stealership woes

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Originally Posted By: The Critic
Steve, it's unfortunate that you had the experience you did, but from my personal experiences, dealers are generally more consistent and deliver a higher quality job than most independents. I cannot speak for other parts of the country, but this seems to be my experience in Northern CA. You need to address your experience with the service manager and/or GM.

Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
Wife bought a new Lexus RX 350 with free services through 50000 miles. First two have been flawless. Not a mark on anything, absolutely everything done as prescribed, including interior cleaning, washing and a quicky hand (detail spray) waxing. Of course you pay through the nose up front for all this, but the excellent service is gratifying.

Lexus dealers are known to set the standard for service. They are truly a cut above the rest, but do charge accordingly. For this very reason, it's likely that my next car will be a Lexus or another high-line make.


Actually my problems were all addressed with the service mgr, but as it is AFTER the fact I get nothing from that. In my area of Florida it is almost impossible to find a motivated and competent Factory Authorized service facility.

I had great experiences at Lexus when I owned them years ago. The cars rarely required it, and when you went there they always made you feel important. BUT that is the exception here, not the rule.
 
Took the Fusion in for an OC and tire rotation. Got the car back and drove home, thought I'd re-torque the wheels and noticed that the tires had not been rotated. I called the service mgr and he says that the tech had checked the tread depth and determined they didn't need rotation. I asked why I was charged for the service and was told "you got a good deal on that special price" so you should be happy.
Talked to the GM and he says he has known the SM for 20yrs so has to go with his determination. I asked, what if the tech determines I didn't really need an oil change or filter change since the OLM said 50%. He confirmed that he has the utmost confidence in his service dept and blows me off. Since my wife was leaving on a trip the next day I changed the oil, filter, and rotated the tires myself.
So much for the "good deal" dealership oil change. As an after thought the GM sent an email and offered to give me a free rotation....like I'd trust a PO'd employee to ever see my car again.
Smoky
 
Ignore the person that said calling the manufacturer is worthless.

DEFINITELY call corporate and inform them of your experiences and let them know WHAT you want done to rectify the situation. Also very important to let corporate know that the after sales treatment and competence in their service department will determine whether or not you buy another one of their brand vehicles in the future.

These manufactures take this kind of incompetence, negligence
and inept treatment of the customer VERY SERIOUSLY!

They will never know about the [censored] service experience unless you call them.

I would also let the SM, general manager, as well as the dealer owner know that you will be contacting corporate HQ. If these people care about keeping their jobs they will bend over to please you and correct procedure issues.


Too many customers never follow through and fail to let the very top brass know about [censored] service and treatment from these $tealerships. It won't change until more folks start complaining to the very top.
 
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I didn't take his comments as complaining....merely stating facts. The dealership offered a service and failed. The same with Smokey.....he requested the tires be rotated and the "Tech" decided it didn't need it....who is this tech that HE gets to decide. I hear it all the time from my BMW dealer to not rotate my tires since "it vill affect zee handling" yet I'm at 20k miles beyond replacement of most X5's and I'm still happy with "zee handling".

Dealerships need to remember (and occasionally be reminded) of who and how important customers are.
 
I'll repeat...I specified the PSI I wanted in my cousin's tires @ the rotation, to bring it up to at least the door jamb specs...they were below door jamb specs...and they just didn't add any air...could have been dangerous had I not checked them afterwards...
 
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I'll repeat...I specified the PSI I wanted in my cousin's tires @ the rotation, to bring it up to at least the door jamb specs...they were below door jamb specs...and they just didn't add any air...could have been dangerous had I not checked them afterwards...


A friend of mine in Virginia performed a pretty slick sting on an especially miserable BMW dealer. His wife's car was due for an Inspection I that-among other things-calls for the tire pressure to be checked and adjusted on all four wheels as well as the spare. My friend set two tires 5 PSI high, two tires 5 PSI low, and he totally deflated the spare. When the car was returned he asked the SM if the tire pressures had been checked; "Of Course!" was the reply- he then proceeded to show the guy that none of the tires had been checked.
Morons.
 
