Yesterday I heard a new noise (bearings) from my 2007 V-6 Sport edition, so I drove into Hagarstown Toyota @ 2:30 PM and asked the young service writer
there if he'd let me borrow a senior tech or another service writer to listen to the noise and confirm my idea of what the problem is. In other words, all I wanted was an opinion. The kid turned me down flat. He said that I'd have to make an appointment with the service department, then leave the truck there all day and in the evening (after 5 PM) I'd be told what the service department found, and what their recommended course of action will be. Presumably there would be a fee associated with this svce. All I wanted was an unofficial opinion, to either confirm mine or suggest another source of a problem!!

This is a contemptible way to do business! Contemptible! I told the kid I was 70 miles from home and was concerned for my safety on the road. Touch. It was his way or the highway.

Besides reporting this to the Hagarstown Better Business Bureau, is there anything I can do about this? All input appreciated.

If you recieved his/his tech's opinion that it was ok to drive, just from listening to it in the parking lot, and on the way home something fell off, shattering the windshield of a bus full of nuns, that collided head on with a van carrying life saving meds heading for a local hospital for orphans, would you be mad that he just gave an opinion based on auditory sampling alone?

Can you report someone to the BBB even if you didn't pay for service,
and they didn't provide a service you didn't pay for?

They absolutely could have handled it differently, but in their defense, when you ask for a tech to stop working on something, that pushes the next car in line further behind being repaired, and takes money out of their pocket, the ASM's pocket, and the shop's pocket......Maybe they were so backed up they couldn't till later. If they were working on your car so you could get home, and some guy off the street wanted them to stop what they were in the middle of, so they could check his ride, would you be ok with it?

/end devils advocate

To answer your question, no, I wouldn't be mad at the tech for offering an opinion, because that's all I asked him for. Opinions can be correct or completely wrong, and he who asks for an opinion only must be prepared to accept that fact. Your observation about the techs being too busy to check out a problem from someone off the street opens up legitimate questions. It then becomes incumbent upon the service writer to say, "I'm sorry sir, all our techs are busy working on customers' cars. If you'd care to wait until one becomes free, I'll be happy to have him take a quick look at your truck, but I have no way of knowing when that will be." If debris falling off my truck causes murder and mayhem, there will still be no dealership liability, because all I asked for was an unofficial opinion, based on a 5-minute listen to new, grinding noises in the parking lot. I'd have to prove things far beyond the purview of a hastily-sought personal opinion in order to prove negligence on the dealership's part. I hasten to voice my appreciation for your thoughtful and (apparently) knowledgeable explanation of the other side of the coin, so to speak. Lawyers and liability laws rule ALL our lives to an extent that few people realize, and all of the points that you raised seem valid ones to me.

Re BBB reporting, I would be issuing a complaint that I was not granted a service that I requested, and that the company attempted to involve me in a protracted, time-consuming bureaucratic rigamarole involving time and expense not at my disposal. But you're correct in questioning whether or not such a complaint would be acknowledged by the BBB. It's been my experience that such complaints accomplish precisely "squat" in changing corporate business practices under the best of circumstances.

Re: Busload of nuns: Do I at least get to watch? Ooops......never mind. Having been exposed to (victimized by?) nuns, lo these many years ago, I sometimes lie awake at night...........nuff'said.

Hahaha. Great answers

although all you wanted was an unofficial opinion from a tech, you have to remember that we get paid by the job. Spending time on a road test for free that takes away a tech from a paying job is not productive.
In my opinion, the only exception to this rule would be if you're a loyal customer that spend money and not just for warranty work, oil changes, or wanting free labor of some sort.
But, I do think that service advisor should have went on a road test with you to listen and given you the time to address your concern.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate the extra insight. Life is supposed to be a learning experience, and you've helped mine - no mean feat! Thanx again for your courtesy.