Why I use the term "stealership"

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rick57\";p=\"74458)</div>

Mary Lou, I think they do send out surveys to all their customers, be it an oil change, 60k or warranty work. My dealership ( I can call it that can't I?) phones all the customers about a week later (each writer in charge of his/her own) to check if the work was done ok and if they had any problems. If there are, they try to reschedule the customer to correct their problem. Toyota is big on survey scores and tries to get dealers to improve their scores. Ours was down a little last year(not bad but could've been better for us), so I went to the service manager to suggest that we try to make sure everyone is trained/doing things the right way/looking after the customers car/etc. So guess what, he made me Shop Foreman!. Oh boy! Now I am the guy every body goes to when having problems and I try to keep everybody doing things the right way. We have even had a few training classes( yes I'm the teacher).Our scores are much improved. They were never really low, but the service manager never likes to see us get bad reports,just bad for business. Without the customers, we would be out of work. Word of mouth you know. Even so, I know there are even a few techs in my dealer, as in all dealers, that you wouldn't want to let work on your new car, whatever it is. You just need to find the right dealer/tech that you are comfortable with and go with them. There are good ones out there. And need we forget, the techs service writer also. Mine doesn't know a lot about cars( less about Prius') and is always asking for our help in some things( always asking me questions on the Prius,haha). But she is a good service writer, best we have. Even won some city wide contests. So I guess you need to know the service writer and tech well enough to trust them.

Sorry to hear about Wolfmans and everybody's hard luck. Maybe if everybody just kept on Toyota about your specific dealer things would change. If you need to, maybe contact your region. The Regional Manager I think would love to hear about any problem dealers he has. Toyota really wants happy customers.


Now go ahead and bash me
[/b][/quote]
No bashing here.... What you talk about is very similar to what I experienced... Took car in for 5K service... of course it was just after the knee surgery that said no weight bearing for 8 weeks and it was wet and they had tile.. smooth tile floors... but details <grin>

Car was done.... drove it home. Noticed it "stank"
whne heat was turned on... Smelt almost like exhaust... After wife and daughter complained, called it in. Response was, "Come on down!"

They looked it over. Said They found residue of the "stuff" they use to clean engine oil drips on exhausrt system... They cleaned it up. Smell gone.

Cost... $0.

I compare that to the experieneces with my late ford truck and later mercury sable... and I have a hard time aplying stealership lables to toyota....

Just my 2 cents worth.
cas

 

I think you get what you pay for, at least as far as oil changes go.

Even at a good dealership - and I have to rate mine as "good" - they still have to "compete" with all the Qwik Lube places. Of course, they can't.

Most customers are so brainwashed by the advertising - I blame the oil companies in North America for a lot of this "3 month 3,000 mile" bulls*** - that they simply refuse to believe a full service should cost more than $14 or whatever.

Most Qwik Lube places employ minimum wage high school dropouts or the like. The oil usually is in a drum or pallet sized tote bin. The filters are often mysterious no-name parts.

And more often than not, the "technicians" are expected to upsell any "problems" they find to earn commission. Here in Canada, Canadian Tire is famous for doing this. If your car isn't broken when it goes in, it will certainly be broken by the time it goes out.

I've been told by my Prius tech and my service writer that they lose a bit of money on every oil change. When I told them I would be bringing in my own oil - Mobil 1 0W-30 - for my next oil change at their shop, I had an unexpected response:

"Good! Everybody should be using that oil, it's better for the motor."

I'd change it myself but my back is acting up again.

 

Not that this will help, but one thing I do is never ask for 15, 30, 45k service. I go in with a list of what I want done. I haven't had a problem yet.
I've used the same dealer for our 4runner and now will with the prius (when the time comes.) Maybe dealer is ok.

 

Hey Wolfman, what Toyota dealership did you go to for your service? Was it in Austin or closer to home for you?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee\";p=\"74893)</div>

To be stuck in oil change is a very unfortunate situation for anyone, as far as I have heard... they simply get screamed at all day for not being able to do the job of two people. They get no respect for any qualifications they may have and the service writers seem to have a general disgust for them.

That's what my poor hubby deals with every day as an ASE certified tech who is half working in the oil change bays and half working in the tech line.

I could see being screamed at as a distraction from checking your tire pressure.... these poor guys are worked to the bone for practically no paycheck. They are just trying to get the work out faster so the service writers get off their backs,as you mentioned. At least it was just a small mistake and easily corrected without having to return to the dealer.

Not to trivialize your situation, but that's what I hear about every night after my husband comes home from his 14 hour day....[/b][/quote]

I want to make it clear I am not thrashing the workers in the oil change side, I hold management to be responsible. The air thing was minor and as you point out easily fixed and I have a little electric pump at home. Overfilling the oil would be bad because getting under that car would be tough for me. As Doc I understand doing more and more with less and less until you can do everything with nothing. I see it in our hospitals every day. The nursing shortage is much larger than stated because even with "full staffing" there are too few nurses. My advice to you if you are in a hospital have family and friends there as much as possible. Consider hiring a special duty nurse just for you. We need to reorder our priorities in this country. Quality is worth a bit more. Less is not more. People who put in a honest days work should earn a living wage. Boy do I feel better. Thank you one and all.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas\";p=\"74972)</div>

Well clarified. I am a little defensive about people criticizing the poor oil change techs (and most other people who work like crazy for a tiny paycheck) since I lose my husband for about 70 hours a week to that particular trade. Some day they will move him up to full line work and let him actually use all that time and money we spent on his tools and training.

Quite refreshing to see a doctor who stands up for those who work their tails off for a couple bucks an hour rather than standing on a pedestal as I have seen here at Duke Med. Some real arrogant ones here...

Thanks hdrygas.

 

In our shop we have no "oil change guy". Everybody does everything except Prius ( anything other then just oil change/rotate, there are 4 of us Prius trained,me being the most experienced) and alignments(1 tech for that). So you may have a younger tech diagnosising any thing. But I have most of them trained well enough to ask for help (me of course) when they need it.

As a side note, today I had a customer(recent Prius buyer,about a month) come in and we went over how she can store her car,what to do and set when she returns etc. She is leaving next week for the next few months. Spent about half hour with her and no charge. Any other dealer do that? :roll:

Here is an idea. Maybe somebody could start a thread on their fav dealer/tech. With all the new members here, it would be nice for them to know a good place to take their Prius. Just an idea, :idea: