The purpose of this thread is permanent documentation of typical dealership screwups, that will allow us to know what to look for before we drive our precious vehicles away from their lots after maintenance. It also might be a good quick read before we buy a new vehicle and consider the extended warranty.

Ok, I'll start.

Toyota dealer wanted to sell me a "Free Oil Change" package with DARCARS where I'd get free oil changes and free washes for the life of the vehicle, plus a free Paint Sealant, plus free floor mats for my new '95 pickup. $700. At first I told them no, because I know service at dealerships sucks. But they went on and on and on about how professional, responsible, and reliable they were, blah blah blah. This is Toyota, after all, not Ford or Chevy. Okay. I bought the package.

Took the truck in for my very first free oil change, washing, and also the paint sealant. We had babies at the time, so it was a PITA to have my wife drive out to the dealership with me with the babies, and drop off the truck.

End of the day, I call. They say my vehicle is ready.

Again, wife and babies, we drive back to the dealership. We arrive. My wife and babies wait in the car, just to make sure.

I walk in. They get my truck. They drive it out front. I'm there waiting. The guy gets out, walks up to me. He smiles. Hands me the keys.

I look at the truck. It's filthy. I pop the hood. Check the oil. It's dirty.

Nothing was done. $700

 

Did you get your $700 back?

 

My brother and nephew have worked in dealerships for years and I've heard its more common then I would have expected for techs to forget drainplugs or oil or something else major. Needless to say I change my own oil.

 

This Monday I went to have my rear gears replaced since I don't know how to set the backlash and all the other important measurements.

I take the day off from work and show up there at 10 am. I work nights and don't get to sleep till 5 am so it was a real pain in the a%% but hey it gonna get in gears right. I show up and they take my truck into the shop about 3 hours later a tech comes out and tells me that the locker I bought will not fit so I told him how it should work and off to the back he goes.

Another hour later he comes back in and tells me that the seals and bearings I got with the master install kit won't fit and brings the box with him showing me that its for a v6 turbo and I tell him as you should know v6 and v6 turbo are the same 8" pumpkin so he tells me to go around the building to the side door and he will show me what hes talking about.

He opens the door and walks me to a bench and there's the two pinons and an empty pumpkin sitting on the bench looking all torn apart.

As I walk closer to it something just seems to not feel right and as I stand there staring at it something jumps out at me from the corner of my right eye. As I turn to see what is drawing my eye to it I notice the rear tires are still on my truck and I think to myself that's wired but maybe he has a secret way to pull the axles and not need to remove the tires.

As my head finally stops I see to my surprise a 35 laying up against the roll up door suddenly the shock sets in I turn to my left and sure as I breath
HE PULLED THE FRONT DIFFERENTIONAL APART.

Needless to say the anger and disbelief have me stuttering and cussing like a old sailor about what a imbecile this guy is. The shop manager comes over and wants to know whats going on and why I'm calling his tech a retard and jackass with no brains.

So I explain to the shop manager that I took a day off of work with little to no sleep and came here to have my rear gears replaced and that he told me all the parts I got were incorrect so he brought me in to show me whats not fitting and why. When I showed the manager the box that states right on it 8" Toyota he took me back up to the appointment book and I showed him that even in the book it says : RR Rear Ring And Pinion.

He scratched his head and says DIDNT YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE A FRONT SET UP YOU WANTED TO DO AS WELL?? MAYBE YOU CAN CALL A FRIEND AND HAVE THEM BRING IT DOWN AND WE CAN REDO THE FRONT SINCE ITS ALREADY TORN APART.I was stunned the nerve of him to try and turn this around on me.

After trying to regain my composure I looked right at him and told him that my front was a complete and I was going to replace it my self and there was no way I was going to call anyone and have it brought here to be put in and charged for something I could do myself. His reply WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN??? I could not believe what I was hearing so I said I want to talk to the store manager because I was very unhappy with what has happened this far And there's noway I was paying to get my truck put back together and I wanted it done right now.

He reluctantly got the manager and I explained to him the situation and told him I was not going to pay for there mistake and if he wanted to call the police I would call them myself because I work for them and could get one of my guys down here real quick. He said there was no need to go that far that they made the mistake and would correct it at no charge and for my trouble they would do a free oil and fluids change with a 100 point inspection. Yea right you think I would trust your guys to change my fluids after this fiasco I DONT THINK SO. All I want is my truck put back together and I will leave and that's the last time I will be back.

Two hours later it was done and I drove away not paying a dime for there mistake. Since then they have called me everyday and tried to talk me into coming in and letting them do the rear end gears for 25% off and I still can't believe this bit this morning I went out and got the mail and found a customer satisfaction questionnaire in the mail I'm stunned the nerve of these guys I will not go back there for anything even if they said they would do it for free I would be hard pressed to go there again.

 

Was this a Toyota dealer?

