How I was purchasing Seat Covers for Camry 2007

[Barracuda]

Hi guys,

I was trying to purchase seat covers for my Camry LE V6 2007. That was a “show” by itself so I would like to let you all know so no one would experience the same problems.

I am a particular person who know exactly what she wants. I wanted a velvet seat covers that would be like a second glove for the seat and match the colors of the saloon as much as possible (mine is light gray). So, I went on the Ebay first. I ordered seats that were $200 +shipping and made on “automobile velour” with the 3 years warranty and no hustle return policy. In my opinion $200 is a little too much money but I wanted a good seat covers.
Longer story short, in a week I got the seats that were made of dark-gray material that felt like an old fuzzy thin towel . There were no protection or nothing. Just a material with the flosses sticking out from unfinished edges ( I know how to sew myself so there are no way on earth it would have been a professionally made covers). It took me 3 weeks and endless amount of emails to finally return those seats. I did not even try them on my car.

After I finally got my money back, I searched Internet up and down, called plenty of the companies. Most of them did not have seats for the 2007 Camry and told me to call back in 1-2 YEARS!!!

Anyway, I found store Toyota Parts Store (online). I called them and explained that I just returned seats because color and quality was not as advertised and that I am very particular person. I was told that I can order a color that I want and it would not be a problem. I also was told that they are ordering seats from the GT covers. What did I do next? I went online, found GT covers ( price was more expensive then Toyota parts store) and after talking to the representative, they have send me a samples of the material ( so I can see by my eyes colors/quality and know what I am ordering) . As soon as I got samples, I was very pleased with the texture, quality and I ordered seat covers through the Toyota Parts Store. I stressed out one more time that I want EXACT colors and patterns that I ordered and would not settle for anything else. I was assured that I will get what I want but I will have to wait for it. 3 weeks later I got seats. OMG!!! They were exactly NOT what I have ordered (have to give a credit for the quality of the material thought) . Without even trying them on my car I called the store and said that they better send to me what I have ordered. After calling and emailing them about 5 times I got a response: “you can keep what you got or you can return covers. You are not getting what you have ordered”.

At this point my husband put his foot down and said that I should at least try the seats in the car before returning them. Who knows, may be I would warm up to the color. So, two of us went with the seats covers to the car and guess what? Covers did not fit!!! It was like a bad joke.

I had to email Store again and their response was: ”well, we just sold you covers, the rest is not our responsibility. You can contact manufacture directly”. I called GT covers and they could not believe that seats would not fit. They have asked me to send pictures to them to see may be I am doing something wrong. Come on, guys, I understand that I am a woman but how difficult could it be to put a seat cover on the seat???
After receiving my pictures GT Covers representative have discovered that I got a MANUAL seats for Camry 2007 and I was told that I will have to return the one I have and Toyota Parts Store will have to reorder one for me.
I got to tell that at that point I was boiling because I had to call Toyota Parts Store again and explain it all to them. Outcome of the phone call was that I was told that I have to pay to return covers and then pay again for the new covers delivery ( we are talking about $50-60 on shipping on top of already paid $260). I was told that it was my fault that I did not ordered a right covers. That was it: I “politely” explained that may be I am a woman but I have enough brain to know that Camry LE V6 does not come with the manual seats . Automatic seats is a standard option and that I am not paying for anyone else’s mistake and that they have chance to solve their mistake at NO additional cost for me or they would lose me as a customer . Since I did not get any response from them in 24 hours I just opted to return all covers (at their cost) and insisted FULL refund ( their web site states that they are taking 15% restocking fee).
Besides a point, my hubby’s friend works in the industry and he just told me that they do NOT have Camry 2007 custom made seat covers yet and they just tried to sell me 2006 seats instead . Go figure…

It took me another 3 weeks and about 10 emails to get my money back (after I told them that if I am not getting money in a week, I am sending all correspondence that I had with them to my credit card and filing a dispute I got the money).
Overall, they had my money for 1 month and 3 weeks.


Now I have a question: does anyone know good fabric protecting spray? What shell I use to protect my car? I just need to protect it from the debris and stains.

Thanks.

[eledan]

Lol...What a nightmare.

If you have a hand at sewing, why not make some custom seats? That way you can have them exactly as you want them, an they would be one-of-a-kind.

[lammydi]

I felt for you....of all the troubles you are back to square one.
If your main purpose is to protect it from debris and stains then do what I did. I bought a generic seat cover at autozone. Here is the picture.

