Younger Toyota

To summarize, I dropped my truck off for a totally-free, recall service including complementary rental for what was supposed to last 3-5 business days. What I got was the loss of the use of my truck for a recall service including complementary rental for what was supposed to last 3-5 business days. What I got was the loss of the use of my truck for a month, an enormous bill for a FREE rental, a truck with more frame exposure than before the service, a new perforation in the frame, and damaged body gap guards in both front wheel wells. Most importantly, my truck’s recall eligibility has been revoked due to Younger’s and/or Toyota‘s incompetence. The following is a timeline of events pertaining to the service I received. 12/12 – I Dropped my Tundra off for the Frame Rust Recall after receiving multiple notifications and a call from a Younger representative (Jill Selby) suggesting that I bring the vehicle in. The emails and the employee stated that I would have a FREE rental car until the service was complete. 12/16 – I received a call from my service advisor (Teresa Harbaugh) stating that they were waiting on chemicals to perform the coating procedure and to keep driving the rental until further notice. 12/21 – I called and left a message with Jill asking her about the status of the vehicle. I called her because I was beginning to get concerned about the length of time my truck had been there. 12/22 – I received a call from Teresa stating that they found a whole in the frame (large enough to warrant a replacement) while they were prepping for the coating and they sent their findings to Toyota Corporate. Corporate denied the claim stating that the hole was self-inflicted and that the dealership cleaned too aggressively to enlarge the hole. Teresa said that Younger was appealing the decision as this was extremely unusual and that Corporate typically approved these claims without question. She indicated that she was still hopeful and to hang on to the rental. Jill returned my call and I let her know that I had already spoken with Teresa. 1/9 – Voicemail from Teresa (5 p.m.) apologizing for the lack of service that I received. She explained that Toyota Corporate and Younger are at a stale mate and to give her a call to discuss. For the first time she said if I wanted to come pick up my vehicle, I was welcome to do so. I didn’t get the message until after Younger’s close of business. Transcript of the voicemail that she left: “Hi Mr. , Just calling to let you know we are still in the process of trying to get this taken care of. If you want to come and pick up your vehicle you can come over and pick it up . Ah… but um… they … um … at this point I don’t know what else to do…um… I’ve been talking with our representative from Toyota and I haven’t got anywhere at this point… um… I don’t know if you’ve been told everything that was going on, but if you can give me a call back at 301-733-2300, my extension is 2329 or …um… just stop in and you can pick up your vehicle at this point. OK? Thank you. Bye.” Do you remember that Teresa? I have the original recording if that helps. 1/10 – I spoke with Teresa the next morning and she asked me to call Corporate to appeal my case (1-800-228-8559). I inquired about the rental because of her call from the day before and she said to keep it until after I heard from Corporate. I needed my VIN to do this and asked Teresa to send me an email with that information. She apparently forgot because I never received it. 1/11 – I got the VIN off of my registration at home and called Toyota Corporate as instructed. The representative explained that she could only start the process as she was not a “certified recall specialist”. She gave me a reference number and indicated that a qualified representative would contact me within 24 hours about my claim. 1/12 – I called Teresa to let her know that I was waiting to hear from Corporate and that I had a reference number. She seemed genuinely optimistic and asked me to call her as soon as I heard anything. Nicole (ext. 73524) from Corporate called me around 2 p.m., to let me know that my claim for frame replacement and/or coating was denied. She said that this was due to the self-inflicted nature of the hole in the frame. I asked her why I was being denied for Younger’s mistake. She said that Younger is separate from Toyota and that resolving the issue was between me and the dealership. Nicole gave Tony Curtis (Younger’s Service Manager) a call presumably to appease me and then totally blindsided me with his demands for payment on an overdue rental car for 4 weeks. Five minutes after I got off of the phone with Nicole, Enterprise called me for the first time and informed me that I had racked up quite a bill and to bring the vehicle in as soon as possible to limit my liability. I told Enterprise that I would have it there by 5 p.m. I immediately called Teresa to inquire about the ridiculous charges and she stated that Mr. Curtis “was probably out of the loop and said that to the Toyota Representative to get her off of the phone”. I told her that I wanted the charges removed from my account and she said that would not be a problem. I dropped my vehicle off at 5 p.m., as promised and Teresa gave me a receipt indicating that my rental liability was $0. She told me that Toyota Corporate should call me by the end of the following week to continue the recall process and if they didn’t that I should call them. 1/16 – I noticed the fraudulent Enterprise charge on my account for $1,027.14. 