CardinaleWay Toyota

Review: On 1/10/2013, CardinaleWay Toyota performed repairs on my 1996 Toyota Landcruiser. These repairs were made due to their mechanic's advice that the vehicle's front axle seals should be replaced and the front wheel bearings be repacked. The spindle sub-assembly was also replaced with new parts on the advice of the mechanic completing this job. At the time, he informed me that the condition of the front axle, bearings and related assembly would be "like new" and that it would "last another 200,000 miles." He also reminded me, for peace of mind, that the work was under warranty. Because of this suggestion, I felt confident that my $2308.64 would be an investment into this car that I planned to keep driving in the foreseeable future.Unfortunately, after driving only 3,381 miles, another Toyota mechanic (on 5/17/2013 at Carson City Toyota Scion), alerted me that the left front "wheel bearing was loose" and that the left front "Birfield (was making) noise when making left hand turns." Around 5/21 (the next week), I returned to CardinaleWay Toyota and explained the problem with the front wheel bearings and the clicking noise with the Birfield. After inspecting the vehicle, the same mechanic who performed the $2308.64 job, said there was no problem and that the mechanics in Carson were wrong. However, on 8/22/13, after having the car parked most of the summer, I brought it to another shop for an issue with the radiator. Their mechanic promptly informed me that the Birfield was clicking and that the problem earlier reported by Carson City Toyota was in fact a real problem (only 342 miles of driving after the problem was first diagnosed in Carson City). Returning to CardinaleWay, I explained that the wheel bearing problem was confirmed by another mechanic and that this issue should be covered under warranty, given their recent repair work. Finally, they too identified the problem, but have refused to fix it free of charge.

Product_Or_Service: Repairs to Front Wheels

Order_Number: TOCSXXXXXX

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

By phone- 9/17/13- I told the owner that his business must fix the problem free of charge (as their work is still under warranty). He agreed to set up a meeting to see the vehicle and determine if the work should be covered by warranty. He cancelled this meeting and never rescheduled. I have waited over a month and heard nothing. Since work on 1/10/2013 led to the subsequent problem with the wheel bearings/birfield, CardinaleWay must cover parts and labor, repair this problem free of charge.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Contacted Customer by Phone and left Message, no return call from customer. Researched customers concerns with Service Department and Toyota Motor Division. The customer's issues and concerns are non-related to previous repairs. The vehicle is a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser with in excessive of 200,000 miles.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

The Toyota mechanic explained that work was maintenance needed to ensure proper operation of the front wheels and axle assembly and that the work was covered by warranty. Instead, the work resulted in the failure of a part that had previously had no problems. The initial appearance of this problem, a looseness or clicking in the Left-front Birfield was recognized by another Toyota mechanic (soon after Cardinale's work was completed), but Cardinale Toyota would not initially acknowledge the problem. The recognition of the problem by a second local mechanic was needed before the Cardinale mechanics acknowledged the problem, and by this time (after further driving) the Left-front birfield was reported to be broken. If the problem had been addressed sooner, the problem might have been fixed without replacing parts, etc., but by simply making appropriate adjustments to the tightening of the related drive-train and wheel assembly (work that apparently wasn't done properly the during the earlier service, resulting in the problem).

I did call Cardinale Toyota back and they have agreed to look at the problem more closely. Their service manager did not deny responsibility for the repairs during this call, but insisted he wanted to "make things right." While he didn't confirm that repair work would be completed without further charges to me, I explained I would only be satisfied if the problem was completely corrected under warranty and without further charges to me. I will meet with the service manager and hopefully they will repair this problem.

Final Business Response

Per my last response on 11/25/2013, I had left a message for Mr. [redacted] on or about 11/23/2013, but had not heard back from him prior to responding to the Revdex.com on 11/25/2013. Mr [redacted] returned my call on or about 11/29/2013, I informed Mr. [redacted] that I would be willing to set up an appointment and have his vehicle inspected in our Service Department and have our Technician, Service Manager, myself and him view the inspection and with the vehicle up on a rack show him the previous work that was performed by our Service Department as well as determine responsibility. We discussed having Mr. [redacted] contact me the following Monday to set up the appointment, Mr [redacted] never called me back to set up the appointment that we had agreed to. Mr [redacted] also made it clear that regardless, he will only accept that our dealership pay for all costs of parts and labor. I made it clear to Mr [redacted] that at this time I will pay for the inspection to make the determination of responsibility, but that the part that he is claiming needs replacement was not replaced previously by our dealership, that by working on his suspension we do not guarantee or warrant the complete front end, we only warranty the parts and labor of the parts that we replaced, but, again we would be willing to re-inspect and re-evaluate, but Mr [redacted] has not responded or contacted our dealership to make the appointment.

[redacted], General Manager