Leather

[pork_pie]

Hiya this is my first topic on this board.

Took delivery of a D4D Yaris T sprit with leather and M/M

I decided to downsize after driving a BMW and sometimes drove my mums Yaris 1.0 t spirit with MM and to be perfectly honest I prefered driving the latter!!!!!

Very fuel effieicnt and did the job perfectly.

Only gripe was that it did get a little breathless on the motorways and on many occasions used manual override on the gearbox.

I decided to get rid of the BMW and took delivery of the above on October 31st at a Manchester dealership.

When I ordered the car 2 weeks previosly, I was told leather was fitted by a company called Transcal and not at the factory. I was worried that such a retrofit would have its dangers but I was assured that the installation would be professional and would be granted of the full warranty benefits.

I did not like the installation one bit. Sctarched material, saggy trim, loose stitching........all which were identfied when i visited the dealership in mid november

Parts were ordered (drivers cushion) and rear headrest.

A few days later i was told that cloth trim was despatched and it wil take until mid december for the right parts to arrive.

Mid december arrived and we managed to book an appointment for Dec 27th for the problems to be rectified. Part of the problem was to get a transcal fitter to visit the dealership.

There was never a problem for the fitter to arrive prior to delivery?

Anywway it turns out that the seat trim for the PASSENGER side was ordered!!!!!

The thing is even if the right trim was ordered, id still be unhappy with the rest of the leather which incidentally costs £1200 and for that amount of money you expect a minimal level of craftmanship.

Because of this I expect a refund.

Do i have the right to demand one? What would you consider reasonable

Toyota might say "well if we are coverign the repair under warranty, then we dont need to compensate you"

Fine.

However its a ball ache for the dealership to order the right parts!!!!!!

Take leather out of the equation, i love the car - its a very sensible car with a decent level of features (for nearly £15000 before discount one should hope so).

With its decent levels of torque, I hardly have to use manual override unlike in my mums Yaris.

The unit does hold onto first gear for quite a while.

Decent upper gear ratios (60mph at 2000 rpm) which contribute to decent fuel economy. 2000 miles on I am averaging about 57-61 mpg on a full tank.

Individual trips of motorway and urban driving result anywhere from 60-80mpg.

Sweet engine - it aint loud compared to German and French diesels I have driven.

ANyway I am glad i can post on this board and look forward to hearing from you lot very soon.

porkpie

[Yaris SR Kid]

Sounds like your in love with the car mate but not with the after sale service!

Well if you have waited almost three months now and they still havent managed to get anything right you should be granted a refund but there argument will be they are doing what they can to solve it, and if you got a refund would they give you standard seats or let you keep the not so tidy leather ones?!

Welcome to TOC :D

[pork_pie]

Cheers for the reply mate

Yeah you got it in one.

Love the car - its growing on me and its pretty good to see so many people on here love their Yaris' so much. They grow on you and I should have bought one all along.

The aftersales service has been a bag of rubbish no matter how friendly they are.

Completely two tier service

Service 1 - before the keys are given to you

Service 2 - when you drive off in your new wheels. HA HA says the dealer.

I thought I had it bad when i drove Citroens (yeah shoot me now) who really could not give a damn. Had a BMW for a year and a bit but when I drove my mums i thought "I really must have one" and with the old man driving a Lexus, I was sold.

The thing is mate, the parts manager suggested I write to the general manager (because he said he feet rather ashamed at the incompetitence lol).

The thing is the wrong parts keep getting ordered - they are not doing everything they can.

When i got the order form, it was suplied with pictures of 4 staff members with bubbles coming out of them sayign how customer satisfaction means a lot and how they are clued up in the expectations of customers.

LOL

The communication is awful.

THe last visit was the final straw where parts arrived after 4 weeks and then took another 2 weeks for the realisation that they were the wrong parts. Lets not forget cloth trim was ordered first!!! lol

I just hope theres not a similar situation with important bits such as clutches and turbos lol.

I have writen to the general manager and I am holding my breath.

