Re: Huntington Toyota

I own a 2000 Toyota Avalon XLS with a mileage of 68,000. I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction and frustration regarding the service I received at Huntington Toyota (formally Steven Imports, Inc.). This dealership is located at 1720 Jericho Turnpike, Huntington, NY 11743, tel. 631-423-6226.

On December 7th 2006 I had my remote control for key less entry re-programmed and a new key made at this dealership. In less then one months time both my old and new remote controls are non-operational. This prompted me to again have both my remote controls reprogrammed on January 2nd 2007. Yet again, in less then 2 months time they stopped working. On June 12th 2007 I brought this issue to the Huntington Toyota dealership. I was informed by the Assistant Service Manager that the keyless entry computer is now defective. I was further informed that this computer is not under warranty and that I would have to pay the replacement cost of $813.58 + tax out of my own pocket (for comparison desktop computer cost is now about $600.00).

The sequence of events is clear, both of my remote controls stopped working only after the old one and the new one had been reprogrammed by a Toyota dealership. It would appear that the work has not been done right. I brought this to the attention of Assistant Service Manager, Mr. Chris Garzone, and asked him if he could assist me in resolving this issue. His response was to inform me that he was not going to “bend over” and eat that amount of money! I was shocked by his response and amazed by the lack of customer service that this dealership has! It is obvious that they really do not care about customer satisfaction (though this is their slogan) and are willing to lose a long time customer, neglecting the profit he brings to the dealership. I rank Toyota vehicles as the best cars in the world and had hoped their customer service would be the same. This is why I am extremely disappointed with this dealership and believe it has tarnished Toyota’s reputation.

I am asking for your assistance in resolving of this issue.

Thank you very much for your understanding,
Mark.