My wife and I took our corolla into Riverview Toyota for a recall repair this week. When my wife made the appointment, the office rep offered a courtesy rental car for no charge while the car was being fixed. This seemed like a convenient offer so we accepted. So far so good.
My wife dropped off the car and then was required to sign a "rental agreement" for the Sienna they let her borrow. After driving the van home and dropping our son off at preschool, she was at home for the rest of the day. A few hours later we noted that the back tire was low on air. Lo and behold, a good sized screw was lodged in the sidewall of the tire. She immediately filled the tire at our house, and drove it back to the dealership. The van was in our possession for a grand total of about 5 hours.
When my wife got to the dealership, our car was finished, and she was ready to check out with Brendan Lamb. Brendan consulted the manager on duty, who my wife said came out briefly to speak to Brendan but did not direct a single word to her. Brendan (acting under the direction of his supervisor, to be fair- I get it Brendan;) then proceeded to charge my wife $193.40 for the "damage" done to the car. In the rental agreement, it states that the renter (in this case, a mother with a 5 and a 2 year old with her who accepted the offer to drive a "courtesy rental" for a few hours while a recall was being repaired) is solely responsible for any damages done to the car while it is in her possession. Apparently "damages" includes a nail that very possibly could have been in the tire from the beginning. So all in all, we take our car in to have the recall repaired and are now out almost $200.
I spoke with Service manager Evan and Assistant GM Laura who after a fair amount of resistance offered store credit. Sorry, no thanks, you still have my $200 which is wrong.
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