My most recent and last experience with Bolton Toyota

On Tuesday Februry 16th I took my 09 Corolla in to Bolton Toyota to get my EVAP assembly replaced because in the summer time the AC has a bad odour that comes from it. There's a TSB for this so the dealership told me that it is in fact covered under warranty and to bring it in for the 4 hour job. I dropped the car off on Tuesday evening and picked it up later at night once they were done the job. I was the last customer who's car they worked on so once they finished they told me they accidently ripped the driver side door seal and would be ordering me a new one and once it comes in they'll call me in. They handed me the keys and closed up the dealership.



On my drive home I noticed a rattling sound when my car was idling at the lights. The rattle would go away when I revved above 1500rpm and then when it would settle at 700rpm the rattle would come back. When we got home my wife noticed on her side the speaker grille had some kind of a liquid on it as well, I couldn't figure out what it was and when I wiped it with a dry kleenex it didn't come off so I decided to call the dealership in the morning.



When I called them Wednesday afternoon I spoke to the service advisor and he told me to just come in once when the window seal arrives and they'll take care of everything. So I wait the whole week and I haven't had a call back form them. When I call them in Monday afternoon the next week the service advisor that was in at that time had no idea what part I was inquiring about and couldn't see anything in my records about a part being on order. He tells me to call in the next day after 2pm when the other service advisor is in. So I call back tuesday at 4 and speak to the guy I've been dealing with and he tells me he's expecting the part in on Thursday and to bring the car in after work on Thursday. Either it takes a week for a part to come in or he forgot to order it and was going to order it in then.



Either way I bring the car in on Thursday and they have the window seal and will put it in the car, I mentioned to them about the issues with the car from the day I brought it in and they said they'll take a look. I went on a test drive with the mechanic that worked on my car and sure enough the rattle was there on idle so he brings the car into the shop and while I'm still in the car he starts taking the dashboard apart because the rattle seemed like it was coming from behind the steering wheel. When he took off the trim piece around the gauges I noticed the gauges were being held by 1 screw and the other screw was missing. I asked him why there's a screw missing and he tells me that when he was working on the car the screw fell into the dash and he wasn't able to find it. So I said to him "So you just left it like that?" and his reply was "Don't worry it'll hold with one screw." I asked him if he can put a replacement screw in and he explained to me that "The backing piece of the screw fell in as well and that's needed to hold the screw in and we don't keep them in stock. Don't worry man your gauges aren't going anywhere" So I let him work on the car and decided to not argue with him over the screw as he is the guy trying to fix the rattling issue.



He comes back after he found the rattling issue. When he intially did the work he took my K&N Intake out to get access to the area he was working in. When he reinstalled the intake there's a small piece of plastic(I'm not sure what the purpose of it is) but it has these electronic pulses it creates. That plastic piece was touching the brake master cylinder creating the rattle. He showed me that and said that the rattle was caused because I have an aftermarket Intake. I told him I had the intake in there before too and never had rattling issues until he took the intake out and the two parts that caused the rattle aren't a part of the intake. So we both came to an agreement to zip tie the plastic piece away from the brake master cylinder and fix the issue. They brought the car around and tried to charge me a diagnostic fee to "cover the labour they have to pay the mechanic" I had to argue with them again that the issue started after they worked on my car so why do I have to pay for it?" So they "waived" the fee for me for all the hassle they've caused me. When I get in the car the rattle was gone but the speaker was still dirty and when I brought it back around to them I told them that the speaker still has the liquid on it, I took a guess and said it could be coke or a drink of some sort but it wasn't there before I brought it in. At first the service advisor tells me that people tend to notice these things more after getting work done and that it may have been there from before and I just didn't notice it until it was brought in. and when I asked the mechanic he looked at it and said he dropped the AC's Coolant on it and forgot to clean it up, so they cleaned it up really quick and gave me the car back.



I called the service manager on Friday but was unable to get a hold of him and didn't leave a voicemail because I wanted to explain to him the situation in detail. So I called back on Monday and I told him the reply that the mechanic gave me when I inquired about the screw and the service manager agreed with me that he shouldn't have given me that answer and he will inquire about it and give me a call back. He called back after 4-5mins and told me that he spoke to the mehanic and the parts necessary have already been ordered and they've received them so I just need to come in and they'll fix it for me. I told him I'll come in on Tuesday when the service manager is in as well. So I went in yesterday after work and the service manager called the mechanic as well and had him show us what the issue is. He showed him that the screw is missing along with the backing plate and as I'm standing there the mechanic changes his statement and says "These are the parts that I told the customer that were missing from the beginning when he brought the car in. Both the screw and the backing piece might have been dropped or misplaced by whoever installed the aftermarket alarm/starter in the car must've lost or forgot to put back in the car" I couldn't stand the guy lying in front of me so I cut in and said "But you told me yourself that you dropped them and couldn't find them and that it may possibly be the cause of the rattling issue I brought the car in for" and before the guy could reply back the service manager starts inquiring about the rattle and the mechanic fills him in about how my aftermarket intake supposedly caused rattling issues that they had to fix. So the service manager tells the guy to take care of my car. It didn't come to my mind but I should've asked at that time "If the parts were missing from before and I didn't pay for them, why were they ordered in?"



While the car's getting fixed the service manager starts telling me that when people get work done from outside of toyota things start to fall apart or screws go missing and then people come back and blame toyota for it. I cut him off there and explained to him that the alarm system was installed in the car while I was sitting in the passenger seat as the work was done by my friend who's a professional car installer and he put everything back in it's place in front of my eyes including those two screws. I told him how his mechanic lied to my face and that he admit to me that he dropped the screw. Service manager cut me off again before I could finish my sentence and told me that earlier that morning he had chatted with the mechanic and he told him that he dropped the backing piece because the screw was missing from before. Right away I caught the fact that the statements that the mechanic made aren't matching. He admit to the service manager that the screw was missing and he dropped the backing piece off and then in front of me he said both pieces were missing from before. When I brought that to the attention of the manager his reply was "Why are you making a big deal over a screw? We're doing you a favour by fixing the EVAP assembly and now we're taking our time out to fix the mistake someone else made." I told him it's not about the screw, it's about the hassle I've had to go through having to come back here over and over again. I told him it's covered under warranty and the mechanic gets paid to fix it so he's not doing me a favour. He as usual questioned that as well that it's a TSB and is not covered under warranty and they're doing me a favour. I gave in and asked him the last question before I left and he had no answer for it "If your Toyota mechanic did noticed that the screw was missing, why didn't he fix it the last time I came in?"



I've decided to take my service to another dealership. My dad initially suggested me to come to Bolton Toyota for the purchase of my car because he brings his Highlander in for servicing there. After I told him about my experience he's decided to take his business elsewhere. He's looking to trade in his 2003 Highlander in for either a new highlander or a Venza in a month or two and I assure you he won't be dealing with Bolton Toyota.



/a very long rant over a tiny screw