I want to tell everybody on the web my very bad experience with Leith Toyota service department. You should think twice before having your car services there. The service guy I dealt with was totally after the $. I agreed to have a diagnostic check because my car had the engine light on. So they did find the problem and gave me a call on the phone about it. The service guy described the cause of the problem. So I immediately realized it was the job another repair shop did. So I told him I wanted to call the other shop to see if they could fix the problem for free. However, the guy encouraged me to fix the problem there and it would cost me $300. I told him wait and let me get back to him. In a couple of hours later, I couldn't get back to him by phone. So I sent him an email telling him not to fix the problem. He then replied later by email and said it's fine; he's not going to fix the problem. Just when I was about to thank him in a reply email, he called and said on the phone that the technician had fixed the problem during the diagnostic test, and it would cost me $180 or so. I said we had discussed not to fix the problem over the phone earlier. He then changed his story and said I misheard the earlier conversation and that his technician was fixing the problem. I said that's not what he said. He then said I had to pay for it. I asked if he could unfix the problem. He said no. I said how he could force me to pay $180 that I didn't agree with. What happened if it were $1000. He said it's not $1000. It's only $180. I said if he's assuming I really had $180 to give him. I said if it were $20, I would have paid. Next he said I could ask the other shop to pay for it. I said why the other shop would pay for it. That's just not right. After a long exchange, I finally said I am going to report to WRAL TV and I have his email reply, he then said I would take care of it. This guy lied to my face and didn't care about his lies. He wouldn't even let me talk to his supervisor. So, if anyone is thinking of taking your car there to service, you should watch out. I definitely would not take my car there at all.\r
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10/25/2012: So I got a call from the service guy's superior today after he said he saw the online review I made. He tried to understand what his guy did to me and wanted to offer me free maintenance services to his shop next time and to personally shake my hand. I told him I would not step into his place ever again because I don't want anybody there to hold my car hostage. Next, he would like me to reconsider taking down this negative post. I told him in today's social media world, if his company gives bad service to customers, he should expect bad reviews online. My thinking is that if he said what he said that he has over 3000 customers coming to his shop in a month, and people are happy with their service, and this was an isolated case, then my bad review should be buried on this site over time. So I don't think I should take the post down. Other customers can decide whether they want to take their car to the shop after seeing this post. I don't really want to screw the service guy up. I hope he learned his lesson, and tries not to lie his next customers.
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