Review of Toyota Uganda Limited

I have a Prado 1998 and have had problems with the key.The blade had come loose and needed replacing. I called at the Kampala distributer and asked for help. I was astounded that they said they needed to send the key back to Japan and it would take three months and cost 2.300,000/=ug sh.

I explained that all I needed was the key shell and the electronics transferring and the new blade recutting. The key also operated the ignition immobilizer via induction, so although the engine could be turned over with a key it would not start.

The people at Toyota Kampala took details of the car, engine, key details and code numbers and gave me a quote of 2.3 m sh! .

The key deteriorated to the extent I could not start the car without holding the induction unit close to the spare key which was a plain key. Thus by using both hands I could start the engine.

This obviously was not possible or safe to operate in busy traffic so I asked around garages in Mbarara (my home town ) if they could help with no success.
I eventually went online to look for key shells and could not find the right key shell or similar in Uganda or on the Toyota web site.

I eventually tracked down a key shell in Northern Ireland UK and estimated the shape and size from a photo and asked for a keyshell to be sent by mail.

The cost was less than £5 and £4 UK around 30,000/=sh ug. to my delight the key case was exactly the same size and shape as the old broken one. It took me a few minutes to transfer the electronics pod and 10,000/= to have the key blade recut. A total of less that 50,000/= to have a new working key. A saving of 2.2950,000/= for me and more for my insurance company who would have had to pay for the key, car hire for 3 months.
Not a very good example of customer service