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| - Lack of service this morning is prompting me to post this generalized Toyota rant. This morning I tried to get a battery replacement at Right Toyota. Having been in the area for over 20 years, I have had good success with genuine replacement batteries from Toyota. The heat here kills batteries in the summer. I had been getting 3-4 years out of batteries in Toyota vehicles in the past, but recently only get 2 years out of them. It seems Toyota has switched to Interstate batteries (used to be Panasonic). So, here's my problem. Attempted a battery replacement and asked for a prorated price since the battery was only 2 years old on an 84 month battery. Parts sent me to service who needed to test the battery. Service sent me back to parts since I didn't have my original receipt. Parts patiently looked up my receipt and sent me back to service. Service wasn't happy with the receipt and said they wouldn't honor it. After 30 minutes wasted trying to get a replacement battery, I asked for the battery back and left for Costco. I bought the exact same Interstate battery at Costco that Toyota would have sold me. Probably cheaper too. It literally took 5 minutes in and out at Costco versus 30 minutes of run around at Toyota. In the past this used to be a painless procedure to walk into Toyota parts and get a battery replaced with a discount for prorated battery warranty. Apparently, Toyota has changed their "policy" in recent years to make it very difficult to get a battery. I have had mostly good service in the past from this dealership, though I have noticed prices creeping up. To add to my rant, I had a truck transmission go out at only 70,000 miles (just outside of warranty) and it cost me $6k to fix here. This "new" remanufactured transmission has a persistent whine at freeway speeds (most likely a failing transmission oil pump in the top of the transmission). So, my "new" transmission is already bad. Attempted taking it in a couple of times, but got tired of arguing with them that the "new" transmission has a problem. Given this and the poor state of quality and comfort in new Toyota vehicles, I have reluctantly moved away from Toyota. This is a shame, as I was a loyal Toyota customer for two decades...
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