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toyota.com/owners vs. Service Writer - BEWARE!!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by egg_salad, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. egg_salad

    egg_salad Active Member

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    Short version...

    As my new-to-me '08 approaches 100k/10 years, I thought I ought to do some maintenance.

    The toyota.com/owners website lists the last service record (3/31/17) before I bought the car. It says (in part):

    "CUSTOMER DECLINED THE FOLLOWING, COOLANT DRAIN AND REFILL, REPLACED ALL SPARK PLUGS, HYBRID BATTERY FAN SERVICE, HYBRID INVERTER COOLANT DRAIN AND REFILL, REPLACED BOTH FRONT WIPER BLADES "

    So I did the plugs last week - they looked lovely and came out easily, mind you. Today I brought my car to the dealer to have them do both coolant changes. The quote was surprisingly low!

    But when I sat down with the service advisor, he looked up the service history and told me all of that HAD BEEN DONE on 3/31/17, and even showed it to me on his screen.

    I'm 100% certain that he's not going to lie to me to prevent me from spending money! Also of note, when I first got the car I went in to clean the HV battery fan and found it spotless - which the Service Advisor also showed me was cleaned on the 3/31/17 service.

    The info at toyota.com/owners is only as good as whoever input the data. In this case, not very good.

    So I wasted $35 on replacing 15-month-old spark plugs. Good thing I saved the old ones!
     
  2. orenji

    orenji Senior Member

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    Yes, only the dealer has actual history.
     
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  3. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Unless you plan to do another change in 150k miles, you can donate those plugs.

    The person that inputted the info must type "customer declined" a lot, just keep repeating those words
     
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  4. egg_salad

    egg_salad Active Member

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    BTW, I'm also fascinated that the PO spent somewhere around 800 bucks on service 6 months before trading it in. Thankful, mind you, but fascinated.
     
  5. orenji

    orenji Senior Member

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    Happens all the time, they walk the showroom while the car is being serviced and get the new car bug!
     
  6. egg_salad

    egg_salad Active Member

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    I wasn't tempted by any of the new models, but on the showroom floor was a 1984-ish Land Cruiser BJ70 RHD soft-top Diesel that caught my eye!
     
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  7. Wayne

    Wayne Active Member

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    Huh. Just because I saw this I entered my VIN: It doesn't show the most significant service-related thing you can do to a Prius, replace the hybrid battery! I just did that on mine on 5 June, and for 5 June my VIN reports:

    ENGINE MINOR,*OUTER DRIVE BELTS,*CABIN AIR FILTER,*FUEL SYSTEM SERVICE,MULTI PT INSPECTION

    Engine Minor? I don't think so!! This omission is extremely significant to anyone who wants to buy your car!
     
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    They'll probably update it with the battery info after the core is logged as returned
     
  9. Wayne

    Wayne Active Member

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    So how long does that take? Been 2 weeks...
     
  10. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    It normally takes 2 weeks
     
  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    lol. My experience was slightly different - The dealer pushed some of their own service and when I said no, it said "Customer declined recommended service".

    This is BS because if anything goes wrong and I need a warranty, Toyota or the dealer will see this crap typed it. It's so vague and sounded like I declined the Toyota service interval when it was really just one single item that the dealer pushed ahead.
     
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  12. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    So how do you get the record changed? Is that even possible?
     
  13. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I'm not sure actually. I haven't asked since by the time I noticed it, the car was out of warranty.
     
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