Toyota service recommendation in Raleigh, NC?

We recently purchased a vehicle from Fred Anderson Toyota in Raleigh, NC. Sales process was ok, but the minute the transaction was over it was a nightmare. They had a you-bought-it, you-own-it, we'll-get-around-to-fixing-it-someday attitude. It took five trips to the dealership and two weeks to fix what should have been a minor delivery issue. They also managed to make it practically undriveable just in time to ruin our July 4th weekend/week plans. Their customer service manager did an excellent job of ignoring customer complaints, issues and problems.

I don't blame Toyota, but I'm uninspired to ever return to Fred Anderson for service.

What Toyota dealership do folks recommend as a reputable place to get your car serviced in the triangle? I've been considering Leith Toyota, Toyota of Henderson or Toyota of Burlington in that order. I've received suggestions of non-Toyota dealerships, but was curious which dealership has the best (at least decent) service.

Thanks

Reply to
foo
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Any reason to not also consider Mark Jacobson Toyota in Durham? When I was shopping for a truck I thought they were the most helpful. I did not actually buy one forfom them, so I don't know about their service, but I would be interested in knowing.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

"foo" wrote in news:ofaDe.18097$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

My experience with Fred Anderson was exactly the opposite. The purchase process was long and drawn out (partly my doing for my wanting to understand what I was buying and wanting to get the optimal package and set of add-ons for my needs, silly me). I've had the vehicle in twice since for installation of those add ons and again to correct some minor interior damage that was there before we even bought it.

The service dept was very accomdating and provided a loaner without any quesiton.

Reply to
Tony Rice

"C. E. White" wrote in news:ZtaDe.166599$_o.71343@attbi_s71:

Mark Jacobson Toyota isn't any further from my home or work but I wont go there because their TV ads annoy me so much.

I didn't need to see JJ Walker or any of the other B or C celebrities on their ads ever again.

Reply to
Tony Rice

Burlington Toyota service dept is excellent according to a friend. I bought my Avalon at Fred Anderson and get oil changes there in case I ever have the sludge problem. I don't drive the car much and intend to get rid of it before it needs real service. It is a 2001 with only 20k miles on it. Fred Anderson does have a great facility though. Free bottled water and pastries in the morning.

Reply to
Art

give ya a hundred bucks for her, cash. gotta be in running condition though.

Reply to
Dbu_^

Bad sales experience at Mark Jacobson. I had gotten what I thought was a decent price over the internet, went into the dealership. They played sales games, made me fill out my address 4 times, handed me off to a sleezy salesman. Had them value my tradein. KBB and Edmunds said 5k, they generously offered 1300 after making us wait for ages. I complained, they immediately upped it to 3k. I ended up selling it myself in a day for 6k. Turns out their price on the vehicle wasnt so good anyway.

Reply to
foo

I wish. I don't know why things ended up so bad. When driving home after purchasing the vehicle I noticed a minor rear end vibration. I figured just balance the tires, be done and out of there. Saturday of July 4th weekend I took the brand new car in. 4 hours later they tell me the FRONT tires can't be balanced, they've ordered replacements to show up next week. On the way home, I discovered that they turned a minor rear end vibration into a major front end shake. I've never understood how they could have messed it up so bad. Not possible to hold onto the steering wheel above 65. Still "driveable" according to them. We cancelled our July 4th vacation. Brought it back in Wednesday the following week (because I kept asking when the tires came in). I waited again, 4 hours later they installed 4 new tires. Drive home, the rear end vibration was back, now with a little front end vibration too. I complained. They made me come back in Thursday. Did they fix it? No, just had someone ride with me. Yup its shaking they said. Great. When can they fix our brand new car? Today (Thursday)? No, how about Friday, no, Saturday, no. How about Monday. Lost another weekend use of our new car. How long can it take to balance and/or put on tires? How long does it take to get the standard OEM tires at the dealership that sells the cars using those tires?

No loaner was ever offered. No rental. No attempt to put on tires they did have in stock. No attempt to get tires locally. No attempt to expedite repair of a delivery issue with the vehicle.

Jackie Moran kept talking about how important customer satisfaction is, but she wouldn't (or couldn't) do anything to help the process along and aggrevated the problem my making me take more time off from work just to come in and have them say its shaking but not fix it.

I will say they have a nice facility. I got to know it very well during my 8 hours of waiting to have tires balanced. I wish I had just run over to Merchants and just bought new tires.

