Rich

When my wife bought her xD fifteen days ago, we were told that the car with the color and accessories she wanted was at a nearby dealer and we should have it in two days. After leaving a deposit, we're then told that oops, their mistake, it's still at the POE, about two hundred miles away.


I'll try to keep this brief and touch on only the MAJOR problems........... believe me, there were others I'm not gonna mention. On Monday it finally arrives, after having to push the dealer every step of the way. I'm told we can pick it up Tuesday at 4:00pm. Just as we're leaving the house, we get a call telling us they're having trouble installing the accessory security system and to be there at 5:00pm instead. We arrive and sit in the waiting room for an hour, then told to go home............

At 10:00am we receive another phone call and are told it would be ready in an hour. So dummy me asks (rather grufly, I'll admit) if he's sure it will be ready then, and he gets all insulted. So we arrive at 11:00am and you guessed it, we wait ANOTHER TWO HOURS!

Then we're finally told the alloys are on backorder (I knew this would be the case beforehand- but didn't let on). When we're finally allowed to look at our new car, there are a few scratches that are then polished out- nothing serious, but annoying as hell by this point. It's now 2:00pm and three hours total.

After we've left, it occurs to my wife that we didn't get an insurance ID card, so we drive the half-hour back and discover that they never notified our insurance company!! It takes another half-hour to get our insurance ID cards. Can you believe- we weren't INSURED!

Now, after having said all that, we've been driving around a couple of hours and are delighted with our new car. We bought it in nautical blue, with automatic and ESC, then added security system, 16" alloys and rear bumper protector. Alloys and bumper protector are on back order with no idea when to expect delivery.

This car is quiter than I expect for what I would call an entry-level vehicle, and fit and finish are a pleasant surprise, as well as its ability to move into highway traffic. And I love using my iPod thru the sound system.

The last thing I want to say to a prospective buyer is that I really disliked the looks of this little beast when I first saw it, but in the last two weeks it has really grown on me. In its own way, it's rather handsome.

Hopefully, the service department at this dealership is better than the sales department- it has to be, cuz it couldn't possibly be worse. They do have a reputation for good service in this community, so I'm not really worried on that score, but our salesman was the pits.

Best Regards,
Rich

Red_xD

Well...glad you're enjoying the car!!! :D The only negative thing we encountered when picking up the car was that one of the hub caps was severly scratched up...but not a problem, the sales person got another one and replaced it! He even showed me his dirty hands after replacing it himself!

xBster

wow...sorry to hear about your terrible delivery.....glad to hear you like the car so far!

OldYeller

There is a place on the website to comment on dealers. I would do that if I were you. Look under the features section at the top of the page.

draxcaliber

what dealership was this?

zoltiz

But it did take them half a day (or possibly more) to install an OEM accessory (security system) that comes with detailed instructions and pictures and for the most part just plugs in. I'd be worried.

formermember75

Sorry to hear about yr troubles. I'd be curious to know the dealership too.

I pre-ordered mine in July, was told I would have it by the 10th of August, ended up picking it up on the 25th. It was worth the wait as I really like it.

I originally also wanted the alloys, however I'm rethinking my options. If someone gets a set of them I'd like to see what they think of them.

Are you able to control the iPod from the headunit when the car is moving? Just curious....

draxcaliber

well, point to argue, maybe they were taking their time with the installations so all the service technicians can see how it all done, and make sure they do it right the first time, because they haven't installed that many accessories on the xd's yet.

i remember back in 04 when i got my tc, it took them like 3 days to put my oem lip spoiler on.

zoltiz

I write code for living - never had any formal wrenching education or any job remotely related to wrenching. It took me about 2 hours to put an alarm in my girl's xA, and I've never seen an xA before that. tC lip spoiler took me about 30 minutes. tC springs - 2 hours (dealer bills for 2.9hrs per corner I think). I guess all quotes take into account that a 3 year old with a plastic wrench set might be doing the work.

jamesIV

i am a tech for a toyota dealership in central PA, i would just like to say the the accesories scion provide do not pay the technician much to installed compared to the labor involved. The security system being one of the worst. The trouble in installing it porbally came because it would have been one of the last jobs anyone wanted to do so it would have been pushed back as late as possible.... Also the instructions the techs recieve from scion are not always accurate. They are japanese originally then they are translated to french and then into english so from time to time mistakes are made. There was a serious issue with the instructions for the xa and xb cruise control when it first came out.
Intsalling the security system pays the technician 1.5 hours of labor, but requires most of the dash to be removed and multiple wires must be spliced it does not simpily plug in as i read someone above saying. Once a tech has done several installs we can do them much quicker but the first time on a brand new car always takes longer.

jamesIV

it sucks that the dealership you went to is ripping people off, if toyota heard they were charging 2.9 hours a corner for springs they would be shut down. Scion has something called pure price which means whatever the listed price is is what the dealer can charge. So in a real dealership that follows the rules you pay 2.0 hours for all four corners plus 1.5 hours for the alignment, however mostdealerships charge 70 ish for the alignment eventhough it 1.5 hours is more like 120 dollars

zoltiz

Thank you for mentioning that Scion accessories come with install time specs. I'm going to get my girl's xA aligned at the dealer tomorrow and will talk to a service adviser about that. He did not know what to charge me for the xD, so we went out into the bay and talked to one of the techs - tech said that he didn't know either, but since the suspension is relatively close to the corolla, he recommended that we look up the rates for it. Service adviser guy looked up the rolla and his "book" said 2.9hrs per corner. So obviously I ended up doing the xD myself, even though I was ready to pay somebody and enjoy a quiet evening at home.

Rich

I may do that tomorrow- as long as I'm sure it won't come back to bite me with their service department. Thanks.

Rich

I only tried my iPod in the driveway- I'll try it tomorrow while rolling and post the results tomorrow night. As far as the dealership goes, I'd rather not say which, in case I'm accused of slander, or whatever the legal term.

zoltiz

Slander? If it's true - it's true.

The iPod control works when the car is moving, but honestly it's pretty dangerous if you have a lot of music on the device. Premium HU's **** is a tad sensitive, too. I got used to it, but was entertained when my girlfriend tried to use it on a bumpy road.

I need to try it with audiobooks from audible - that was pretty much my main hope for the iPod functionality.

Rich

True or not, it still can be construed as slander, yes? I'm no lawyer, are you?

I usually use my iPod on 'shuffle' anyway, or set up my playlists beforehand.

haskovec

It can't be construed as slandar, because slander is when you say something. Libel is when you write something bad about someone. It can only be libel if it is a lie, but that doesn't seem to stop many companies from suing when they have no case anyway.

Rich

Thanks for the clarification. Bottom line is that I'm planning on having my car serviced by this dealer and since I don't take pains to hide my identity online, it would be pretty easy for them to determine just who had written a scathing review. I'm gonna just leave well enough alone.......... coward, I guess.

Rich

[quote="Rich"]Well, I just tried the iPod while the car is moving, and it works fine, both on the head unit and steering wheel. If it didn't, the first thing I would check is to see if I had the latest iPod software (1.1.3 in the Macintosh format) or iTunes (7.3.2 on the Mac).

I wouldn't be fiddling with anything complicated, like changing playlists while trying to drive, but I don't do that while running, either.

Rich

Tell me anyone, are there a lot of manufacturers providing plastic hubcaps, or is it just Scion?