Bad Toyota service..........

[damascase]

My partner drives a Toyota Vios. About 6 weeks ago a red warning light flashed on the dashboard. Her regular Toyota dealer told her it was the fan motor, behind the radiator, that had died. Surprisingly, they didn’t have this very common part of a very common and much-sold Toyota in stock, they said they had to order it from Bangkok. She asked whether other dealerships in the area stocked it, but the reply was a firm no. ‘A couple of days’, they promised.  The dealership made her pay 2000 baht in advance for the part - or they wouldn’t order it.........

She went back after 3 days and was told that the part had to come from Japan, and would arrive in about 4 weeks........ She does need the car for her job, said so and asked for advice on perhaps a temporary solution or replacement. The helpful solution they came up with was: ‘just don’t drive’........ She drove away - short distances without airco and in not too heavy traffic were still possible without the light coming on - and stopped at the very first independent garage along the road. Not only did they have the part in stock, they fitted it while she waited, for a total price of 1800 baht. Then straight back to Toyota, she showed the replaced original part (made in China, not Japan), but they refused to return her advance payment and even demanded 900 baht more, because that would have been the total price, they said................

Am I wrong in considering this very bad customer service?

Edited June 27, 2019 by damascase
Typo

[Isaanbiker]

I'm sorry, but they pulled your leg. I've had a problem with my pick up a while ago and a friendly Isaan cab driver brought me to a place where all the cabbies go to get their cars fixed.

 

       Mitsubishi wanted 27,000 baht to change the timing chain, including a water pump,, etc...

 

  The shop did it for 5,700 baht, we drove to a shop where the parts were only a fifth of the price and i could drive back on the same day with a new timing chain, a new water pump, new oil, filter and all gaskets.

 

  These shops are a rip off! be warned. I'd never pay 2,00 baht in advance. 

 

  

[damascase]

47 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

I'm sorry, but they pulled your leg. I've had a problem with my pick up a while ago and a friendly Isaan cab driver brought me to a place where all the cabbies go to get their cars fixed.

 

       Mitsubishi wanted 27,000 baht to change the timing chain, including a water pump,, etc...

 

  The shop did it for 5,700 baht, we drove to a shop where the parts were only a fifth of the price and i could drive back on the same day with a new timing chain, a new water pump, new oil, filter and all gaskets.

 

  These shops are a rip off! be warned. I'd never pay 2,00 baht in advance. 

 

  

Don’t worry about my leg being pulled - I wouldn’t have paid it either but I wasn’t with her on her visit to the dealership.........

[Puchaiyank]

Welcome to Thailand!  Let the Thai apologists take their best shot...  My personal favorite: " I have lived in Thailand X number of years and have never been scammed"...lol   ????

[Lacessit]

Actually, it is fraud and should be reported to whatever consumer body is available here. Until the part is actually delivered to your partner. Or the 2000 baht is refunded.

Hindsight is wonderful, I know. However, she should have gone to the other dealerships until she found one that stocked the part.

The air flow over the radiator when a car is moving is sufficient for the backup fan to be unnecessary. The fan is needed when stopped in traffic.

To limit the financial damage, I'd suggest getting hold of the replacement part and selling it on eBay or Gumtree.

The dealership also lied to your partner about the delivery time. A complaint letter directly to the manufacturer - not the dealership - sometimes works wonders. Car manufacturers can be very sensitive about poor dealership service, because they know it affects repeat sales.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, Puchaiyank said:

Welcome to Thailand!  Let the Thai apologists take their best shot...  My personal favorite: " I have lived in Thailand X number of years and have never been scammed"...lol   ????

I have lived in Thailand for 20+ years and have never been scammed !!! - there you have it... but that's not for lack of attempts.... 

 

A few years back the AC in my Wife's car was failing, she took it into the Merc garage and was told that the Compressor needed replacement (70,000+ baht) and would have to wait for the parts, my wife then tried a local garage who replaced the compressor for something in the region of 1/4 of the Merc dealership price and could make the fix within 24 hrs. A bit of a no brainer, the car was 6 months out of warranty.

 

More recently, after being away for a couple of months I returned to a completely flat battery on my Motorcycle, the battery had been dead for too long and would not charge. BMW could order a new battery under warranty (8-14 days), but they didn't have one in stock and that meant not riding my bike for 8-14 days. I went down the road and bought a new battery (2000 baht), the shop charged it up within an hour, I took it back to BMW who re-installed it in my motorbike and I rode of. 

