Toyota Customer Service Did It Again

[T Sport 1978]

Hi all,

As we come near to the time of good will and all that I thought i'd share with you a gesture of goodwill Toyota GB gave me, the value of the gesture is not a million pounds but they could so very easily have told me to go away as I asked them for something that i had really no right to expect anything back.

Here goes:

I bought my T180 back in March 2008 second hand from RRG Bolton, it was a good deal that i wanted to seal despite the fact that i live in Croydon (roughly 270 miles or so away). At the time I made a trip firstly to check the car out and to see if there are any problems, from this trip i found that it had a broken CD player and a broken front splitter, which the dealer promptly resolved for me when i said to them that i wanted the car...Great. As far as i was concerned there was nothing else that had to be corrected and all was good, hence a week later i went back up to Bolton to collect my prestine Auris.

Fast forward 1 year 8 months to yesterday (24th Nov 2009) when out of nowhere it occured to me that my T180 has a rubber gear shift knob, but i was sure that i have read on brochures and literatures that it was suppose to have a leather trimmed one. Upon reading up this little descrepency i confirmed that this is indeed true, basicaly my T180 have had its leather one swapped out for some reason (emergency spares??). I proceeded to call my local franchise Jemca Croydon to see where i stand and whether there was anything that they can do, they politely referred me back to RRG from where i bought it off. Another call to RRG and i managed to speak to the very sales person i bought my car off of, she then had a word with her manager and they basically said that their hands are tied because the car was sold as seen. Now, they were never rude about it but i thought it was pretty obvious that the trim was incorrect but they weren't ready to take the hit for replacing it. Incidentally a leather gear knob is £63...

By now, a little disgruntled but started to accept the fact that i am fighting a losing battle due to the fact that it has been so long since i bought it and also no dealership is going to take the hit (however small the amount), but thought i'd try one last time and go straight to Toyota GB themselves. So i sent the email to them yesterday at 5pm and thought oh well, it will be a couple of days at least to hear from them again... Today i received an email from a customer relations exec basically to say that yes this should have been spotted and rectified at the time of sales, but as a good will they will take the hit and replace it for me via my local Toyota dealer. She even went as far as ordering the part for me and instructing Jemca to expect me, basically omitting the need for me to order it myself.

Maybe i am easily pleased but I was so over the moon that i felt the need to come on here to share it with you, there are so many negative things on these boards about Toyota and its' products that we tend to forget that Toyota is considered one of the good guys. We live in a time when good customer service is expected but seldomly given, I will be the first person to !Removed! about a problem but equally praise when a praise is earnt. Their prompt reply and positive actions (not the first time) will forever make me a sucker to the brand, i can only hope that they carry on making good products as well.

[Phoenix999]

It is good to read nice news regarding a company customer relations section.... well done

[Nerfie]

Good write up.

I've had nothing but excellent customer service from ToyotaGB and my local dealer. It's pretty much guaranteed my business for the foreseeable future. The only thing stopping me was the lack of performance cars, which looks like that's being rectified now! :D

[ABZ-T2]

Wow, that sounds great. Really pleased 4 u. If only i could say the same. Unfortunately i can't. :P Even when its a pure warranty claim such as the steering column i have to fight and write to a million people before my centre will help me! Furthermore when i bought my car they never offered to repair or fix a single thing or give me any addiotional accessories such as other ppl here have had!