Advice - rough treatment of car by tech at dealership.

sorry to hear it. of course, it is difficult to tell how aggressive he was over the internet. taking your word that it was beyond the pale, i'm not sure what they can do to make it right. maybe have a talk with the owner?

 

The service manager should have taken you seriously. I would elevate to the General Manager or Owner.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned. Being computer activation, there are plenty of safeguards, unlike the old style autos. Plus - reverse is purely electric drive, and I'd be surprised if forward wasn't electric drive as well at those speeds.

 

As long as the car wasn’t still moving when going from forward to reverse and so forth shouldn’t be much of a problem. Yes, there are safeguards you can’t for instance throw it in reverse at 60 mph, nothing will happen and probably get a nasty message in the screen if you tried.

Edit: on a second thought if I saw a technician do something reckless like that with my car I’d skip the service advisor and have a word with them myself.

 

I've gone from reverse to drive, still slightly in motion, with no ill effects. I don't make a habit of it, and I was nearly stopped. Sounds like this guy was pushing it though.

Email the service manager: it is no big deal for them to take a little extra care with customers cars, that's what keeps them in business. And to dismiss your concerns is NOT good business.

 

'Nother thought: that guy sounds incompetent: he shouldn't have to jockey the car back and forth multiple times, to get aligned.

 

It's simple. Spread the word about this dealership and your opinions far and wide. Never go back there, and let the world know why. The Service Manager should have had the owner CALL YOU! That is why I never, if at all possible, take my car to the dealer. And if I do, I watch them like a hawk. That Service Manager lacks what makes basketball possible.

 

^ I missed that he'd already talked to service manager. Yeah not good.

 

Backing out of my driveway, I always go from reverse to forward without stopping. If I am going too fast or try to accelerate too quickly the computer will kick to neutral and give me a nasty message.

So the car is protected from abuse and the tech would have known this.

 

The one time I semi-aggresively switched gears like that was trying to get out of a snow drift. But to get aligned on a lift, they guy should be more careful. He's the same guy that scrapes up your wipers when he yoinks them off to do the spark plugs.

 

Yoinks .

Very descriptive and visual .

You had me laughing .

Keep the expressive words flowing.

 

Damn yoinkers! I hate them.

 

I don't know if I would "push" this any further.
Probably no damage and with in operating envelope.
What do you wish to achieve if pushing further?

FWIW But as this dealer's customer, if I return to it, I would politely mention this story to the next service advisor, with the goal of more care taken to your vehicle.

 

again, the problem is expectations. first you would have to know what the possible long term damage might be. this is not like poking a hole through a seat cover, that's an easy one to sort out.

 

Too: listening to the customer, respecting their concerns, and then taking a little more care when jockeying their car around, is easy. Dealerships on the whole are more considerate these days. If they stonewall you, I'd maybe look elsewhere. Email to the franchise owner first?

 

Gee... another unhappy dealership experience. Once again, as others have already expressed, I'm sorry to hear about your lousy treatment by the business to whom you've given your hard-earned money, and subsequently trusted with your substantial purchase.

I am very fortunate to have found (many years ago) a local, reliable auto technician shop, who services all of my cars. I've purchased several new cars over the years, and none of which have ever gone back to the dealer, except when there was a recall or TSB.

I have many terrible stories to tell about my experiences with dealers, which finally lead me to my local auto tech. I'm baffled why dealers are so short-sighted to allow customers to slip away because of their poor decisions.

Good luck on finding a new place to work on your Prius.

 

The issue is not the way the car was treated by the tech. That is inexcusable. The issue is that the customer's expectations were not met with respect to addressing his concerns regarding the treatment of the vehicle.

It is obvious, to me, that the Service Manager failed on two levels:

1. Properly addressing the customer's concern with the technician. The goal here should have been to notify the technician that his actions had been observed, and that such actions, were they true, would not be tolerated. A savvy individual would have gotten the truth from the technician. This level of dealing with the issue helps to ensure a high level of respect for the CUSTOMER'S property at the lowest levels. In the end, the technician now knows that he can "roll" the Service Manager because the Service Manager lacks the "metal" and/or skill to insist on quality.
   
2. Properly dealing with the customer and building trust through satisfying the customer's true expectations. The Service Manager let the customer leave without satisfaction and a high level of mistrust. This bespeaks a high level of insensitivity or ignorance of his role in the service delivery model.