 

After a minor accident about 15 years ago it took Honda a month to get a replacement electric window motor. 

 

In short - Dealerships and the official garages are absolutely terrible for keeping stock items, they just won't do it and insist on pre-payment when they want to order something. 

 

It's simply terrible service, something we are not used to coming from countries where service is often considered paramount. 

Edited June 27, 2019 by richard_smith237

[cornishcarlos]

Bad Toyota service..........???

Surely you mean Ford !! Just a spelling mistake, right.. 

I'm sure it's only Ford that has bad service here :)

 

[Coremouse]

Total ripoff, rad fan are quite cheap parts, 2900 baht, heck, that could buy a Spal for race car, or 6 brand new mishmoto, or tons and tons of ebay & siang gong parts.

[DavisH]

4 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Welcome to Thailand!  Let the Thai apologists take their best shot...  My personal favorite: " I have lived in Thailand X number of years and have never been scammed"...lol   ????

Non-genuine parts are generally much cheaper so that explains some of the difference. Once i needed to replace the screen on an asus monitor -14K baht (more than the computer cost); the local shop did it for 3K baht. Same kind of thing. Avoid dealers, especially if the car is out of warranty. 

 

[fredob43]

If they don't give you back your monies complain to Toyo head office. I have done that on a couple of occasions. And had any problems sorted rapidly, normally within 24 hours. Their phone No: is 023861000.

 

 

[fredob43]

2 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

Bad Toyota service..........???

Surely you mean Ford !! Just a spelling mistake, right.. 

I'm sure it's only Ford that has bad service here ????

 

I think you'll find that even some Toyo garages are at best rubbish. I can name two off hand Pattaya and Sukhothai. Thank Buddha that you don't need them to often as Toyotas never seem to go wrong.

[cornishcarlos]

16 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

I think you'll find that even some Toyo garages are at best rubbish. I can name two off hand Pattaya and Sukhothai. Thank Buddha that you don't need them to often as Toyotas never seem to go wrong.

 

Sarcasm alert

[Coremouse]

1 hour ago, bahtboy said:

Could somebody please translate this drivel?

For reference, spal and mishimoto are two popular brands for aftermarket cooling solution, siang gong is a place you get used parts, equivalent to a junkyard in america. All common vocabulary to Thailand car scene i suppose

 

For a plain Vios, any radiator fan would do fine. Even 1800 baht is too expensive for replacing a fan

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, Coremouse said:

For reference, spal and mishimoto are two popular brands for aftermarket cooling solution, siang gong is a place you get used parts, equivalent to a junkyard in america. All common vocabulary to Thailand car scene i suppose

 

For a plain Vios, any radiator fan would do fine. Even 1800 baht is too expensive for replacing a fan

If you check the OP, it said fan motor.

[Just Weird]

9 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Actually, it is fraud and should be reported to whatever consumer body is available here. Until the part is actually delivered to your partner. Or the 2000 baht is refunded.

Hindsight is wonderful, I know. However, she should have gone to the other dealerships until she found one that stocked the part.

 

The dealership also lied to your partner about the delivery time. A complaint letter directly to the manufacturer - not the dealership - sometimes works wonders. Car manufacturers can be very sensitive about poor dealership service, because they know it affects repeat sales.

Fraud?  What?  She wanted a part that was not in stock so the dealer asked her for a deposit for the part that was ordered specifically for her.  If she didn't want to leave a deposit she didn't have to accept that condition.

 

After ordering it she then went somewhere else to buy it, knowing that she had already ordered and partly paid for the part at the dealer!   It's now her problem, not the dealer who took her order!

 

The dealer did not lie about the delivery time but, even if he did, so what?Is that some kind of offence or something that justifies her going elsewhere for the work the same day?

[Just Weird]

15 hours ago, damascase said:

My partner drives a Toyota Vios. About 6 weeks ago a red warning light flashed on the dashboard. Her regular Toyota dealer told her it was the fan motor, behind the radiator, that had died. Surprisingly, they didn’t have this very common part of a very common and much-sold Toyota in stock, they said they had to order it from Bangkok. She asked whether other dealerships in the area stocked it, but the reply was a firm no. ‘A couple of days’, they promised.  The dealership made her pay 2000 baht in advance for the part - or they wouldn’t order it.........