[Barracuda]

lammydi vbmenu_register("postmenu_1740091", true); , thank you for the idea. The thing is that since Camry 2007 has a side airbags, they are in the seat and covers for the seats have to be custom made (specifically for this model) since they have a special opening in the place where airbag. In other case, regular seat cover would hold airbag and it would not work properly ( not that I am trying to think of a bad staff but might be worth to protect yourself). Plus, to be very honest, I just love velour and how it feels on the skin . That was primary why we did not ordered XLE – I dislike leather in the car.

Eledan , that is a good idea. However, my dear husband left my sewing machine outside for the winter (you can not change them but it is impossible to live without them). So, all the rain and freeze damaged it. There are no ways it can be prepared. New one cost about $400 and up, plus the cost of fabrics, plus patterns. It truly make sense just to order seat covers ( plus you can always find some one else to blame ).

[yeuemhoai]

Since we have our kids in the Camry, I bought another take-off LE set of covers on ebay around $50 shipped. Now they can be as messy as they want :-)

[Smok3y]

Not sure if you want to try again, but here is a thread that talked about seat covers a few months ago. They looked really nice. I don't know about price and they may require professional installation.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t153781.html

Their website specifically mentions Liquicell which is what Toyota installs on Camry's at the port (at least in the SE region).

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by Barracuda

Hi guys,

I was trying to purchase seat covers for my Camry LE V6 2007. That was a “show” by itself so I would like to let you all know so no one would experience the same problems.

I am a particular person who know exactly what she wants. I wanted a velvet seat covers that would be like a second glove for the seat and match the colors of the saloon as much as possible (mine is light gray). So, I went on the Ebay first. I ordered seats that were $200 +shipping and made on “automobile velour” with the 3 years warranty and no hustle return policy. In my opinion $200 is a little too much money but I wanted a good seat covers.
Longer story short, in a week I got the seats that were made of dark-gray material that felt like an old fuzzy thin towel . There were no protection or nothing. Just a material with the flosses sticking out from unfinished edges ( I know how to sew myself so there are no way on earth it would have been a professionally made covers). It took me 3 weeks and endless amount of emails to finally return those seats. I did not even try them on my car.

After I finally got my money back, I searched Internet up and down, called plenty of the companies. Most of them did not have seats for the 2007 Camry and told me to call back in 1-2 YEARS!!!

Anyway, I found store Toyota Parts Store (online). I called them and explained that I just returned seats because color and quality was not as advertised and that I am very particular person. I was told that I can order a color that I want and it would not be a problem. I also was told that they are ordering seats from the GT covers. What did I do next? I went online, found GT covers ( price was more expensive then Toyota parts store) and after talking to the representative, they have send me a samples of the material ( so I can see by my eyes colors/quality and know what I am ordering) . As soon as I got samples, I was very pleased with the texture, quality and I ordered seat covers through the Toyota Parts Store. I stressed out one more time that I want EXACT colors and patterns that I ordered and would not settle for anything else. I was assured that I will get what I want but I will have to wait for it. 3 weeks later I got seats. OMG!!! They were exactly NOT what I have ordered (have to give a credit for the quality of the material thought) . Without even trying them on my car I called the store and said that they better send to me what I have ordered. After calling and emailing them about 5 times I got a response: “you can keep what you got or you can return covers. You are not getting what you have ordered”.

At this point my husband put his foot down and said that I should at least try the seats in the car before returning them. Who knows, may be I would warm up to the color. So, two of us went with the seats covers to the car and guess what? Covers did not fit!!! It was like a bad joke.

I had to email Store again and their response was: ”well, we just sold you covers, the rest is not our responsibility. You can contact manufacture directly”. I called GT covers and they could not believe that seats would not fit. They have asked me to send pictures to them to see may be I am doing something wrong. Come on, guys, I understand that I am a woman but how difficult could it be to put a seat cover on the seat???
After receiving my pictures GT Covers representative have discovered that I got a MANUAL seats for Camry 2007 and I was told that I will have to return the one I have and Toyota Parts Store will have to reorder one for me.
I got to tell that at that point I was boiling because I had to call Toyota Parts Store again and explain it all to them. Outcome of the phone call was that I was told that I have to pay to return covers and then pay again for the new covers delivery ( we are talking about $50-60 on shipping on top of already paid $260). I was told that it was my fault that I did not ordered a right covers. That was it: I “politely” explained that may be I am a woman but I have enough brain to know that Camry LE V6 does not come with the manual seats . Automatic seats is a standard option and that I am not paying for anyone else’s mistake and that they have chance to solve their mistake at NO additional cost for me or they would lose me as a customer . Since I did not get any response from them in 24 hours I just opted to return all covers (at their cost) and insisted FULL refund ( their web site states that they are taking 15% restocking fee).
Besides a point, my hubby’s friend works in the industry and he just told me that they do NOT have Camry 2007 custom made seat covers yet and they just tried to sell me 2006 seats instead . Go figure…

