Valdosta Toyota

We hate to hear that you had a negative experience with our Service Department, but I was able to track down exactly what happened. During your write-up, we had documented that you would be waiting at the dealership during your maintenance, not that you were leaving and returning later to pick it up. I can't say for sure whether or not you changed your mind or whether we just made a mistake in entering that information, but procedurally, we handle those cases very differently. Since we thought you were waiting here at the dealership while we completed the work, our procedure is that as soon as the vehicle is coming out of the shop, we pull it right up through the drive (which is right next to the exit doors in the showroom, not in a position where cars that are being sold are parked), leave the keys in it, and we immediately walk over to notify the customer that their vehicle is ready. Since you have done business with us several times, you likely have done this before. It makes for a very smooth and efficient exit that customers appreciate, all while being within clear/continuous view of our staff. For people that are leaving the vehicle with us, on the other hand, the vehicle leaves the shop and is parked in a parking spot, the keys being kept at the Service Advisor's desk. A vehicle being parked in a random or unmonitored spot would never happen. Fortunately, the miscommunication on whether or not you were staying or leaving didn't have any consequence, because it seems that you returned very shortly after it had been pulled into that exit position. A vehicle is never sitting in that position long, so it sounds like our schedules synced up despite the mix up. So we apologize for any confusion or concern, but hopefully this explanation helps clear things up. We hope to serve you even better in the future.

Unfortunately, we believe that you've been given bad/misleading/insufficient information about your daughter's visit. After speaking with the Service Advisor and Service Manager, they made it clear that your daughter's boyfriend (that was with her) told us that he did not actually want the vehicle diagnosed for noise. But out in the drive during this discussing, we told them that we would not take the vehicle apart (rendering you unable to keep driving it that day) before knowing that the parts were available, trying to lessen the concern with having the body shop try to diagnose the problem. So our team was trying to be thorough and considerate, but it seems that the same story was not communicated back to you. Hopefully that provides some necessary context, but if you'd like to learn more, feel free to give our Service Manager – Terrill Head – a call at 229-316-4141.

I spoke to both my daughter and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend said he initially asked if the service department had ever heard of a wind noise with the trim above the windshield on an FJ. I told him to ask about it because Toyota should have a technical bulletin about the problem and how to correct it. It is a common problem with FJ's. He further told the service advisor that he didn't want them tampering with it, he just wanted to know if it was something they had information on. They weren't sure who it was that made the comment that the vehicle was so old the parts may not be available but they said they thought it was the service advisor as he had a shirt with a black collar. What I don't understand is why would you make a comment to a customer that their vehicle is so old that parts may not be available before checking on the part. The vehicle is only eleven years old. Telling a customer their vehicle is too old without actually knowing if the parts are still available is not very thorough or considerate. We think it is the clips under the trim. There is nothing wrong with the trim itself.