1/16 – I called and left messages with both Teresa and Tony. No Reply as of 1/18. 1/18 – I called Nicole back at Toyota Corporate and asked her what my options were with regard to getting my truck fixed and she informed me that Toyota’s involvement was over. She stated that Tony indicated that Younger had been attempting to contact me for the past 3 weeks to have me return the rental. I have home phone and cell phone records to disprove that claim along with a Younger service email account, that didn’t receive a notification until 1/12 asking me how Younger’s service department handled my repair (I have to admit that I laughed at that one). Nicole claimed that it was up to me and Younger to figure out a solution. I have to disagree as I would never have taken my vehicle to Younger in the first place if Toyota hadn’t issued a recall or given Younger its Toyota affiliation. I asked if there was any way to escalate the call to a supervisor and she said no. 1/23 – I received an unexpected conference call from Nicole, Tony Curtis and Teresa Harbaugh. I explained to Tony the key points in this time line and reiterated that I was never told to bring the rental back until the 12th. He asked Teresa and she stammered that she remembered nothing about the rental, which is a total lie, but she did remember to inform Tony that I am acquainted with Mike Mueller (Younger service mechanic). Tony subsequently asked me if Mike was updating me on the status of my vehicle and I told him he was. Tony adjusted his narrative and said that he remembered that the dealership was out of spray kits when my vehicle was brought in and that they didn’t get any until the end of December. He indicated that Younger would pick up the rental from 12/13 – 12/31, but he would have to confirm that Younger never contacted me by checking his service phone logs. He asked Nicole if Corporate would cover the rental from 1/1 to 1/12 and she indicated that they probably would if she had documentation to support it. I agreed and offered my own house/cell phone logs if needed, but the offer was never acknowledged. Upon the closing of the call, I was told that Tony would contact me and Nicole by close of business (or the next day at the latest) to confirm his findings. This conversation should have been recorded by Toyota Corporate. 1/27 – Tony never called, so I contacted Nicole because she was actually able to get him on the phone. She seemed surprised that Tony had not called me back because she had received a call back from him days ago stating that he was unable to obtain his outbound call logs and that he was not going to honor his original offer. To date, nothing has been resolved and Younger has not made any attempt to correct this unbelievable experience. I have contacted the appropriate offices to combat this idiocy and have received documentation from these claims relaying complete fallacies, which state that the hole in the frame was self inflicted before they worked on the vehicle and that Younger tried calling me for 3 weeks after I dropped my vehicle off. I can assure you that this was not the case. I wouldn’t have touched my frame because I didn’t want it replaced. I would not trust Younger or any Toyota dealership to do a complete tear down of my vehicle and then reassemble it to factory specs. That’s a job for the assembly line. I know Younger never called me because my cell phone’s call log shows that they didn’t. Unfortunately this is not considered irrefutable evidence. The only option left is to take them to court and subpoena their phone records to get my $1,027.14 back for the rental that both Teresa Harbaugh and Jill Selby told me to keep until further notice. Not only did Younger not try to call me but Enterprise Rental never contacted me until the day that I returned the vehicle (after I spoke with Toyota Corporate and Tony Curtis). Apparently, I stepped on Younger’s toes by contacting corporate, even though Teresa was the one who asked me to make the call. The only way I can prove that the hole wasn’t there is to get the service technician to come forward and be honest, which sad to say is not likely to happen. It’s a classic case of the court costs outweigh the gain. What I am left with is, “Why me”. What did I do to deserve this? The only reason that I can ascertain is that Younger receives upwards of $10,000 for each frame replacement and only a fraction of that for a frame coating. Basically, Younger got caught trying to pass a fraudulent claim and passed their misfortune on to me. As far as I am concerned, I got “screwed” and the only way that I can retaliate is to protect others from receiving similar dishonest service from Younger. That said, if you are going to get your vehicle serviced there for whatever reason, make sure that you get everything in writing. Do not sign a vehicle rental agreement with them until Enterprise gets Younger to pre-approve the use of the rental. Take pictures of your vehicle before the service and compare those to your vehicle before you leave the premises. Good Luck. If you actually do read this Mr. Carroll and Mr. Younger, I would enjoy reading your creative response. If you have any doubt to the validity of this claim, ask Tony, Teresa, Jill, and Mike. More