ANyway I am glad to be on here and part of the community.

Bring it on!

[captainoats]

I have writen to the general manager and I am holding my breath.

ANyway I am glad to be on here and part of the community.

Bring it on!

Good luck with the letter. Let us know what they say and offer you for all the inconvenience and bad service.

[Al J]

Hi and welcome. Toyota customer relations better before than after they've sold you the car? Surely not!

Been there, done that but keep at it. You have right on your side and Toyota are running out of time as to what would be considered "reasonable". You might find a chat with Citizens Advice useful.

The thing I found with Toyota was to pester them. I had a number of faults/problems with my Yaris on picking up the car and some that developed later. Nothing serious but irritating on a new car for which you've shelled out your hard earned.

They were a little slow, shall we say, to put some things right but I kept on at them and all was sorted to my satisfaction, to be fair to them. It's a shame to have to act in such a way but there it is. Make it obvious to them that you aren't going to get bored and go away.

I went into my Mr T a few days ago for Wiper Blades. Haven't been in there for months. One chap was dealing with me but another came through and on seeing me, immediately said "Hello, Mr. Jones. How are you?".

You know you've spent too much time at your local dealers when they know you by name! :P

Good Luck!

[Roweow]

You have the right to demand your money back, they have had a reasonable amount of time in which to rectify the situation. The only issue would be if they had pointed out the poor workmanship to you before you left and you had accepted that as okay and then returned, by the sounds of it this didn't happen.

The Sale of Goods act states that the product should be supplied in a merchantable condition and free from any defects etc... you have clearly stated that your seats aren't of a merchantable quality and Toyota have accepted that by agreeing to replace your seats I would have thought.

You have your full rights to ask for a refund, as to getting a refund and then having the leather seats, the law won't help you there, only Toyotas goodwill and to be honest, they don't seem to really know what goodwill means unless it involves a recall! Ring Toyota Head Office and complain, ring the leather company and complain and ask for the manager in your dealership and complain, get yourself a copy of the Sale of Goods Act and go and read the applicable paragraph to each. If you don't get a response then you can tell them that you are going to seek legal advice to reclaim your losses, they should soon back down. If they don't then obviously you'll have to reconsider your situation.... This should help: http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24700.html

[pork_pie]

Very good points.

The car was delivered at 16.30 - pretty dark.

This is what makes me annoyed - makes me think something fishy was going on.

Even if it was pointed out at the point of sale, I'd get the same treatment.

"We wil order the parts sir" but as you see, they cannot even do that.

You could not believe the number of foiables I identified the next day when it was light.....

I identified even more when I was with the dealer.

The language was rather blue.

Also as a poster pointed earlier on - when they know you by their first name, it gets a bit embarassing especially when its plebs who you never even met.

Great car just can't understand the cr*p service. I suffered crap service with Citroen and Pug. It just comes as a shock to get that from

I wil wait for a response from the general manager who I am sure does not know a thing about this......

[Blue84]

That is indeed bad, I would certainly push for a refund - even if it does end up to be partial they have had a chance to rectify the situation but have not done so.

I had a gripe with my local centres customer service when I went in for the 1st 10,000 mile service. I did not realise that, as I bought it as a pre-reg in March when it had been registered in January I should've got it done in January - it had 17 miles on the clock when I got it & when I did get it serviced in March it was coincidentally on exactly 10k miles after a year of ownership. They didnt make me aware of this, I got no reminders and I didnt know. Well, when I was there the lady spoke to me like I was a piece of dirt & the words "well I do maintain this car - it is not neglected" didnt mean a thing! It wasnt even me being lazy..I disliked her attitude so much that I contacted Customer Services as I had also been told that it would, most likely affect the warranty! A very helpful gentleman rectified it (and advised that it wouldnt affect the warranty, I have a log of calls and names of who I spoke to as back up) when I picked the car up I said to her "see I told you it is looked after" as it had passed all the check-tests they do additionally with flying colours, and she said "yes it is, you were right" :o of course I was, I wouldnt lie!

