Club Toyota - I Don't Believe The Antics Of This Company!

[SilverT4]

This is not particularly Prius related, but couldn't see any appropriate forum for it.

With my previous gen2 Prius which I had for 5 years, I always paid for Club Toyota membership. This ran from April to April each year. I bought my new gen3 Prius in August 2009 and of course received the 12 months free membership. Some time later after reading the small print in the membership book, I realised that when changing a vehicle, membership will be extended for the unused part of the old membership. All you need to do is inform the Club of the change and they will arrange it. In May of this year I wrote to Club Toyota advising them of the change of vehicle and asked if they would extend my membership. This should have been extended from this August to next April. I never received a reply to my letter so assumed that when my current membership ran out in August they would issue new cards until next April.

Today I received a card telling me that my membership had expired, so I called them to find out why it hadn't been extended to April. After checking the records they stated that they had never received any notification from me about the change of vehicle. I do have a copy of the letter and I know I sent it to them, however they have no record of it. Ok I said assuming you didn't receive the letter, then can I inform you now of the change of vehicle? "No" they said. Apparantly they can not backdate changes and therefore I have lost my unused part of the old membership. Apparantly you have to inform them when you actually change the vehicle, even though there is no mention of this in the membership booklet. They also informed me that my dealer should have pointed this out when I bought the new vehicle and if I had any complaints I should take it up with them.

In monetary terms, the value of the 'lost' portion of the membership is only around £30, so its not really worth losing sleep over. However its the principle that having paid for something then I should be entitled to its full value. But once again Toyota cannot see the value in customer satisfaction! It would be no big deal for them to accept the situation and extend my membership at absolutely minimal cost to them.

Satisfied customers always return. Dissatisfied customers don't.

Moral of this story is. If you change your vehicle and have Club membership, make sure you tell them without delay.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

But you get one year free with the new car, so where's the problem?

[timberwolf]

But you get one year free with the new car, so where's the problem?

It's not free, Toyota didn't give it to you out of charity, it is part of package that you paid for when you bought the car.

[SilverT4]

But you get one year free with the new car, so where's the problem?

The way it works, is if you have club membership and mid way through the year you buy a new Toyota, then the 'unused' portion of the old vehicle membership is added to the end of the 12 months 'free' membership. So my 'unused' 7 months should be used to extend my 'free' membership.

[johalareewi]

In May of this year I wrote to Club Toyota advising them of the change of vehicle and asked if they would extend my membership. This should have been extended from this August to next April. I never received a reply to my letter so assumed that when my current membership ran out in August they would issue new cards until next April.

This is where you went wrong. If you don't hear back then it is best to assume it has got lost in the post and chase it up.

[Jan&tone]

The many times I have Changed my car during the club Toyota membership I have always phoned them at the number on the back of the card and received the new 'extended' card within a week.... Moral is, don't rely on mr postman!

[dwilson]

The many times I have Changed my car during the club Toyota membership I have always phoned them at the number on the back of the card and received the new 'extended' card within a week.... Moral is, don't rely on mr postman!

I wonder if this has anything to do with the change from RAC to AA cover...

I tried to transfer some RAC cover that I no longer needed the other week and was unable to do so. Apparently they had stopped doing that. Perhaps the AA are the same ???

[kithmo]

So, you buy a car in August 2009, then 9 months later, in May 2010, you read the documentation.

You say your old membership went from April to April, so it would have run out by then. It's a bit late to transfer it when it's already run out, Club Toyota probably had no record of your old membership seeing as it had run out.