Poor Heninger Toyota Service Anyone? Calgary, AB

[CanadianDad]

Hi all. Been cruising this forum for a while now. I have owned Toyota's my entire driving career. Currently I have 6 Toyotas parked at my property! (07 Camry SEV6, 05 Sienna LE, 03 Matrix XR, 99 Corolla VE, 98 Sienna LE, 92 Tercel). In fact about 9 years ago our local Calgary Herald did a story on "Vehicle Brand Loyalty" and profiled me and my extended family with our 16 Toyotas owned between us!!

However, I have recently been having many very disturbing service experiences at Heninger Toyota. Too many to list in this short space actually!! They started off as small items and have now progessed much further. I admit that with a couple of the instances, including the latest, that I did not keep my cool as well as I could have. However, I only recall one instance when I was actually what you might consider "verbally abussive" to the service techs. This latest occurance with their service department all I said was "That is unnacceptable, the dealership owner will hear about this" and walked out.

A few days later I received an EMAIL from the General Manager of the dealership appologizing for their incompetence, but then he went on to state that I was an "abusive customer" and have been for many years now and that they would appreciate it if I never came back. (yes we finally had personal words, but that is another story)

One of the comments that the GM made to me during that call has me very perplexed and dumbfounded. He stated that he "has been in the car business for 26 years and has NEVER come accross a customer with as many complaints as me and who is as unhappy with Heninger Toyota serivce as myself". Can this possibly be true?? Are there no other dissatisfied Heninger Toyota service customers out there?

Sorry, I don't want to turn this into a Toyota bitch session free-for-all. I am just interested in knowing if I am the only one out there who has ever had a problem with Heninger Toyota service specifically. Please drop me a note and let me know if I am the only one. Thanks.

[keisuke]

sorry about your bad experience not all dealers are bad, here in Saint John Coyle Toyota (Saint John Toyota) is great with the exception of he owns dealerships of Toyota Nissan, part of Ford And Chev so all the techs move around between the dealerships(funniest was a nissan guy looking for the drainplug on my corolla and camry could not do it with sling on right arm so paid the 40 bucks) look around find urself a good little backyard mechanic or doit urself if u can..

[TRD VVTi]

It used to be common that customers would get kicked out of the dealership or repair shop. I've personally done it and heard about many such instances. Usually those people end up a another dealership causing the same trouble and being kicked out of there also.

Given your loyalty and my experiences with GM's in general, I would have to say that they had good reason to terminate your relationship. I can't think of another scenario that explains the situation. You spend a lot of money, but they don't want you there... That speaks VOLUMES.

Apparently, you should have calmly addressed the situation with the upper management/owner well before the situation reached the current state.

It appears to me that you now have remorse knowing that the dealership will not tolerate your behavior, when you thought that they would indefinitely.

Don't get mad, I'm just using my experiences with your own words to evaluate the situation.

EDIT: Also note that there is a forum here specifically for this kind of post.

[CanadianDad]

Nope. Don't have any remorse whatsoever. I don't think telling someone that "I will go up the chain" and that their service is "unacceptable" is abuse. What I am posting for is to find out if I truly and THE ONLY CUSTOMER that has ever had a problem with Heninger's poor service in 26 years. This doesn't sound logical or even remotely possible to me.

I have been going to this dealership for over 20 years and have spent TONS of money there. But there is another dealership much closer to my house that I have also been going to for service for the past 8 years and have not even had ONE SINGLE problem with them...ever. I am happy to continue to take my cars to them.

I just thought it odd that the GM would say that I have been there only problem customer. And even if I was all they had to do was a few simple things to keep me happy (i.e. don't start working on my car at 4:30pm after they have had it all day to work on it and I am now standing in their office wanting to go home after work, don't leave black hand marks all over the interior of my new car, remember to tighten my oil drain plug all the way so it doesn't leak on my garage floor, don't tell me to do one thing and then chew me out for doing what I was told, don't piece together old dash parts with new parts to make a half-a$$ed job of a repair on a BRAND NEW car that is less than 2 weeks old, etc., etc., etc. I can go on)

I am not mad. Just wondering if it is realistic for me to believe him.

[CanadianDad]

BTW TRD VVTi...I can't find the forum to which you are referring. Which one is it?

[TRD VVTi]

I doubt that you are the only customer that they've had problems with. That's impossible. The people working there have bad days, and so do the people that are their customers.

Here's the link to the Toyota dealer forum: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/f45

[71Corolla]

Living in Calgary, I have had a few dealings with Heninger Toyota.

Many years ago, I was looking for a winter beater, and I happened to see an 81 or 82 Corolla for sale there. Normally I don't bother with going to dealerships for used vehicles, but this one looked clean. I took it for a test drive, and the steering felt VERY wonky, it pulled to one side, and the steering wheel felt about as connected to the road as a sponge. I pulled over, looked the car over a bit, looked under it, then popped the hood. I was quite shocked to say the least. The right strut tower had broken completely away and was resting on the air cleaner. Actually, the air cleaner was supporting it.

So I went back to the dealer and talked to salesman, specifically asking him about a warranty. He told me they'd give me 3 months, and that the car had been thoroughly checked, as had all their cars. At that point I got pretty pissed off, popped the hood and showed the guy what was going on. Thinking the guy would apologize, instead he asked me if I wanted to buy the car for cheaper!!!!!! I basically told him to go fuck himself for trying to sell me a death trap. (BTW, the strut tower had been welded on poorly, the car had obviously been repaired from an accident)

My cousin had an 89 Supra that she was getting serviced there. I suspected something was up because after they did an oil change, I noticed the filter looked a bit dirty, like it was used. I checked the oil, it did NOT look like new oil. It looked like oil does after it has been in use for 10,000 miles. I am pretty certain they were "servicing" the car but doing absolutely nothing. I told her never to go back there.

I recently took my 2001 Camry there because of a CEL, they quoted me about $1400.00. Worse, they charged me $160.00 to tell me what was wrong, and refused to lower it even though I did not want the work done and only wanted to pick up my car. I should have never gone there, but I bought the car used and wanted a service history, and I had a hunch the previous owner took it there because he lived not too far from Heninger. (the guy I got if from didn't have a service history to give me). They were able to print the service history for me, which was good. I fixed the problem myself by replacing the famous VSV for EGR, cost me $120.00 for a geniune part, the light never came back on.

I bought and MR2 there in '86, I SPECIFICALLY and emphatically told them to NOT wax my new car, to not polish it, and also to NOT undercoat it. They did anyway. I refused to take delivery of the car, and had also made them write on the sales contract to NOT do the above. They gave me hell and argued with me, then told me it would cost me $500 to bring in another one. Eventually they caved, and got me another car.

I used to buy parts there at a discount (I worked out a deal with the manager because I purchased a significant quantity) the service manager there was very nice. But would I recommend anyone getting service there or buying a car there? No way. In my experience, they often have contempt for the customer, rip you off on parts and service, and generally do not even come close to following the "customer is always right" credo.

I will say this, I don't think Heninger is the worst dealer out there, I think most dealerships are pretty much the same, at least in my experience. Sit in the service center waiting room at Heninger Toyota and listen to what the owners are charged for, and what the service reps tell them about their cars. They prey on people's stupidity big time. I could spend all day pointing out the errors, rip-offs, and outright lies the dealer tells people. They replace parts that don't need to be replaced, do services on the car that are basically MADE UP, and generally do everything in their power to charge as much as possible. But I believe this is par for the course for most dealers.

Looking over the service history for my 01 Camry, some of the stuff on there is totally bogus! They kept charging the previous owner for lubing the door hinges, oiling the latches, lubing the parking brake parts, rotating the tires every oil change (why?) and balancing the tires much more than needed. How many times does a door hinge need to be lubed? And looking at my hinges, they were NEVER lubed. Neither were any parking brake components. Other stupid things too, like tightening the drive belts, (yea right, I have never needed to do this) flushing the cooling system far too often, flushing the transmission, cleaning the injectors, replacing bulbs all over the car etc. etc. Firstly, I'm not even sure they actually did any of this stuff, secondly if they did, they did it FAR too often just to make money.

So to answer your question, I am damn sure there are MANY customers that have had way worse problems than you. Way worse. An urban myth says that someone at Heninger dropped a brand new Supra off of a lift lol, don't know if that actually happened.

[gdanaher]

If there is a dealer closer to you who gives you good service, why aren't you doing all your business there anyway? If everyone boycotted a really bad dealer, he wouldn't be a dealer for very long.

[calgary06]

Old post reborn...the service is friendly but sucks a $$ - although they do fix their mistakes if you twist their nipples hard enough
Forgotten oil filter
Scratched all 4 rims
Grease on seat
Destroyed tires with bead breaker
Scratched all 4 rims ... Again

Like I said they did fix everything but come on - they should be able to find some good people now.

[MJZ]

^ Most dealers suck. I wouldn't touch any dealer not on www.dealerrater.com with a less than stellar Service (not sales) rating.

[Pawel062]

yea i have heard similar stories in my area. we have actually 3 dealers in my area and they are no more than a 10 minute ride from each other. i guess thats a perk from being in the new york area. well from what i know 2 delerships have sub par service. the one dealership is located in a more rich i would say neighborhood and has the best service so far though sales people suck there and the deals on the cars suck too. the dealership i bought my car from though i haven't tried their service yet but i haven't heard good things about so don't want to try. moral of all this: go around to the dealerships in your area and make a friendship with one of the managers or someone there and they'll take care of your car.

[Dionysis]

Took my 1993 Toyota Xtra cab light truck to Heninger after some jerks ripped my side mirrors off. After several days of not hearing anything, I phoned them up only to be told that they were "awaiting the parts". A short time later they phoned me up to let me know that "my bumper was in"! I told them I brought my truck in to get the mirrors replaced. After lots of excuses, they finally got the work done.
I sent a letter to the service manager expressing my concern for this incompetancy and he replied that he would look into it. Of course, I never heard a word from him again.
I am just in the process of upgrading my truck to a 2010 Camry. I went to Charlesglen in the NW where I bought my truck (and had several successful service visits) and will stick with them.

[Peter Tranquilla]

I bought two Toyoto's from Heninger Toyota. One was a brand new 2004 Sienna. Also I am extremely interested in buying a new hybrid Camry. The issue it Henniger, not so much the vehicles.
1) Sienna electric passenger sliding door failed just before warranty expired.
2) Mechanic left oil cap off after routine maintenance
3) Mechanic left oil rag on engine after routine maintenance (almost started a fire)!
4) Mechanic spent two hours trying to fix front seat warmer but gave up.
5) Mechanic spent two hours in 2006 trying to fix electric door but gave up
6) Mechanic spent 3 hours in Sept 2011 on same issue but could not fix door.

In the last wo cases, I had to pay over $300 for them to "diagnose" the door issue. But they could not provide any clues as to what the real issue is or how to fix it.....

They charged both for door disassembly + re-assembly! Now does that seem fair to you? I refused to pay last time and left the vehicle there for them to think about their charging practice. Where is my value in the money spent? Or am I looking at it from the wrong perspective???????

[Importz]

I am from Calgary as well.. Take your car to Stampede Toyota!!