consumer says, “Go ahead and contact Ford Canada about the dealership. Nobody will care.” I’m concerned about this dealership and the lack of integrity. It looks like I’ll be buying a GM, which is too bad, because all of my previous vehicles have been Fords. However, if a dealership behaves this way at the point of sale, I can’t imagine how unfortunate the sales experience would be. I wonder how many other people have been jerked around by this dealership and their bait and switch practices. I guess the internet has opened up a whole new way of doing business, where a dealership can post a price for a vehicle and then back out of it when asked to honour the internet price. I’m concerned as a consumer that there is such limited recourse for these tactics. The dealership is not held accountable for their behaviour to Ford Canada. And, despite the millions and millions in advertising from Ford Canada on behalf of the dealership, there seems to be little consequence for advertising deception by the dealership. There doesn’t seem to be any way to address this situation – the dealership and Ford don’t care. How will consumers be treated fairly in an environment where there are no consequences for this kind of behaviour?

As far as I’m concerned, Whiteoak Ford should have a new slogan, “We’re People Too. Sometimes.”

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I want to share an example of effective complaining which brought impressive results. First of all, I am an industrial designer and have a range of knowledge when it comes to manufactured products we buy, use and tdiscard. Industrial designers are product designers (like James Dyson who invented the Dyson vacuums) who work with engineers, marketing and sales folks to develop products. We have a good comprehension of manufacturing, hopefully economics, materials, trends, styling, etc. We are involved in creating and achieving levels of product quality while meeting “corporate objectives” which usually translates into generating a profit for all our efforts and salaries.

Unfortunately, not all products these days are designed to last 20 years or longer anymore. It’s called planned obsolesce, we can determine and control exactly how long produced goods will last, how it will wear, break etc. Fair enough I think, our planet revolves on consumerism and we all take part in the various products and services which give us an occupation and allow us to keep feeding this system. I will talk more about his another time and share a really neat presentation about “stuff”.

My story is this. Upon graduating from industrial design studies and landing my first job as a designer within a toy company I experienced a little problem with my 6 year old 1992 Acura Integra LE. A fine little car it was. Purchased it used, drove it hard and cared for it the best I could. One day the driver’s seatbelt failed to work, it wouldn’t recoil back into the housing?! Sure enough, I took it apart to discover the steel coil inside broke and wasn’t providing the tension needed for the normal strap operation. I called up the Honda dealership to order a new part. Of course, the part is not available as a separate part. I could purchase the “assembly” and simply replace it. The cost for this was ~ $380. (part only) L…yaa, not the answer I was looking for. I gave it some thought and realized the above “planned obsolescence” The car had about 180 000kms, still looked great and everything else was fine. I thought…damn designers/engineers and “people” who decided on the specific coil quality, material design, etc for this!! I decided to call up Honda Canada and talk to customer service relations. I was polite, calm and simply voiced my situation along with 2 golden questions. I explained this as my first car purchased and happy with it thus far. I then explained that of all the parts, assemblies and systems on this car, the driver’s seat belt should be the LAST thing to fail ——-this was the small component which could essentially save my life (assuming the seat could still be bolted to the car’s frame)! This is where I asked: “ what does this tell me about the rest of the car?” The second question was, “ how will this help me to buy another Honda in the future?” I was heard and was told to expect a call in the coming days. Sure enough they called to report that I should take my vehicle to a certain dealership to have the assembly replaced free of charge and they thanked me for my consumer input———–J

Now that folks, is justice, good business and a company (or employee) that stands behind its product. I have purchased 2 other Hondas since then I will continue to do so.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

In November my husband and I decided to lease to own a 98 Ford F-150 priced at 94,000.00 not including the 29 percent interest, not just did they lie to us and tell us that this truck had been well maintained but it didn’t come with a jack let alone a tire iron which a vehicle is suppose to have to certify it and didn’t receive a car fax or a used vehicle package.. The truck ran great for two weeks then our problems started happening we had to replace the transmission line’s, hood latch, battery, manifold, power steering box, four wheel drive on the passenger side, rotors and breaks in the front and back (after finding out that the back one’s were ceased), u-joints and the latest the ball joints on both side’s cause the whole truck collapsed.

Needless to say we had to borrow the money from AJM leasing to fix this truck that use to be a lemon and that was a cost of 1400.00 not to mention recently when they ball joints went out in our truck we talked to the financing company who instead of offering us another loan to repair that said don’t worry about making this months payment so we went and put a stop payment on both ends from their end and at my bank after taking what would have been my truck payment out of the bank which was in full 550.00 we left 289.00 in our account which would have covered our insurance had they not have proceeded to take out a additional 50.00 on top of the 550.00…Which needless to say caused our insurance to lapse and because this is not the first time they have caused this our insurance told us because it’s a cancellation they want 1500.00 for 6 months of insurance and at the end of the 6 months would require another 1500.00 to cover us right through.

Because of this we cannot even get insurance on another vehicle if we found one without paying a yearly amount and there is no way with a business, rent and kids we can afford this.. I need help!!

In turn my regular payment would be coming out of my account for the truck payment on the 20th of this month how ever with them recently screwing my insurance up I asked AJM Leasing to help me out seeing how they caused this. and their solution was to come take my truck! In my eye’s with the work and money I have put into this truck it’s almost brand new condition the truck is MINE…but yet they proceeded to repo my truck which in turn make’s my business go belly up as I am a window cleaner and I do own my own business and now I have no vehicle and even if I did cannot get insurance now unless I am willing to pay for a full year which in this day and age is very expensive.

