Another Dealership Upsell Story

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: Thax
As a dealership technician let me break this down for you. So you brought an older vehicle to a dealership for a recall and are upset they made service recommendations? Every car that goes through a service department will have a multi point inspection on its RO, does not matter if it has 3 miles or 300K. The "monkey" as you referred to the technician , doesn't know you nor has he/she any idea who you are. They have a job to do and part of that is a multi point inspection. If they see worn brake components they mark it, they will inspect the air filter that is SOP everywhere. If the brake fluid is used up and any decent tech can spot that from a mile away , they will mark it on the RO. G0-5 well it does not really discolor with age now does it , so technician saw age and miles and checked it. Any good and honest tech will not make stuff up on an RO , there is the exception but honestly for two tenths of an hour its not worth job security. When this "monkey" finishes their inspection they will give that RO to the service writer/advisor. They are the ones who push the services, this is where items/services needed get lost in translation from tech to writer. The fact is that I and every other tech out there doesn't know that you work on your own car , nor do we care that you think your a mechanic. We daily see cars that have been neglected to death , no services ever, 30k oil changes etc. etc. We are there to do a job and that is fix cars, there is nothing personal with it. If you dont like it simply dont take your truck to that dealership or any for that matter. Or you could be polite and say "no thanks" like many here have said. Believe it or not [censored] near most of us are hard working honest people trying to pay the bills. We always get a bad rap , we are far from "monkeys" as well. If anyone deserves the bad rap in the repair business it is owners/service writers.


I suppose it's a case of most people not doing any maintenance on their vehicles...then, when a dealer gets a BITOG maintained vehicle in the shop, they have no clue it's well maintained vehicle and simply make the normal recommendations.

 

[Yup]

I applied for a job as a service manager (or whatever the people who make the appointments are called) because we moved and I wanted a midlife crisis. Plus, my wife brings home the bacon. Anyway, I took a few months off before going back into my old field. But anywhoo, in the phone interview, they mentioned I have "incentive pay" based on my performance. Which, to me, meant I get extra money if I get people ignorant about cars to buy extra car [censored] they may not really need. I had recalls on my Civic three times. All three different times the service guy mentioned the same things you did (except the induction service) and added changing my timing belt if I didn't have it done recently. Long story shorter, I asked lots of questions about timing belts on Civics and then after a few minutes with other customers around told him my K-series engine had a chain not a belt. He belly laughed and said, "there isn't a Civic out there with a chain! They all have belts!" My reply was, "look it up. You might learn something about Civics." But remember, private enterprise can fix America because idiots don't have jobs in the private sector.........................

 

[hatt]

At least they didn't try to sell you gas treatment to combat the harmful effects of E10 in your FFV.

 

[CKN]

None of this isn't new and this thread is one of a series of hundreds "talk about and knock" dealer threads......


I think I will go find the oil bottle design thread.....

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: ajchien
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I've never understood why upsell attempts make people feel offended. It's their job,it's what their boss pays them to do. All we have to do is politely say no thank you and go on with our lives. All aspects of retail/sales upsell. It's just business.


It becomes a problem when they lay in the guilt trip. Brake pads 50% gone and child car seat in the back. "Mrs. Xyz. You really need your brake pads and rotors done. They are down to only 5mm nearly metal on metal! It'll be $600.... No? Oh my, you could be liable in a car crash if they found out you didn't get your brake pads done. And what about your child? You'd have to think about their safety too! Plus, sometimes it's better to take of it now, rather than later, because you know, I'm a parent too and I'd want my car to last forever, and yours might break down on a rainy night leaving you stranded who knows where..."

You can't tell me you have not had that conversation. It doesn't end with a polite "no". You just get upsell attempt #2, 3, 4 with varying amounts of unwarranted pressures directed at customers.

In the OP's case, I think you got recommended the services because they haven't seen it done in their system.



Excellent summary of how MANY $tealerships operate...not only that it isn't UNheard of for DAMAGE or sabotage on a customer vehicle when they REFUSE these upsells or offers of extra services. Unfortunately due to the often times sleazy type of folks that staff these places, a refusal of this work will lead to some sort of passive aggressive actions against the customer which can be actual damage to the vehicle. I've worked at a number of $tealers and have personally seen this type of action, even when the customer is polite and states that they will think about getting the work done later at the store in coming weeks.

