Interesting Experience with Toyota Roadside Assistance Tonight

[john_pifer]

My wife just told me she actually took some pictures! I didn’t realize she had.

Note POS jack with planks of wood, under control arm mount (wrong jacking location), and vulgar decals on windows of his truck.

 

[02SE]

He's a great representative to customers.

Completely incompetent, and no class...

 

[Skippy722]

My wife just told me she actually took some pictures! I didn’t realize she had.

Note POS jack with planks of wood, under control arm mount (wrong jacking location), and vulgar decals on windows of his truck.

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Alright… I have a problem keeping my pants up with a belt on (I have a case of Hank Hill butt) but c’mon man!

 

[researcher]

wow.. this is why no one trusts someone who says "Trust me..I'm a professional..." just wow..

I'd also add that this is not only sad but insane at the same time! You'd almost believe it was a faked picture with so many things wrong but no.. it's real, and it's sad.

 

[DuckRyder]

Geez...

 

[GMFan]

I thought people were joking about the “Uber mechanic” side gig job, but now I see they were serious. Unless people complain about crap like this this will continue. How long until someone’s wheel isn’t bolted on correctly and flies off on the highway. What a joke.

 

[wemay]

Walk into wall, two steps back, walk into wall, two steps back.....

 

[eljefino]

Because it is Toyota Roadside Assistance not Jim Bob's Towing and Bait Shop? One would hope Toyota would qualify their contractors but obviously not. Glad you got her on the road, a call to Toyota is in order.

This is like trying to make a nationwide "mesh" of cell phone towers. Some towns are just difficult with real estate, permitting, etc but you try to make do to serve your customers "everywhere" first even while you're concurrently looking to improve.

Tow truck drivers are, at times, not paid hourly and on call 24/7 and make ~$30 per dispatch. How would you like to interrupt your life, dinner with family, whatever to go to work, to meet someone pissy that you took "too long" (even if it's 10 minutes, it's 10 minutes they weren't planning for)? Then they get stuck with an unexpected "car bill."

Toyota's a mass market carmaker, they'll use the same tow companies as Geico, your credit card, etc. If your town supported a "concierge" tow service it would be a very rare town indeed.

 

[Astro14]

That’s why, if I can make it to my wife’s side, I go.

Screw the free roadside.

It’s like a free oil change. Most on here wouldnt use it. Why use free roadside with a loved one?

I have AAA for her, not me. I’m often out of town and unable to show up roadside.

 

[Doc8404]

I have AAA for her, not me. I’m often out of town and unable to show up roadside.

Had the same when I traveled.
If I’m home though, I’m cancelling meetings and going.

 

[AZjeff]

This is like trying to make a nationwide "mesh" of cell phone towers. Some towns are just difficult with real estate, permitting, etc but you try to make do to serve your customers "everywhere" first even while you're concurrently looking to improve.

Tow truck drivers are, at times, not paid hourly and on call 24/7 and make ~$30 per dispatch. How would you like to interrupt your life, dinner with family, whatever to go to work, to meet someone pissy that you took "too long" (even if it's 10 minutes, it's 10 minutes they weren't planning for)? Then they get stuck with an unexpected "car bill."

Toyota's a mass market carmaker, they'll use the same tow companies as Geico, your credit card, etc. If your town supported a "concierge" tow service it would be a very rare town indeed.

Toyota can do better than a guy with pants around his knees and no skill and junk equipment. A reasonable level of competence is a long way from “concierge “

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Toyota can do better than a guy with pants around his knees and no skill and junk equipment. A reasonable level of competence is a long way from “concierge “

You're right. I wish Toyota would exclude all the "free" crap like this roadside assistance, "free" maintenance and up-selling for the first 2 years/24k miles with new vehicles and offer it as an OPTION and let's see who really wants to pay for it. Knock off the "$1,000" value in real money, along with making lane keep assist, auto start/stop, radar controlled cruise and some infotainment system (Apple Play, Android Beater, etc.) all OPTIONS and let's see who really wants all that crap on their cars.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Seems like Toyota could at least buy the dude a pair of suspenders.

