Someone Please Help With SET & Local Dealer Nightmare!

[sanityassassinv2]

Does anyone have an inside contact with someone in Customer Relations at SET? I have issues that I have tried to resolve with Toyota and my local dealer to no avail. I have been trying to speak to someone at SET for over a week now—whenever I call they transfer me to someone's voicemail (Jill Rheinhart, I think) and I never get a call back.

Although I love my car (and all the other Toyota's I have purchased in the past), the recent delivery of my 2008 Yaris Liftback has left a sour taste in my mouth. Here is the laundry list of my recent bad experience.

When I approached the dealership a few months ago with interest in purchasing a Yaris, they tried to get a $500 deposit for a "special order" from me. After some talking I found out that there was really no such thing, they said they could only make a request to receive a car after it comes into port. At this point, I told them that if they can find a car I am interested in, I will give them a deposit.

About a month later, the salesman called me with a car he found. I came in, signed the paperwork, gave him the money, and was told that the car would be transported from the other dealer the next day. The next day when I arrived at the dealer, I was informed that the car had been sold to someone else even though I was told the car was mine and I had signed the paperwork for having the car transferred to my dealer.

They kept my deposit and another month went by. I ended up researching incoming vehicles myself and gave the dealer the VIN # of the car I wanted—the only factory option installed on the car were the fog lights. I specified some additional SET options I wanted installed on the car (interior lights, stereo, splashguards, mats, exhaust tip, and electrochromic mirror) and received an email from the dealer confirming these options and the price. The day the vehicle was to arrive, I signed all the paperwork, finalized the loan, had a temporary registration, but guess what??? The car DID NOT show up!

A week later, the car finally did arrive--with a large dent in the driver's door no less. I was told that they would fix the dent for me during the week and do "whatever it takes to make me happy." Since my truck was in the shop (someone crashed into my truck a few days prior) I went ahead and accepted the car under the condition that they would fix the problem.

I scheduled an appointment for them to fix the door, and took my Yaris home. The next morning, during my long commute to work, I discovered the following problems: the interior lights installed were white and orange interior (not the blue ones I ordered), the stereo installed was a crappy Audiovox/Advent Stereo (which didn't work properly—audio from CD was unlistenable, illumination didn't work properly, and it wasn't the Toyota Stereo I ordered--not to mention they charged be $400 for this $50 sub-standard radio) the center armrest was loose and damaged, there was no exhaust tip installed, and the dome light switch was broken. Needless to say, I was not happy!

A few days later, I brought the vehicle back to the dealer for them to fix the dent. The dent was pulled and the result was satisfactory to me but it was not perfect—if you look closely you can still see a small dent in the door. With regard to the radio, the customer service manager had the service department look at the radio and they confirmed that the unit was broken. The manager said they would order me another stereo and I told him, "No way, this is not the unit I ordered and I am not going to pay $400 for a piece of s*!t Wal-Mart stereo."

According to the manager, the reason my car was delayed at port was because they ran out of the radio I had ordered and installed this one instead (without my approval.) I told the manager that this type/quality of non-functioning radio was unacceptable to me and that I would put my own unit in. I requested a refund for the broken unit and was told by the manager this “was not an option.” Prior to this, the manager had been cordial but his tone began to change after discussing the radio.

He had the service department look at my other issues and obviously told them I was a “troublesome customer.” When the car came back from the service department the paperwork said my complaints were “interior lights don’t work and center console is installed at wrong angle.” The mechanic’s comments were: “interior lights functional and center console angle is not adjustable and is built into the car per Toyota design specifications.” When I read this I was furious—I grabbed the service manager and told him to look at broken center armrest. I explained to him that I am not some dumbass customer complaining about “everything”, I am a mechanic with 16 years experience and know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. When I explained to him that I was complaining about the armrest (loose, not fully secured, with broken plastic around the bottom of it which secures it to the center console), he noticed that the armrest was indeed damaged—he ordered a new armrest and a new dome light assembly (which was also broken as I stated.) With regards to the interior lights, he said that would be something I would have to take up with the customer service manager.

When I spoke to my salesman he told me that he would make everything right and that I would be receiving a phone call from the customer service manager. Here it is two months later—and the issues are still not resolved. In order to make this right the following needs to happen: I need a refund for $399 for the Audiovox radio (I will surrender the unit back to the dealer or SET), and I need the correct interior light kit given to me (I will be more than happy to install this myself as I am done dealing with Harrelson Toyota in Rock Hill, SC).

This experience has been one of the most frustrating things I have ever dealt with in my life. In this country, when a person purchases a new vehicle, it is a given that the vehicle should be 100% when it is received by the customer—if not, then the dealer should “make things right.” As you can see, this has not happened. The dealer will not work with me and if SET is unwilling to correct this issue then I guess we will be off to small claims court. Should that occur, I will also be requesting that my driver’s side door is replaced due to the dent the car received while in SET’s possession (this will entail also have to cover the cost of re-tinting the driver’s side window, installing in-channel vent-visors, and installing a replacement Alpine speaker.)

One final point—I will soon be purchasing a new car for my wife. We have been looking at Toyotas and Scions but with all that has happened with the purchase of my last vehicle, we are considering other makes as well—although we really like the Toyota brand, we don’t want to deal with any more headaches like this.