Took my car for an oil change and state inspection almost 2 weeks ago, waited 5 hours without any updates from the advisor during the time. Three days ago, started hearing weird noise from the engine while driving and the car stalls while I was driving to work. Fortunately I was already close to the parking lot at work or else who knows what could've happened if I was driving on the highway. Asked my colleague to help figure out the problem and saw that there was no oil on the dipping stick. Yes, I've been driving the past two weeks with leaking engine oil. Calls AutoNation Toyota and was told to have the car towed to them so they can check on the problem. Tow company that the roadside assistance hired came 3 hours later than they said. Finally my car arrives at the dealer, the advisor in charge of my oil change service calls to ask for details of the issue, says he would call back with an update the next morning, no offers of a loaner if needed assuming that I'll be fine without my car for who know how long. Next morning, NO CALLS AT ALL! So I called his direct line around 9:30am and left a voicemail. After 3 hours of waiting, still nothing, so I called the service line and found out that the advisor had the day off. Are you serious? What kind of service is this? I would've been a fool waiting for his call if I hadn't took the initiative of calling. The worst thing is that the person I spoke to told me she'll call me back after she talks to the technician about the status and the work on my car. So again I waited. After two hours, at 3PM, still no call so I called again and asked for the person who I spoke to, and I was told that she has left for the day. WHAT?! Is this for real? Just because my case was assigned to someone that had the day off means I shouldn't get the service you are supposed to provide? So I nicely asked the person on the phone to please find out what's going on with my car because almost a day has gone by and no one even told me what was the cause of the problem and how it'll be fixed. So the guy puts me on hold, comes back in a couple of minutes and tells me "they're working on it and should be ready next morning, your advisor will give you a call." So I asked if he can at least tell me what they're actually working on, and of course being the advisor that's not responsible for my car says "your advisor will give you a call tomorrow morning." At this point I am speechless and running out of patience, and after an hour I decided to call again and if I don't get an answer I will have to speak with a supervisor who should be able to tell me what's going on, hopefully. Finally, the person who answered my call was very helpful, put me on hold for ten minutes and explained to me the cause of the problem, faulty O-ring on the oil filter from the oil change they provided, told me about the works they had done to make sure the engine is working fine after the damages from the lack of oil, and that my car is ready for pickup. (My car is actually ready to be picked up!) She then transfers me to the service director for more details and ensured that there will be no cost for me since it was the faulty O-ring. So I said I'll be there in 30 minutes (thankfully a colleague of mine offered to drop me off there). I asked the director if I should ask for him when I get there, he says he'll be off by then but ask for this other person. When I got there, asked for this other person, was directed to his desk and told to wait. 10 minutes gone by, this other person is nowhere to be seen, but I do see my keys and paperwork, so we asked a nearby advisor if the guy will be here soon, the nearby advisor was nice enough and offered to help instead of the never-ending wait I've gone through. Although he helped me with getting my car back and the paperwork, he couldn't answer the questions that I had since he doesn't know about my case, if I wanted my answers, I would have to wait who knows how long for the guy who was supposed to help me to come back. I did not want to waste another second of my life dealing with this so asked for the guy, or my actual advisor to give me a call when they're back. At this moment, while writing my review, no follow-up calls, nothing, as if nothing happened. In the end, I got my car back in working condition, crossing my fingers on this since won't really know the damages until other problem occurs. After 2 days of dealing with this mess, it's really disappointing to see how ridiculous their service is, from the oil change to fixing the issue caused by the oil change. Throughout this whole time, no one offered any service or future service, no word about the cost of towing if it's more than what my extended warranty covers, or even a refund of the oil change, as if this whole thing wasn't caused by their faulty piece of equipment that they should've checked. Why should I have suffered for their mistakes when I paid to prevent issues from happening? It feels like I was taken advantage of because I'm an Asian female. I was a loyal customer, bought my car from them 4 years ago, had my services even state inspections done with them, and yet no one wanted to help, what a let down. Hopefully, after sharing this review, no other customer will be treated this poorly and have to go through this unpleasant experience ever.
Yujung Liang
Oct 10, 2019