Sooooo… I got a questionnaire from Toyota about how the ‘service’ went. I only had 1000 letters to make my response.
I talked about my previous service that took 7 hours, and of course this recent one. And said that I’m not coming back. Don’t bother with an offer of a free oil change. I’ll be sure to let my friends know.
Not that they give a shit. They already proved that.
Perhaps… someone will see that, and save them the grief I’ve gone through. I’m sure that it will go in the circular file.
Are you on social media? You could post about your experience there, especially if you name the dealer. Some businesses monitor social media for customer complaints and are very responsive, though perhaps that’s because they’re shamed into doing so.
Echoing the others re: finding a local shop you can build trust with, or at least something closer to home. I NEVER go to a dealer any more for service. N.E.V.E.R. Exception: warranty work that’s covered by the manufacturer. The shop we use now came across a warranty item and told us to take it to the dealer so we could get it done at no cost. Now that shop has our business for oil changes, brakes, etc.
Ah, the dealership. Where they try to convince you the vehicle you purchased from them a scant few years before is a P.O.S which has several components leaking something or other and they really should replace that immediately.
show you a picture of a component covered in road grime
Also, that one component they want to replace that really seems like it should be considered to be a part of the powertrain by any reasonable definition, definitely isn’t part of the powertrain and isn’t covered by the powertrain warranty. But look it’s oily. We’ll replace it for for only $1200.
And of course the only reason you went is the mandatory recall that consists of updating a chip somewhere which for some reason takes several hours while they tell you several times about all the other work they really should be doing.
Kind of a similar situation… We have a chain of tire companies here called Les Schwab. They’ve always been awesome in the past. I remember times when I’d take my car in with a leak or flat tire, they’d have me sit and watch TV and eat free popcorn, and in a half hour they’d tell me it’s fixed. What do I owe them? Nothing, happy to help. Like, holy shit, what business does that. And they weren’t even tires I’d bought there, they just wanted a good reputation in the community.
So I also bought my tires from them because that’s a business I want to work with. And I had great experiences with them.
Then…
And now they’re shit. I was driving my car a month ago and hit a pothole. The next day my car warned me my tire was low. I pumped it up, and by the next day after that it was low again. Uh oh, that’s a problem. Luckily these tires are under warranty so I can get them serviced.
I came in first thing in the morning, I was the first person in the door. Told them the story. They said no problem, have a seat and we’ll help you out.
I was there for seven and a half hours. And then finally a mechanic told me he couldn’t find what was wrong with the tire. It clearly has a leak, how the fuck do you not see that?! Oh and my tires are worn anyway, so they should be replaced.
I was skeptical about the tires being worn, because they weren’t that old, and I don’t put that many miles on them (until this year my work provided me a van to drive around so I didn’t drive my car to work, it was mostly used for local errands). But, maybe they were, and I need a working goddamn tire, and I have literally been there all FUCKING DAY and I was not going to leave without it being fixed, so whatever, I bought the fucking tires. And they expedited the replacement because I told them I have waited all day for a damn leak fix and I am not leaving my car there overnight when they’ve had all day to fix it.
They got my money but it’s the last time they will get a penny from me. Warranty or not, I don’t trust these people who took a great business and decided to wipe their ass with it. I have alternatives almost as close and they have decent reputations.
It’s possible that they had scheduled appointments booked for the whole day, so while you were there at the beginning of the day, they still had to squeeze you in.
Crap! Sad to hear this about Les Schwab. They’ve been my go-to for almost 40 years. They have always been fast and a great value and I can’t count the number of punctured tires they’ve repaired for me. They’ve always done my brakes as well when I didn’t want to bother with it.
I just saw @Dewey_Finn and yes, they do have an online scheduling system now that I use. But still, repairing a flat has always been something they fit in.
Man, that sucks. A shell game really. What REALLY pisses me off is the time that I have to spend with these people. Yes the waiting room is nice, BUT I HAVE THINGS TO DO.
Don’t let me burn 3 hours in the waiting area and then say, oh, we will need it all day.
I have appointments too ya know.
True, and that’s the only reason why I waited so long and didn’t pester anyone (although I was about to around the time they actually contacted me). It was just such a dramatic departure from the way things were done in the past, and the final resolution was what really disappointed me.
I will say that the customer service staff was courteous and they were even apologetic that I was there all day, so I’m not actually mad at the people working there. I think it’s the business itself that has gone to crap.
That was the case for me. I was supposed to pick up my daughter from school that afternoon, because I brought my car into the shop on my day off (and normally I am the one who gets her those days), and I was really sweating it, but by luck my wife’s drive home was unusually light and she was able to get her. So in the end, no disaster. I just never expected that something that used to be quick would be an all day matter. And I was really trapped there unless I called a taxi or Uber or something.
I work a split 40 hour week (10 hours Monday and Tuesday, 10 hours Thursday and Friday). My wife works from home Tuesday and Thursday, and goes into the office Monday and Wednesday, and has Fridays off (she also works 10 hour days like me). So I really didn’t have anyone to pick me up if I was going to leave my car there. They also didn’t warn me that I’d be there all day, and since I didn’t schedule an appointment with them I didn’t want to be a pain in the ass, but even my patience was wearing out toward the end.