And this is not the first complaint I have had with this company in the beginning when we first got the truck (which we love this truck) the guy they had working with them that sold me the truck did nothing but flirt with my wife and ask my wife to pick him up a girlfriend for him…nice business! I would not recommend AJM leasing to anyone today.. unless they are willing to give my truck back and help me out with the insurance issue they caused!

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

Last October I answered an online ad from them to have my outboard motor fixed at Stevensville Auto Truck Marine. They gave many promises. After a few weeks of them not returning any calls they finally called and admitted they couldn’t fix it. They then went on to sell me a motor that was less power than mine, but apparently was in great working condition.

The first issue was they placed it on my boat, without properly sealing the bolts on the transon so that the first time I took it out the amount of water pouring in was incredible, not to mention dangerous! After advising them they said they would fixthe problems, they didn’t. It still leaked like a sieve. The reason was my transom was apparently rotted and the wood wouldn’t catch the bolts properly. So knowing this, they still let me take it out the first time ! When I returned it to them they convinced me they would do a complete restoration of my boat. I gave them a deposit to start the work over the winter.

In March 2009 they called me saying they needed more money to buy supplies, so I gave them another $500. By the time April rolled around I kept calling emailing to see the progress, but again no return calls or emails. In May they finally reached me with nothing but a ton of excuses why they hadn’t touched it all winter! They then proceeded to tell me its so late in the season, that they had a comparable boat to sell us. When my wife and I went to see this boat, it was 5 feet smaller than mine, and this boat that was apparently good to go had the motor in several parts and him working on it! I said it was unacceptable. He invited us to wander around the property and see if there was anything else we liked. My wife and I found a hull, that he guaranteed was sound. After quite some discussions we decided to buy it because he was going to paint it for us, move my lights, bilge pump, downriggers, and a few other things from my old boat to this new one. That was June 10 2009. He promised us it would be ready on June 20. I called several times before the date to see what was happening, but again no answers. They finally called me back on the evening of Thursday June23, asking what time I wanted to pick it up as it was ready. I made arrangements to drive out the next day at 9 am. I called them at 830 am as she asked me to, but again no answer. My wife and I arrived there at 11 am, and found the boat completely UNTOUCHED! The paint they had put on it, which is all they did and switch the motor over, was the wrong colour we ordered. Without even a word of apology, he promised my wife and I they would take it into the shop that evening and work on through the night and not to worry as it would be ready the next day at noon.

Again we drove out. The boat was sitting exactly where we had left it the previous day. Again, without a word of apology, I was yelled at because ‘other customers are losing time and money from here vacations’! I advised him that since last October when I purchased the other motor, I too was wasting time and money. Again he yelled at me as to how busy he is. My friend who accompanied me asked him then to give us the seats we ordered and we would install it. That was when he started yelling to not touch anything, he would bring it in as soon as he finished the seadoo he was working on and that it would be ready that afternoon by 4. I went home rather upset and waited for the call. It never came.

I finally reached him Monday evening and the excuse was he had to go on an emergency call up north! After making tons of promises, yet again that it would be ready the next day….nothing. Finally on July 9, his wife called saying come get the boat its been ready for a few days. When I arrived there, the boat was still in the exact spot….UNTOUCHED. All the equipment he was going to install, was just thrown haphazardly into the boat. When he showed up, there was no explanation why he made me come out for a third time yet again, knowing nothing had been done. That was when he started yelling how if I keep bad mouthing him, that’s what he calls my calls and emails he doesn’t answer to, he would sue me! He then proceeded to throw these 4 ugly rusted seats into the boat, I asked him where were the seats my wife and I ordered and there was no answer. Instead he just kept giving me junk I didn’t need to make up for it. The stuff given is useless garbage. I was so upset I decided to take the boat with me. That’s when I noticed my marine jack I had just installed on my trailer last October was broken, my spare tire also new missing! We finally found the tire, but there was never anything mentioned about the destroyed jack. His wife made me sign a piece of paper that she wouldn’t give me a copy of saying it just said I took it and it wasn’t stolen.

When I arrived at home I realised they had lost the key to the ignition! So I had to get a locksmith out to fix it! Since I have had it home I’ve had to rewire all the lights, install my fishfinder, my downriggers, carpeting, fixed a large hole in the keel that was the size of a toonie that wasn’t there before! Basically everything he was going to do, I’ve done. My wife emailed him saying those aren’t the seats we ordered and wanted back the $500 he was taking for seats and labour. That’s when he told her, I don’t do refunds, and your husband signed a release that he was satisfied with the work. No I didn’t! As of yesterday he hasn’t returned any calls or emails.

Yesterday I finally took it out only to find out that the motor he sold me won’t go into gear, just stays stuck in neutral. I called him from the water as my friend and I were just drifting on Lake Ontario, he didn’t answer. When my friend called from his cell phone, he answered. My friend explained what was going on, and he just said, I guess the transmission is shot, and hung up! We were towed in by the harbour police.

I called all night, emailed and still haven’t heard a thing. I’m sorry if this was a little long winded but I wanted you to understand exactly the kind of business they operate. There is a lot more I could tell you, but I hope you get the idea of how my wife and I have been treated by Shawn and Stephany, the owners of Stevensville Auto Truck Marine on 13717 Ort Rd, Stevensville.

I have contacted BBB and filed a complaint. Hopefully I will get the results I’m looking for. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.