Anyway, that isnt the same as your situation - but a few of us have had less than satisfactory service from them, it seems to be a Company thing..so keep pushing.

[alanbradley]

May I recommend a letter to the MD of the dealer? You can find their HOME address by paying Companies House £1 for the company's Annual Return (form 363a) at the Companies House website.

Good luck and create merry hell until you're satisfied

A

[Yaris SR Kid]

Yeah good idea folks people always get what they want if they ask the manager.

I work in john lewis and try and stick by the rules but.....

"so you want to return this watch as its suddenly made a crack across the screen while you were sleeping and its 15 moths old"

"Yes"

"Unfortunatly i can not do that as the warranty is only guaranteed against manufacturing fault and this has clearly been dropped"

"Can i speak to manager"

Manager "certainly you can have a refund and here is a free coffee ticket at our cafe"

Not that that has anything to do with it as its there fault anyway!

Good luck !

[pork_pie]

I am :censor: seething.

Just got back from the dealer about the trim.

Manager said first off they cannot offer a refund.

He offered to transfer the seats from an ex demo Yaris T3 that had leather, marks, dimples etc. It was also of a lighter shade to my cars which meant it would not match with the leather door trim.

I basically told him where he could put that offer. Would they install the seats right? I DID NOTPAY 1200 :censor: quid for second hand seats!!!!!!

Rang Toyota UK and get this, they said there is litle they can do because its between me and them (eh) but she wil put forward about getting the matter sorted under warranty.

The lady was not listening!!!!!!

Oh yes she said theres absolutely no chance of getting my money back.

Love the car - hate the service.

They love you when you pick the car. Once you drive off, they hate you.

(You know what - I can actually live with the leather trim but that ain't the point)

I am off for a big pint of something.

[alanbradley]

Not good...

Enjoy the pint

I have to admit I'm spoilt by my Mr T. They know I get a large say in what vehicles my father chooses for his company - who just happens to be their largest customer ;)

A

[normal bloke]

letter to the MD explaining they have 10 days to fix it or you will have it fixed elsewhere and issue a small claims summons for the amount against them

and actually do it

85% they will then resolve

99% chance they will pay up if you issue summons, as they would have to fund expensive lawyer to turn up in court whereas you can turn up on your own

[kimi]

Sorry to hear about the trouble your having mate :(

maybe try getting in touch with the people who fitted the leather ,

and explain your problem to them ?

They may be able to help you out.

[Yaris SR Kid]

That is awful service! Cant believe it

Cant you ring trading standard or one of those programs thats goes and solves thing for you on TV :P

[pork_pie]

Comrades the pint was nice.

Be nice to share one with you lot one day......

To those who said get in touch with the fitters get this...

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Right the leather was supplied by atoyot but they use TRANSCAL as the fitter FCUKERS! so the buck stops with toyota (toyota said it themselves) and i gotta rely on their warranty provision to make me happy!. WNAKERS!!!!!!!!!!

Boo hooo hooo.............

I cannot believe how unhelpful Toyouta GB weere.

Pleasant lady....her name was sandra..............lovely voice...Too lovely. I dont like raising my voice to a lady.....call me old fashioned and thats why the b..... anyway..............

rest of her was useless

I am not bitter...........honest................

Rembember buy a car...dont tart it up!!!!!!

[Yaris SR Kid]

Lol it will look good soon mate just remember that!

And if you get sad have another pint!

[pork_pie]

I got a voice mail from the big cahuna form Toyota UK who had a word with the dealership.

The lady said that the offer to fit the leather seats sourced from an ex demo would be the most appopriate of resolutions (rather than order new parts).

1) Did not fork out £1195 for second hand seats

(Talked about this earlier)

2) The ex demo leather was not of good quality

( there were scuffs and white marks (lets not go there))

3) The ex demo rear seat had an isofix seat installed

(Imagien the huge dimp;es what was result)

4) I was told the swapover of seats would take 4 hours

(How can I be guaranteed the fitment would be of satisfactory quality - I sense more visits to the dealership)

Lady said also in the voice mail

1)It would not be appropriate to offer a refund.