She went back after 3 days and was told that the part had to come from Japan, and would arrive in about 4 weeks........ She does need the car for her job, said so and asked for advice on perhaps a temporary solution or replacement. The helpful solution they came up with was: ‘just don’t drive’........ She drove away - short distances without airco and in not too heavy traffic were still possible without the light coming on - and stopped at the very first independent garage along the road. Not only did they have the part in stock, they fitted it while she waited, for a total price of 1800 baht. Then straight back to Toyota, she showed the replaced original part (made in China, not Japan), but they refused to return her advance payment and even demanded 900 baht more, because that would have been the total price, they said................

Am I wrong in considering this very bad customer service?

Yes, I believe that you are wrong.

 

The only issue here is that the dealer did not have a part in stock and could not get it quickly.  She agreed for it to be ordered for her, specifically, on payment of a deposit so an order was made.   That the dealer's part's supplier didn't have it in stock either is not the dealer's problem.  If she had wanted conditions on the delivery time she should have specified that or not agreed to pay for the part in advance.

 

As it was a specific order for her, not for the dealer's stock, the onus is on her to accept the part, not for the dealer to give her the money back.

[Lacessit]

4 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Fraud?  What?  She wanted a part that was not in stock so the dealer asked her for a deposit for the part that was ordered specifically for her.  If she didn't want to leave a deposit she didn't have to accept that condition.

 

After ordering it she then went somewhere else to buy it, knowing that she had already ordered and partly paid for the part at the dealer!   It's now her problem, not the dealer who took her order!

 

The dealer did not lie about the delivery time but, even if he did, so what?Is that some kind of offence or something that justifies her going elsewhere for the work the same day?

How hard would it have been for the dealer to cancel the order? She is supposed to then stump up the balance immediately, for a part she might not see for months, if ever?

Dealers don't make all that much money on new cars. They make their money by swindling unwary customers on parts and service. If you are comfortable with that, you have more money to throw around than I do.

[Just Weird]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

How hard would it have been for the dealer to cancel the order? She is supposed to then stump up the balance immediately, for a part she might not see for months, if ever?

After the dealer had placed the order for the part (that he did not want), he was probably committed to his supplier.  Why should he cancel the order and potentially lose out when the woman had specially ordered it and then taken her car elsewhere to be fixed?

 

"... for a part she might not see for months, if ever?"

Where did that speculative nonsense come from?

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, fredob43 said:

If they don't give you back your monies complain to Toyo head office. I have done that on a couple of occasions. And had any problems sorted rapidly, normally within 24 hours. Their phone No: is 023861000.

Why should the dealer refund for a special order?

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, Just Weird said:

After the dealer had placed the order for the part (that he did not want), he was probably committed to his supplier.  Why should he cancel the order and potentially lose out when the woman had specially ordered it and then taken her car elsewhere to be fixed?

 

"... for a part she might not see for months, if ever?"

Where did that speculative nonsense come from?

Do you know if the dealer had already paid for the part? Most probably not, all the dealerships I know rely on supplier credit. The dealer was not going to lose out.

The speculative nonsense came from the OP, stating the original delivery time of two days was stretched by the dealer to at least a month.

If you enjoy bending over for dealers, far be it from me to stop you.

[Just Weird]

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Do you know if the dealer had already paid for the part? Most probably not, all the dealerships I know rely on supplier credit. The dealer was not going to lose out.

The speculative nonsense came from the OP, stating the original delivery time of two days was stretched by the dealer to at least a month.

If you enjoy bending over for dealers, far be it from me to stop you.

It's irrelevant whether the dealer had paid at that stage, he'd placed a special order and would normally have to accept delivery of it and, therefore, pay for it. 

 

The dealer quoted "about 4 weeks".  "At least a month" suggests in excess of a month, those were your words, not the dealer's.

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

It's irrelevant whether the dealer had paid at that stage, he'd placed a special order and would normally have to accept delivery of it and, therefore, pay for it. 

 

The dealer quoted "about 4 weeks".  "At least a month" suggests in excess of a month, those were your words, not the dealer's.

A special order? For a Vios, which are as common as dog turds in a soi? Yeah right.

