I originally wasn't going to post my first experience at a Toyota dealer, but after this weekend I can't help myself.
It all started around the end of June. I was getting ready to move, then go on vacation so I was rediculously busy. I decided to give the 4Runner a quick full synthetic oil change myself (to save some money and have peace of mind), then take it in to have the 15k mile service completed.
I called ahead about a week and scheduled myself on a Saturday to have the maintenance completed. I told the guy in the service dept. to put a note on the order to NOT change the oil as I would be doing it myself prior to the service. I changed the oil on Saturday morning and then took her in to be worked on. I went over the list of work to be done with the lady (some of which was questionable, I'll get to that later) and I told her THREE (3) times to put a note on my order to NOT change the oil. I also told her to put a note on there to put some extra grease in the driveline to take care of the ever-present driveline clunk. Feeling satisfied that I had properly informed the service staff of my service requests, I ran some errands with my girlfriend until the car was ready.
This is where strike one came. I went to the window expecting to pay no more than $100 for services rendered. It was then that I realized that much more service had been performed on my vehicle than was recommended in the manual for the 15K service. They flushed and replaced all the dif fluids, performed a battery service, and did some other things I can't really remember since I don't have the invoice sitting in front of me. The total came out to around $400. I was in a hurry and realized that they did do these additional (needless?) services so I didn't argue grabbed my invoice/receipt and hit the road. One thing I also noticed was that there was no note left for the techs not to change the oil, "maybe she was going to tell them herself" I thought positively...
Later on that evening I was waiting in the car and decided to take a look at my invoice one more time. This time, something caught my eye that didn't when I was still at the dealership. A $6 charge for an oil filter. Hmm, that's funny I thought to myself why would they charge me for an oil filter when I told them not to change the oil? I promptly jumped out of the car and poked my head under the front fender to discover a black Toyota OEM filter. That's funny, I changed my oil this morning and used a Fram Tough Guard filter. My heart began to race and my blood started to boil....Those MOTHERF*CKERS changed the oil!!!!!!
Strike Two: I was FURIOUS. Absolutely irate. I wanted to murder someone (not sure why I got so mad, but I was). Even though it was Saturday evening and the dealership had been closed for hours, I called the service manager anyway and left one of the most heinous, rude, and duragatory messages in the history of man. To this day, I wish I had a recording of this message. It must have been 5 minutes long. Think about the part in "Grizzly Man" where what's-his-name (main character) goes off on the park service for like 10 minutes. That was me. I went OFF on this guy.
I got a call back, not Monday, no no no...Wednesday from the service manager. Just him mentioning his name sent me into another shit storm of fury. After calming myself down and having a civil conversation with the guy he told me to bring it in whenever I wanted to have full sythetic put back in. Fine. I'll take time out of my busy schedule to bring it back in as long as you make everything right.
A wasted lunch-hour later I was on my way. Full synthetic back in the crankcase with a new filter. Not before one of the service techs drives my car out and says, "Hey man, sorry about that, we see 15K service and the first thing we're doing is popping the drain bolt..." Those were his exact words, to which I replied, "That's exactly what I thought happened" I wanted to walk down the ramp and cock-slap the dumb c*nt working at the counter. I told her THREE times to physically write a note on the work order! Whatever, I had my synthetic and I had to get back to the office, I was satisfied for the time being.
Later that night I was driving home with the windows down and started to hear a rattle come from the undercarriage as I got closer to my house and slowed down the rattle became more apparent, so when I pulled into the driveway I got out and tried to figure out what the rattle was coming from. Didn't take long, a couple presses on the skidplate indicated a direct cause for the rattle; one of the four bolts that holds the skidplate in place was missing, causing one corner to hang and rattle over bumps. Well done again Burt Toyota on Broadway. The next day I was moving, then immediately going on a 10 day vacation ove the 4th of July, I had no time to address this problem until last weekend. Strike 3.
I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop-in to see if I couldn't get my hands on a spare bolt they had lying around, and maybe a tech could run out with a socket and put it in for me real quick. After a quick talk (with the same dumb hooker that screwed me the first time) she told me that they needed to put the car up on a lift to make sure there wasn't anything else missing, yada yada. I was like fine. Take my car put a bolt in it and give it back to me. An HOUR later the 4Runner appears from the garage. One Hour it took them to put one bolt in one hole. Something any of us could do in ten seconds took and hour of my time. I jumped in shaking my head and took off.
Why do I subject myself to this? Why didn't I just find time to do the service myself in the first place? Why does customer service have to suffer so bad? Why can't dealerships do anything right? Why did I have to pay so much for such a simple service? Why?
I feel like David against the Goliath. I can't believe these places stay in business with crap like this. I will never take my car back to this place. Never.
Yes, they made it right eventually, and yes in the grand scheme of things this really isn't that bad. But its a simple 15k service. Did I really have to go back twice? I guess from now on I'll assume that every dealership is this stupid and plan my services accordingly.
Thanks for bearing with me through the story. If you have any of your own horror stories from dealerships please feel free to share them...
It all started around the end of June. I was getting ready to move, then go on vacation so I was rediculously busy. I decided to give the 4Runner a quick full synthetic oil change myself (to save some money and have peace of mind), then take it in to have the 15k mile service completed.
I called ahead about a week and scheduled myself on a Saturday to have the maintenance completed. I told the guy in the service dept. to put a note on the order to NOT change the oil as I would be doing it myself prior to the service. I changed the oil on Saturday morning and then took her in to be worked on. I went over the list of work to be done with the lady (some of which was questionable, I'll get to that later) and I told her THREE (3) times to put a note on my order to NOT change the oil. I also told her to put a note on there to put some extra grease in the driveline to take care of the ever-present driveline clunk. Feeling satisfied that I had properly informed the service staff of my service requests, I ran some errands with my girlfriend until the car was ready.
This is where strike one came. I went to the window expecting to pay no more than $100 for services rendered. It was then that I realized that much more service had been performed on my vehicle than was recommended in the manual for the 15K service. They flushed and replaced all the dif fluids, performed a battery service, and did some other things I can't really remember since I don't have the invoice sitting in front of me. The total came out to around $400. I was in a hurry and realized that they did do these additional (needless?) services so I didn't argue grabbed my invoice/receipt and hit the road. One thing I also noticed was that there was no note left for the techs not to change the oil, "maybe she was going to tell them herself" I thought positively...
Later on that evening I was waiting in the car and decided to take a look at my invoice one more time. This time, something caught my eye that didn't when I was still at the dealership. A $6 charge for an oil filter. Hmm, that's funny I thought to myself why would they charge me for an oil filter when I told them not to change the oil? I promptly jumped out of the car and poked my head under the front fender to discover a black Toyota OEM filter. That's funny, I changed my oil this morning and used a Fram Tough Guard filter. My heart began to race and my blood started to boil....Those MOTHERF*CKERS changed the oil!!!!!!
Strike Two: I was FURIOUS. Absolutely irate. I wanted to murder someone (not sure why I got so mad, but I was). Even though it was Saturday evening and the dealership had been closed for hours, I called the service manager anyway and left one of the most heinous, rude, and duragatory messages in the history of man. To this day, I wish I had a recording of this message. It must have been 5 minutes long. Think about the part in "Grizzly Man" where what's-his-name (main character) goes off on the park service for like 10 minutes. That was me. I went OFF on this guy.
I got a call back, not Monday, no no no...Wednesday from the service manager. Just him mentioning his name sent me into another shit storm of fury. After calming myself down and having a civil conversation with the guy he told me to bring it in whenever I wanted to have full sythetic put back in. Fine. I'll take time out of my busy schedule to bring it back in as long as you make everything right.
A wasted lunch-hour later I was on my way. Full synthetic back in the crankcase with a new filter. Not before one of the service techs drives my car out and says, "Hey man, sorry about that, we see 15K service and the first thing we're doing is popping the drain bolt..." Those were his exact words, to which I replied, "That's exactly what I thought happened" I wanted to walk down the ramp and cock-slap the dumb c*nt working at the counter. I told her THREE times to physically write a note on the work order! Whatever, I had my synthetic and I had to get back to the office, I was satisfied for the time being.
Later that night I was driving home with the windows down and started to hear a rattle come from the undercarriage as I got closer to my house and slowed down the rattle became more apparent, so when I pulled into the driveway I got out and tried to figure out what the rattle was coming from. Didn't take long, a couple presses on the skidplate indicated a direct cause for the rattle; one of the four bolts that holds the skidplate in place was missing, causing one corner to hang and rattle over bumps. Well done again Burt Toyota on Broadway. The next day I was moving, then immediately going on a 10 day vacation ove the 4th of July, I had no time to address this problem until last weekend. Strike 3.
I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop-in to see if I couldn't get my hands on a spare bolt they had lying around, and maybe a tech could run out with a socket and put it in for me real quick. After a quick talk (with the same dumb hooker that screwed me the first time) she told me that they needed to put the car up on a lift to make sure there wasn't anything else missing, yada yada. I was like fine. Take my car put a bolt in it and give it back to me. An HOUR later the 4Runner appears from the garage. One Hour it took them to put one bolt in one hole. Something any of us could do in ten seconds took and hour of my time. I jumped in shaking my head and took off.
Why do I subject myself to this? Why didn't I just find time to do the service myself in the first place? Why does customer service have to suffer so bad? Why can't dealerships do anything right? Why did I have to pay so much for such a simple service? Why?
I feel like David against the Goliath. I can't believe these places stay in business with crap like this. I will never take my car back to this place. Never.
Yes, they made it right eventually, and yes in the grand scheme of things this really isn't that bad. But its a simple 15k service. Did I really have to go back twice? I guess from now on I'll assume that every dealership is this stupid and plan my services accordingly.
Thanks for bearing with me through the story. If you have any of your own horror stories from dealerships please feel free to share them...
). When I had my '99 Chevy Blazer that thing was in the shop once a year and it was over a grand each time, so $400 every couple years (besides normal maintainence) doesn't feel too bad 