Originally Posted By: morepwr
That's terrible. Somebody clearly doesn't care in the work they do. Sure you may be the low man on the pole and doing the oil changes and tire rotations but you should still do a good job.

And lucky you, you have 3 more "free" services!


i know the service was free, but given the hourly rate of dealership service centers, WE are the low men on the totem pole so too speak.

I would take my reciet back too the dealer, point out the obvious wrong doings, and politely ask them too do it properly.

If people arent going too put effort and attention into there jobs, they dont need them, too many unemployed out there too waste time on someone too lazy too at least double check there own work before handing you keys.

And yes, i got out on the wrong side of the bed today.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I'll repeat...I specified the PSI I wanted in my cousin's tires @ the rotation, to bring it up to at least the door jamb specs...they were below door jamb specs...and they just didn't add any air...could have been dangerous had I not checked them afterwards...


A friend of mine in Virginia performed a pretty slick sting on an especially miserable BMW dealer. His wife's car was due for an Inspection I that-among other things-calls for the tire pressure to be checked and adjusted on all four wheels as well as the spare. My friend set two tires 5 PSI high, two tires 5 PSI low, and he totally deflated the spare. When the car was returned he asked the SM if the tire pressures had been checked; "Of Course!" was the reply- he then proceeded to show the guy that none of the tires had been checked.
Morons.



The tire pressure was a MAJOR problem on my truck. Factory spec is 80 psi rear and 55 front. I generally run the fronts at 65 because our trucks have the weight very centered and even have specially installed front springs for this conversion!

Running the rear low and the front high in a heavily loaded vehicle can cause BIG problems when you swerve to miss that econobox! Not to mention when I corrected the pressure I now have a TPMS light and a warning message in the DIC each time I start my new vehicle.
 
Terrible but not surprising, just one of the many reasons I try and avoid repair shops as much as I possibly can. If you have a good dependable mechanic treat him like Royalty, because finding one is like hitting the lotto.
 
Originally Posted By: salv
You definitely got the $8/hr lube tech, and probably a new one to boot.
You didn't have a bad experience because you went to a dealership for service. You had a bad experience because you went to a bad shop that happened to be at a dealership.
They are probably not well equipped to handle the volume of vehicles that they are brining in. Poor management, dispatching of work, and training. Find another dealer to use for your freebies.


Well said.
 
Maybe you had your car worked on by a competent guy with a manager who will not give the competent guy enough time to do the job properly.

Other times you do get a new guy who doesn't know what to do. By the time that new guy gets enough experience working at that location, he relocates because he is sick of the treatment the higher-ups give him, and goes someplace where he can actually do the job right. This leads to the same lousy service center getting another unskilled new guy.

There are also service writers who never knew much about cars, they just have this job because they can work the computer. That wouldn't be a problem if all the shop techs were all skilled and already knew what to do.

The car business is a dirty business, and I am half glad that I have been sidelined due to medical problems.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Maybe you had your car worked on by a competent guy with a manager who will not give the competent guy enough time to do the job properly.

Other times you do get a new guy who doesn't know what to do. By the time that new guy gets enough experience working at that location, he relocates because he is sick of the treatment the higher-ups give him, and goes someplace where he can actually do the job right. This leads to the same lousy service center getting another unskilled new guy.

There are also service writers who never knew much about cars, they just have this job because they can work the computer. That wouldn't be a problem if all the shop techs were all skilled and already knew what to do.

The car business is a dirty business, and I am half glad that I have been sidelined due to medical problems.


I'm never glad to hear of anyone who can't do what they want due to medical issues! Best wishes for a complete recovery soon.

I used to moonlight in the auto repair field and had NIASE certs, etc. Worked for an Oldsmobile dealer and many indy shops as well. Almost every one was crooked in some way, and they messed with you constantly interfering in the work or bugging you to go faster, etc.
 
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