Dealership Service Experience

no words are necessary. would you care to name them so that others here might avoid the nightmare?

 

I would run, not walk, from that place. It's the kind of thing where I had to look at your location just to make sure I don't ever have a chance of winding up there. You could probably call corporate, but I'm not sure they would do anything. At least maybe it would be on file in case they do it to others...maybe enough of those complaints and they might take action.

 

I'd keep that invoice of recommended services, get a second opinion, and then hopefully when the second dealership is honest, send both in to Toyota Corporate.

When a dealership service department is unscrupulous it hurts all of them.

 

^ What he said. Hopefully Toyota will take a look at these guys.

 

branvan, your dealer service sounds very similar to the several terrible ones that I had. Do those service writers think we're stupid?! Naïve? Know nothing about our cars? Well, I suppose many people do not know very much about their vehicle operation or maintenance requirements, and sadly those are the folks that get taken advantage of. I've seen service writers that really try and ripoff the elderly, and/or women. Those guys are on commission. They will try and do anything they can to pad the bill.

I enjoyed your rant, and I also posted one recently. I wish more people would speak up and post similar comments if they've had a bad dealer experience. In fact, there should be a permanent Prius Chat thread devoted to bad dealer service experiences/scams/dishonesty. We need to get the word out!

Did you voice your complaints to the Service Manager or General Manager? Write emails? Letters? Post a review on Yelp? I can't believe how bad auto service repairs and service is becoming. It's shocking to find that many of the "technicians" have very little knowledge or experience with the vehicles they are working on; Lots of those guys go from dealer to dealer; ie: A few months working on GM cars, and then changing over to Honda with no experience whatsoever on Honda vehicles! I even looked at the job application for "service technician" at one Toyota dealership. The "oil change tech" position required the least amount of experience necessary. Sometimes they will hire them right out of high school. There was also an "assistant bodyshop technician", no experience necessary. It was a trainee position. You work with somebody who will teach you how to sand the car before it's painted.

I wonder if there is any good automotive trade schools left in the country? Lots of the high schools and junior colleges in my area have eliminated many of the shop classes. Where are the young people supposed to get their training!? I ran across a good blog one day, called "the secrets of an auto mechanic." So many of those guys hate their job. They go from dealer to dealer to dealer, trying to find better pay and benefits. And they have to buy all their own tools and equipment. They take a few courses "online" to get the ASE(?) certifications in various specialities. Doesn't seem very practical to me; Not being hands-on.

I was very fortunate, in that my father was an auto body mechanic / auto painter / engine re-builder for 50 years. I learned quite a lot from him and did most of the routine maint myself, when I was younger. I thought I was knowledgeable enough to not ever get ripped off. But I did. I stupidly trusted the service writer without seeking a second opinion on a supposed "oil leak." They got me for $600. (I had bought three Toyota vehicles from that dealer, and had enjoyed good service for over 20 years. But there's a big turnover in the service personnel, and I just happen to get a bad apple.)

Sorry for another long rant.

 

RE: my bad service
I called and filed a complaint with Toyota Corporate, in Torrance, CA. The woman was very pleasant and patient as I was expressing my anger. However, she explained that there is nothing they can do with regards to a dealer and bad service, because they are independently owned and operated.

I even emailed them photos of my phony oil leak. She said there has been no other complaints of oil leaks in my year Camry. But was she being honest? And she did say that the "oil leak" just appeared to be normal seepage and road grime that you would find on any 11-year-old engine. That was pretty much the end of it.

 

That's just it, it's nice that they'll share in your disappointment with the situation, but it seems to usually be preceded or followed by "but there's nothing we can do". Not super valuable. But better than them being jerks about it I guess. And they'll never know for future fixes, TSBs, or recalls if no one reports anything.

 

That makes no sense. Surely attaching a brand name to your dealership requires some vetting. If not, very disappointing.

 

Yes Mendel, very disappointing. And that's exactly what I tried to point out to the Rep on the phone. Does Toyota Corporate have any oversight of their dealers, at all? They need to have some undercover inspectors, poising as customers, and try and catch the service departments in these scams. (One of our local news channels did this, and 9 out of 10 private repair facilities and Oil change places were crooked.)

Look at that list branvan posted. (I was presented with a similar list of unnecessary services, but twice as long.) I'd sure like to know what the $324 "hybrid fan cleaning" is! A simple vacuuming of the dust? Replacing a small filter? Imagine the poor unsuspecting customer sitting in the waiting room for 5 hours, while absolutely nothing is being done to their vehicle... because there's nothing wrong with it! After the oil change, I bet the car is just parked back there. (And as we've seen in other threads, did they really rotate the tires? Use the proper oil? Inflate the tires correctly???)

For owners of older Toyota vehicles, another popular scam at dealerships out here is, "Sir, your rack & pinion unit is leaking. We need to replace the entire assembly." They tried to get me on that one, too. And my sister. And a former coworker of mine got took... to the tune of $900! (My steering was fine, never any noise, there was never any fluid leakage, and the reservoir was always at the full level. But someone had dribbled some fluid on the power steering lines in the engine bay; So of course, new lines had to be installed too!)

I am dreading having to take my new Prius to a dealer for the 10,000 mile oil service. (I miss the days when I was able to do all those things myself.) For the tire rotation, I'll just go to a local tire shop where I can watch them. And for the oil change, I'm buying 0W-20 synthetic oil and taking it with me to the dealer. Hopefully, they will actually use it!

 

The hybrid battery fan is a bit difficult to get to. Luscious garage makes mention of it, maybe gives a price for this on their website. It takes maybe an hour to access and clean.

Yeah the more you can DIY the better, but sad that it's like this. Dealerships are a mix, and the people working within them as well. The management can really set the attitude.

 

To the OP, very sorry you had to deal with this.
I am also very happy you know your car and saw through this, and checked it out.
Thank you also for sharing here, so that others may avoid this issue.

If only there were some competing business model in which the manufacturer could be held directly responsible

 

I just put my powerful suction vacuum up to the vent hole, and hold it there for 30 seconds. Is that good enough?

There's nothing in the Gen4 maintenance schedule book about hybrid battery fan cleaning. It would be nice if that vent cover popped off(?) and we could clean it out occasionally.

 

I'm not sure if all service writers work on a commission. But one guy told me that he (and the "technician") share in bonuses received... according to how much "service" the advisor can sell to the customer. And the more complicated the repair, and the more hours required for the mechanic to fix it, the bigger the bonus for both of them.

I would be a terrible "salesman." Especially if my financial survivable depended on me being dishonest to customers. Some of those guys have no conscience. When I left the dealership after yelling at the Service Manager and Advisor, my parting words were... "How can you guys sleep at night?!?"

 

I had opposite experience, during 60K maintenance, the below recommendation from Toyota dealer
transfluid change not necessary 100K miles,
air and cabin filter looks good at 60K miles (changed at 30K)
break fluid may require change since car is 6 years option for now,
hybrid fan cleaning whats that?
Since each dealership in each city and state are independent, different and inconsistent, but main consistency is that they are in the business to make money for its Owner's. My recommendation is/are to search and/or ask question from owner's that have done maintenance experience which in return will save you some money.
On another note, few years back a work colleague mother went for oil change, and was told that her brake fluid was necessary to change and will have issues. He and his mother went to dealership, had discussion with service rep, result free oil and brake fluid change. I was curious how he was able to get free oil and brake fluid service, he showed his ASE Master certificate A1 A1 to A9 A9, told service rep to show his and its auto mechanic certificate, asked how did the mechanic come into conclusion that brake fluid was necessary to change, where is/are the manual for this specific vehicle, where does the manual state that brake fluid needs changed, what test was done to brake fluid or was fluid visual, if visual how does can mechanic tell if it is bad that is necessary to change, and on and on... After few hours the maintenance rep apologized and provided engine oil and brake fluid change "complementary".
After learning his experience, if service rep provide me some recommendation(s) that is out of the ordinary, I say thank you, get copy, then I ask to service rep to provide excerpt of the vehicle manual that states maintenance interval(s). Most of the time many service rep will state is according their experience, but there are few that provide credible some detail information(these is/are service rep that I go all the time)

 

Outstanding! But I would wonder if they really changed the brake fluid when they got the car back there.

Some of the Service "Advisors" I've dealt were only about 19 or 20 years old. I would be curious about their education/experience. (I think the service department manager just tells those young guys to "sell as much as they can." Regardless if it's honest or not.)

 

I bought my car at Continental Toyota in Hodgkins, IL, just south of La Grange. I have my car serviced there. So far I have had none of that rip off stuff.

 

Are there any current or retired mechanics who post in these forums? Would like to hear from any Toyota dealer mechanics who post on Prius Chat.

How about a service writer... Would they be willing to give us the inside scoop, and reveal the games that are played? Anonymously, of course.

 

This isn't exactly that, but it does talk about a number of the games played by dealers in order to sell cars.
Quite interesting...

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