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Fatally Disappointed--The Thread I never wanted to write.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by The Electric Me, Sep 28, 2013.

  1. jdk2

    jdk2 Active Member

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    Glad it worked out for the best.
     
  2. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    At least it's done and done. :D
     
  3. Bingee

    Bingee Member

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    Happy it got fixed .... Merry Christmas ....
     
  4. cairo94507

    cairo94507 Active Member

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    It amazes me that Toyota seems to work hard to lose good loyal customers. I am thinking back to the headlight problems in my '05 Prius. Toyota always made it difficult for the customer/owner to have their defective headlight bulbs replaced. This is a known problem that was/is experienced all over the place and they still did not address it correctly. I was still never reimbursed for the last headlight bulb that I had to put in my car when that Toyota provided and installed bulb failed after just 11 months. I was left out of pocket over $300 because Toyota just abandoned the issue and said there was a class action suit re this and they could not help. I never received paperwork re any class action suit and I bought my car new from the dealer and had never moved or changed my address. Come on Toyota Customer Service, step-up and take care of your loyal customers!
     
  5. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Do you have HID headlights? If so, what month/year was car built?

    The HID headlight bulbs in my 05 have been replaced only once (90K miles ago) in 212K miles.
    My 05 was built in March 2005.
     
  6. donalmilligan089

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    it is never good to fall too in love with a product or chat room for that matter. personally I feel that the problem started before the top coat(a protective application)was applied. there fore a responsibility of Prius. Yours was a long report but enables me to feel for you. out come of acid wash job is not cheap as well as not sure about future affect it will have. prius is good company I believe but is no better than its reps.had they repainted your beloved car it would have restored many of us the belief in a good company they have hurt their selves much more than the cost of repair in my opinion.
     
  7. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    The only people who even know about TEM's issue are the relatively few who read this thread. Something like this won't hurt or bother Toyota in the least. Especially since it's pretty much been decided that Toyota had NOTHING to do with the issue. It was an after the sale environmental issue, that, as many promised ... Was easily fixable.

    I fail to see how Toyota could be held remotely responsible for TEM's issue, and I think even TEM would agree to that now.

    REV
     
  8. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    No, TEM maintains that the Toyota stealership should have diagnosed the issue correctly and taken care of it for him under warranty.

    It's possible that someone at the stealership knew exactly what the problem was but did not want to do the repair because Toyota corporate might not have and probably would not have reimbursed the stealership for wet sanding and polishing to remove the spots.
    Many first responders (myself included) to TEM's initial post indicated that he should pursue a comprehensive insurance claim. As we all know, that was ultimately what he ended up doing.
     
  9. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    Are we riding our high horse today jadz? Lol jk

    The only problem I see with pursuing an insurance claim is that his insurance will likely go up. IMHO, this was a DIY job all day but, I guess everything is a DIY job to me lol. Some people are at different comfort levels and I guess I should think about that more often.
     
  10. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    My point was ... Toyota had NOTHING to do with the damage that was done.

    If you buy a new Toyota ... Drive it off the lot .... And it gets keyed in a Walmart parking lot a day later ... Is Toyota supposed to fix that as a defect ?

    An insurance claim is ALWAYS an option for any damage ... Everybody will admit that.

    From what TEM says ... The car was fine when it was delivered. To this day I don't think anyone knows what happened to cause the issue.

    I've always found my dealership AND Toyota to be reasonable and accommodating when it comes to something that TOYOTA could reasonably be held responsible for.

    REV
     
  11. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    Yeah I agree about the DIY part ... It's unlikely his insurance will go up over something like this ... It was small bucks, and no fault was involved.

    REV
     
  12. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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  13. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    You're partially correct rev, I reread TEMs follow up post and he blames Toyota as follows: "They showed no interest in actually helping me find the CORRECT resolution to the problem."

    So yeah, TEM didn't specifically state that Toyota should have removed the spots if they had made the correct diagnosis. But he still expected the stealership to possess the knowledge. While the stealership didn't exactly bend over backwards to help him, they offered to help based on the knowledge they had.

    In a roundabout way, it's sort of like when Kramer went to a vet in hopes of curing his cough. TEM should have gone to the correct professional first.
     
  14. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    Correct, especially since it was not Toyota's fault at all. I think the real problem was basically implying that it was Toyota's fault TO TOYOTA. Given that ... Toyota was correct in not trying to resolve the matter any further than they did, which essentially would have meant that they assumed blame and therefore owned the problem.

    No matter how it was resolved ... I can almost guarantee that I could have gotten those marks out without wet sanding. Wet sanding was probably the fastest way to do it, but just given the fact that it worked .... I would have tried less aggressive methods first. As others mentioned as well.

    Dealerships are not reconditioning specialists ... It's very likely that is contracted out to an outside party. And again .... Given the litigious society we live in ... I'm not surprised that even some reconditioning experts refused to touch it. Can't blame them at all not wanting to be involved even remotely with a potentially unreasonable customer (not that TEM was or is) and being sued or responsible for a total repaint for what was probably a $100 repair job. From a reconditioning point of view .... I wouldn't have touched it without a release of liability from the customer.

