This is in regard to service experienced at LAWRENCE TOYOTA SCION in NJ and of my CAMRY 04 LE V6 , 27,000 thousand miles odometer. May 16th May 23rd of 2008 and also the years of 2006, 2007. I felt vibrations in my steering wheel a couple of years ago in 2006. I bought new tires. It didn't help. Mechanics took a test drive and didn't find any problem but replaced some steering wheel parts, it didn't help. Finally on May 16th 2008 I went to LAWRENCE TOYOTA with my Camry as I could feel my entire car vibrating and shaking. Went for a test drive with Forman of Mechanics Mr. Schiarrappa who's been working at LAWRENCE TOYOTA for over 25 years or so during the TEST DRIVE told me he felt VIBRATION and heard NOISE/HISS coming from the steering wheel of my Camry. When we came back to the dealership he changed his mind and said that there was no problem with the car and so I got the invoice printed out stating that there is NO FAULT FOUND for neither noise nor vibration. This was a very BOLD LIE. I asked the front desk adviser Mr. Benci who printed the invoice for me if there was anyone else I could talk to and he said NO. This was also another BOLD LIE. I only got from him the : 800-331-4331 to Toyota Corporation and so this was it.

I called the 800 number , complained and was given 3 days to talk to Mr. Donaldson from LAWRENCE TOYOTA to resolve this issue. Mr. Donaldson AVOIDED me successfully for the three days in a row by never being available, he either left 15 minutes ago, or will be leaving in 15 minutes , or is at the meeting, or is not in the office or whatever, or left early with his wife to doctor. All of these excuses I heard in only 3 days, May 19th through May 21st 2008, Monday, Tuesday , Wednesday. The funny one is the 15 minutes excuse, I guess it's a favorite one of corporate world at Toyota. So, I never got to talk to him. I guess he was as relevant to this issue as the 800 number, which did not help a bit but took a lot of effort and wasted a lot of time. At 800 number where I complained I was told that LAWRENCE TOYOTA is an independent dealership and that there is nothing that Toyota Corporation can do to make them resolve this issue or help me in any way except for the fact that they can forward my request or inform them about the nature of my complaint. Pretty much useless but part of the procedure.

I got to talk by accident to Mr. Paul Muller III Assistant Director. I told Mr. Muller briefly about the situation and about the mechanic's lies and Mr. Muller went to talk to Mr. Schiarrappa the mechanic. After talking to the mechanic Mr. Muller called me back and left a message on my voicemail saying he did talk to Mr. Schiarrappa and that Mr. Schiarrappa told him that there were vibration in my steering wheel. I have this voice mail saved, which explains a lot and proves the lies of the mechanics who lied to me for the last 3 years. Mr. Muller made Shawn Warner Asst. Service Manager to take care of this case and I made an appointment with Mr. Warner on Friday May 23rd to repair my vehicle. We took a test drive with Mr. Warner and mechanic Howard, they both acknowledged the vibrations and noise coming form the steering wheel but after return they decided that the reason for the vibrations are the tires that were a bit more worn on the inside edges and until I had replaced the tires they would not try to repair the vibrations.

However, the “hissing” noise coming from the inside of the steering wheel regardless of whether the vehicle was moving or not had to be addressed. Therefore, I left the vehicle for repair. After being instructed by Mr. Warner that my Camry is second in line for repair and that it will take some time to take apart the steering wheel I requested a rental vehicle. Mr. Warner refused to provide me with rental vehicle by ignoring my request and leaving me at his desk for 15 minutes. When I asked him about the rental car he stated that my car is already being worked on and that it will be ready soon. Mr. Warner finally called me to pick up my car keys as my car was ready. After picking up my Camry I inspected the steering wheel for the “hiss”. The noise was still there. I returned to Mr. Warner and we went back to my car. Mr. Warner acknowledged that my steering wheel has not been repaired but refused to print an invoice. I insisted on receiving an invoice and we went back to his desk. While typing an invoice Mr. Warner was punching the computer keyboard harder than usual and raised his voice interrupting me my request. Mr. Warner did not want to include the fact that he did hear the noise in the steering wheel after the mechanics worked on it. He finally did include it and I left LAWRENCE TOYOTA with my car NOT repaired.

I complained today on May 27, 2008 to BBB and will further complain to the other governmental agencies. Hopefully someone can learn a lesson or two from this rant, I certainly did, do not trust strangers.

Ps. The Bridgestone tires that were put on my Camry as I was told by Mr. Warner and mechanic Howard were not a very good once and TOYOTA has been having many problems with them as they “don’t work or go well with TOYOTAS”. Why did LAWRENCE TOYOTA sold me Bridgestone tires then?