 

yea it was

 

I tried. The thing is, I didn't even want the ˟˟˟˟˟˟˟ (I believe "˟˟˟˟˟˟˟" is allowed here, right?) service package, because I've had other problems of incompetency at dealerships, but they convinced me that this was TOYOTA and, therefore, it would be superior. This was, after all, my first new Toyota. It's just absolutely amazing to me -- that they could screw this up so completely -- the very first time I went in there.

Me < ----- SUCKER!

They refused me a refund. I thought about small claims court. Instead, I chalked it up to an expensive lesson. I ended up getting one oil change, one paint sealant, and the floor mats. And that was only because I had waranty work that they need to do. I really had no ambitions to go back there. Oh, and btw, they CHARGED ME FOR THE OIL FILTER.

This was 355 Toyota in Montgomery County, Maryland.

There are other threads that talk about these things.

One thread talks about a crankshaft bolt that came loose and tore up the threads (see BYE BYE CRANKSHAFT). This apparently happened because the mechanic torqued the shaft bolt down to the wrong specs and/or didn't replace the bolt per specs when the timing chain was replaced. To prevent this from happening, I guess you, the owner, have to find out the correct torque, then you have to verbally confirm with the service manager what the torque is going to be, and then confirm again that it was actually done to those specs when you go to pick up the vehicle.

Another thread talks about a dealership that emptied out the crankcase for an oil change, but forgot to re-fill it. They then released the vehicle to the owner. Job done! So we need to pop the hood and check the oil after a change.

Another thread talks about a dealership that emptied out the transmission instead of the crankcase, then added 4-5 EXTRA quarts to the already-full crankcase. They then released the vehicle to the owner. Job done! I'm thinking, paint the bolt with latex paint. The paint would chip off if the idiot tried to put a wrench on it. So look for scratches in the painted bolt upon pickup.

I also think we should confirm the oil type -- before and after. If you require 5w-30, make sure they didn't fill it with 20w-50. I just don't trust these people.

 

I honestly don't think you can single out dealerships. Dealerships at LEAST have the right parts for your truck. You can say the same types of things about those quick oil change places that have guys making chump change, or independant mechanics. It all comes down to you doing your homework and finding a reputable place to have your vehicle serviced.

I guess it is more appaling that dealerships can screw up like that since they should be reliable considering they sell the vehicles they service. But just like anything now a days you have to do your homework. As for oil changes for life, wouldn't touch them, period. I will only run synthetic, period.

 

Well I got a recall on my 95 runner for something with the stering. After reading this stuff, I don't no if I want to even take it. What do you all think I should do. I was wanting to get it done hoping I would get a free wheel aligment out of it before I gfet my new tires.

 

I Tried working for a Toyota Dealer, after i went and seen how they do things i told them i couldnt do that to people so i walked out, Just because it is a Dealership doesnt make them superior. They use only one weight of Oil and try to upsell everything.

 

keithguts, get that recall done. You will be SOL if that part breaks when you are doing 70 on the highway. Just amke sure you tell them to not replace anything else.

 

Thanks for the info Paul. I'm just afraid they will hit me with a bunch of crap that needs to be done to correct there recall. I read it all the time.

 

Keithguts, Do the recall but get the new tires on there just before, and check for any lo0se front end parts and replace them first too.

To add to the dealership gripe, when I took my 4Runner in for the recall the dealership pinched and tore the grease boots that keep the grease in the two inner tie rod ends. I needed an outer tie rod as well so they gave me 20% off on all four. Which I installed myself and went elsewhere for an alignment. They also told me that they could not align my rig due to the fact that my rims do not have the typical lip that they use to mount the alignment heads to the wheel. So they had me take it to a local Les Schwab and Toyota paid for them to do the alignment. Sad if you ask me. Les Schwab was another fiasko in it's self. I will do everything myself I can from now on. Like I used to do.

I used to work as a mechanic. I wish I had my own alignment rack and tire machines.

 

I started getting recall notices a couple years ago for that. I never took the truck in. Two years went by, no problems. I traded the truck in.

Many people abuse their vehicles, meaning they do things like -- turn the steering wheel while the vehicle is completely stopped. This is going to cause premature wear and stress, of course. I suspect most vehicles that had steering problems abused their steering linkage in this way. Another reason the linkage might eventually break is the wheels being out of balance, causing the steering wheel to shake left and right rapidly while driving straight.

I'm not saying don't take the vehicle in, that's up to you. If it's convenient, do it. But if you're not abusive with your vehicle, based on my experience, you're probably okay.

 

The use one weight of oil? Are you kidding me? What dealership was this? I have family in the Seattle area who drive Toyotas. Thanks

 

You guys must have some pretty crappy dealerships if you ask me. The dealership I go to is top notch for service and taking care of customers, and I guess having a family member who works there helps too, but even then I know their reputation. I know the tech's who work on the vehicles and my vehicle. Most of them are highly professional and ethical and they won't try and screw the customer out of $$$ or any of that crap.