    Having said all that .... It's a damn rare paint issue that I can't resolve with the right chemicals, products, and techniques, without resorting to wet sanding, then compounding, polishing, and applying a protectant. I really wish I could have had a shot at the issue myself.

    Either way ... Glad for everybody's sake that it's resolved.

    Merry Christmas to all !

    REV
     
  15. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Probably the two singular greatest things I take from this unfortunate experience, is that A: A lot of very well respected "experts" can be totally wrong. AND B: Finding the people (Or Correct Professional) with the knowledge and skills that would lead to the correct diagnosis and remedy is easier said than done.

    I used every resource I could in trying to find the best people. From Angies List...to YELP..to googling every review possible. The Detailers and Body Shops I took the vehicle to...were very highly rated and respected. Unless you actually work in the industry, which I do not, at some point you simply have to trust what you are hearing from both body shops and detailers that are suppose to be professionals.

    In any case, I'm glad that what I was told, was seemingly wrong. It was a long road, with no help from Toyota or the Toyota Dealership, but eventually it appears I found "The Correct Professionals".

    But I always strive to take the Cat to the Vet, Myself to The Doctor and The Car? To the correct professionals.
     
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  16. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    You would have liked a shot at it as long as you weren't liable?

    "What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so." Shakespeare's Hamlet 1602.
     
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  17. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    REV....had it been at all possible, I would of happily given you your shot at the issue.

    At this point? I'm just going to enjoy once again, my vehicle that currently looks great and appears to be fine. I'm not going to allow myself to worry or obsess over whether the remedy was incorrect, or too intrusive. I do take very good care of my vehicles, so hopefully my usual diligence in keeping the vehicle waxed and protected will at least give me a "normal" lifetime of relative finish normalcy.

    Again....everyone has an opinion on the issue, on how it should of been handled or could of been handled. And I appreciate them.

    By the way, I never implied to Toyota that it was their fault. I originally approached the problem as a "possible" warranty issue because the vehicle IS new, and originally I really had no idea what was or had caused the spots. Since the spots looked like rust, there was a chance it WAS rust or a paint defect, therefore at least initially I felt I had no choice BUT to go to Toyota and through Toyota.

    I was active BUT passive. It's all in my original post but I was always passive in so much as I was willing to accept whatever definition of the problem Toyota offered. It was Toyota that IMO DID seemingly take ownership of the problem ( I thought under warranty) with their offer to acid wash the vehicle. Hence my feeling of abandonment when the acid wash's failed and then the problem was redefined BY Toyota...not me. Had they refused any remedy from the very start? I would of been disappointed but accepting.

    Then ontop of that, I found Toyota Customer Experience totally unhelpful, warranty or no warranty in finding a resolution. They seemed to exist only to make sure I knew that it WASN'T going to be covered under warranty. When the dealership backed out of finding me any resolution, Toyota Customer Experience backed out with them.

    I agree, that since it seems that the issue WAS something that somehow landed on the vehicle (This definition was far from clear or determined for a long time, since I heard various opinions ranging from it is something that landed on the vehicle to it IS something coming up from the metal)...I agree that ultimately Toyota is not responsible for "unfortunate" things that may of somehow randomly happened to my vehicle. But my disappointment was and is primarily based on the handling and attitude. When the issue became difficult or potentially expensive to resolve? The Dealership wanted nothing to do with it, and Toyota Customer Experience, acted only as a agent to allow a "retreat" from involvement by Toyota.

    Did I ever imply TO Toyota that it was their fault? No. I took the vehicle to the dealership and started a Customer Experience "claim" all as a process to let Toyota tell ME what could be done and how.

    But whether you think I was unreasonable, mislead, or disillusioned....I need to move on...

    I sincerly wish everyone a "Spotless" and Happy Holiday.

    This was the thread I never wanted to write, and I'm simply happy to apparently be at a closing chapter.
     
  18. Andyprius1

    Andyprius1 Senior Member

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  19. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

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    I'm a bit ashamed to say that I read the whole thread - it was a bit of a soap opera. My thoughts,

    This is a good example of the problem with the way that dealerships are set up - having a third party selling and servicing another's products is bound to cause trouble.

    The only thing that I see that Toyota did wrong was to offer help in the beginning and then ham-handedly pull back. They should have stayed clear from the start, and if it had actually been proven to be a manufacturing problem they should have gladly written a check to cover what had been spent on a fix. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

    The OP has been pretty "ranty" in all of his posts. I wonder how many of the body shops that looked at the car and refused to try and resolve the problem were because of his attitude - my guess is that they looked at the amount of work involved (a fair bit of manual labor), how much profit was in the job (not much) and decided to pass because they were worried about the customer if things did not turn out to his satisfaction?
     
  20. jadziasman

    jadziasman Prius owner emeritus

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    Don't be ashamed, steve. Many who read this thread since it started three months ago wondered what TEM would do. TEM was a great storyteller throughout his big adventure, don't you think?

    As Barney the Bozo replied to the fortune teller's question regarding his future at the end of Firesign Theatre's "We're All Bozos On This Bus" album: Well, now..now, I won't say that I, uh, understand everything, but it was... certainly different, and oh yes, well..well worth a dollar. :ROFLMAO:
     
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