Did I get screwed by my dealership or?

[benztech82]

I took my truck to get an airbag recall and to do a transmission service (not flush, only drain/fill oil level check). Just in case it makes difference I have sealed unit 5spd, no dipstick V6 engine, so no transmission cooler. I have a dash cam and it recorded vehicle going in and out. The thing is I saw a tech opening a hood and leaving it open for 20 minutes but that's it, truck was never lifted it the air. So what do you guys and girls think, did they actually do anything at all or maybe they did a flush somehow without lifting a truck and checking the oil level ?

 

[90Duck]

Maybe they have pit underneath that doesn’t require lifting the vehicle?

 

[mikewhiskey]

The only way (proper way) to check the fluid level is when the trans fluid is at the specified temp range, and the only way to know it's at the right temp is via hooking up to the OBD port / jumping the OBD port for fluid temp check mode. Does it appear they did that?

 

[firebirdguy]

most professional mechanics i know that work in a shop with lifts will not lay down on the ground to do any kind of work on a car. this applies even more to an actual dealership that for sure has lifts or a pit.

obviously in order to do a drain & fill the trans drain bolt needs to be pulled... so the dealership mechanic had to lay on the ground to pull the plug & catch the fluid, then somehow had to fill the trans via the fill plug which also requires going under the car.

so, if you have video of it not being lifted, i would call the dealership & ask if lifting the car is standard procedure for a drain & fill & just see what they say. dont bring up the video or question them about it untill they answer. if they say they lift it for that service, i would ask for a manager asap & discuss the issue with him. shady mechanics will do shady things, dealership or private owned.

 

[techno]

When my hood is up, my dashcam view is completely obscured. I wouldn't be able to see the surroundings going up or down as you would expect on a lift. Plus, mine shuts down when the ignition is turned off. Is you dashcam view better than mine? How can you tell your's wasn't lifted?

 

[benztech82]

So, there was no pit, regular bay with hoist.
Techstream scanner wasn't connected because I have gps plugged in the port and it tells me if there was a disconnect (no proper ATF temp check.)
My dash cam has a wide angle view, so I can see mechanics around my truck at the front and also I was like 20 meters behind them watching. I couldn't see mechanics with my own eyes but the truck was on the ground for the whole time.
[MENTION=274360]firebirdguy[/MENTION], thank you! that's exactly what I will do.

 

[Samm25]

This is exactly why I don't take my truck to the dealership and do my own maintenance. I just did a drain and fill myself a month back and it was a pretty easy job, a little messy but pretty easy.

I took my girlfriend's car in for an oil change and to check the brakes because she was saying it was pulsating. They quoted her $2300 for new front brakes, rotors, and calipers saying they were metal to metal. Brought the car home that night, checked it myself and it was the biggest like I've ever seen in my life. She had more than 50% life left on those pads.

I decided I would never take my truck in for service after that. Oh, and the fact that the last time I took it in, I caught the service advisor revving my engine on video. So there's another reason

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

 

[benztech82]

This is exactly why I don't take my truck to the dealership and do my own maintenance. I just did a drain and fill myself a month back and it was a pretty easy job, a little messy but pretty easy.

I took my girlfriend's car in for an oil change and to check the brakes because she was saying it was pulsating. They quoted her $2300 for new front brakes, rotors, and calipers saying they were metal to metal. Brought the car home that night, checked it myself and it was the biggest like I've ever seen in my life. She had more than 50% life left on those pads.

I decided I would never take my truck in for service after that. Oh, and the fact that the last time I took it in, I caught the service advisor revving my engine on video. So there's another reason

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

I decided to do ATF change at Toyota just because I was going to get recall on an airbag but after 4 hours of waiting they told that parts are not in anyway. I did transmission service myself a while back but I wanted to make sure that the oil level was correct. I didn't short pins 3-15 it think? to get truck in oil temp mode. I used laser temp gauge pointing at a oil pan to get it to 40-43C thinking that oil inside would be slightly warmer like 45C. That's the only reason why I considered to service fluid at a Toyota dealership.

 

[firebirdguy]

So, there was no pit, regular bay with hoist.
Techstream scanner wasn't connected because I have gps plugged in the port and it tells me if there was a disconnect (no proper ATF temp check.)
My dash cam has a wide angle view, so I can see mechanics around my truck at the front and also I was like 20 meters behind them watching. I couldn't see mechanics with my own eyes but the truck was on the ground for the whole time.
[MENTION=274360]firebirdguy[/MENTION], thank you! that's exactly what I will do.

sounds like they tried to scam you on that service... i would call or go in & demand an explanation as to why it wasnt lifted or why they didnt do a proper temp check of the fluid. i hate shady mechanics!

same for teh guy with the $2300 brake job... go back & show them the pads are not metal to metal & ask why they would claim that to your girlfriend... & also why front brakes cost $2300... new part for most any car/truck are nowhere near $1000 & labor to do front brakes is nowhere near $1000+. you can buy all new quality parts for probably less than $500 & do the job in 2-3 hours. total ripoff at $2300! or even half that price!

crap like this should be criminal!

