I was recently shocked and appalled at the work rendered on my automobile and the incompetence of the staff at Kendall Toyota. I feel compelled to share this information and alert you of the unscrupulous service department there. My experiences with Kendall Toyota illustrate their fraudulent practice, material misstatements, and half-truths in the service and repair of my vehicle. Not only that, the staff was disrespectful and unprofessional. While my letter may not be proof of such ethical and professional violations, it should raise a red flag and be seriously inquired into to prevent such injustice from happening to another unsuspecting victim.
My story begins with an odd sound when I start my car cold. I bring it in to Kendall Toyota (Service advisor: Donald Salazar) because I have had excellent service from other Toyota dealerships in the past. Their guess-work determines that it is the drive belt and tensioner that needs to be replaced. Trusting their expertise, I get that work done, costing $438.55 on July 19. The next day, however, when I start the car cold, I hear the same sound. Due to my busy schedule, I did not contact Toyota until my car completely stopped working 52 miles later on July 25. Toyota tows my vehicle for me the next day and determines that the battery is dead and must be replaced. I pay $101.75 for the battery and installation thereof.
Four days later I leave for a two week vacation and upon my return my vehicle does not start or turn over at all. I lift the hood to see if there were any obvious problems and notice that the battery looks amazingly dirty and faded for being brand new. What struck me as especially odd, even though I don't know much about cars, is that there was a lot of corrosion on the battery terminals. I glanced back at my receipt and noticed that I specifically paid for a battery terminal replacement. I will return to this point later when Toyota has to replace my brand new battery again. But in the meantime, Toyota tows my car once again and guesses at the problem my car has.
This time Donald Salazar tells me on the phone that the reason my vehicle won't start is because I had not run the car in two weeks and that that was bad for the vehicle. He explains to me that leaving the vehicle idle and not running the engine has caused problems with the fuel system. This sounds extremely bizarre so I have my father call Mr. Salazar to see what he thinks of this strange explanation. Mr. Salazar changes the story somewhat for my father, stating that mixing old fuel with new fuel and not running the vehicle for such a long period of time, two weeks, can cause problems. My father calls me back and tells me this slightly different story and suggests that I get the car towed to another place since Mr. Salazar doesn't know what he's talking about. I mean really, two weeks without running your vehicle should not cause any problems whatsoever and it's preposterous to suggest so. The idea about mixing old fuel with new fuel is equally as preposterous as this happens each and every time you re-fuel your vehicle unless you happen to be on fumes.
I call Mr. Salazar up and tell him that I'm disappointed with his inability to determine what is wrong with my car and I'm going to have it towed to another garage. He then informs me that he is 100% certain that the problem with the vehicle is contaminated fuel. This is now the third story about why my vehicle does not work, unless he meant to say contaminated fuel in our previous conversations and simply never used those words, which would be extremely odd considering the length of time he spent explaining to me the dangers of leaving a vehicle for so long a time (two weeks) without running the engine. This is the first time I ever hear the two words contaminated fuel.
At this point I am extremely frustrated and take a day to consider my options. I call back the next day, August 19, and tell Mr. Salazar that I need to know where my vehicle is located in order to have it towed. He tells me that towing isn't necessary because my car starts up just fine. He then tries to solicit work by telling me that this is definitely the only problem and Toyota can fix it the cheapest. I inform Mr. Salazar that I will be picking it up immediately and request him to transfer my call to the receptionist so that I can arrange for a pick-up. I wait for three hours for Toyota to get someone here to pick me up and drive me to the dealership where I can drive my vehicle to another garage.
Upon arriving, I learn that my car doesn't start at all. I ask to speak with Mr. Salazar who has apparently just left. I then request to speak with a manager. When Tony, the manager, arrives, I request that we speak in his office because this kind of service is unacceptable. Besides not introducing himself or having any business cards, he seemed completely uninterested in my situation. I do not appreciate being lied to and this Toyota dealership has already wasted enough of my time. He explains to me that contaminated fuel couldn't be the only problem as Mr. Salazar had repeatedly told me on the phone because the car should turn over, which it does not, if the only problem was indeed contaminated fuel. He tells me that he'll run a full diagnostic on it the following day and determine what's wrong with my vehicle. While not even looking me in the eye, he half-heartedly apologizes for this inconvenience.
The following day Mr. Salazar gives me another call and explains that the new battery went completely dead, so he went ahead and replaced it with another new one. This time he says the car really starts and I can come in to drive it off. I pick it up and drive it to Quality Auto Repair (Service Advisor: Luis Quintero). I pop the hood to look at the battery and immediately notice that this is a new battery. It looks brand new, the coloring is not faded, and there is absolutely no corrosion on the terminals. I am now absolutely 100% percent certain that my battery was not replaced on July 26 when I paid $101.75 for a new battery.
Quality Auto Repair determines that my spark plugs were in bad shape and needed replacement. They also found the ignition wires to be damaged and in need of replacement. Neither of which Toyota found in their numerous diagnostic tests they ran on my vehicle. Additionally, they found usually large amounts of water in the gas tank. I inquired into whether this water could have come from bad gas or perhaps build-up from gas over the years. Luis explained to me that the quantity of water found strongly suggests that it was intentionally put there.
I check at the last two gas stations which I filled up at and inquire whether or not there have been any reports of bad gas. Both state that they have had no complaints and do not believe so. I check to see if there has been any damage to the gas lid since it can only be opened from the inside of the vehicle unless pried open. There is none. The fact that the car was showing no signs of contaminated fuel while driving previous to its placement at Kendall Toyota, combined with the gas stations not having any complaints of bad gas and the excessive amounts of water in the gas tank powerfully support and greatly intensify each other in the probability that this contaminated fuel problem occurred at Kendall Toyota.
A large dent has been put in my savings because of the guess-work done at Kendall Toyota: a costly drive belt, which was not the source of the strange sound; a battery which was not actually put into my car at the time I was charged; contaminated fuel which may have been put into my vehicle there; not to mention the frustration and time spent dealing with this situation. Donald Salazar's used car salesman personality combined with the cold and unsatisfactory character of the manager, Tony, have tainted my opinion of Toyota. I will never use or trust Kendall Toyota again due to their incompetent and unprofessional staff. I have an expectation that when I take my Toyota to a Toyota dealership to get work done on it, there will be a competent and attentive staff ready to work on my vehicle. This was certainly not the case at Kendall Toyota.
David
Miami, Florida
U.S.A.
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