Dan Barbu

Review of Gateway Toyota ,Inc.

Took my car for a service recently, and while the ...

Took my car for a service recently, and while the service desk staff are very nice and courteous, the experience was everything but that.

I took the vehicle in after it had slid into a curb, as I noticed that the steering wheel was turned more when locked to the left as it was when it was turned fully locked right. I figured this might have to do with the steering rack and it being off centre.

I made mention of this to the service advisor when I got there, and I was informed they'd inspect the car first and then call me if an alignment would be needed.

I got a call a little while later and was told that they inspected the car, and found no damage. With that being said, I was told that they had completed the alignment and decided not to charge me for the inspection. No issue there, that was actually the small bit of good news in all of this.

Upon paying and getting ready to drive the car home, I decided to check the steering again, and to my surprise, same issue. The steering wheel was turning more to full left lock than full right lock. I went back in to speak to the Service Desk and they had the Shop Foreman look at my car. After some running around and them looking at my car again, all they said was that the car was fine and nothing was wrong with it. When I asked why the wheel was turning more to the left vs right when being turned fully both ways, I didn't get a specific answer. The Foreman kept telling me that the car is fine and kept trying to explain how the steering rack works. I know how it works, I just wanted to know why on this particular car, it wasn't working as it should. I still couldn't get an answer. I kept asking why that is, since I wanted to know for my own knowledge. I kept being told the car is fine, without actually receiving a clear answer.
Prior to purchasing the car from someone else, I checked this and the wheel turned the same both directions.
After a while of me wanting to get a specific answer as to why this was happening on my car, the Foreman just brushed me off saying he had "other things to do than argue". I didn't feel as if I was arguing, I just wanted a straight answer.
I have no problem with paying to have my car fixed, but I'd want to know why my initial concern wasn't taken care of, or at least explained/addressed. It feels like I've paid for absolutely nothing.

Funny thing is, the yellow tag they put on my mirror says to "contact Service if you're not 100% satisfied", which I did, to no avail. I thought the Toyota way of operating is always striving for excellence (including customer service), something clearly lacking during my visit today.

I'm out $140 and I still have no answer as to why my car exhibits the issue I mentioned above. As I said, I have no issue with paying to have my car fixed, but it sure bugs me to have to pay for something and not have my concerns addressed, or at least clearly answered.

Instances like these really make me lose faith in the brand, which is ironic, because this was one of the main reasons I bought a Toyota to begin with.

For some stuff like oil changes, I'm guessing Gateway does an adequate job. But for more complicated service appointments, after my experience today, I wouldn't recommend taking your car here.