2019 Prius Prime Safety Connect Customer Support Sales Pitch Canceling

They sound like they've gone to the same school as the satellite radio stooges.

You might want to change your credit card number...

I've heard there’s a thing, a "burner" credit card number, for one time use, with sketchy companies. Like Toyota...

 

I always remind myself, having worked customer service, that they are forced to say the whole spiel and go through the whole script tree on pain of losing their job if they don't

Fastest way through it is letting them get through it without interrupting them, politely decline any offers they're being forced to try to sell and be kind. My biggest pro tip for any of this is be nice to the CSA and they'll take whatever short cuts they can to get you what you want so they can get to the next call. If you interrupt or try to get them off script then in some offices they'll have to start all over again and you're only prolonging your shared misery.

It's not an easy job and people are jerks all day every day. If given the option to provide feedback let them write down that you found the hard sell unnecessary. Don't ding the CSA for doing their job. You should be given an opportunity to explain why you are canceling and how you feel about the cancelation process and you don't need to be mean to a minimum wage phone jockey to do it.

 

she should quit and get into something more ethical. like timeshare sales

 

That is the cost of the free trial. I never signed up for the Connected Service in which the Safety Connect is the core feature. For my three Primes the very first thing I did was to opt out of the Connected Service.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

get used to it. tesla showed every other car maker how willing customers are to pay monthly for optional features

 

Tesla pioneered the technology that made it possible. I think the first to actually do it was BMW.

 

There is NO customer service anymore, at least not that I have found.

Ford had/has a fault in the turn notification with their onboard GPS.
I got them to admit it......twice.....the latest 2 years ago.
It can be an important fault.
It is obvious that they have no intention of fixing it........ever.

Then there is DISH.
They have a fault in their "search" feature where it will not find sporting events using the most common abbreviations for the search:
NBA, MLB, NFL, NASCAR, etc.
I started that crusade 3 years ago; still not fixed.

They are ALL shoving a product out the door and you either take it or leave it.......warts and all.
Pathetic.

 

Does Tesla charge monthly fees for their OTA features? I have never read/seen any mention of monthly fees by Tesla on its operational cost. If they do charge fees, How much are they charging? If there is anything I hate about paying for services, subscription fees are at the top of my list. I would not buy a car that "requires" additional fees to drive a car.

 

There is a subscription fee for the connected app, which likely has the remote start and charging features. Though I think the complimentary period for new owners is measured in years. The FSD has a subscription option if you don't want to pay $15k; $99 to $199 a month depending on level of Autopilot on the car.

 

Humm, since I could never get serious enough to do research on owning Tesla for now and the foreseeable future, I never looked into those things. Having years-long complimentary "free" period and/or a cheap enough monthly subscription is one thing I may have to eventually swallow for many of future cars, but for now, can a Tesla be driven without having an account tied to a car on your phone? Or in an area that has no internet connections?

 

It can be driven. The app and monthly fee for it($10) is basically the same functions as you would find on Toyota's or anybody else's app; remote start, monitoring charging with phone, etc. It might be needed for live traffic on the navigation. It isn't needed for the regular OTA updates, nor any of the essential functions of the car.

 

tesla makes it difficult to find details on what you have to pay for and what you don't

 

One could argue the the core service of Safety Connect is (or at least was) the SOS service that dispatches emergency response in case of an accident (like GM OnStar). They had that first, and then piggy-backed on the telematics services like Connected Service. One thing you are paying for is cellular service for the built-in Safety Connect cell phone. It used to be that this cell phone only provide low-speed data and voice service, but I think than now they also use that phone for media stuff and navigation data and the like.

 

Correct. I have had all iterations of Connected Services on three PPs I have owned. Up to the 2019 model the OP owns, only Advanced trim had the telematics used for the Safety Connect and other Connected services. I had the 2017 Premium trim which did not have the telematics, thus I did not have to opt out. Starting on the 2020 model, Toyota started to include the Safety Connect on all trims of PP as standard. My 2020 LE trim had it despite the fact it did not have an onboard navigation system. I opted out of the Safety Connect service soon after purchasing it.

Around this time, Toyota changed the underlying software to control the Connected Services from the old Entune 3.0 which was usable on the pre-2019 PP Advanced trim for the Connected Service functions such as remote charging and climate control to a new Toyota App. That has caused a lot of pain for the pre-2019 Advanced owners since the new ToyotaApp lost a lot of functionality that was available in the old Entune 3.0. Many owners were very frustrated with the change and apparent downgrading. Since I never installed Entune on my phone or did anything with Entune app on my first PP, that change did not bother me. In fact, for the pre-2019 PP advanced trim, the Safety Connect and other connected services were included as an opt-in option. It required the owner to sign up for the service before using it.

After the 2020 model, the Safety Connect and associated Connected Services for a car equipped with telematic which are all the trims of PPs, Toyota has assumed that the purchaser had given the full consent to have the service to be active on the car. Without opting out, it will be automatically on and Toyota would collect all diagnostic, driving, and location data. That is why, on my 2021 PP Limited, I opted out of the Connected Service on the day I purchased the car even though it was included free for a promotional period.

I should add this. Toyota probably doesn't care about the service fee. That is such a small revenue for a company that size. I am almost certain that they make far bigger money by keeping the telematics to collect the driving and navigation data on the car even if it is free to the owner.

As the modern adage goes, If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product.

 

Not really. On-Star I believe lead the charge in subscription fees, unless you count satellite radio services.

On the Tesla site, click on "Menu", then choose "Support" and then type "Connectivity" into the search field. The first option goes to this page: Connectivity | Tesla Support
8 years free with a new car, or if buying used, the balance of that time.

To the OP, I agree 100%. I hate the hard sale and generally won't do business with companies that use it.
To be fair though, I strongly suspect that the service/call center is not handled by Toyota, but the third party.

 

Not like any car company puts the fees after the trial period for the connected services front and center on their web page.

The fees is probably close the cost. Cellular connections for millions of cars does add up. The bill I heard of to ban subscription features in cars would still allow subscriptions thing that have an ongoing cost, like these data connections.

There are Sonic, and surely other GM owners, that disconnected the GPS antenna to OnStar.

These were communication and location services. They may not even have had access to car systems. OTA for for turning features one, and Tesla has used it to turn features off, likely gave others the idea of charging subscriptions for things like seat heaters.

 

Sure, if Toyota can collect the SIM telecommunication cost from the owner, they would. But the point is that Toyota would rather have the telematics working and keep collecting the data even if they have to cover the cost. The BIG DATA they collect is a gold mine for a bigger profit.

BTW, the SIM I have in my Pixel 7 Android phone is a prepaid 5G card that works on the AT&T network. And it cost me $3.33/mo. The card is preloaded with money $10 for 90 days of service and the cost of $0.10/call or SMS, or $0.06/MB DATA is subtracted from the balance. Unused balance rolls over indefinitely. I have never used more than the balance left. It currently has a $179 rolled-over balance in it. So, if the SIM in the Toyota is only being used for emergency telecommunication for the Safety Service, they can surely offer it lower than the $88/yr ($7.33/mo) they are asking now.

I was thinking of disconnecting the FordPass modem in our Escape. But it is very useful for data logging charging session records and daily driving records, neither of them is available on the car. So, I am keeping it for now. I may change my mind if they start charging fees for the service.

 

There is also the data between the app and car. Possibly even for things like remote start.