Toyota takes aim at bad stealers
- Thread starter My1stT4R
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Sac State
New member
Recalls don't effect a $168 'power oil change' scam.
That is just rape. My dealer does this crap too. I ask for Toyota recommended 5/30W oil and they charge me by the bottle moving a $30 oil change to $45. They don't have bulk 5/30W oil as Toyota recommends for all their engines?
My dealer has turned into Jiffy Lube, trying to sell me a battery that is in a 3 year old car. That same battery has lasted another 16 months and still cranks strongly.
Pure slime. If I had to deal with the dealer more frequently I would change brands. Thankfully my vehicle is still very Toyota solid.
That is just rape. My dealer does this crap too. I ask for Toyota recommended 5/30W oil and they charge me by the bottle moving a $30 oil change to $45. They don't have bulk 5/30W oil as Toyota recommends for all their engines?
My dealer has turned into Jiffy Lube, trying to sell me a battery that is in a 3 year old car. That same battery has lasted another 16 months and still cranks strongly.
Pure slime. If I had to deal with the dealer more frequently I would change brands. Thankfully my vehicle is still very Toyota solid.
fitzt4r
New member
I was at the stealership the other day dropping my truck off for the warranty driver's seat rattle and as I was waiting for the service writer to get off the phone with a customer, I couldn't help overhear something to the likes of....
"Ms. So and so, your van is ready for pick up but the technician wanted me to let you know that you had a great deal of carbon build up in your motor. For $199, we can have that fixed up for you by the time you get here to pick it up. Yes ma'am, no ma'am. Ok, so we will do the de-carbon treatment and your van will be ready in an hour. Thanks, Bye."
WTF?? How can these con artists sleep at night. She is lucky if they poared a $2.00 bottle of STP treatment in her gas tank.
I was half tempted to wait around for an hour and tell this poor lady that she was just raped. But I figured it didn't matter b/c some other naive individual was probably getting fresh air put in their tires for only $100 per tire.
But in all fairness, Toyota isn't the only manufacturer that works this way.
"Ms. So and so, your van is ready for pick up but the technician wanted me to let you know that you had a great deal of carbon build up in your motor. For $199, we can have that fixed up for you by the time you get here to pick it up. Yes ma'am, no ma'am. Ok, so we will do the de-carbon treatment and your van will be ready in an hour. Thanks, Bye."
WTF?? How can these con artists sleep at night. She is lucky if they poared a $2.00 bottle of STP treatment in her gas tank.
I was half tempted to wait around for an hour and tell this poor lady that she was just raped. But I figured it didn't matter b/c some other naive individual was probably getting fresh air put in their tires for only $100 per tire.
But in all fairness, Toyota isn't the only manufacturer that works this way.
That pretty sad and I think that with them saying they are trying to fix this in the "coming years" is going to be to late.
Toyota had a good product in the 4R and good engineering . I am skeptical of buying another product at this point. My 4R has been pretty problem free except for the "stink" issue. I read on here about people bitching about the stealerships and their trucks and it makes me wonder if I will buy a Toyota again. They still rate well in consumer reports ,for what that is worth.
If I had to get a new truck ( pick up ) I honestly would go with a Ford or GM ( as of right now).
If I was to buy a new full size SUV I would buy a Tahoe . A mid size SUV 4R .
This kind of PR makes me rethink my vehicle choices in the future.
Thanks for sharing that article.
Toyota had a good product in the 4R and good engineering . I am skeptical of buying another product at this point. My 4R has been pretty problem free except for the "stink" issue. I read on here about people bitching about the stealerships and their trucks and it makes me wonder if I will buy a Toyota again. They still rate well in consumer reports ,for what that is worth.
If I had to get a new truck ( pick up ) I honestly would go with a Ford or GM ( as of right now).
If I was to buy a new full size SUV I would buy a Tahoe . A mid size SUV 4R .
This kind of PR makes me rethink my vehicle choices in the future.
Thanks for sharing that article.
My1stT4R
New member
The stealer once charged me $.99 for washer fluid while changing the oil. I complained about it at the next service interval and the stealer gave me a coupon for the oil change on the spot, free washer fluid refill, and 15% off an air filter I purchased. Sometimes it pays to speak up. Stealers will try to convince you: "you need fertilizer for astroturf". 
As previously mentioned, Toyota Stealers are no different than other brands, auto repair shops, etc.
As previously mentioned, Toyota Stealers are no different than other brands, auto repair shops, etc.
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Northof49
New member
That's too bad that so many Toyo dealerships suck.
The Toyota dealer I used to work for was awesome....their service center was one of the most reasonable shops in town, even counting the independant guys. I work at a nearby Honda dealer these days and find the parts, service and accessories to be at least 35% higher...bare minimum. Many accessories (priced straight from Honda) are double and triple their Toyota equivalents.
So there are some good apples, but as is usually the case in the car business, the bad apples shoot everyone else in the ass.
The Toyota dealer I used to work for was awesome....their service center was one of the most reasonable shops in town, even counting the independant guys. I work at a nearby Honda dealer these days and find the parts, service and accessories to be at least 35% higher...bare minimum. Many accessories (priced straight from Honda) are double and triple their Toyota equivalents.
So there are some good apples, but as is usually the case in the car business, the bad apples shoot everyone else in the ass.
Sac State
New member
My1stT4R said:The stealer once charged me $.99 for washer fluid while changing the oil. I complained about it at the next service interval and the stealer gave me a coupon for the oil change on the spot, free washer fluid refill, and 15% off an air filter I purchased. Sometimes it pays to speak up. Stealers will try to convince you: "you need fertilizer for astroturf".
