Sunroof's in, and guess what, so is the water...

[scott78945]

I would push it to the level of going to court as well. If you don't get it fixed/replaced the way you want, you will NEVER be happy. As someone else stated, its amazing how attitudes change once a lawyer is mentioned or contacts the company as your rep. You may only need your attorney to send a contact letter and that will be it. Good luck!

 

[4RunnerBarbie]

She does not want to replace my headliner as well. Says they are designed to absorb water from small spills and such.

Umm....maybe I misunderstood but she said the roof of the 4runner was meant to absorb liquid? Is this a scotchgaurd feature in case someone spills their drink vertically? That's absurd. I don't know a lot about cars but I'm pretty sure nothing in the car is MEANT to get wet unless you buy it aftermarket for offroading or something. I

 

[tomhaney1]

I would take them to court as well. I have the prepaid legal services also through Hyatt. They do a good job and it is pretty much free. Generally all you have to do is initiate a suit and they will pay whatever you want. I would also agree with ProMed that you should record any further conversations with them. It is also advisable to send them a certified letter enumerating your complaints and keep a copy along with the receipt that is signed. I also agree with Falls that, if you used a credit card, to cancel the payment. Do that ASAP. You can always pay them again if need be but it will let them know you are quite serious about the situation. Talking to them obviously doesn't do any good as they probably have screwed up many people's vehicles in the past...

PS You should also get a statement from a Toyota service manager or other reputable mechanic stating the fact that water should not be coming into the cabin and the possible ramifications of such. Lincoln Navigator sunroof leaking...LOL...POS Fords...

 

[00328]

Seems pretty obvious to me that if the sunroof you originally wanted is larger than the one installed, it's very easy to make a hole bigger. Don't listen to her B.S.
I would also contact the engineers myself and see what they say.
Also, since you have pre-paid legal services, I would talk to one of the lawyers and see what they think you should do and how far you should go.
Good luck.

 

[toto]

I like the idea of putting your complaints in writing. If you think this will turn legal, your verbal conversations don't really mean as much as clearly written letters and responses. In Illinois it would be illegal to record a conversation (phone or in person) without the other party's knowledge or consent, and in a situation like this you certainly wouldn't get consent.

As irritating as the whole thing is, I'd drop the complaints about the CD. Yeah, some a**hole had to mess with it intentionally, you've pointed it out to them, and they don't care. It's distracting from the bigger issue - the leaky roof. If you end up in small claims court you can mention it as additional proof of their carelessness, but otherwise it's just going to put them on the defensive with the "not responsible for personal property" line.

It sounds like they might have fixed the leak - is that correct? If so, I'd stop dealing with them and certainly would think twice about taking the 4Runner back to them. You're pissed, they're pissed - anything could happen. If they overcharged you for the roof you have (because they put in the wrong one), put it in the letter and ask for either a refund of the difference in price or installation of the correct unit. Also, state in the letter that you need to have the headliner replaced due to the water damage, and either they can replace it for you or they can compensate you for having it done somewhere else. Personally, I think you might be better off taking them to court to cover your costs of having someone else clean up their sloppy work, but you have to offer them the first chance to remedy the situation.

If they refuse, hopefully in writing as they should respond to your letter with a letter of their own, then speed-dial the lawyer.

I feel for you... this whole thing sucks.

 

[jharris2]

She does not want to replace my headliner as well. Says they are designed to absorb water from small spills and such. Goes on to tell me her new Lincoln Navigator's sunroof leaks every time she goes through a carwash and it does not have a musty moldy smell or anything, and she's been doing sunroofs since the early 80's or some shit. I told her she needs to take hers back too because it is not supposed to leak over onto the headliner.

Did she happen to explain how to spill something on the ceiling?

One good defense -- if you got a written estimate from them, or a contract, check it carefully to see if they installed what you agreed to buy. If they didn't, then you should push them really hard to get you what you paid for.

My $0.02.

 

[RamThis]

I guess Monday I'll give my lawyer a call and see if he can advise me on what I need to do next, or if he thinks they've done their deed and covered their asses too well.

As for "spills" I think she meant really just overflow spills from the sunroof pan. But there should not be that much water getting in around the sunroof glass seal and the one around the body, just a small trickle at best, and the four huge vinyl drain lines should take care of any of that.

They did fix the leak by re-routing the drain lines properly and securing them though. That's why I was getting water on the headliner, because the drain lines were curving up above the top surface of the drain pan on the sunroof, and the water had nowhere to go but over the edge. Once they dropped the lines down and secured them, the leak has stopped. But only God knows how much water ran down the pillars and where it wound up.........

And they are replacing the center console. But refuse to replace the headliner.

 

[JungleJim]

Personally, I think you might be better off taking them to court to cover your costs of having someone else clean up their sloppy work, but you have to offer them the first chance to remedy the situation.

If they refuse, hopefully in writing as they should respond to your letter with a letter of their own, then speed-dial the lawyer.

I feel for you... this whole thing sucks. [/B]

I agree with the above suggestion.


People have asked, but you've not answered one question....Did you have anything in writing concerning which model they we installing?

I wouldn't let them touch it again, but you do have to give them a chance IN WRITING (certified letter). In the letter, give them 10 days to respond. Then you have proof that you gave them a chance to fix it.
If you have a new headline installed, you have a good chance of getting that cost in court. If you have another company install the other sunroof, you will only get reimbursemant if you can prove in writing that they agreed to install that model.

 

[RamThis]

I missed that question, but no, there was no written estimate stating which sunroof they were going to put in. Had there been, I might have caught the mix-up. But it was done over the phone between me calling the dealership about putting in a sunroof, he contacted the webasto dealer near me, they contacted me about it, I told them what I wanted, had hell getting them on the phone, so I called the installation company directly, told them what I wanted and set up the appt, showed them pix of what I wanted and confirmed what I wanted, and was told in response to "It's a Hollandia 700 series, right?" and like they all said, "Yeah but it's a 5300 that we use". Never mentioning it's a totally different brand than I told them I wanted. Just kept saying "5300". Being these folks are the so-called "experts" I trusted the understood what I wanted. Since Hollandia uses so many different numbers for their sunroofs, I figured a "5300" must be a specific sunroof in the 700 series line, so I never really caught on to anything until I was picking up my truck and they handed me the operating guide and it said "SolAire Sunroofs" on the front. Then I got on Webasto's site and found there is a second line of sunroofs they offer, the one they put in my truck.

So, it all just went down as them not listening to what I was trying to tell them, and me trusting them too much and not physically asking them to repeat everything back detail by detail like I have to do every time I go to a fast food restaraunt and order something not exactly like what's on the menu.

Maybe after all this though, they might learn to listen to the customer a bit better, and CONFIRM exactly what model the customer is asking for, and then make damn sure every one is on the same page instead of assuming.

 

[boston_kevin]

I feel really bad for you Ram. This is exactly the reason I avoid aftermarket sunroofs. The metal isn't treated on the underside of the roof, so even the smallest leak will cause some moisture build up and eventually rust. Since the metal was cut, usually around the seal is the worst spot. At least they fixed the drains. I would go through that contract with a fine tooth comb about leakage warranties and make sure they understand (either personally or through an attorney) that this was a relatively new vehicle that they screwed up. The last thing you want to have is a limited time warranty on a sunroof that is already prone to leaks.