Precision Toyota of Tucson

Precision Toyota of Tucson responded

Hi Eric, We do open at 7am, which is the exact time our cameras show you arrived, you were helped at 7:07am, which we agree is too long of a wait please accept our sincere apology for that. The vehicle behind you was helped because that guest had an appointment with a specific advisor due to parts being in. Many guest chose to drop off their vehicle early in the morning do to work schedules or rides they've arranged. We do have 14 service advisors to serve our guests. Your warranty with Toyota covers parts that fail for 3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. If you have an extended warranty, it would take over from there (also covers parts that fail.) In your vehicles case there was a substance found affecting the camera that was not put there by Toyota and therefore wouldn't be covered by warranty as it was caused by an outside source. All the work that's Thank you so much for your feedback and wish you safe travels. Sincerely, Sunny Davis Guest Relations Director Precision Toyota of Tucson sdavis@pretoy.com 520-795-5565

lorem821 responded

I do not accept your response. The dealership treated me poorly and did not perform due diligence to cover repair under warranty. A camera safety system should not allow window cleaner to penetrate the enclosure. As I brought up before, what if an owner is a smoker, vaper, or lives on a dirt road? Does Toyota expect them to have the dealer clean the assembly EVERY time there is a built up substance and pay the recalibration fee? Or did Toyota design the system to NOT allow particulate matter into the enclosure? I DO NOT believe the camera system was operating as intended by Toyota (i.e., it allowed an "outside substance" into the enclosure). Furthermore, a service manager promised to give me the needed information to file a claim with corporate Toyota myself. The information I was provided is FALSE. The phone number was for the wrong department and that particular Toyota customer service department could not tell me what office I need to call for a claim. My poor reviews on multiple websites are fully warranted as your dealership treated me poorly. Your service department cornered me and gave me two very bad options 1) Pay for the recalibration myself and HOPE that Toyota will cover the repair under warranty through reimbursement (which the service department gave me false contact information), or 2) Leave my car at the dealership until Monday at the earliest and HOPE that the service department can get the repair approved by Toyota as a warranty repair (meanwhile, I would have needed alternate transportation, e.g., a rental car). Both of these options would cost me money for a repair that should have been covered by the warranty. My camera worked when I brought the car into the dealership. I was concerned about the buildup as I did not think the housing should allow a film to develop as it could cause a malfunction, but it WAS NOT causing any error messages at that time. Only after the service department took apart my camera did the eyesight camera "need" recalibration (I believe the technician recommended it, but I didn't see anywhere it was necessary). At this point, I don't even think the recalibration was required, only a way to upcharge me. The camera worked when I brought in the vehicle for service - I was concerned that it could develop into a problem later. You also gave me false contact information for Toyota corporate multiple times. After some digging myself, I found the correct number. You gave me a number to a natural gas company. I called Toyota corporate and they said they would refer me back to my servicing dealer (Precision Toyota) for the determination if a service should be covered under warranty. The Precision Toyota service department immediately made judgement that the service is not under warranty. Toyota corporate seemed to think that there should have been more diagnostics involved, but if the dealer deemed the repair not under warranty, they would defer to the service department's judgement. The wording that the service manager used made it seemed like the service department would have kept my car for a few more days to request a "goodwill" coverage from Toyota corporate, rather than diagnosing the issue as a defect. The service department had already made up their mind and did not advise me of my options. I had to ask what my options were, but as I explained before I could 1) pay for the service and HOPE that Toyota corporate would reimburse me (Precision Toyota has given me false numbers multiple times. The service manager promised to provide all the information I needed to submit a claim, which he did not), or 2) leave my car with Precision Toyota so the service department could request "goodwill" coverage from Toyota corporate even though the Precision Toyota service department deemed it not covered under warranty. I do not believe the service department at Precision Toyota did their due diligence to diagnose the issue. They deemed it an "outside substance" and gave it no further evaluation. The camera enclosure should not let in particulate that could impair the function of the camera. I'll bring up people who clean their own windshields, smokers, vapers, and people who live on dirt roads again. Did Toyota design the car to let particulates into the enclosure and haze the inside of the window? If so, every time this haze develops, does Toyota expect the customer to bring their vehicle to the dealership for service for cleaning and camera recalibration? The owners manual states that only a Toyota dealership can clean the camera enclosure if it becomes dirty. This is not an owner serviceable part. So no, I do not think Toyota designed the camera to let in particulate matter that could affect the performance of the safety system and/or require costly cleaning and recalibration every time a buildup occurs. I do not believe the camera system is operating as intended by Toyota’s design. I believe there must be some sort of manufacturer defect that Precision Toyota failed to diagnose. Toyota Corporate defers to the servicing dealer (Precision Toyota) when it comes to warranty claims. The servicing manager made it sound like Toyota corporate makes the call if a repair/service is covered under warranty, but it is actually the servicing dealer. Toyota delegated that responsibility to the service advisors, technicians, and managers to make that determination. The servicing manager made it sound like there was risk if they covered it under warranty without Toyota’s permission – but I believe their cursory diagnoses lacked a root cause analysis. The service department just kept going back to an “outside substance”. They failed to determine WHY the outside substance was present. They said it was probably a chemical cleaner of some sort. I have attached pictures. You can see that the haze accumulated and was NOT sprayed onto the window. Apparently the service department thinks I somehow sprayed massive amounts of window cleaner directly into the enclosure, causing droplets to form on the inside of the windshield. In the pictures, you can see that is not the case. Somehow, a substance in GAS form penetrated the camera enclosure and accumulated on the inside of the windshield, which had the potential to impede functionality of the camera. And just to restate: my car was operating normally when I brought it into the dealership. I was just concerned that the haze may get worse and develop into a safety problem. It was not until after the technicians worked on my car that recalibration was “recommended.” At no point did my car’s camera need recalibration before I brought it into Precision Toyota.