Courtesy Toyota Oil Change Fail

Definitely complain to the Toyota Customer Experience people. This sounds like a dealership trying to maximize profit thru deceit. I think the number is with the owners manual materials.

 

Oooo that just makes my blood boil. Stealership. I so don't want to bring mine in for its "free oil change". If I do, I will have them put it in writing and will want to see the containers after. And that depends if they will still do the "free" change after finding out they need to use synthetic.
Sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

If the 5w20 they used were a full synthetic the difference between the 0w20 and the 5w20 really would be absolutely nothing at all to worry about. I would only be concerned about the difference in those two weights in the dead of winter in an arctic climate. What would make me irate though is that the vehicle calls for synthetic oil hence the reason they are allowing the longer 10,000 mile oil change intervals after the initial change. I would not want to go 10,000 miles on conventional oil.

 

It so much cheaper to change your own oil and you know it's done right. You can get Mobil 0/20 from Walmart cheaper than what the dealer will their 0/20 for. The Honda 0/20 is non-synthetic and it is 6.50 a quart.

I have seen (used to work at a stealership) the Lube Techs change oil and after I saw that, I said never again. A lot of them use an impact gun on the drain bolt and that's a big no no. Then, half of them wouldn't even spray the under carriage to get rid of the oil that has dripped on everything. I have also seen them not use the customer supplied oil and they just put it back in the customers trunk. I have also seen them drive the front wheels over the ramp and luckliy the mud guards crushed between the car and ramps. They put on new mud guards and never told the customer.

Not all dealerships are like this, but I am one not to trust them. They are there for one thing and that is to make money.

 

Where are you getting this info on 10,000 change?

 

Great job keeping their feet to the fire. Too many people will be too afraid or intimidated even to ask the questions. Good on you for asking about and then for following up on the actions they were taking.

Every place I've seen has a little asterisk next the oil change price -- the words say something like "synthetic price may vary." We all know the synthetic oil costs more, so this should not be a surprise.

It appears your concern for other customers is well-placed.

Is your service agreement with ONLY that dealership? If it is a Toyota service agreement, do not cancel until you are assured you'll get every penny back. And, before cancelling, make certain you know from Toyota what you are supposed to get for the money. If it is the synthetic 0W-20, then you may want to get that in a separate writing and keep the service agreement. Otherwise, cancel it, advising it was obtained under false pretenses (Toyota said the recommended oil changes were covered, and they weren't), and demand payment in full of the money you spent on the service agreement.

Thank you for posting about your experience.

 

Ummm no.
Still not offical from Toyota. Which has been well discussed in that thread.

 

As earlier discussed my Stealership used 5W-30 for my "free" as in part of the Toyoguard package, so it wasn't free oil change. When I called them on it, because 5W-30 was written on the service order, their fix was to line out 5W-30 and write 0W-20 above it.
I won't be back. And probably will NOT buy my next car from there either. Their loss

 

Hi Paradox,

I thought the Prius team posted that Toyota is not officially changing its stance pertaining the 5000 --> 10000 OCI for the 2010 models. I was following that thread, and came away with that as the final conclusion. There are separate questions 1) whether such a change is advisable (which would involve individual judgment) and 2) whether relevant warranty claims will be honored by Toyota if it transpired that the customer followed a 10000 mile OCI.

Sorry to branch this thread out, but only since this has already come up.

Thanks,
Mihir

 

They knew the car that they were selling you the pre paid maintenance agreement for. You don't have to pay any more money. There is no upgrade. You bought this agreement from a Toyota Dealer and they have to use the proper oil and parts to service your car. Take the car to another dealer for service if possible or call Toyota to complain. This advice is from my attorney son.

 

After reading about the oil change issues here, I contacted my salesman with this question since I had purchased the 5K maintenance services through the dealership. His response was that they had not been asked that question since the 2010 Prius had just come out. They contacted their corporate offices and were told that since Toyota did require the 0W20 synthetic oil that the dealership would honor the service agreement using the 0W20 oil. Of course I have not reached the 5K mileage mark yet to find out for sure.

Thanks to you guys for posting this.

 

I had exactly the same issue with the prepurchased service contract which the dealer later claimed didn't cover synthetic oil. They issues a very poorly written letter indicating that "the best thing to do was to add a $20 surcharge" to all oil changes for vehicles requiring synthetic oil. I was initially upset as I thought they should have known that the Prius requires synthetic, so why sell me a service contract which isn't correct? They also offered to cancel the service contract which would have left me paying either $40 +/- for materials to do it myself or paying them $79 to do it. Either way, the extra $20 isn't a big deal considering the alternatives.

In terms of "forcing" a dealer to honor your service contract and losing money on the synthetic oil changes, good luck. They can't put $40 in materials into a $29 oil change. Are you going to sue the dealer if they don't honor it? Not likely. Its just not worth the headache for what amounts to a few extra bucks in a year.

 

I have a 2006 Prius and a 2010 Prius. On my 2006, I was able to get the pre-paid maintenance plan for a very good price ($465). 50,000 miles and ten service visits later, I can tell you that it has been a complete nightmare. They have severely overfilled the oil 4 times and I caught them not rotating the tires at all on two occasions, and on two other occasions, they did not rotate the tires properly/according to specs. In summary, I lost all faith in Toyota's service departments.

Fast forward to September 2010: I changed the oil myself on my 2010 Prius at 1,375 miles. It was very easy to do. It was informative. And I have a great sense of satisfaction knowing that it was done properly. Oh yea, it was cheaper too.

A "certified Toyota technician" will never touch either one of my Priuses again for routine maintenance...

Bryan

 

Welcome to the club. I came to that conclusion many, many years ago. I had a brief lapse, got lazy and got lied to by the service dept., now I'm back to my old ways

 

Hi Rick - bummer.

The Dealers in this area are poor to poorer (well some of them anyways). For that exact reason I do my own oil changes - see my standard work outlining the procedure if interested. I use only Mobile 1 - and at the recommended viscosity rating.

Another dealer story if I may - When I bought my Prius, I actually put a $500.00 deposit on a vehicle 9 months ahead of the official release date for a 2010 Prius from Autoway in Pinellas Park. The vehicle came in and after waiting 9 months and they tried to sell me the vehicle $4000 above msrp (there so-called market adjustment fee). Clearwater Toyota wanted $2000 above msrp .... yes crazy times we live in.

I purchased the vehicle at Sun Toyota at msrp - with no games - just professional service. Kudo's to Sun Toyota ..... today I believe some dealers are discounting a few % off msrp, but I'd buy again at Sun Toyota no questions asked.

Sorry for venting - Mr. Bill :rockon:

 

FWIW you are part SETD region, Southeast Toyota Distributors which is not owned by Toyota (neither is Gulf States Toyota for that matter). So your dealer experience shouldn't be compared to the national dealer "network" so much as it should be applied to your region's dealer network. Unfortunately I hear too frequently about dealers giving half a**ed service to customers which just adds to the already overwhelming stereotype of our industry. I do wish there was more pride among dealer employees. I feel my region (CATD) Central Atlantic Toyota, has for the most part very good customer service.