Superior Toyota
Took my '09 Corolla in for wind noise and was told it needed a new driver's side window seal. This required the removal of the entire door panel. I was a bit nervous about this. We only had the car a couple of months.
I agreed to the replacement and the new seal seems to be holding its own well. But on closer inspection, I found scratches along the door panel and A/C vent next to the door, which I'm sure were not there before the seal was replaced. And, there were "smudges" all along the door panel itself. I am not happy about this. However, the real kicker is what I found today!
As I was cleaning my windows, inside and out, I noticed something strange with the door speaker. It's location is on the door, right next to the "A" pillar. I had the window down a bit to clean the top part of the glass and noticed what appeared to be a gap between the little speaker housing and the door frame. To my amazement, it's not a "factory" gap, but a gap where it looks like they tried to put the speaker housing back on after they fixed the door seal. IT'S BROKEN! I can just about remove the whole speaker housing!!!
I AM FURIOUS. I was going to speak to my salesman, Mark Allbright about a technical bulletin about my squeaky seats, bulletin T-SB-0288-08. Now I'll have to talk to him about THIS, too.
To me, more importantly than the make of the car, is how well I'm treated at service time. If they give me the runaround on this like Chevrolet did on my last truck, I'll have to side with my wife and trade this Corolla in on a Ford.
If anyone reading this is the praying type, please pray for this to get fixed with a NEW speaker housing and for them to fix my squeaking front seats!!!!! Thanks!
So I've already written about the little speaker in the top of the driver's door where the "A" pillar meets the windshield -- where it wasn't put back in place correctly after they R&R'd my driver's side window seal (which required the removal of the entire door panel - ugh!) -- and where I could pull it back because it wasn't fastened back on correctly. It looked broken to me. As it turns out, it was not broken like I originally thought. It's important that I be up front about this. That said, the guy who fixed it today didn't seem to look like he knew how to fix it. I'm sure he's an "ok" guy and everything, but when he whipped out a screw driver to pry on something, I nearly freaked right there at the service desk at Superior Toyota in Parkersburg, WV. I could see him through the little office there into the service bay. Well, he got it back on after much "scratching of the head" and to me, needlessly tossing the little thing around on the two wires going to the little speaker. Anyway, it's back on now, only greasier. I have to say, that my car, an '09 Corolla S in red always goes in clean, and comes out dirtier. My wife, who originally drove the car for about 7 months (new off the lot) asked me after my first oil change there, "Is the car dirtier than when you brought it in?" "Yes", I said. I couldn't believe it... you know how you think you're the only one who thinks something, and maybe you're a little crazy for thinking it? Thanks, babe! Anyway, it's not like these people aren't nice and courteous... they are. It's just, well, ENOUGH WITH THE GREASE! This part should have been put back on correctly in the first place. Anyway, I'm glad that's over. July 7, 2009 @ 10:47pm EST