Stealership garage monkey!

[BAYOU]

So I took my TE in for the complimentary 15,000 mile (don't do anything) service, the Monkey that was working on my truck pulled the cabin filter and then put it back in upside down dumping everything into the blower...

Then they told me that leaves in the blower are not a warrantable issue! They wanted to charge me $120 to clean the blower. I told him to print me the schematic and I would do it myself.

Then, and here's the kicker, He rotated the tires without taking off the dust caps!!!!:wtf: He completely marred the caps but worse than that he scratched the hell out of the rims with the air wrench! :bash: So I went back in and the manager tried to tell me that they would have a person come and "repair" the rims, and they'd order new caps. she said the rims would "not look the same though"

I told her that I would be getting a quote for the rims to be powder coated (which is what I was going to do anyway) and that I expect that they will cover that cost. She did not put up too much of a stink, except that she did say she would look into what their person would charge.

Am I selling myself short here? should I have just demanded new rims? or is getting the Powder Coating covered a fair outcome? Thanks Forum-:beer:

 

[characterzero]

Powder coating is fair and pretty much standard issue when the rims come painted anyways.

That is pretty frustrating, I feel for you!

I'd certainly demand something above/beyond though, as it will cost you time and money and put you in a rental or something while they take care of your truck.

 

[Ukie]

Powder coating on wheels may chip from rocks and stuff and it's hard to fix it with a touch up paint...so I'm not sure if powder coating is the best option for wheels.
I would vote for new rims + free mount and balance by a dealership. In that case, if they damage anything else (e.g. tires when remounting) you will hold your dealership accountable for everything all together.

 

[453030]

In my opinion yes. I believe in being polite - people who yell and scream about something like this need to get a grip - but be firm. Tell them your wheels need to look exactly as they did before they damaged them and anything less is unacceptable. If they can fix them and you can't tell a difference then I think that is reasonable. But if not I would demand new wheels. At the end of the day if you wheel they will get a bit marred anyways, but of course you rather put that wear on them than a factory authorized dealer.

I was at my stealer last week to pick up a part. I had them do my first 2 oil changes and I did my 3rd. I have the full BB skids since they last did a oil change so when I was there I asked if they wanted me to remove the access door before I come in or if they could do it. He was not sure they had allen wrenches :shrug: or if they would have room with the rest of the skid on Picked up some Mobil 1 and just did it myself, again, to assure it gets done correctly. I also grabbed 2 grease guns and the 2 specified greases and hit the driveshaft. Before I bought this truck I had no automotive experience. Now I enjoy working on it and learning. With all the info on this board and the 120 and Nash's manual, it is easy to figure things out.

 

[bofa]

Wow, I would be pissed too. It's MY job to mess up my vehicle.

Most of the repair shops here charge between $100-150 to fix a heavily chipped/scratched wheel. I would think powder coating would be around the same price point, so if that's what you want to do, go for it.

I'd say hit them up for some free oil changes or something but given the circumstance, I'm not so sure. Although maybe next time he will sit on a screw driver and rip a seat or something so you can get leather. haha

I had a Scion a few years back with a new intake and exhaust. That same weekend I took it in for an oil change as part of a service plan. I was driving home and thought... man this thing is sounding good with the I&E. Drove it about 45 miles and got home. When I got out I could smell some burning. I popped the hood and the moron forgot to put the cap back on. I had oil all over the bay, all over my driveway. I called and raised hell (not belligerent, but firm and persistent) . They had a guy bring me an oil cap. Then I took it back up there and made them

• Document the issue in case it caused other problems
• Wash and detail the engine bay
• Give me a deal to install TRD springs at cost with no labor
• Got a few free oil changes
• Made them agree to pay to clean my driveway (I never followed up here - just cleaned it up).

 

[TOPDECK]

I have one piece of advice: Call Toyota NOW and open up a case with them. They will make sure the dealership does what they are supposed to do.

 

[Intruder]

I have one piece of advice: Call Toyota NOW and open up a case with them. They will make sure the dealership does what they are supposed to do.

