Here is the situation. I reported a problem with a door latch when my 2006 XB was still under warranty 3 YEARS ago at 30k miles. The rear passenger door latch hangs funny causing the door to close improperly.

The local dealer just lubed it up and said it was fixed. Took it back a week later to get it fixed AGAIN. They replaced a part, but it still was not fixed. Took it back again when I had time a month later, they just lubed it AGAIN and said it was fixed. Took it back again later, they said it would take 2-3 days and have to be kept overnight at a body shop. I skipped on that since my schedule could not permit that.

Took it there again a year ago to try and get in on an appointment, that fell through.

Due to my busy schedule, I have not had time to be in town to have it serviced until today. Now they said since it's over 100k miles now, and so much time has gone by it is not a warranty issue. They suddenly did find the real problem and said the entire latch assembly has to be replaced, and it will be close to $300 after their discount for me.

I have been trying with every free window of time to get this fixed, and they screwed it up everytime, and now they won't take care of it. I have read many stories like this and have been told to speak to Scion about it.

Any advice on this? I just got finished going over this with the service manager on the phone from the local Toyota place, and this makes no sense. THEY were the ones who screwed up on this REPEATEDLY, and now they said I have to pay for their mistake?

 

If you bring a car in for an issue before the warranty expires and they don't actually fix it until after the warranty expires they are still on the hook for the repair. You made every reasonable effort to get it fixed under warranty(bringing it in several times) and it sounds like they (whether intentionally or unintentionally) didn't fix the problem during that time period. They are legally obligated to honor the warranty and fix the problem for free.
Do you have any of the invoices for the past attempts to fix it under warranty? Either bring those in, or get copies from the dealership and explain that the car was broken when it was under warrenty and just because they couldn't find the problem until after the warranty they are still responsible.
If you can't get anywhere with the dealership try bringing it to another one, Or you can contact Scion directly at: 866-707-2466

 

Open a complaint with Toyota Customer Service. Have your repair reciepts with you and have photcopies made of them. Let them know what date and times the efforts were made to correct the problem 3 years and 70,000 miles ago and that those efforts did not correct the problem, offer to fax the documents to them.

Let them know why the delay in returning it to the dealership to have the issue identified now. They may help a lot or a little but anything is better than $300 bucks for a latch. The nice thing is it will open a Toyota service ticket with the dealership which is a pain in the butt for them.

Stay polite but firm about your displeasure. Good luck

 

i wouldnt want to fix it either if i was them. Your telling me in that 70k time frame since you noticed the problem at 30k you couldnt take a day off of work or whatever you do to let them have your car. 70k is like 5 years of driving.

 

Getting them to point an ear in your direction is simple getting them to listen or even do anything is impossible

 

That is a lot of time that has passed. I would have taken it to them years ago, dropped it off, got a loaner and let them have it till it was fixed.

But that's the past and this is the present. I would definitely bring up that you took it to them several times in the past and it never got fixed. And everything else as stated above. Just get with scion/Toyota corporate and see if you can get the ball rolling. But it's gonna be a hard ball to roll with the current mileage situation.


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I drive about 30k miles per year easily. And I have taken it there MANY times, and every time something happened. I also migrate between two cities 600 miles apart. My schedule does not allow much downtime for this car. If I am not working or in school, I am catching up on errands and taking care of the family (since I am only driver in the house). And this was a low priority problem considering that not having a car for 3 days meant either time off from work or a rental.

I admit it seems extreme. But they kept giving me excuses and delays. On the first (maybe 2nd attempt) I had to bring it in 3 different times before they had the right parts in stock to attempt it. Another time it was kept overnight before they told me it needs to spend a few days in a body shop. Then I arranged that after I scheduled some down time, only to have it come back to them saying it was their problem due to the latch, not the door alignment as they claimed. This last time, the guy I talked to was different and seemed certain this time they can fix it, just not under the original warranty complaint.

The good part is I went in and spoke to them this afternoon, and they agreed after reviewing the details and numerous tickets and work done to do the job and only charge me labor. So I am going to try this AGAIN next week and arrange my schedule again.

Thankfully there are some different people this time and they are in shock at how MANY times that car has been there with this problem unfixed.

***EDIT*** I did have the guy tell me that a possibility was the previous people didn't want to mess with it and fix it right because it is a pain to install the complete latch assembly (or something like that) right. So I get the impression that it was intentionally ignored and passed off to others.

 

i had the same prob {not really} just weld the doors shut....prob fixed