A word of advice to ANY customer, if you go in for service and the
SW has a poor attitude, and or seems terse or abrupt when you refuse extra service, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY, don't think about it...take your car and go...before someone damages it out of anger.


My Corolla was recalled again (like the 3rd or 4th time) for the airbags. My son drives it and there is a Toyota dealership near his college but they have a bad reputation on internet reviews and I don't trust them. I told him to wait until the summer break to take care of the recall. Don't like other people I don't trust touching my cars.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Originally Posted By: CKN
None of this isn't new and this thread is one of a series of hundreds "talk about and knock" dealer threads......


I think I will go find the oil bottle design thread.....


Yes, lets put our head in the sand and pretend that the industry doesn't have a SERIOUS CHRONIC PROBLEM!

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: CKN
None of this isn't new and this thread is one of a series of hundreds "talk about and knock" dealer threads......


I think I will go find the oil bottle design thread.....


Yes, lets put our head in the sand and pretend that the industry doesn't have a SERIOUS CHRONIC PROBLEM!

I never said there wasn't a problem......

 

[Gasbuggy]

I have never let a dealer perform any work, aside from recalls. Even during my last recall the Cadillac dealer tried to screw me by charging full list for an additional part that had to be replaced in conjunction with recalled item. I got GM corporate involved and saved myself $182. I did have the car wired for sound unbeknownst to them and in the two weeks they had it no one went for a ride, they didn't do anything except pull it in and out of the bay. Really appreciated that.

For fun I did take my death trap accord in for the local stealers buy one oil change, get 2 free. As part they top off all fluids and do a whatever point inspection. Best $20 I ever spent at a dealer, also the only. Tech came out and talked to the desk guy, he came to me and asked if it was alright that they skipped the inspection. I asked why, he said that they did not expect I would have any repair work done if it was needed. I said I thought it was for my safety??? Lol. And I made them put the whole alloted 5 quarts in it.

 

[Spector]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Are you trying to make them out to be some type of Stealership? They made some recommendations that their system probably spit out as needed based on age or miles and even you admit you aren't sure on some of the items or they are actually due. Remember that 99% of the time they are dealing with imbecile owners who actually do need those recommendations. You seem to take care of your truck so maybe they aren't necessary for you but IMO not a big deal.Why is air induction service "unnecessary junk"? Your truck is 10 years old, you don't think it could benefit from a good cleaning?

But continue, rant away.


Why can't they ask when the last service was done on brakes, filter, coolant etc, no they just try the upsell based on miles and age. Sorry, this is very irritating and just unethical when they do it to someone who may not be the primary driver and know the history, or a female or elderly who trust them to do the right thing. Sorry, my experience with dealerships, multiple manufacturers over the years, are all the same, SCUM!

 

[Eddie]

We need to remember that 99% of the people don't service their own vehicles and, therefore may need to be reminded of the time & date of needed service from the owners manual. Not all dealers and Independents are part of a large conspiracy as many BITOG contributors suggest. Ed

 

[VeeDubb]

I don't think it's a conspiracy as much as it is just the commission based incentives. Humans respond to incentives. Put any of us on commission pay, and we are liable to do some shady things.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
We need to remember that 99% of the people don't service their own vehicles and, therefore may need to be reminded of the time & date of needed service from the owners manual. Not all dealers and Independents are part of a large conspiracy as many BITOG contributors suggest. Ed
99%? I doubt it. We have parts stores on every corner around here. Walmart dedicates a lot of space to automotive servicing. They aren't selling to the 1%.

Blindly recommending services is a Con Man's game.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Originally Posted By: hatt
[

Blindly recommending services is a Con Man's game.


Exactly. The excuse from the industry always is something about, ALL businesses do that type of thing.

Why don't they just add that due to the mileage and or time, these are services we recommend..? No they don't preface it that way, instead they LIE and claim they actually checked items like the brake fluid, air filter, ect...when in fact the tech never placed a FINGER on any of these things. That is why they call them
$tealerships, but it also applies to most of the auto service and repair industry.

Instead of industry leaders actually addressing the problems and resulting justifiably irate customers, they continue to make endless excuses, over and over again. They like the dishonest angle of the business since they are greedy and want the customers last red cent.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: hatt
[

Blindly recommending services is a Con Man's game.


