dismayed with service

<p>I am completely perturbed that a brand such as Soweto Toyota will go to ends of defying what they claim to stand for as a brand in leading the way.</p> <p>My mom purchased a Toyota Corolla prestige 1.6 in 2014 December after raving reviews she had got from her colleagues; little did she know 40 000 km down the line she would be sent from pillar to post from the service provider to fix a simple problem for a car under Warranty with tyres with 60% threads. To the extent that her driving competency and experience that she has for the past +/-13 years had to be questioned and insinuated that she actually might be ***********. She had experienced issues with the car making noise whilst driving which later turned out to be ”flat spots” due to a somewhat of lack of rotation of tyres . I am flabbergasted beyond measure. In further efforts to try resolve the problem the case started from Customer Care (Caxton Mabikwa) started shifting blame on her driving s****s and goes to the extent of pulling a portion of the warranty policy and emailing it to prove a point:</p> <p>We would further like to indicate that the Book of Life that accompanied the sale of the vehicle clearly states under Warranty and Conditions of Sale: Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota South Africa Motors and its affiliated companies (herein after jointly and severally referred to as "Toyota ")Warrant to the first retail purchaser of each new Toyota Vehicle, including all Toyota Approved accessories, chassis and parts (excluding tyres, batteries and excluded items as listed)manufactured or assembled by Toyota will be covered by the warranty for a period of 3 years or 100 000km whichever occurs first. It further states under Owners Obligation regarding maintenance service replacement items and warranty exclusions: 6) Tyre Rotation: Severe driving habits, such as heavy braking, harsh acceleration, high cornering loads and high speeds in general contribute towards a shorter vehicle tyre life. To achieve uniform wear and longer tyre life it is recommended that tyres be rotated periodically. 7) Wheel alignment and Balancing.</p> <p>Which he forgets that following this selected preferred text it also says: that in the same warranty book page 3, point 1. I hereby quote “to ensure that you have a full understanding of the terms and conditions of warranty when take delivery of your new vehicle, the sales person will introduce you to the service manager who will explain to you fully the service required to be performed on your vehicle as well as further terms and conditions of the warranty” WHICH NEVER HAPPENED UPON PURCHASE AT ALL evidenced by no signature from the supposedly service manager and my mom to confirm her understanding. When she purchased the car she was told all you need to do is bring it in after every 15000km for service</p> <p>One of the guys at Soweto Toyota (Fred the GM ) initially told my mom that the problem was because she drives a long distance to her workplaces and parks for the whole day and drives back later which was supposedly causing this, I am no mechanic but I stand to be correct that such a phantom idea will make sense to anyone.</p> <p> In any case I thought have chosen the Toyota brand for their promise of quality and superior service which would earnestly deal with honesty and integrity, but alas my interaction with Toyota Soweto has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth and regretting my brand choice and would definitely not be recommending it to any of my family and friends not now or in the near future because it has grossly let me down. All my mom simply wanted was for Toyota to look into her enquiry fairly and genuinely which I certainly feel they did not, only to slap her with a so called good gesture of 1 tyre replacement, for me this olive branch seems to be acknowledgement of an issue at hand but refusal to take full ownership and do the right thing which is replace all the tyres. I would really appreciate if Soweto Toyota could reassess the judgement call made by the case manager and advise accordingly. It would be a great opportunity for trust to be restored if they could own up and replace the tyres as well as ensure that the service manager actually conducts orientation with my mom.</p> <p> </p> <p>Your disgruntled customer</p> <p>Zolile</p>