Forgive me, I did not realize there was such a huge distinction between about 4 weeks and at least a month. Guess I'll have to go and stand in the naughty corner.

 

[fredob43]

26 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Why should the dealer refund for a special order?

Because the order was stopped almost as soon as it was placed. If they had been left with the goods then that's a different matter.

 

I have stopped orders many times and always received my cash back.

Edited June 28, 2019 by fredob43

[Just Weird]

Just now, Lacessit said:

A special order? For a Vios, which are as common as dog turds in a soi? Yeah right.

Forgive me, I did not realize there was such a huge distinction between about 4 weeks and at least a month. Guess I'll have to go and stand in the naughty corner.

 

It doesn't matter how common a car is, it the dealer doesn't have the part in stock, he doesn't have it in stock, it has to be ordered.   The customer can place a special order and pay for it or wait for the next time the dealer gets his parts supply, that's the customers choice, hers in this case.

 

You were speculating that the wait could be at least a month which was not what was said by the dealer and, by adding "if ever" you were clearly trying to suggest that the wait would be a lot longer, there's the "huge distinction" [sic].

[moontang]

If you check the old fan, it likely still works.  It is the relay that goes.  The mexicans just take a wire and bypass it, letting it run all the time.

[Just Weird]

7 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

Because the order was stopped almost as soon as it was placed. If they had been left with the goods then that's a different matter.

The order wasn't "stopped almost as soon as it was placed".  She went back 3 days after ordering it, according to the OP it was never cancelled.  She just decided to go elsewhere, she did not cancel the order. 

 

She then tried to get a refund when she no longer needed the special order part she had ordered and voluntarily paid for only after someone else had repaired the car.

[fredob43]

Just now, Just Weird said:

The order wasn't "stopped almost as soon as it was placed".  She went back 3 days after ordering it, according to the OP it was never cancelled.  She just decided to go elsewhere, she did not cancel the order. 

 

She then tried to get a refund when she no longer needed the special order part she had ordered and voluntarily paid for only after someone else had repaired the car.

Ok so she ordered the part. Was quoted a few days for same. Then some time later was told it would be around a month. They pushed the goal post, so in my estimation she was entitled to cancel.

[Just Weird]

Just now, fredob43 said:

Ok so she ordered the part. Was quoted a few days for same. Then some time later was told it would be around a month. They pushed the goal post, so in my estimation she was entitled to cancel.

You're entitled to your "estimation" as is the dealer that she placed a special order with. 

 

The point is that she did not cancel the order, nor ask for a refund, until after someone else had fixed the car that she had specially ordered a part for!  That is not reasonable.

[damascase]

2 hours ago, Just Weird said:

You're entitled to your "estimation" as is the dealer that she placed a special order with. 

 

The point is that she did not cancel the order, nor ask for a refund, until after someone else had fixed the car that she had specially ordered a part for!  That is not reasonable.

Where I wondered in my OP whether I was wrong in considering it ‘bad service’, this was mainly directed at the dealer’s total lack of cooperation for a solution to keep the customer on the road for the next four weeks. Add to that the incredible lack of stock of quite common parts for a common car. My own experience - in my country of origin - with Toyota was quite the opposite: when I had a faulty gearbox and the parts had to come from Japan, the dealer took a complete gearbox off one of his new cars in the showroom, to get me on the road again asap. Now that is what I call good service.......

Edited June 28, 2019 by damascase

[Just Weird]

18 hours ago, damascase said:

Where I wondered in my OP whether I was wrong in considering it ‘bad service’, this was mainly directed at the dealer’s total lack of cooperation for a solution to keep the customer on the road for the next four weeks. Add to that the incredible lack of stock of quite common parts for a common car. My own experience - in my country of origin - with Toyota was quite the opposite: when I had a faulty gearbox and the parts had to come from Japan, the dealer took a complete gearbox off one of his new cars in the showroom, to get me on the road again asap. Now that is what I call good service.......

How would you expect the dealer to be able keep a customer's car that needed repair on the road when the part was not in stock?  Are you suggesting that the dealer should have dismantled a showroom car to fix yours? 

 

You certainly were fortunate getting a gearbox removed from a new car fitted to yours, if that did actually happen. I wonder how he justified that to the manufacturer when he had to replace it?   I reckon it didn't happen; no dealer would have any reason to do that and jeopardise a new car sale.