It took me another 3 weeks and about 10 emails to get my money back (after I told them that if I am not getting money in a week, I am sending all correspondence that I had with them to my credit card and filing a dispute I got the money).
Overall, they had my money for 1 month and 3 weeks.


Now I have a question: does anyone know good fabric protecting spray? What shell I use to protect my car? I just need to protect it from the debris and stains.

Thanks.

Wow. You should report these guys to the BBB and see what they can do from there. I got ripped a while back from an online car audio company (I received the wrong subwoofer size and they refused a refund) and I reported them to the BBB. Needless to say, the BBB gave the online company about a month to respond to my negative report. About two weeks after I had reported them, one of their reps called and told me that they would be sending me a new set of subs and would pay for the shipping so long as I take care of the negative report I had given to the BBB. www.bbb.org

Have you tried taking your ride to the upholstery shop? You can customize it anyway you want. I took mines in for a leather upgrade and it turned out real well because I was able to "take a peak" and make sure that the job was being done right. It may be a bit pricey but you know what quality you're gonna be getting firsthand.

[lammydi]

Originally Posted by Barracuda

lammydi vbmenu_register("postmenu_1740091", true); , thank you for the idea. The thing is that since Camry 2007 has a side airbags, they are in the seat and covers for the seats have to be custom made (specifically for this model) since they have a special opening in the place where airbag. In other case, regular seat cover would hold airbag and it would not work properly ( not that I am trying to think of a bad staff but might be worth to protect yourself). Plus, to be very honest, I just love velour and how it feels on the skin . That was primary why we did not ordered XLE – I dislike leather in the car.

Barracuda,
I have the same concern on safety that's why I cut opened a line along the side where the airbag is. Maybe you can just take your car to the local custom carseat (in San Diego we have a shop call Sheepskin carseat). Good luck.

[Barracuda]

Smok3y , Thank you for the link. It looks like it is leather not suede. I will check with them to find out. As of right now I thought just to find nice stain removal spray and deal with the seat covers in 2-3 years when most of the companies will have them in stock. I love the original seat material texture. The only one reason why I was looking for the seat covers is for the resale value of the car. But what the XXX, we do not live forever, I think I just want to enjoy what I have now.

Trojan , I was not thinking to report them to the BBB because I got my full refund back. What else BBB can do? I guess it would just add more paperwork and aggravation. I was trying to find a consumer report or something like that to post my experience but I can not find anything for this company – blank.

Before purchasing through the Internet I went to the local stores ( even contacted Toyota dealership) and I was told that they do not have any seat covers for the Camry 2007 yet. Also, as my understanding, since there is a air bag in the seat, I can not purchase just any seat because it would conflict with the air bag.


I have to tell you guys, looking back, this entire situation looks like a bad dream to me. I am buying from the Ebay and Internet very often so I have learned to keep all correspondence in writing and to save it until you received a purchase. If I would not do that- there are no way I would get my money back.

[Burnes]

Originally Posted by Smok3y

Not sure if you want to try again, but here is a thread that talked about seat covers a few months ago. They looked really nice. I don't know about price and they may require professional installation.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t153781.html

Their website specifically mentions Liquicell which is what Toyota installs on Camry's at the port (at least in the SE region).

Those ar pretty high!

[lakeith79]

You can take a look at http://wetokole.net/.

They make car seat covers for those lucky people who live near the ocean and like to go from the water to inside their car and not ruin the seats. They are made of some weird material.

I am not 100% sure they make covers for the 2007 Camry just yet, as I've put off buying mine for a few more months, but I did buy a set of seat covers for my Impala and was happy with the results. I would recommend getting a sample of the color you choose. I made the mistake of not doing so and was very sorry about it.

[lammydi]

Barracuda,
Check out this link from ebay for your Suede seat cover
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-S...14521246QQrdZ1