Walk into wall, two steps back, walk into wall, two steps back.....

When I was a RA in college I was on duty one night and kept hearing a *thump* ........ *thump* at the back entrance to the building. Looked out the window of the office and saw a girl just smashing into the wall, falling down, getting back up and doing it again. Obviously she was on something. Called the paramedics and police and when they got there she just BOOKED IT across the campus.

Never heard what it was but she was definitely under some sort of influence.

 

[swampdodo]

My wife just told me she actually took some pictures! I didn’t realize she had.

Note POS jack with planks of wood, under control arm mount (wrong jacking location), and vulgar decals on windows of his truck.

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My eyes!

 

[dnewton3]

Unfortunately, this is the general state of most roadside assistance programs today.

I say "general state" because there are some true professionals out there that would do a good job, but they are few and far between. There are also some who are worse than this guy, believe it or not. But the "average" roadside assistance quality of work is represented by this guy in this storyline. His lack of ability and understanding are typical of many low-skill service jobs today; this isn't the exception - it's the norm!

Lack of knowledge, poor training, and sub-par labor pools make this the example of what we can expect in general.

I believe that individual complaints are often ignored, but when they come in numbers and with hard evidence (such as these photos), they make a compelling argument for change. I complain often, not because I want to "whine" to make someone's life miserable, but I know that silence is interpreted by companies as "all good". If you don't complain, they don't know what's wrong. If you want it to be better, you have to speak up; don't do so in a rude manner, but do so in a helpful manner. Had several people who used this guy before spoken up, maybe the service company would have either got rid of him, or trained him. Change will not come overnight, but it will come if enough voices are heard.


Side note ... if this were me, I would have used the OEM jack and follwed the OEM method as the service man. Should the unthinkable happen (a collapse or someone gets hurt), you could at least defer some of the blame to the OEM. If you use the OEM jack and the OEM method, it's likely to end well, and if it doesn't, there's a larger party to blame. Once you go off-script with your own ideas, it's soley on you if something fails. Obviously, the OP did just this; he relied on the OEM tools and method and success came quickly.

 

[jeepman3071]

I thought people were joking about the “Uber mechanic” side gig job, but now I see they were serious. Unless people complain about crap like this this will continue. How long until someone’s wheel isn’t bolted on correctly and flies off on the highway. What a joke.

There is probably small print in their signed agreement somewhere excluding them from any liability.

 

[opus1]

My eyes!

It could have been worse...

 

[john_pifer]

I have AAA for her, not me. I’m often out of town and unable to show up roadside.

Do you think we would have had a better experience with AAA?

 

[Astro14]

Do you think we would have had a better experience with AAA?

I think so.

I have called them exactly once* in 15 years. It was a while back.

The guy they sent with a flat bed was great. Newer equipment. Knowledgeable. Personable.


*Her Volvo XC had a cam seal fail and it started puking oil out in a stream…she pulled over quickly, before the pressure was lost. We had it loaded up and delivered to the house. I had to pay the mileage over the standard AAA distance. It came to $140 or so, but the guy was so nice about everything, I gave him an extra $40.

 

[CKN]

What in modern society would have given you this idea? People can't add oil to an engine these days. I was at Kroger this past summer and two adult males were struggling with using the air hose to put air in their tires.

There's no such thing as professionalism or competence these days. It's maximum profit for minimum expenditure. Integrity and competence are simply not in the description any longer.

I'm glad to hear that you got the flat tire changed out for the spare. I guess you're lucky to have a spare these days.

Yea-we know those on here are at the least expert "shade tree" mechanics and NEVER make mistakes. And why would anybody (according to BITOG members) pay ANYONE to work on their vehicles. The horror!