My family was excited when my son booked a Toyota Corolla with Lanson Toyota, Chennai 18 and took delivery after a brief waiting period. The car was quite stunning with its looks and made us feel proud of its possession. Ironically, the keys provided were electronic with which you could open the door from a distance, open the petrol lid and also the boot!! The technology had a distinctive advantage over others and something new for the Indian market.
unfortunately, the electronic key had rubber moulds to control various functions such as door opening, petrol lid opening and the boot opening. It was quite a comfort to operate these functions from one place with a remote! The rubber moulded parts fixed on top of the key withered due to various atmospheric conditions prevailing in the city and started giving trouble as the electronic chip was exposed and one had to really focus on a point to press or pressure to open the door. Many times, the passerby used to wonder and doubt if we were the real owners of the car as we struggled often to open the car with the damaged key.
My son lodged a complaint with the local dealer stating the problem and after taking pictures of the damaged key and the car chassis number etc.. replied that the key would be replaced only if we agree to pay up Rs 13000/- for a replacement. It was shocking to realise that the company charged a whooping sum of Rs 13000/- just for replacing the keys for a manufacturing defect! Toyota must understand the types of climates prevailing in India before launch of their cars and manufacture rubber parts and moulds accordingly to suit the climate and atmosphere of that particular state. Chennai being a humid place with sun blazing throughout the year, Toyota should have made stronger key parts to sustain the waggeries of weather. The matter was represented to Toyota India who promised to look into the matter but never got back to us. There is a famous saying-"Be a Roman in Rome". Toyota India is probably following the same policy and have adopted the Indian culture of saying "No" to everything and have consigned ethics to wind? despite repeated complaints and requests, neither Toyota India or the local dealer Lanson Toyota have come forward to replace the defective key free of cost. This leads to believe that the company is following restrictive trade practices and force the customer to shell out more and more for everything including defective parts for which they assume no responsibility!
This is to caution the buyers to insist warranty for the keys in such a manner that it lasts at least till the car runs! Otherwise, be prepared to shell out thousands of Rupees for a key which will otherwise cost nothing more than Rs 50/- with the local key smith. In this case, the local key smiths are unable to replicate as there is an electronic device which authenticates the genuineness and operations. quite surely, this is a ploy and a trick adopted by Toyota to make customers come to them again and again for spares and parts through which they can steadily earn?? This is nothing but robbery- Japanese style??
I can be contacted anytime@7845265699 for an inter-action on this subject.
unfortunately, the electronic key had rubber moulds to control various functions such as door opening, petrol lid opening and the boot opening. It was quite a comfort to operate these functions from one place with a remote! The rubber moulded parts fixed on top of the key withered due to various atmospheric conditions prevailing in the city and started giving trouble as the electronic chip was exposed and one had to really focus on a point to press or pressure to open the door. Many times, the passerby used to wonder and doubt if we were the real owners of the car as we struggled often to open the car with the damaged key.
My son lodged a complaint with the local dealer stating the problem and after taking pictures of the damaged key and the car chassis number etc.. replied that the key would be replaced only if we agree to pay up Rs 13000/- for a replacement. It was shocking to realise that the company charged a whooping sum of Rs 13000/- just for replacing the keys for a manufacturing defect! Toyota must understand the types of climates prevailing in India before launch of their cars and manufacture rubber parts and moulds accordingly to suit the climate and atmosphere of that particular state. Chennai being a humid place with sun blazing throughout the year, Toyota should have made stronger key parts to sustain the waggeries of weather. The matter was represented to Toyota India who promised to look into the matter but never got back to us. There is a famous saying-"Be a Roman in Rome". Toyota India is probably following the same policy and have adopted the Indian culture of saying "No" to everything and have consigned ethics to wind? despite repeated complaints and requests, neither Toyota India or the local dealer Lanson Toyota have come forward to replace the defective key free of cost. This leads to believe that the company is following restrictive trade practices and force the customer to shell out more and more for everything including defective parts for which they assume no responsibility!
This is to caution the buyers to insist warranty for the keys in such a manner that it lasts at least till the car runs! Otherwise, be prepared to shell out thousands of Rupees for a key which will otherwise cost nothing more than Rs 50/- with the local key smith. In this case, the local key smiths are unable to replicate as there is an electronic device which authenticates the genuineness and operations. quite surely, this is a ploy and a trick adopted by Toyota to make customers come to them again and again for spares and parts through which they can steadily earn?? This is nothing but robbery- Japanese style??
I can be contacted anytime@7845265699 for an inter-action on this subject.
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