Rola Toyota Somerset West Terrible Service and Dishonesty

On 26th July I sent below email complaint to senior management of Rola Toyota Somerset West as well as to Toyota South Africa and a month later have received no formal reply what-so-ever.......

Rola Toyota Somerset West 275 Main Road Strand 7140 ********** 26th July 2018 Attention: Mr. Altus Steyn, Mrs. Mariette Potgieter and Mr. Paul Samuel Reference: Customer Service During March 2018 I had my Toyota DC 3.0 4D4 4X4 serviced at Rola Toyota Somerset West and was less than impressed with the serviced I received. My point of contact was Mariette Potgieter (Mater Service Advisor) and this is summary of the events: • Vehicle dropped before 7am, 28th March 2018 for service and is one of the first vehicles, by 3:30pm that afternoon I had still not heard anything, so I called to find out what is going one. Why does nobody contact me the entire day? • I am told that the water pump needs replacing, and disc need skimming and pads need replacing over and above the service amounting to R10 794. So, what should have been a routine service has turned out to be double the price and nobody thinks to phone me, the client. So basically, my vehicle has stood there the entire day without anything being done, and I will not get me vehicle until the next day. • I ask Mariette to send me a formal quote (she sends this the next morning at 08:40am – see attached), and to go ahead with service and v/belt but to wait with rest as 1. The vehicle is with SA warranties so perhaps at least for the water pump I might be able to claim and 2. I want to get a second quote for the brakes. I call Boland Airbrake and Clutch and the quote me skimming, parts and labour R1500. By now it is 4:15pm (28th March) and I call Mariette back to explain not to do water pump as SA Warranties first need to give authorisation and I give her the numbers to call. Further I explain that I do not want the brakes done as I have got a better price from Boland Airbrake and Clutch, but Mariette informs me that unfortunately the brake discs have already been skimmed. I question this as firstly I had never given authorisation to do so and secondly how in 45 min has Rola Toyota managed to strip discs and send away for skimming. Mariette explains that they do the skimming in house, which did still did not explain how everything had been stripped already considering that the entire day I was never called about the vehicle to get the necessary authorisation and eventually had to call myself. I actually received the customary Toyota call to rate the customer service experience and I explained in detail my experience, so this should be on record with Toyota already, but clearly these surveys and calls are just a smoke screen and no action gets taken on them. I asked to speak to the workshop manager and I was referred to Charlton Schroeder and it was thanks to his efforts that I decided not to take the issue further and move on. It is also thanks to his efforts that I decided to bring my 2016 Fortuner in for service again and bring my bakkie in for service again in July 2018, which brings me to the next round of bad customer service. • On 29th March mid-morning I call to find out what is going on and Mariette tells me that she is waiting for SA Warranties. I therefore call SA Warranties and they say this is not correct that they are in fact waiting for Mariette to send them the quote so that they can authorise. I phone Mariette and she says she will send and at 13:37PM Mariette emails me and informs claim has been approved. That afternoon I come and collected my vehicle and paid. I work abroad so the vehicle stood from April to June 9th when I returned to do the Put Foot Rally, which was the reason I brought the vehicle into Rola to be serviced in the first place. On 16th June I left for the Put Foot Rally and just outside Springbok noticed a shudder and grinding when braking, which was 574km since the service. After doing the Put Foot Rally and some 12 000km I brought the vehicle in to Rola on Saturday 14th July for service and to check brake problem, left hand dim bulb and fuel water indicator light. I had a spare genuine fuel filter which I left with them in case they needed to replace the fuel filter. On Monday 16th July at 11:10am I receive a quote for the service and additional, which includes clutch replacement. • I note on the quote is wipers again and brake cleaner as Rola Toyota claim the brake shudder is due to dirt, but I explain in email (see attached) that this is not possible as the shudder and grinding was picked up only 575km after the March service, which is long before hitting any dirt roads. I also query why wipers are being replaced again when they had been done during the March service and I had not driven or used them in rain at all. • Also, this quote does not quote for the service which I query as I am sure after 12 000km a service is due. The quote is then updated to include the service. • Email trail shows my query of the wiper blades and brakes, followed by an email from Rola Toyota that they would skim and re-do brakes and wipers at no charge out of goodwill to me. • I respond to this on 16th July 04:06pm and request that I want written confirmation and signed job card that the wipers and brakes had been done during the March service. • I receive and email from Mariette say she will be away until Wednesday and that I should contact Altus Steyn the Workshop Manager who was now place in cc of the email trails. I take the liberty. • Having seen the email trail and an unhappy client one would the=ink somebody from Management would at least try and contact the client, but no nothing. I send Altus an email early on 17th July and by 02:50pm no response so I send a follow-up email. At 15:45 still no response so I call Altus Steyn, who does not both to discuss, but says he will send email. At 3:55pm I receive attached. • No apologies for the bad service – nothing, but importantly promises to “The proof of the parts and labour of the previous service will be also forward to you.” Note that this has still not been provided • Effectively I give Rola Toyota the go ahead on service, but say I will come back on the clutch, but what followers is numerous emails with Rola Toyota avoid answer my questions about the clutch. Example how do they know entire clutch needs replacing if they have not opened it up? See attached email trails • On 25th July 2018 I pay for the service and send proof of payment. • 26th July I inform Rola Toyota that Boland Air Brake and Clutch will come and collect vehicle so that they can do the clutch.

This draws the curtain on my dealings with Rola Toyota and just goes to show “twice bitten, thrice shy”. I should have heeded the numerous warnings I received about Rola Toyota and the comments that they are “*****s”. One of the biggest civil construction firms with many Toyota vehicles took all their business away from Rola Toyota and rather have all their servicing done by Tokai Market Toyota which is much further from them due to the bad customer service and dishonest dealings of Rola Toyota. Having now spoken to other people and friends within the Somerset West and Strand area I hear countless other stories of Rola Toyota charging and claiming work that was never done. One thing is for sure Rola Toyota will never see my Hilux or Fortuner ever again and I will certainly be taking this further within Toyota and publicly. This is the first time in over 25 years that any form of service has been so bad that I have felt it necessary to type up a letter such as this and make the effort to escalate this. The final “kicker” is I decided after this poor service I would rather take my vehicle to Boland Air Brake and Clutch to have the repairs and on 26th I asked them to go collect my vehicle with Mariette Potgieter as contact person and they were told they do not know an Adrian Jordaan. After all the emails and telephone calls one would expect that at least by now knew who, Adrian Jordaan is.

Kind Regards Adrian Jordaan