That can also help ensure that the guy who did it is reeducated properly on not damaging customer vehicles.

 

[1engineer]

So I took my TE in for the complimentary 15,000 mile (don't do anything) service, the Monkey that was working on my truck pulled the cabin filter and then put it back in upside down dumping everything into the blower...

Then they told me that leaves in the blower are not a warrantable issue! They wanted to charge me $120 to clean the blower. I told him to print me the schematic and I would do it myself.

Then, and here's the kicker, He rotated the tires without taking off the dust caps!!!!:wtf: He completely marred the caps but worse than that he scratched the hell out of the rims with the air wrench! :bash: So I went back in and the manager tried to tell me that they would have a person come and "repair" the rims, and they'd order new caps. she said the rims would "not look the same though"

I told her that I would be getting a quote for the rims to be powder coated (which is what I was going to do anyway) and that I expect that they will cover that cost. She did not put up too much of a stink, except that she did say she would look into what their person would charge.

Am I selling myself short here? should I have just demanded new rims? or is getting the Powder Coating covered a fair outcome? Thanks Forum-:beer:

Why are you being so derogatory towards a mechanic? I'm usually nonplussed by such terms but c'mon, the mechanic might not be trained or new or something. Cut him a break. Do people talk that way about you and your job? The dealership on the other hand needs to take care of any damage that they might have done.

 

[TOPDECK]

Sure, the guy could be new, or untrained. But, if that is the case he shouldn't be on the repair line by himself.

When I had my problems with my dealership, it came to light that the first guy that buffed my car was not trained to do so. He was told to do it because they were busy.

When stuff like this happens, I tend to think the guy was in a rush, or just didn't care. Or, both.

 

[GrantK]

Am I missing something here?

They want to charge you for removing leaves from the blower that they, in effect, put in? No way, they remove them for free. This has nothing to do with warranty, it has to do with them screwing up something and therefore they have to make it right, for free.

 

[bofa]

Why are you being so derogatory towards a mechanic? I'm usually nonplussed by such terms but c'mon, the mechanic might not be trained or new or something. Cut him a break. Do people talk that way about you and your job? The dealership on the other hand needs to take care of any damage that they might have done.

Eh, I don't buy that. Unless he was blind, which could explain some of this, he could easily have seen the damage caused and owned up to it to get it fixed or at least acknowledged before it became the customer's issue to deal with. I don't mind mistakes, but I do when they affect me and inconvenience me.

 

[1engineer]

Eh, I don't buy that. Unless he was blind, which could explain some of this, he could easily have seen the damage caused and owned up to it to get it fixed or at least acknowledged before it became the customer's issue to deal with. I don't mind mistakes, but I do when they affect me and inconvenience me.

Terminology is all. Most mechanics I know are good, hard working people and not "monkeys." Some are not very good so they are simply "bad" mechanics. This is why I should know better than to post in these type of threads lol.

 

[bofa]

Oh you were referring to the term "monkey", short for garage/grease monkey. Yeah I could understand a professional taking exception to that term being used. My history with mechanics has been hit or miss, but I don't consider the term derogatory personally. I like being a grease monkey now and then, as a hobby anyway.

 

[GrantK]

I also thought grease monkey when I read it and didn't give it a second thought. I worked at a full service gas station in high school as a grease monkey (remember back in the day of $0.30/gal gas?). I was proud of the title and my friends were envious. Back then, a grease monkey was a mechanic in training as well as their helper. I did, as the title implies, oil changes, chassis lubes, tire rotation, the grunt work for tune-ups, brake jobs, etc. as well as acting as an extra set of hands for the full fledged mechanics. I learned a lot and made a good buck for a high school kid. I was also allowed to use the station lift and tools to work on my own car.

But, getting back to the main topic, whoever worked on the car is not up to par with what was expected of me when I was in high school working as a grease monkey.

I also 2nd the idea of contacting Toyota corporate and complaining so they will get involved.

