Vandergriff Toyota, Arlington, Texas
 

Stay away from these guys. The buying experince was from the poor to low average. Typical of many used car dealer expiences, if something is wrong with the vehicle they claim "they all do that" or "oh that sound is normal". When faced with the fact it isn't normal, there is reluctant agreement to do something.

But the real thing to stay away from is their service. One of the things that was repaired (replaced) on my 4runner due to my inspection was the rear passenger side shock absorber. What should be a simple fix turned into this:

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/wireless/P9110235.JPG

As you can guess, the metal above the shock is not supposed to look torn and bent. It appears that the technician had trouble getting to the top nut and took matters into his own hands.
While I should raise a stink, there is no actual effect on the truck, and no real way of repairing. Just makes me mad.

So in short, stay as far from these guys as possible and feel free to link to this thread to warn others.

R

form that pic, that shock also looks like the lower bushing was double bushinged? like there are 2 instead of one, as if the top bolt was too long for the tool he used.... there really is no need to do anything about the barely mangled metal, its not that big a deal, well to me anyways, heck, hes helping you out if you need to do that later down the line... however, if he modified it, he could have at least cleaned itu p better.. i would have used a die grinder with a cutoff wheel and finsihed with a file to make sure it didnt look horrible or dangerous to the next tech to shove his hand up there

Was going to say the same thing.

Looks like a 4th gen mount, and if I just paid that kind of cash for a truck, I'd be pissed if someone mangled it no matter where the location of the mangling took place.

man, if you had come to Yotatech with your problem I would've done the work for you!!

WoW, I would be pissed. It is your rig though and your right to not care. But if you did care and were pissed off I would back you up. I would be down there in a heartbeat raising hell. Even if it does not matter to you I would still say something. Go to a private body shop and ask how much it would cost to repair that (both sides?) Then take the quote to them and have them write out a check and either get it fixed to make it right or if you dont care, clean it up on your own. Then I would use the money they give you to buy some toys for your rig. My 2 cents

Yeah, I shot off a nasty-gram email with the same pic. Dealers being what they are, I don't have great faith in them doing the right thing. They are a long distance from me and I would likely never gone back to them anyway.

rOcky, I would have loved to make this a DIY project, but they owed this to me and I wanted them to spend the money and do it. Of course in hind sight, I should have just took the shock from them and waved goodbye. From now on, the dealer will be touching this only for extreme reasons.

Thanks for the support guys, it actually helps having other people pissed as I am.

R

so does that shock actually have an extra rubber bushing on the bottom?

Unacceptable. I would take this right up the ladder.

Yes, this is a 4th gen. There does appear to be both an upper and lower bushing on the shock mount.

R

wireless, if you're in Plano and you need a good dealership - go over to Toyota of Plano and tell them what Vandergriff did, and let them know that you had heard that they (Plano) were better. Their service department is very customer-oriented and good. Talk to James Wood in the service dept. ... he helped order all the parts for the sulfur fix for me without me ever having come in before, and he was very nice in general.

(well ... then they forgot to put the sticker with the updated '04 ecu info on it, so he had me drop back by and took care of it himself)

and I've had HORRIBLE experiences with a few other dealerships in the area ... so it does say something that I found Toyota of Plano to be a very honest/good dealership as far as service goes.

rOcky,

Thanks for the recommendation, word of mouth is gold in my books. Not to mention that Toyota of Plano is pretty close. I dropped by Toyota of Richardson during the buying phase and didn't like that place at all. Maybe their service is better.

I will check out ToP next time I need something (hopefully not soon).

BTW, would love to see your rig sometime if you are around. I have been wondering what the 4th gen looks like with a lift.

R

oh good lord ... whatever you do, do not take your truck to Toyota of Richardson. seriously. i had to call Toyota Corp. and even they were appalled ... as were the credit card company and BetterBusinessBureau. i won't go into it any further, but please take my word for it - Toyota of Plano is 20000x better, faster, and more honest.

:bigok:

there are a lot of 4th gens with lifts .... if you search here on yotatech for fourunnabilly, ahriman, Good Times, Biff, bulldog-yota, 02Runner, First Toy, doanlaw, and i know there are others just not coming to mind right now ...

:good:

You know I had yet to see a good color whole-rig shot until this pic :bigok:

Wireless:
As Christian said, that is simply unacceptable. The dealership has absolutely NO right to hack up your vehicle. Take the issue all the way to the top if you need to. That's just ridiculous for them to cut into your body to make their work easier :nono: