Why I use the term "stealership"

Wolfy:

Geez but THAT sucks!

Whenever I bring a vehicle in for service, I always go over *every* point and then make the service writer print out a hard copy. I make the service writer initial where it mentions "Customer must be contacted for any additional work" and I initial every line I wanted done.

I'm not sure if your local jurisdiction has that legal out in the work order. It's required here, but naturally 99% of the time the customer *never* initials it. They trust their service writer, which can be a *big* mistake.

My local Toyota dealer has no problem with that and knows I'm a "by the book" sort of person anyway. If it's not in black-and-white, don't even think about it.

Sadly, another local Toyota dealer wasn't so honest. Despite the printed work order with their initials by the "Customer must be contacted ..." they did a *lot* of extra work when they did the warranty head gasket job on my 1990 Toyota 4Runner. I even bought the d*** thing off them new too.

They did things like gear lube change all around: I had changed using synthetic lubes less than 3 months previous. Yep, the EFI "cleaning" which is usually a high-profit maker for the dealer. Even "cleaned" the HVAC.

All in all, around $400 in extra charges. I flatly refused to pay, the service writer - a young smart-a** little s*** - got all snotty, and I demanded to see the dealer manager. Oh, that young little s*** also tried to snatch away my original hard copy work order where I quite clearly initialed by "Customer must be contacted ..."

I growled at the little s*** that if he ever touched me again, I'd flatten him, then we glowered at each other as the dealer manger ran huffing over to us.

I pointed out where I had initialed to be contacted for *any* work not expressly authorized by me. The manager also tried that "discount" bulls*** and I loudly remarked to the waiting folks in the service area "Everybody watch your wallets, these characters will rip you off!." I then threatened to contact my lawyer.

The manager, then beet red, took the "updated" work order from that lying piece of s*** service writer, tore it up, and instructed the cashier to stamp "Paid In Full" on my original work order.

You really have to stick up for your rights. I'm sure there are good dealerships out there, but there are also a lot of crooks too.

 

I only take my cars to dealerships if I have friends who work at the dealerships. Otherwise, I work on my own cars.

My mother owns an Audi and had it go through 60k service. Guess what the cost was... $600! :x And, this was for checking fluids, greasing hinges, etc. Then, they have nerve to tell us that the brake pads & rotors need to be replaced... at $710!!

Hate stealerships!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wolfman\";p=\"74042)</div>

Wolfy:

If *that* happens ... you had better start practicing on reducing your Circular Error Probability right now.


Remember: you have to *slowly* exhale and then *gently* pull through the break-over point.

:twisted:

 

If it was my consumption screen that was re-set I'd be in jail now awaiting my court apperance on an assult charge. Or out on bail awaiting my court apperance on an assult charge. I'd be long past the end of my rope.

 

[font=Comic Sans MS:13d8f961be]When I brought my car in for my first oil change, I received a survey from Toyota in the mail for the service of my car. Fortunately, nothing went wrong and I gave them excellent ratings. I'm hoping when I bring it in for second service, I will get a survey from Toyota too. The dealership seems to be very concerned with the ratings they get. Before the survey came in the mail, someone from the dealership called to make sure everything went okay and that I was satisfied. They then mentioned that I will be getting a survey from Toyota about this trip to the Service Department and that if I wasn't going to rate them excellent, let them know, they will try to make it right. Does Toyota send these surveys out for all customers who get regular service?

Mary Lou[/font:13d8f961be]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"74062)</div>

Tony:

That's so bizarre it *has* to be true!

But if she has any single sisters with the same "bad" habit, feel free to PM me.

 

In response to all of this:

WOW.

I bet half of all those extra charges you didn't authorize were because the service writer wanted to make more commission. As far as I know the techs just do what the service order says and aren't allowed to do any more unless the owner is contacted and gives authorization. Unfortunately trying to sort out who exactly is at fault there is probably difficult.

My husband works half in the oil change and half in the regular service bays (he's the newest employee so he gets screwed until he moves up) and his bonus every month is based on his customer service surveys. They survey a certain percent of his jobs and base his bonus on their ratings.

Then again, he must work for a dealership, not a stealership.

I would avoid ever going to a place like that again.

 

Boy I'm glad my dealer isn't like these guys.

 

My one complaint about a Toyota service center is from a few years back and has nothing to do with money.

The service writer called me a few days after I'd had some work done and told me I'd be getting a survey and he wanted me to mark the highest rating on each item. I wasn't inclined to do so because I'd had to wait several hours past the time promised before I got my Tacoma back. They had another screw up too but I don't recall what it was.

He implied that he'd be in a lot of trouble if I didn't. I went ahead and did as he asked, but I never went back to that Toyota dealership again. It just annoyed me that he'd call to ask for something like that.

 

Whenever I go for service, I get a call from the dealership, of which I can never return because they never leave a number. They say I should get a survey, but I never do.

For that one time they spent supposedly 2 hours to supposedly set the alarm to passive mode, I would have given them bad marks. They obviously did set it to passive, but it doesn't take 2 hours to do that so I don't know what they did.

 

Great to see people sticking up for thier rights. I don't think it would be out of line naming these "Stealerships" for the benefit of other Prius owners in your area.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mary Lou\";p=\"74064)</div>

Mary Lou, I think they do send out surveys to all their customers, be it an oil change, 60k or warranty work. My dealership ( I can call it that can't I?) phones all the customers about a week later (each writer in charge of his/her own) to check if the work was done ok and if they had any problems. If there are, they try to reschedule the customer to correct their problem. Toyota is big on survey scores and tries to get dealers to improve their scores. Ours was down a little last year(not bad but could've been better for us), so I went to the service manager to suggest that we try to make sure everyone is trained/doing things the right way/looking after the customers car/etc. So guess what, he made me Shop Foreman!. Oh boy! Now I am the guy every body goes to when having problems and I try to keep everybody doing things the right way. We have even had a few training classes( yes I'm the teacher).Our scores are much improved. They were never really low, but the service manager never likes to see us get bad reports,just bad for business. Without the customers, we would be out of work. Word of mouth you know. Even so, I know there are even a few techs in my dealer, as in all dealers, that you wouldn't want to let work on your new car, whatever it is. You just need to find the right dealer/tech that you are comfortable with and go with them. There are good ones out there. And need we forget, the techs service writer also. Mine doesn't know a lot about cars( less about Prius') and is always asking for our help in some things( always asking me questions on the Prius,haha). But she is a good service writer, best we have. Even won some city wide contests. So I guess you need to know the service writer and tech well enough to trust them.

Sorry to hear about Wolfmans and everybody's hard luck. Maybe if everybody just kept on Toyota about your specific dealer things would change. If you need to, maybe contact your region. The Regional Manager I think would love to hear about any problem dealers he has. Toyota really wants happy customers.


Now go ahead and bash me

 

no bashing here rick. sounds like the way my husband works too. tries to do all he can for each customer. in fact he has a few people who refuse to let anyone but him work on their cars! all the techs get bonuses for keeping their customer survey ratings high which is an added incentive.

i believe it is a dealer-specific thing as well, some places are more concerned with money than customer service.

i got survey call 3 days after buying my new prius and they took down every little comment i made. they really seemed to care. i had no complaints but it was nice to know i was being heard.

 

Rick et al. I suspect milage varies. Junior people do a lot of simple work and if they are not supervised to do quality work, quality work suffers. I suspect they are encouraged to be fast. My last encounter with the "dealer man" was plus minus. I came in with my 4 quarts of Mobile 1 and my copy of "New Car Features" that I was reading at the time. I had to put both down on the counter so the service guy could do the paper work. He had to have seen the book. It was not special it was the book I was reading, I am always reading a book. He should have know I was a Prius geek (yes I am and I have no interest in changing so shove your 12 step). I told him to leave the extra oil in one of the bottles in a plastic bag in the back and went to the waiting room for the 10k and the Nav upgrade. They got it half right. Oil cool 1/8 below the mark and about 350 cc in the bottle. They rotated the tires alright, 42 psi in the back, 40 in the front. They did not check the tires. I expected them to be set to factory, but they never checked. :roll: I my business I get a malpractice suite when that sort of thing happens. Makes me grumpy. I think the technicians probably do a good job, or would like to think that, but the folks in the oil change bay are not supervised as they should be.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas\";p=\"74874)</div>

To be stuck in oil change is a very unfortunate situation for anyone, as far as I have heard... they simply get screamed at all day for not being able to do the job of two people. They get no respect for any qualifications they may have and the service writers seem to have a general disgust for them.

That's what my poor hubby deals with every day as an ASE certified tech who is half working in the oil change bays and half working in the tech line.

I could see being screamed at as a distraction from checking your tire pressure.... these poor guys are worked to the bone for practically no paycheck. They are just trying to get the work out faster so the service writers get off their backs,as you mentioned. At least it was just a small mistake and easily corrected without having to return to the dealer.

Not to trivialize your situation, but that's what I hear about every night after my husband comes home from his 14 hour day....