Exactly. The excuse from the industry always is something about, ALL businesses do that type of thing.

Why don't they just add that due to the mileage and or time, these are services we recommend..? No they don't preface it that way, instead they LIE and claim they actually checked items like the brake fluid, air filter, ect...when in fact the tech never placed a FINGER on any of these things. That is why they call them
$tealerships, but it also applies to most of the auto service and repair industry.

Instead of industry leaders actually addressing the problems and resulting justifiably irate customers, they continue to make endless excuses, over and over again. They like the dishonest angle of the business since they are greedy and want the customers last red cent.

All exranger06 said in the OP was "recommend." Yes, they made a sloppy recommendation, and didn't give the basis for that recommendation, but you're making it out to be worse than it likely is. A lot of times it's not malicious or conspiratory so much as dumb/lazy/rushed. If you want a better experience, buy a more expensive car, or make sure you can handle it all on your own.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl


All exranger06 said in the OP was "recommend." Yes, they made a sloppy recommendation, and didn't give the basis for that recommendation, but you're making it out to be worse than it likely is. A lot of times it's not malicious or conspiratory so much as dumb/lazy/rushed. If you want a better experience, buy a more expensive car, or make sure you can handle it all on your own.


I believe SOMETIMES it is "dumb" sloppy, or lazy...but I think many more times it is DELIBERATE, CALCULATED, AND PREMEDITATED.

Oh, and I see you have more excuses to offer up...


So you're telling me if I pay $30,000 (average price for a new vehicle today) I don't deserve good, competent, honest service?!!? REALLY??

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel

I think many more times it is DELIBERATE, CALCULATED, AND PREMEDITATED.



Of course it is, they want to make a profit and they don't want the customer coming back complaining that they weren't warned about something that needed attention. If someone rolls up in a 5 year old vehicle with 60k on it they recommend service based on that age and mileage. If the vehicle has been serviced there and they see stuff has been done, they don't recommend it. Obviously they can't do a used oil analysis on brake or ATF so all they have is the odometer to go by on stuff like that.

 

[Lapham3]

'Back in the day' they didn't have this 'service advisor' salesperson that rarely knows much about vehicle mechanics. It was better then to deal directly with those who actually do know and work the fixes.

 

[rat]

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
I don't think it's a conspiracy as much as it is just the commission based incentives. Humans respond to incentives. Put any of us on commission pay, and we are liable to do some shady things.



This. Unless you have worked in a dealership you have no idea the pressure that is on you to sell sell sell! The majority of dealer principles don't care about what a customers car actually needs as long as the service department is making money. There is tremendous pressure on service managers and service advisors to sell additional services and flushes so the owners cab go to their "20 group" meetings with impressive stats. You don't want to be called to the carpet when the owner comes back from one of these meetings after finding out how many other dealers are making more profits than he is.

 

[grampi]

I don't see what the big deal is. They have to get your approval to "upsell" anything...just say no...there, was that so difficult?

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl


All exranger06 said in the OP was "recommend." Yes, they made a sloppy recommendation, and didn't give the basis for that recommendation, but you're making it out to be worse than it likely is. A lot of times it's not malicious or conspiratory so much as dumb/lazy/rushed. If you want a better experience, buy a more expensive car, or make sure you can handle it all on your own.


I believe SOMETIMES it is "dumb" sloppy, or lazy...but I think many more times it is DELIBERATE, CALCULATED, AND PREMEDITATED.

Oh, and I see you have more excuses to offer up...


So you're telling me if I pay $30,000 (average price for a new vehicle today) I don't deserve good, competent, honest service?!!? REALLY??

What excuses? I'm telling it like it is. I don't care what kind of service you get at your local dealer, though it's probably even worse than the experiences other people have there.

I'm telling you what kind of service you're going to get when you buy a cheaper average car, whether you like it or not is your call. Go buy a Lexus, or better yet a Rolls, if you want a better quality service experience. That's the way it is. Be an informed owner, don't count on anyone else to care about the car like you do.

If exranger06's service writer was so calculated, she wouldn't have suggested the coolant and given him a reason to question everything she suggested.

But I'm sure all dealers are conspiring together as part of a Jewish New World Order or something...