Reply to
foo

"foo" wrote in news:FJgDe.19977$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

How bad is it? Is it annoying or potentially dangerous?

What did they say when you asked for one?

I waited 3 hours to get interior scratches repaired. Things take time. It didn't bother me a bit because I was able to keep working via the wireless internet connection provided by the dealership.

Reply to
Tony Rice

It is probably a bad wheel, not a tire. Or a bad rotor. Unfortunately if they have to diagnose something they will never be able to fix it. I would bring it in a couple of more times and then you will be up to 4 attempts and ask for arbitration for a new car. Check the back of your manual. on lemon law. That will wake up Toyota and they will ask for one more try and get the car fixed.

Reply to
Art

Originally annoying, then potentially dangerous (ie blowout danger) after their 1st repair attempt (2nd visit), then very annoying after the 2nd attempt (3rd visit). They fixed it the 3rd round (5th visit).

They said all their loaners were out, but if I scheduled for Wednesday I could get one. Argh. I just wanted the car fixed, didn't want to have to keep driving the new car around disliking it more every day. I had forgotten what it was supposed to drive like. We had specifially bought one off the lot so that we could go on a July 4th vacation. Totally blew our entire vacation week and both weekends. Didn't get a properly working new car until

2 1/2 weeks after we bought it. For that we would have been much better off buy one that was on the way to the dealership.
Reply to
foo

That was always my theory too. I repeatedly told the service folks at Fred Anderson, but they never tested the rims. I couldn't even get a straight answer on what they did to fix it, but I think they ended up replacing the tires and rims with those from another vehicle on the lot. Then they misrepresent what they did and say they "upgraded" me to Michelins. But they didn't put on any of the good Michelins they had in stock, they put the OEM Michelins that I could have originally gotten on the car but I had specifically chosen Dunlops because I happen to like the way they rode better.

My theory had always been one of the rear rims because I had test driven the car the night before we picked it up and hadn't noticed a problem. Next day they washed it, detailed it and ran the right rear tire over a curb.

I contacted a lawyer. Always a grey area, he said that it maybe necessary to count repair attempts where I had documentation that they attemped to fix the car. They had me come in two other times when I thought they were going to fix the car, but they only looked at it and told me to schedule some other time. So it was either 3 times (not enough) or 5 times depending on how you count.

Overall, an exceedingly exasperating experience.

Reply to
foo

"foo" wrote in news:_qwDe.24220$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

What was the dealer supposed to do? They didn't have a loaner. They didn't have the parts in stock to fix it immediately so that your weekend plans wouldn't be affected.

Problems aren't always diagnosed properly the first time. It happens.

I've _NEVER_ bought a vehicle, either off the lot or shipped in from another dealer, or from the factory. That was 100% perfect. There is always some little thing that needs to be taken care of after the purchase.

What makes you think that vehicles being backed off the transporter are any less likely to have problems than those on the lot?

Also, did you test drive the vehicle? Did you not notice the problem then?

Reply to
Tony Rice

Its a new car. They could have allocated another loaner or provided a rental. More importantly, they could have tried harder to fix the problem. If this was preventing the car from being sold, you'd bet they'd find someone to fix it asap.

I have. Including a 2002 VW Golf, with a reputation as one of the most unreliable cars. No delivery problems, no problems ever since in 45k miles. None, not a one (cross my fingers). We also had no delivery issues with a

1992 Nissan pickup.

I test drove the vehicle the night before. Seemed fine. Next day went to give them the check, they washed the car, detailed it, drove it over a curb. Driving home the problem was there. May or may not have been them driving over the curb.

In my case we were talking about tires or rims on a new car, not some obscure part. They could easily have swapped them with another car on the lot. They also had many different sets of tires in stock. They could have obtained tires from many local distributors. Heck going to any local tire store doesnt take 4 days to get tires, more like a few hours. Instead they busted the front tire balance to the point I could barely drive the thing.

I could understand service incompetence on ordinary warranty work. What got me was this attitude from Fred Anderson that the second I signed the check over, I was on my own. No longer any interest in delivering a working vehicle. Spending two weeks and 5 trips is not responsive. I never would have believed it would take so long to receive a vehicle I could take on a trip.

I learned the lesson the hardway. Testdrive the heck out of a vehicle before accepting it, cause once you sign for it the dealer may treat you like history. I also worry that it maybe Toyota dealer arrogance, which is why I'm concerned about finding another dealer to work on the vehicle. Do you have any Triangle toyota dealer recommendations?

Reply to
foo

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