As previously mentioned, Toyota Stealers are no different than other brands, auto repair shops, etc.
By giving you a $30 coupon voucher on the spot just shows how much profit these people are making. You were probably the only person out of a 100 that complained. The rest were cattle to the slaughterhouse.
We have 2 deals close by I bought and get service at a place called Jack Safro Toyota. They seem to be good except for the guy blowing me off on the rear stink issue and giving me the wrong TSB. I called Toyota and the customer relations manager called me back from the dealer with in hours. He said we have the parts on order and we'll call as soon as they arrive and try to make it better for you ..... thats all I ever wanted to hear.
I went to the other dealer , brand new big fancy place called Heiser Toyota. Just has an oil change and tire rotate. They called me back to see if I was satisfied with the service like both places do. I told them no I was not and I could tell by the rear end thunk that they did not grease my rear drive shaft. When they do it properly my thunk goes away if it stays greased. She then said ok , and thank you that was that. Now something so simple and quick would you not think they would say stop in and we will lube it for you......never heard back from them.
I went to the other dealer , brand new big fancy place called Heiser Toyota. Just has an oil change and tire rotate. They called me back to see if I was satisfied with the service like both places do. I told them no I was not and I could tell by the rear end thunk that they did not grease my rear drive shaft. When they do it properly my thunk goes away if it stays greased. She then said ok , and thank you that was that. Now something so simple and quick would you not think they would say stop in and we will lube it for you......never heard back from them.
scott78945
Member
Falls said:
If you think Toyota is bad, wait until you need service on your Chevy. Our family bought Chevy's for almost 30 years and we just finally had enough. They are unbelievable, vehichle sits there for 1 or 2 days and then they look at it. Constant problems, blah blah blah.
My supervisor just took his 03 Expedition in for transmission problems and he has 4 weeks left on his warranty. He was left on the side of the road on the way to his brothers home. It took 2 weeks to fix as they had a line up of vehicles with "transmission problems" including Mercury's. According to the dealer, Ford is having a problem with their transmissions right now. Take it for what its worth. Just my experience and I am sure not all vehicles are bad.
scott78945
Member
Falls said:
I recently went to Romano Toyota in Syracuse,NY and was told that the extra lubing of the driveshaft was extra and not included in the "regular" oil change. I told them to forget it then and I will live with it. I'll get on my back myself and do it, jeas!
juneau92
New member
No, Toyota is worse, IMO. Ask anyone here how their recent experience has been with Honda. They will tell you it was excellent. There's a poll over on the honda forums asking what folks think of their dealerships and the service they've received. Almost everyone raves about them.
Honda dealerships are under a lot of pressure to perform well. One mark against them can cost them a lot of money.
Anyway, I'm pleased to hear that Toyota is going to try to make some changes.
A trend I noticed with the bigger Lexus dealers in the Chicago area is that they outsource the service follow-up calls. It's not someone from the dealer making this call - it's a marketing service. That explains the lack of response to your complaint - it probably showed up as a dot on a graph, and that was it.Falls said:
They also have an outside service booking service appointments that are not for today. You call the dealer, press "2" or whatever for service, and you get transferred off to call center land. If you need to speak to someone at the dealership or need to come in right away, they have to transfer you back to the dealer!
More on the topic, I would agree that the Toyota dealer's service department by me seems to be no worse than any other dealer, but also no better. I'd have a lot more faith in them if they were more honest, forthcoming, and didn't try to upsell everything. I can picture them trying to sell headlight fluid, because it's useless to reset the aim on the lights without also changing the fluid. They'd offer the "headlight fluid flush" for the usual price of $89.95.
Uneek
Super Moderator
Unfortunately, with the complexity of modern vehicles it makes it difficult for many DIYers.
I'm skeptical about Toyota's plan, certainly it's a step in the right direction, but ultimately, something's got to give. I work in tech support and for every transaction with a customer, there's a possible customer satisfaction call. We're rated on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest. The big push for us right now is customer service. But we also have other metrics we must hit, such as exchange reduction (fix the problem without resorting to swapping out the equipment), refurb utilization (don't replace equipment with new (sales) inventory), bounce (did we fix it right the first time), etc. We've tried swapping out everything to please the customer and it costs us in the bottomline, thus exchange reduction is back. Ultimately, at my company/industry we created our own monster and there's no way to do it "right". It's a balancing act and we pick our battles, who we'll give into and who will leave pissed off.
I'm skeptical about Toyota's plan, certainly it's a step in the right direction, but ultimately, something's got to give. I work in tech support and for every transaction with a customer, there's a possible customer satisfaction call. We're rated on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest. The big push for us right now is customer service. But we also have other metrics we must hit, such as exchange reduction (fix the problem without resorting to swapping out the equipment), refurb utilization (don't replace equipment with new (sales) inventory), bounce (did we fix it right the first time), etc. We've tried swapping out everything to please the customer and it costs us in the bottomline, thus exchange reduction is back. Ultimately, at my company/industry we created our own monster and there's no way to do it "right". It's a balancing act and we pick our battles, who we'll give into and who will leave pissed off.
gizmopt2002
New member
I'm a Toyota/Honda person. Even if my dealer punches me in the face I'll punch them right back. It is the car itself and its reliability and not the dealers for me.
Uneek
Super Moderator
gizmopt2002 said:
:iagree: if I get crap service from one place, I'll go to another. But being a Toyota owner, I don't have to frequent the dealer very often. Getting a problematic car and knowing the mechanic on a first name basis doesn't make up for the hassle and time wasted at the dealer.