And again, they went from being rockstars to being a place I don’t want to visit again. I should have known… I have a coworker who actually used to work at Les Schwab back in the day, and he warned me they weren’t the same place. So when I went in that morning I was already feeling nervous, and I was hoping that no, it would be great like I remember they always had been, and things weren’t that different. Oh, they absolutely were different.
Yelp would be a good place to post, too.
No. I’m not. That’s another thing. I deleted my facebook because I never used it. Opps, except for one thing (looking at our kennels pictures when we board our dogs). They won’t let me get back on because I violated their rules. Not sure how BECAUSE I NEVER POSTED A SINGLE WORD. They won’t let me explain or tell me why or what I supposedly violated. I think they must have somehow confused me with someone else. I donno, it’s very strange.
I did get the standard “How did it go” survey email from Toyota. I let them know exactly how it went this time and last time and told them NOT to send me a coupon for a free something. I value my time to much to ever darken their door again.
What was weird was after they said they need it for the entire day, I said I need my small backpack out of the back. Service guy went to get it and brought the whole car. They weren’t working on it. It was drivable. That’s when I said screw this and took my car (after I paid $90 for the tire rotation that it did not need.)
The Stealership gets my car for warranty and recall work. That is all.
!! Yikes! That’s a strong indicator the service dept are slimy bastards. I can see them charging you something if that’s all you were having them do, but they should have charged less for that, or tossed it in free with other service you were paying for.
Autonation Toyota on Arapahoe? There’s a Discount Tire across the street. Discount Tire/America’s Tire will rotate your tires free of charge - even if not purchased there. It helps to schedule an appointment - I am usually in/out in about 30 min, and no effing bullshit hard sell for other services. Yes, I watch them torque the lugs, too. And yeah, their little freebie earns them a sale of new tires occasionally. Just fyi future reference.
It’s complicated. I didn’t ask for my tires to be rotated, it was ‘scheduled maintenance’ my car TELLS me when it’s time to get work done on it, but not what work is to be done.
Oh, they checked the fluids and did their 20 point check up or whatever. I kept getting texts from the guy that checked it in “It needs this” “It needs that” I agreed every time. I said do it every time. They did nothing but rotate the tires. Was everyone out sick? What the hell?
There are NO Toyota dealers in the county that I live. There are certainly other ones in Denver, which I will investigate. 100 miles, which I’m used to, but you have to plan for.
No full service private shops for any vehicle either. There is a Ford and a Subaru dealership. Jeep too I think.
Yes, I could keep track of everything that does or does not need done. I used to do all my own vehicle maintenance. But I’m frankly over that shit. I can afford to have other people do it. But they need to do what they say they will.
Funny enough, Discount Tire is where I’m planning to go next time since I’m done with Les Schwab.
My mechanical tale of woe (not a Toyota dealership but my car IS a Toyota) came about yesterday. I’d been smelling fuel fumes in the car, and outside the car after it had been parked for a short time.
Tried umpteen mechanics in town, all booked out until Feb 2025, but finally found one and almost literally around the corner. Dazza seemed like a nice guy…until I went to pick up the car and he presented me with the invoice.
Parts: $14.30
Labour: $559.99
Next life I’d come back as a car mechanic, except I really don’t like getting my hands dirty.
4 hours to find and change a leaking whatever may not in fact be crazy. In fact it may well be billed right out of the manufacturer’s big book on how long each repair of any given gizmo ought to take.
Yeah, and if it’s the discrepancy between parts and labor, that’s just saying a person’s time and skills don’t mean anything. I sure as hell think my time and skills mean something at my job.
If it’s something you could easily fix yourself for less than $15 and very little effort, why take it to a mechanic?
For what dealerships charge for service compared to independent shops, you’d expect better service than that. Many years ago, before I had a good independent mechanic, I took my car to a dealership for a somewhat complicated repair that a franchise shop was going to charge me a fortune for. The dealership was cheaper and presumably had better access to parts and hopefully was more competent.
It worked out well. They had a courtesy shuttle that took me home, and then when they couldn’t finish the job that day as promised, they called Enterprise and got me a rental car. When the job was done the next day, they honoured their cost estimate despite it taking a lot longer than originally estimated. That’s the kind of service I expect from a dealership charging premium prices.
My recent experience:
Leaving my no-power hometown post-hurricane, the cherry on the shit sundae was that I backed into our trashcan on the way out of the driveway, shattering the tail light cover. Obviously I couldn’t get it fixed locally, so once I got to my destination, I called around.
The only place to get the part was the Toyota dealership. $200 for the part, and $200 to install it, they quoted me.
I paid for the part and took it to a local mechanic. He spent 15 minutes installing it, charged me ten bucks. It was the only time in my life I’ve argued with a mechanic for him to charge me more, but I lost the argument.
There is no way in hell I’ll get work done at the dealership if I have an alternative.