 

[Terminator03]

sounds like they tried to scam you on that service... i would call or go in & demand an explanation as to why it wasnt lifted or why they didnt do a proper temp check of the fluid. i hate shady mechanics!

same for teh guy with the $2300 brake job... go back & show them the pads are not metal to metal & ask why they would claim that to your girlfriend... & also why front brakes cost $2300... new part for most any car/truck are nowhere near $1000 & labor to do front brakes is nowhere near $1000+. you can buy all new quality parts for probably less than $500 & do the job in 2-3 hours. total ripoff at $2300! or even half that price!

crap like this should be criminal!

The worst part is that they know in the case of the trans fluid on our trucks there really isn’t a good way to “check” that it was even done. On most vehicles you can pull the stick and at least see if the color looks better, but on ours, you’d have to crawl under and actually drain some to check, which most people wouldn’t be willing to do, especially if they are paying for the service in the first place. Shady mechanics know this, and count on it unfortunately. If I were the OP, I’d definitely confront the service manager to see what, if anything they would offer as a remedy, and depending on that, I’d bring the video to the Attorney General and file a formal complaint of fraud.

 

[Bluesky 07]

It wasn't clear to me from your first post whether your dash cam recorded the entire visit. If so, and if it's clear the transmission service wasn't done, here's my suggestion based on many years of being on both sides of a customer service counter (albeit in a different industry):

1. Ask for the service manager;
2. Tell him/her that there must have been a misunderstanding as to what service you requested and paid for;
3. Explain about the dash cam footage, tell what was on it, and say you can't understand how the service could have been done without lifting the truck; and
4. Say you're sure they want to make it right and can he or she help you with that by scheduling the work and personally following up to be sure it's done.

If the service manager has two brain cells, he or she will jump on the chance to apologize and straighten the "misunderstanding" out. (It's funny but the more obvious it is that they were trying to scam you, the better this works.) If he or she is a star, they will birddog the service and make sure it's to your satisfaction.

Or they may try to BS you with some goofy explanation. If that happens, it's then clear what kind of place you're dealing with and I wouldn't blame you for getting upset with them.

People always want to go in guns blazing but trust me, a calm demeanor and explanation of the issue followed by a reasonable request goes a lot farther than yelling and screaming. You can always bring out the stick so to speak if the honey doesn't work, but not vice-versa.

If I were you, I'd also ask nicely what they usually do for people who are inconvenienced this way. They may surprise you.

 

[shadow247]

sounds like they tried to scam you on that service... i would call or go in & demand an explanation as to why it wasnt lifted or why they didnt do a proper temp check of the fluid. i hate shady mechanics!

same for teh guy with the $2300 brake job... go back & show them the pads are not metal to metal & ask why they would claim that to your girlfriend... & also why front brakes cost $2300... new part for most any car/truck are nowhere near $1000 & labor to do front brakes is nowhere near $1000+. you can buy all new quality parts for probably less than $500 & do the job in 2-3 hours. total ripoff at $2300! or even half that price!

crap like this should be criminal!

Yet shops get away with it all the time because they are Naive.

I just reviewed a customer's insurance claim for a set of wheels and tires at the local F*RD dealer. They were charging 100 to mount and balance 4 tires, plus $48 for wheel weights, plus 1.2 hours mechanical labor - so almost $300 in labor to put on 4 wheels and tires. Discount tire charges like 85 bucks to mount the same wheels and tires.

 

[benztech82]

*****UPDATE*****

So, service manager was away and I dealt with senior service adviser. He confirmed that oil level check was not done after watching my dash cam footage and speaking with a technician. Also he told me that they don't do an oil level check when transmission services are preformed generally. Their mechanics are cutting corners by flushing 4L of ATF through cooler lines at the rad instead of drain/fill procedure. Basically if you are paying less for a transmission service instead of a flush which may damage hi millage transmission you will get a flush anyway because they either too lazy or this particular service doesn't "PAY" well to lift the truck and do it properly.
At the end I gave keys to the tech that worked on it previously and he checked level ( or so he said) I didn't bother to check my dash cam again. Anyway, that was my first and the last time that I took my truck for service to Mississauga Toyota.

 

[micRevolution]

I think the same just happened to me. My 07 was having some rough shifting between 1st and 2nd. I'm also experiencing when coming to a full stop, the car jerks forward a little bit as the tranny downshifts to 1st.

So I took mine to the dealership couple days ago for the "Transmission Fluid Exchange" service, not the flush. And while I was under the car doing an oil change yesterday, I noticed that the drain and overflow plug of the transmission is all dry and just overall too clean for it to be messed with in just a day. The car felt exactly the same as before I brought it in for service. I'd assume it'd at least help with the shifting a little bit at the very least.

Called the service adviser who helped me and was told they did everything through the coolant lines using a machine to suck and push new fluids back into the tranny, thus the drain/overflow plugs are clean. I was also told (before the service) that it will take about 12 - 13 quarts of fluids to do the job, and that Toyota WS fluids will be used.

I really doubt they changed out all the fluids, and on top of that, I don't think they even used Toyota WS fluids at all. The reason I say that is because on the receipt, it says fluid #3143 which is some type of BG Synthetic ATF.

Thinking of calling the service manager and see what happens.