ScooterMD
New member
07 Sport here with about 160k miles. Reluctantly took it to a Dealer in Philadelphia area earlier this week for a wheel bearing replacement after moving cross-country and not being set up for any kind of repair work in my new house. New in town here and had never been to this or any other Dealership here before.
The Dealer service tech told me that all but $100 deductible would be covered by my after-market warranty for the bearing, and he quoted me $120 for a vehicle inspection and $100 for an alignment after bearing replacement. He said I should expect the total to be between $325 and $350.
Next day he called and told me the bearing was replaced and they had replaced a few burnt out bulbs, and the total was $385. No problem. He also told me it was due for an oil change, which I declined (because I use full synthetic and a Mobile 1 filter and had changed it about 4k miles earlier, just before driving X-country). He called me back later and said they had changed the oil anyway, but would not charge me for it so my total was still $385. Reeally did not want the oil change, but fine.
I went in the next day to pick it up, and they sent me to the cashier, where they give me a bill for $550. Cashier had more interest in pinterest on her phone than me and sent me back to the service desk. The service specialist I spoke with the day prior was not present, and another specialist said he could not modify the bill and I had to pay the full $550, which I did not accept. He agreed to walk through the itemized bill together with me, where we found an unexplained $100 charge that he said should have been removed. He then spent about ten minutes on the phone with a manager making sure he could remove it, which he eventually did. This brought down the total to $450, $65 more than the $385 I was told over the phone.
Incidentally, when he was on the phone I overheard the service tech in the next booth explain to a young woman the biggest load of shit I have ever heard. She had received a coupon in the mail from the Dealer for a $29.00 oil change, and she wanted that done while other work was being done on her Rav4. Unfortunately, he explained to her, this coupon was only valid for a conventional oil change, but her vehicle was only compatible with synthetic oil. She was appropriately wary of this explanation, and he went on to explain that the specific parts and gaskets within her engine needed to have the lubrication only from synthetic oil, and that using conventional oil would cause them to degrade rapidly. So her only choice was to pay for the significantly more expensive synthetic oil change, to which she reluctantly agreed. Wow! (incidentally, i approached her later and told her that was the biggest load of hogshit ever spewed...how can that guy say that with a straight face?!)
Anyway, I had now blown about 45 minutes just to pick up my 4Runner, and I figured getting out with a $65 extra charge and a conventional oil change that I really did not want wasn't so bad, so I resigned to just pay the $450 and get the hell out.
This is pure shameful dishonesty. This is why I don't trust them even to change my oil and why I would rather spend 5 days struggling through a repair on my own than going to them. This is why they so very appropriate call it the Stealer.
The Dealer service tech told me that all but $100 deductible would be covered by my after-market warranty for the bearing, and he quoted me $120 for a vehicle inspection and $100 for an alignment after bearing replacement. He said I should expect the total to be between $325 and $350.
Next day he called and told me the bearing was replaced and they had replaced a few burnt out bulbs, and the total was $385. No problem. He also told me it was due for an oil change, which I declined (because I use full synthetic and a Mobile 1 filter and had changed it about 4k miles earlier, just before driving X-country). He called me back later and said they had changed the oil anyway, but would not charge me for it so my total was still $385. Reeally did not want the oil change, but fine.
I went in the next day to pick it up, and they sent me to the cashier, where they give me a bill for $550. Cashier had more interest in pinterest on her phone than me and sent me back to the service desk. The service specialist I spoke with the day prior was not present, and another specialist said he could not modify the bill and I had to pay the full $550, which I did not accept. He agreed to walk through the itemized bill together with me, where we found an unexplained $100 charge that he said should have been removed. He then spent about ten minutes on the phone with a manager making sure he could remove it, which he eventually did. This brought down the total to $450, $65 more than the $385 I was told over the phone.
Incidentally, when he was on the phone I overheard the service tech in the next booth explain to a young woman the biggest load of shit I have ever heard. She had received a coupon in the mail from the Dealer for a $29.00 oil change, and she wanted that done while other work was being done on her Rav4. Unfortunately, he explained to her, this coupon was only valid for a conventional oil change, but her vehicle was only compatible with synthetic oil. She was appropriately wary of this explanation, and he went on to explain that the specific parts and gaskets within her engine needed to have the lubrication only from synthetic oil, and that using conventional oil would cause them to degrade rapidly. So her only choice was to pay for the significantly more expensive synthetic oil change, to which she reluctantly agreed. Wow! (incidentally, i approached her later and told her that was the biggest load of hogshit ever spewed...how can that guy say that with a straight face?!)
Anyway, I had now blown about 45 minutes just to pick up my 4Runner, and I figured getting out with a $65 extra charge and a conventional oil change that I really did not want wasn't so bad, so I resigned to just pay the $450 and get the hell out.
This is pure shameful dishonesty. This is why I don't trust them even to change my oil and why I would rather spend 5 days struggling through a repair on my own than going to them. This is why they so very appropriate call it the Stealer.