2) If you accept the seats we can offer a free service.

I am tempted to shove the offer up their ubiks and ask for at least 2 free services and stick with the leather I have.

I truly believe fitting new seats will open a whole new can of worms as TOyota are incapable of fixing anything first time.

What do you think?

[Chris81]

I'd probably just let it be and keep what you've got. You don't want second hand leather thats the wrong colour! As for the 2 tier service, I couldn't agree more. Most dealers are the same though, all over you when you're buying it/picking it up etc but as soon as you go back with a fault it's over to the unhelpful lady on the service desk who might book your car in in a few weeks time, only for a baby faced trainee technician (mechanics sadly no longer exist in 21st century motoring) to inspect it. I've had this sort of service from other manufacturers dealers in the past but had high expectations of Toyota. Like you though, I have found them severely lacking in the service or aftersales department as they like to call it.

But on the bright side, you like the car, so learn to live with the dodgy leather and try and enjoy the car!

[Burnie1000]

Hi there sorry to hear that you are having such a lot of hassle. I drive a 03 Yaris TS and it came with leather interior which I was told was an optional extra for £1K and was factory fitted. I have no problems with the fitment or stiching at all. Here are some pics could you please tell me if it looks the same as yours. Thanks

[Yaris SR Kid]

Love that cow :P

[pork_pie]

"Hi there sorry to hear that you are having such a lot of hassle. I drive a 03 Yaris TS and it came with leather interior which I was told was an optional extra for £1K and was factory fitted. I have no problems with the fitment or stiching at all. Here are some pics could you please tell me if it looks the same as yours. Thanks"

THAT my friend looks !Removed! nice.

I am gonna stick with the leather and try to get the 2 free services.

I raise a middle finger to Toyota customer services.

I am tempted to buy a Citroen C4 now. Please persuade me to do otherwise - thats how bad its become!

Booooooooooooooooooooo

[alanbradley]

The C4 will have dodgy electrics. The Toyota won't break.

The Citroen dealer will be no better.

We're nice people.

A

[pork_pie]

Sorted - Alan you are the voice of reason.

I was bored this afternoon when I was considering a C4 - now i am not bored.

I won't go to the Citroen dealer tomorrow to get my car valued.

Just for the record I had a terrible time when I had a C3 in October 2002. It was a 1.4 Hdi top of the range jobby (remember the VAT off deal?) andhad everythign you could hope for. Problem was it was the subject of 3 recalls and about a dozen trip to the the dealer in as many weeks.

Their dealers could not care less, workmanship was non existent and customer services were so rude. Electrics yes that was always a problem in them cars - always required a software upgrade.

If that was not a problem, then brakes, suspensions, air con.

You name it - everything.

The C3 had a button on the dash where it activates the childlocks. A neat gimmick. However sometimes the car forgot the setting and the childlocks were deactivated.

"i was told they all did that".

:!Removed!:

I decided to sell the car when I was driving down the A1 when my lad opened the rear door at 70mph.

Both of us got an almighty shock. Poor little man had a fright. I decided to sell it and found out months alter that alll 02,52 and 03 plate C3s had a software upgrade so that the system remembered its settings!!!!

I had that model and a pair of Xsaras at other times!

Yeah it gets worse - actually the Esate version was an honest workhorse. Their diesel engines were great it was just what they were encased in was another story.

Todays discount is tomorrows depreciation.

The money Citroen lose in selling their cars cheap and paying out for warranty work, they recoup in their price for servicing and parts.

Thanks for reading folks and your fedback is always appreciated. Thats what we are here for - air our grievances and you come back with constructive advice.

Thanks for not shooting me down when comtemplating buying a Citroen!!!!!

[pork_pie]

Rang Toyota GB to return their voice mail the other day.

I told them where I was coming from - no raised voices.

Highlighted the points made on here not just by me.

Basically I rejected their offer.

Time to wait.