consumer complaint - Toyota

On Thursday Nov. 16, 2006, I brought my 2005 Toyota

Corolla to the Team Toyota Service Dept. for a basic

oil change and a rotation of my tires. I went back to

my office while the service was being done. I was

called by Service Advisor Michael Sterling and was

informed by him that my tires needed to be replaced

before the end of the year. Since my car was already

there, I told Mr. Sterling to go ahead and replace my

tires for brand new ones. The total came to $548. 96.

Exactly two weeks later, Thursday, Nov. 30, I came out

of Wal-Mart with bags of groceries to find my front

passenger tire was flat. I walked to the

Wal-Mart Service Department and a serviceman came and

pumped up my tire with air so I could get to Team

Toyota. I approached Mr. Sterling's desk and told him

about my tire. I waited for 50 minutes until Sterling

came and told me that they found nothing wrong with

the tire and that “maybe they forgot to pump it all

the way with air.”

The following Saturday, Dec. 2, I went to my car to

find the same tire flat again. And again, I pumped my

tire with air, went to Team Toyota and approached

Sterling. I left my car there and got a ride back to

work. When I returned later in the day, Sterling told

me “The valve just popped off when we checked it. The

first time we checked it, it was fine.” I asked him if

I would get a new tire if I had this problem again. He

said, “I can't promise that.”

This story brings me to tonight, Dec. 4, when I am

driving down the interstate at 9 p.m. when I feel my

tire going flat very quickly. I pulled over to the

side of interstate and checked my tire. To my

surprise, it looked fine. But when I looked at my rear

right tire, it was almost completely flat. I tried

pumping it up with air but it remained flat. I put my

spare tire on my car and drove very carefully home.

So, tomorrow I will again face Mr. Sterling at Team

Toyota. I am now very afraid of driving my car and I

suspect that when I get my car back for the fourth

time, I will still be scared to drive it.

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