 

[BAYOU]

Hey everyone, thanks for the good advice, and I will contact Toyota. But more importantly I meant no disrespect with the term Garage Monkey, 1Engineer I publicly apologize! eace: My beef is not with him per se it is with the Dealer that either put an untrained mechanic on a job, or whatever the case may be. Thanks again to you all for your help :cheers:

 

[offroadingatc]

Why are you being so derogatory towards a mechanic? I'm usually nonplussed by such terms but c'mon, the mechanic might not be trained or new or something. Cut him a break. Do people talk that way about you and your job? The dealership on the other hand needs to take care of any damage that they might have done.

That's the take away here? monkey seems pretty mild for the situation, I can understand his frustration. It doesn't even seem that derogatory. Trust me if I messed up at my job and the only implication was being called a monkey, I'd be pretty happy about that.

back to original point - sorry about the truck, that really sucks. IMO they need to make everything as good as new regardless of the cost (or give you an alternative that you are happy with) and some sort of incentive to start rebuilding your faith in them like a free service or something.

 

[O2VW1.8T]

Sad thing is, it is usually noobs that do the easy stuff like rotates and oil changes. The only way a master tech or a expert tech would do it if you complain about something than they get the whole ticket. Im a tech at a dealer and it surprise's me the re****s they hire and why dealers get a bad name. If that happened at our dealer and is has customer got 4 brand new wheels....

 

[terra4r]

Sad thing is, it is usually noobs that do the easy stuff like rotates and oil changes. The only way a master tech or a expert tech would do it if you complain about something than they get the whole ticket. Im a tech at a dealer and it surprise's me the re****s they hire and why dealers get a bad name. If that happened at our dealer and is has customer got 4 brand new wheels....

Same story as the OP, screwed up rims and caps at 5000mi service. and this ^^^ is the reason... some air gun wielding dip-shh "mechanic"

Regardless of the complementary service, I think I fair a little better off on my own...

 

[UtahSooner]

Good comments on here, but given that this topic is near and dear to my heart I have to throw in my $0.02... Having had similar wheel issues when my brand new TRD wheels were mounted and damaged at the dealer, I definitely suggest that you "go to the balcony" and collect your thoughts (which it sounds like you're doing by posting here). I was pretty pissed when I first noticed the damage to my wheels and, as a few folks have noted, yelling and screaming rarely get the service manager on your side. Bottom line is their employee (skilled or brand new, doesn't matter) screwed up and tried to pass off a crappy job. If you were already planning on powder coating your wheels and you'd be happy with having them pay for the task, then that is definitely a fair ask. I'd make them order you 4 new center caps as well (the plastic damage will still show up under spray paint).

If you're not sure about the powdercoating and all the wheels are damaged, then asking them to replace all 4 wheels is a perfectly acceptable ask in my book (that's what I had my dealer do with my TRDs when I went back to discuss the issue a few days after the fact). They get to keep the damaged wheels and do whatever they want with them. You can powdercoat later if you decide to.

It's one thing to nick up an already beat up set of wheels (after 50k miles my old 3rd gen wheels were scuffed enough that I didn't really care about minor scrapes). Its something else entierly to damage anything an otherwise new $35k-$45k vehicle. Which is why I will be the only one rotating the tires on our family's vehicles (as a case in point, a local tire shop damaged the wheels on my wife's 2010 Volvo putting winter tires on and they replaced the wheels -- at almost $700 a pop!).

Last thought -- I totally agree that it's generally bad form to paint broad strokes and belittle someone and their job (the lube and service tech in this case). However, once someone has proven their incompetence at completing tasks as simple as rotating tires and chainging an air filter I find it really hard to have any sympathy for the guy knowing that all or part of the repairs will likely come out of his paycheck. Damaging one wheel is an accident (lord knows I've been guilty of my share of "oh crap, I just screwed up" moments like anyone else), but damaging all 4 wheels? And pulling the vehicle out front like nothing happened? That's unacceptable in my book. There's a whole other discussion here about taking pride in one's work and just not being a dumba$$ in general, but I'll get off my soap box...

Good luck!

 

[Skeletor03]

I fully think that you should be asking for new Rims because of everything that you have been through now. I feel that it is their F up and they should have to make it right. I also do believe that screaming and yelling never works.