Where can you report issues with Dealership service?

If anyone has an answer to the question above I would like to know also "who in Toyota holds dealerships accountable".

I bought a Prius v in September of 2009. As of July 2012 it has only 12,000 miles since I only use it to drive to the airport on excellent roads. I took it to the dealership this week for the 'Yellow Service' and the service shop's computer pulled up the service order and very matter of factly tacked on $49.95 for "Balancing the Tires" and an additional $59.95 for a front end alignment. The serviceman gave me the total and said nothing about the additional $110.00 charges, again very matter of fact like it was normal.

In my 50 years of driving I have owned more than 100 cars, all types, new and used and never, ever have had someone add on an alignment and tire balance without (first) looking at the car and my tires, and (second) discussing it with me in some detail. I gave the dealership failing marks on their email questionaire then received a notice from the Service Manager at "P****Y Toyota" in Tucson. The notice indicated that I had failed to have two of their recommended services made to the Prius. He totally ignored my request for an explanation of the (in my opinion) bogus charges. I wrote him a direct email then received the following email from a subordinate at "P****Y Toyota. Here's what he wrote and I would love to send all of this to the proper people at Toyota. If they would agree with the dealership I would never buy another Toyota. Regardless, "P****Y" lost a customer for both service and new car sales.
Thank you so much for your recent email. We appreciate your business very much and hope our service department is able to accommodate to all your service needs. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain some of the recent recommendations on your previous service. You are correct with all the documentation that you sent in your email. The factory Toyota owner’s manual does not discuss the routine maintenance of alignment or balancing of ones tires. The recommendation of alignment and balance comes directly from the tire manufacture, not Toyota. Tire manufactures spend an abundance of time in research and development perfecting there product. All manufactures are slightly different on how they produce there tires and what that specific tire model is best suited for. We use a large tire distributer by the name of Dealer Tire that also spends an excessive amount of time in R and D to insure that all our guests receive the highest quality product and knowledge at the dealer level. With the combined efforts with the manufactures and distributer a routine maintenance schedule was produced to insure the optimal longevity of our guest tires. The manufactures have been able to prove through rigorous research that staying up on routine maintenance which includes but is not limited to; Tire pressure adjustment (when needed or during every 5,000 mile service), Tire Rotation (every 5000 miles), 2 wheel or 4 wheel Alignment (every one year or 15,000 miles, which ever comes first) and Tire Balancing (every one year or 15,000 miles, which ever comes first) one can optimize the life expectancy of there tires. This research has produced results showing an approximated increase to the tune of 10-15,000 additional miles out of a set of tires merely by staying true to recommended scheduled maintenance guide. Even though one might not feel a pulsation, vibration, push or pull in there vehicle while driving, our state of the art laser assisted alignment racks and laser assisted balance machines have the ability to detect even the slightest variance from specification. These precision machines now give you ability to rectify a potential problem before you start to experience such problems as a push, pull or even the un-repairable abnormal tire wear. Again I must reiterate that this is not a Toyota mandate nor does it affect any portion of your warranty. This service is merely routine maintenance recommended by the manufactures who engineer the tires that are on your Toyota and every other Toyota we sell. Again I thank you so much for the opportunity to answer your service questions and encourage you to continue to pass along any question or concern you might have in regards to your Toyota. Thank you again for your repeat business with our family owned and operated Toyota dealership. We appreciate you and hope this email is an adequate response to your questions. If you have any additional questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to email, call or stop in. (END OF DEALER'S MESSAGE FOR AUTOMATICALLY ADDING $110.00 FOR TIRE BALANCE AND ALIGHTMENT ON A 12,000 MILE PRIUS V WITH PERFECT TIRE WEAR)

 

I don't believe anyone at Corporate has any leverage over dealers' service practices.

Adding services & charging for them without authorization is illegal in NJ.

All the bundled service plans are just ways to separate the owners from their money. Read the service schedule delivered with the car & the sticky thread discussing what services are needed.

If all you need is an oil change then anyone can do it. If the procedure is going to require the use of a Techstream then you are probably stuck with the dealer unless you have a top grade indy shop in the area.

Service Depts. quote outrageous prices when they don't want to do the job. How much were you willing to pay to have someone crawl around the car & jiggle the wire?

 

dealerships make money through legal theft. if you are ignorant of your cars service needs, spend some time researching here. there are many threads on service, what you need and what you don't. what it should cost on average and when you can take it to a regular mechanic and when you have to go to a dealership. don't lock yourself in to one dealer. shop around, get second opinions. an informed owner is a threat to the dealership as we know it. toyota can/will not do anything for you. they have an agreement with the dealers to sell and service their cars and nothing more. this is how all manufacturer dealer relationships work. read, study, ask. don't go for service uninformed.

 

So what's the point of the satisfaction surveys, and why are dealers so insistent you should give them top marks in every category?

 

I'm not sure if it's the same with Toyota but with Volvo, the survey impacts their compensation (at least the sales department). Part of their commission is based on actually selling the car, but there's a part that depends on how well they're rated on the survey. Maybe it's the same for the service department as well?

I've written Toyota regarding my experience with Toyota of Pasadena when purchasing my 2012 Prius Liftback Two (Beware of Toyota of Pasadena | PriusChat) but I have not heard back yet. And if I do, I'm sure it will be one of those "thanks, but" responses.

 

No one. What I have found is that everything except recalls can be done by my local mechanic.

 

Has anyone experienced this?
I'm talking Honda dealership service not Toyota but I'd imagine it's symptomatic within the whole industry.

When I bought my Honda Fit, there was a problem. Misread mileage, fraudulent buyers contract. I complained. While the dealership DID remedy the problem....gave me a new vehicle, mysteriously I never received the dealership satisfaction survey. I suspect, it was because I was NOT happy with the entire experience.

Similarly, last time I had service done, I informed the "Service Adviser" that I did NOT want them to give my vehicle the complimentary car wash. I was assured they would NOT do it, as per my request. But low and behold when I went to pick up my vehicle....the first thing the service adviser says as it was pulled around was "Here it is all shiny and clean". They washed it? I did not flip out or anything, but I think they could tell I was mad. It's a black vehicle and I only like to trust myself to clean it. And since they assured me it wouldn't be washed, it was a failure.

In the past? I'd always gotten post service satisfaction surveys....again mysteriously? After this service I did not.

So my observation so far, is that if you demonstrate any level of dissatisfaction, you won't even get a satisfaction survey to fill out. Which IMO makes the whole process bogus. What good is a dealership pointing to glowing satisfaction survey results when the real truth is they aren't sending them to anyone they think might be upset?

I really think there is a problem in the whole dealership service industry. It's become too machine like and finding a dealership service department you feel comfortable with and trust is far too difficult.

I'm always glad when I get a new vehicle and get past the timeframe in which I might discover I have a problem or lemon. Because I like dealing with the dealerships...as little as possible.

 

We have a local hospital that's so bad they've had to change their name twice now due to their ultra poor reputation in the community.
So- new name- new CEO, but same Dr's, managers, dep. heads, nurses, techs, etc...
Now the new CEO decided to send out patient satisfaction surveys to all newly released patients after his first six months at the helm. Unfortunately, instead of using a private PO Box at the Post Office where he could go and personally pick up the reply cards- the reply cards were delivered right to his personal secretary (who had been at the hospital for years) - guess what she did with any of the cards that had scathing reviews?
Needless to say- that satisfaction survey campaign failed.... can the car dealership in-house survey's be much different?