## Quick Summary (for readers in a hurry)…read more
If you don't have time to read the full account, here's what happened:
- Took my car in June 1 for a routine door-ding repair. **Ten weeks later, it still isn't fully resolved.**
- **Parts from the roof gutter assembly went missing** during the repair -- first one piece, then a second piece from the same assembly that hadn't been reinstalled -- both discovered only after I got the car back.
- I was told the replacement part would take **10 days**. I ordered the identical part myself from Toyota and received it in **2 days**.
- Six weeks after the first missing-part report, I was told **I shouldn't have ordered it myself** -- with no acknowledgment of the time already lost.
- **Bodywork fit/finish was noticeably worse** than two previous repairs I'd had done here (2015 and 2020), and the shop said that level of fit "couldn't be achieved."
- A **pre-existing scratch claim** fell apart when the "proof" photo turned out to be from pickup day, not drop-off day.
- Left with a **new paint chip**, **stains on an interior panel**, and a car I was pressured to accept "as-is" because I needed it back.
The staff are genuinely pleasant to deal with -- the process and follow-through are the problem.
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## Full Review
This is an update to my earlier review. I'm lowering my rating further, because this experience has gone from poor to genuinely dismal over the past month. As I mentioned before, this saga began June 1st, and ten weeks later, it continues with no sign of resolution.
**A couple of days after I picked up my car**, I noticed a paint chip on my rear bumper (details below). Shortly after that, I noticed a part for the roof gutter was missing entirely.
I took the car back, and the service agent referred me to Neelam Gabi. Neelam reviewed the intake photos but couldn't confirm whether the part had been installed when I picked up the vehicle. To be fair to her, verifying this is tricky -- the part in question is behind other components that were removed and reinstalled during the repair, so pinpointing exactly when it went missing isn't straightforward.
Neelam took photos comparing the intact part on the driver's side to the empty space on the passenger side, and offered to order the replacement, with an estimated 10-day wait. That seemed reasonable at the time.
Eighteen days later, I called Neelam for an update. She explained that the parts department had run into trouble, and had mistakenly ordered the entire roof rail assembly instead of the single part needed. By this point it was July 29th -- two full months since I'd dropped the car off. I told her I'd just order the part myself through Toyota. I did, and it was correctly identified and ordered for $26, taxes included.
**I ended up ordering the same part myself from Toyota and received it in 2 days.**
Here's where it got frustrating: the day after Toyota's part came in, I called Neelam to ask whether CSN 427 could install it, or whether I should have Toyota do it. She told me I shouldn't have purchased the part myself -- that I should have let her handle the order. Given that we were now six weeks into this one issue, I pushed back and told her this didn't seem like a customer-first way of thinking about the time being lost. My time has value too.