It's a no from me Barloworld Toyota Stellenbosch

A little backstory...

At the end of January I acquired a great second hand vehicle that was serviced and maintained regularly by Barloworld Toyota Stellenbosch. So in the spirit of keeping this trend going, I decided to make use of the same business. The previous owner had a printout with all the faults listed on the vehicle generated by the technical department. When acquiring the vehicle, the previous owner handed me the printout with the issues listed. Being a petrol-head, I normally work on my own vehicles but this time I decided to let them handle all the blood, sweat and tears.

One by one I started to have the issues looked at and repaired. I had an issue where a wrong part was ordered but it was rectified quickly and conveniently by the technical department and part sales. Every time I left the branch I had a bitter taste in my mouth and my subconscious telling me that I could of done the work myself. I try to soldier on but never with a smile.

Then something happened that really baffled me. One of the items listed for repair was the cluster. The speedo- and odometer is unresponsive and I made the assumption that this would be the reason why the cluster had to be replaced. So I had to tighten my belt, ordered and purchased the cluster. This unit was not cheap. So I made a booking to have it fitted.

When my vehicle was in the workshop for the cluster fitment, the friendly service adviser called me during that day asking "who told me that the cluster needs to be replaced?" I explained that I got the paperwork indicating that it should be replaced and sent the service advisor the paperwork. The service advisor told me that the technician did a test on the vehicle and found that there is actually nothing wrong with the cluster... One could imagine what was going through my mind at that very moment...

I received no apology or an explanation to why or how this happened.

I spoke to the technician personally and he explained the issue on the vehicle and that the new cluster was not needed. So I spoke to the parts guy explaining the situation and he set me at ease and told me that I would be refunded. Being on a Friday their offices closes a bit earlier than usual so the technician could not find the issue on that day and asked if I could bring the vehicle back the next week. I agreed and did not pay anything for the time spent on the vehicle.

The next week I booked in my vehicle as arranged. Later the morning the service advisor called me stating that the technician needs more time to have a look at the vehicle. So 2-3 days. I had to call him back due to the fact that I had to make arrangements to get me home. Later he called again stating that the technician requested that the vehicle be brought in at a later stage due to the fact that he has too much work... Too much work... Wow! Telling a customer who pays for service that they have too much work. Then why would you agree that I bring in my vehicle the next week? I don't know if the Stellenbosch branch works differently to the rest but at any other place where I pay for a service, this is not how you should be treated. Is it because I'm a coloured petrol-head driving a 2003 RunX rsi and certain assumptions were already made? Is it because I speak to them in a respectful manner not raising my voice making a scene and now they are taking advantage of the situation? So I took the vehicle and left.

I am really dissatisfied with this service I am receiving. And no. I will not advise any of my other petrol-heads to make use of this branch. I feel that I need to be compensated for all this I am currently going through. I can't take my vehicle anywhere else because I cannot afford it. I am waiting to be refunded so that I can use that to pay for services rendered. Unfortunately the vehicle has to go back to them. So now I can only be helped in two weeks. I have already received a heavy traffic fine for not knowing the true speed that I'm going. Here I am trying to do the right thing and this is how I am being treated.

This is all pointed towards the workshop / technical department.