Toyota Dealer Complaint

Customer Comments...

Name: Brad Busby

Complaint: I purchased the Toyota "Extra Mile" extended life program with the purchase of my 2004 4Runner. In a nutshell, the program states "If you rotate your tires every 5,000 miles at a Toyota Dealership they will reimburse you up to $200 per tire when new tires are needed." The tires must be at a tread depth of 3/32" or less.

Some facts, Texas regulations state that tires with 2/32" or less will be rejected on inspection. That's 1/16" of tread. Hydroplaning can begin at 5/32". I have faithfully had my tires rotated at a Toyota Dealership every 5,000 miles or less. The last time I had them rotated I told the service rep it looked like I needed new tires, 54,900 miles. Upon visual he said "yes they look bad, will see what tires are in stock." After a long wait he came back and said "your tires are at 3/34, you'll have to put more miles on the tires." This after admitting visually they looked bad.

A few weeks later I'm planning to go out of town so I swing by the dealership to have the depth checked with the hopes of getting new tires, now at 56,400 miles. The service rep checks them with the same gauge they've used in the past and tells me "your're at 3/30", you get new tires." I go inside and go through a huge paperwork trail to assure I actual "deserve" their new tires. After the red tape they tell me to take a seat and the tires will be put on.
Thirty minutes later the Customer Relations Manager, Mary Sloan; calls me in her office to explain they utilized a more sophisticated gauge and as a matter of fact I'm at 3/34." The same depth I was at some 1500 miles ago. No wear in 1500 miles. I inquired as to why the "more sophisticated gauge" wasn't used in the first place. Her response, "we only have one." I inquired if there were other customers having their tires gauged at the same time I pulled up? Her response,...just a stupid look on her face.

After some bantering I asked to speak with the GM or whoever was in charge of the dealership at the time. She began writing down a phone number. "No Mary, I want to speak with someone." She kept writing, explaining that this was Corporate Customer Service. It took four time insisting that I want to speak to someone in charge. She left for 20 minutes then returned stating he was on a conference call. I truly didn't expect to see someone. Mary was just appeasing me.

When I continued to try and talk with Mary she turned her back on me and refused to talk any further. This is the Customer Relations MANAGER. I left the dealership with practically "bald" tires with an 800 mile roundtrip ahead of me.

I called the number she gave me to complain to "Corporate Toyota." After taking my statement I asked who would see the complaint? Guess who it would be sent to...Mary Sloan! What a waste of time. In my opnion, Toyota doesn't care about customer safety much less satisfaction.
This is my third and last Toyota. My daughter purchased one but I will tell her to never by another. My parents are on their fourth, I hope they never do it again.

Toyota Sucks!