Complaint Review: J. Pauley Toyota

My family has been loyal customers of J.Pauley Toyota.  We have bought with cash, two new Priuses and with a check- a used car.  We bring three vehicles to be serviced regularly even though we have to drive two hours one way to get there.

Recently, my 1999 4Runner had a LOT of maintenance done totaling several thousand dollars.   I also had them check the A/C which had quit working at the end of last summer. I thought it was fixed and imagine my dismay when, on a day that I had to drive it with my two toddlers, we were stuck in 100+ degree weather with no A/C. 

I called the service dept and they said that they had simply recharged it with dyed freon and I would need to bring it back in.  Twice I brought it in over the summer to get the A/C worked on and each time I got charged even though the problem wasn't fixed.  And the final time was right before school started.  My mother had been nice enough to drive me back and forth all these times- but with school starting- she was no longer an optional driver.

When I left the 4Runner with the shop- I told them that it would have to stay there for AWHILE because there would be no way for me to get back up there for quite some time.  They were extremely friendly and assured me that it would be no problem at all. 

At the first available weekend, we drove the two hours to Ft Smith to discover three dents in my back passenger side door.  It was late in the day and almost everyone had gone.  But I had one of the service people take a picture to document it and then we drove to some friends' an hour north of Fort Smith.  On the way back, I decided to drop it back off because if I took it home there would still be the problem of no way to get back up to Fort Smith and have someone drive me back.

I got a call a few days later saying that they had "fixed it the best they could."  I was pretty upset about this wording because I have ALWAYS taken extremely good care of my vehicles and had quality work done to them.  Two of the dents had damaged the  paint.  Over the phone the intonation was that  someone had put touch-up paint on it to try to cover it up...like me. And that my car hadn't been parked by any others.  That was a lie because I had to walk out to get to my car since no one was going to bring it to me and it was most definitely parked by another.  But a car did NOT do this damage. 

My husband took off work so we could get this resolved and when I went to get the vehicle, the dents had been somewhat popped out but the paint hadn't been repaired at all.  The asst manager came out and looked and said that he wouldn't be satisfied with that work and he was really surprised at the shoddy work.  Of course, the manager was gone on vacation but that he would take care of it.

Several days passed and once again I get a call saying that they aren't going to do anything more to it.  I called the asst manager and he said it was out of his hands.  I was transferred to the manager and he was completely rude.  He said that it was my fault for leaving the vehicle so long on the lot.  Pretty much- if you are crazy enough to leave your car with them- they are not responsible for ANYTHING that happens to it...read their disclaimer on the work order form that they make you sign but you don't get a copy of. 

The great thing is- this damage happened in the shop.  My husband, who has worked extensively in shops, said that the pattern of damage was exactly what would happen were an air hose valve to get stuck open when they removed an attachment and the pressurized air hose get away from its user.

My husband missed another partial day of work when we went up that day to get it.  I was a bit concerned that more damage might happen while it was left in the dealership's care after my conversation with the manager.  It would not have cost the dealership much in time or money to fix it.  When my husband went in to get the keys he refused to sign the "work form" because no work had been done on it.  That was when he got the please of meeting "Ed," the manager.  Ed decided that maybe, after all his rudeness, they might cover half the cost of the repair.  This is after he had been nothing but rude to me.  Needless to say, we didn't accept his offer and I'll have a local place fix it...but I shouldn't have had to.  That's just more money wasted!

And this is not the first problem I have had with them.  If you take your car there and have any work done- make sure that it is with actual Toyota parts.  This same 4Runner has a keyless entry system that I thought was supposed to be factory, to replace the one that had gone out, and ended up not.  It has never worked and when I asked about it...well, they only have a 90 day guarantee on that sort of thing.  So too bad if you don't live in town where you can get up there all the time!  Beware!