My only and hopefully last experience with Toyota Service Dept. Warning! Long Ranting Ahead! (1 Viewer)

[Patron100LC]

The one and only thing I can’t do in my driveway… Tires.
I find myself cringing every time I have to get to a tire place, either bc of the cost of the service or the quality (lack of) of the job in hand. Couldn’t find ONE place that I said “good job, will be back for next”. I guess I’ll have to keep looking and trying.

So I needed tires for my LC, searching for sizes, brands, shapes and forms based on my needs, I’ve got to the conclusion, after modifying lots of different types of vehicles, and regretting most of those changes, that This One, the LC, is gonna stay Stock. I’ve had the Bridgestone Alenzas stock size on it for the last few years, good tire but harsh on the bumps when they got old, felt like driving on wood wheels, decided to go with the Michelin LTX. Good reviews, smooth ride, long lasting, Yada yada.
Missed a couple of their offers, and waiting for the next one, didn’t find anything below $1100 installed out the door. A couple days ago, searching for an unrelated part, got to the Toyota of North Miami website, they had an offer on them, plus a rebate. Said to myself, that’s it, can’t miss this one, made an appointment for 10am on my next day off, which I get once every 2 weeks..
Showed up at 9.45, a very nice guy opens my door at the gate, another one comes out and says he’s my tire advisor, walks me to his desk, I turn around and my baby is gone.. the Cruiser I mean.. I have this truck for 6 years, and it’s the first time someone else drives it besides me (and my wife when I get drunk). Inside, elevator music, freezing ac, smell of fresh coffee and beautiful girls on red polo shirts walking up and down. Nice! A couple hours of nice. …Not.
After walking the whole building for 2 hours I decided to go get a peak at the truck in the service bays behind the building. It’s on the alignment ramp (another thing I can’t do in my driveway) which I told them to do since my old tires started to wear on the outside way more than inside. I suspected camber since toe has been measured before. An hour later, at 1pm, I go to the “service advisor” desk, the original guy wasn’t to be found, the nice guy outside is dealing with other ppl.. I called the in laws to go pick up the kids from school since I’m busy.
Now, just to clarify, I work in the car business since 2007, independent used car dealerships, been in sales, service, management and now I’m a finance guy in one, I’ve had over 100 cars in my driveway that I flipped for a side income, and Never bought a brand new car. Mostly bc I know the business, I know cars, and I understand depreciation. This place was Full of new car owners coming in for their scheduled service, and during the 3 hour walkathon in there I overheard at least 10 bs trade pitches, and 20 up-sale services (you’ll have to get the premium package which Isn’t included bc you missed your last appointment blah blah). In the meantime my “service advisor “ wasn’t there, went to another one. Told him I came in at 9.45 for a set of tires and an alignment, it’s 2pm, and I have to go. He didn’t say anything, just dialed a number, said something like “it’s the other guy’s problem and they didn’t do sh*#% to his truck”, he’ll tell them to put the old tires on an he’s sending me on my way.. I told the guy I’ve been back there in the bay(oh, no! You can’t go in there!! It’s off limits!! You’re crazy?! ) and my truck has been on the alignment ramp for the last 2 hours, I was just asking how much longer since I gotta go enjoy a cold beer on my day off since they don’t sell any beer there. He just walked off and passed the hot potato to another guy. This one is kinda nicer.. at least he spoke to me, and said my truck will be ready in a few.
Finally my truck came in to the lobby!! First thing I see is this:

I know, I gotta refinish my rims..

Ok, it happens.. He said he’s ordering one and should be there on Monday. Fine. So since I know that Toyota issued a few different designs I want to make sure that he’s getting the correct one. He fought me for 20 minutes on the part number, luckily Partsouq has pictures of their items and I made sure he takes a picture of the item and part number. We’ll see how that goes.
And.. he tried to charge me $80 extra for the tpms reset.. I have no tpms on mine..
Meantime, I paid an additional $40 to have one of the old tires fitted on to a rim I got from eBay to replace a tundra steel spare I’ve been carrying around with a different size tire. They messed that up too, so another 30 minutes for the tire change.
I left the dealership at 2.45 after 5 hrs for a 5 tire replacement and an alignment that might or might not happened since they don’t let you even get close to the bays.. oh, a broken hub cap , an empty bottle of juice inside the car, and a $1029 bill.
As soon as I got home I opened a beer and double checked the torque on the nuts (they were way too tight) and lowered the tire pressure from 45 to 35 psi.. why they do that?
On the bright side, the Michelin are great, the Miami girls on red polos look amazing and the coffee was $2.15 for a cortadito..much better than Starbucks.
The writing is on the wall, I’m just shining a small flashlight on it. I’ve heard horror stories from dealership service departments, but never been in it. It wasn’t horrific as others, I mean, I’ve got a set of tired installed and maybe someone checked my alignment, not sure.. but I wouldn’t like to be in a position where they hold my car ransom for a repair I can do at home with a couple of cheap tools. And those poor people with their Camrys and Rav4s! They went straight to the slaughters! I mean, I’m not a saint, but they have a money machine there! 40-50 employees in a s***ty dealership designed to f#%k ppl!
One lady there waiting for her car for 4 hours came back a minute after she left complaining that the car drives exactly the same as before, like they never touch it! Another one right next to me agreed to a $150 tpms reset.. for a tire light on!

Sorry for the long story, releasing steam. If moderators want to move it please do..

 

[RedesKat]

It makes me wonder if anyone has actually had a positive experience with dealerships these days

 

[Njck22]

I really dislike taking any of my vehicles to the dealership. The only reason I do is for time crunches.
There is only one that I would take it to and the only reason I will is because I purchased several new vehicles from a top sales guy there who never BS's me. so if anything is amiss I call him and s*** gets straightened out with the head of service. If you don't have a connection like that, you have to deal with the BS. Even then I just hate the careless attitude they take toward any job. missing skid plate bolts, overfilled fluids, over torqued everything.(using the torque wrench after hammering the lug nuts on for 30seconds with a impact is not considered torquing).

Never been to a tire shop that actually did a satisfactory job.

 

[Patron100LC]

And all are super young! Where did the old guys go? The oldest employee was maybe 30, and those were the guys in the offices with ac and nice girls.. the ones doing the actual mechanic jobs looked 14 years old!

I guess that an internal connection inside the service department might improve the experience you will have there, that’s with every situation in any business.
99% of the customers were there waiting for hours for their cars, some fell asleep there, looked like an airport lounge.
The very few that obviously knew someone in there had a 1st class experience with free breakfast and entertainment, mysteriously all good looking women..

I wish they told me it’s going to take hours, but they said in the beginning just a couple hours.. that’s why I stayed there.
If you have to go there just order an Uber and go home! Pickup the car later. If you have common sense and minimal mechanical knowledge, avoid!

Now, specifically to our 100’s, mine was the only one there. I saw 1 200 series, and 1 tundra. The rest, little SUV’s and small sedans..

They’re still running the promo till the end of the month. If you need tires for your car they have the buy 3 get 1 for a $1, and $70 rebate from Michelin. That was about $200 cheaper than anywhere else.
But for the love of G, just get the tires and instal them elsewhere!

 

[thebeedeegee]

I don't EVER do dealerships. I have had alignments done at places like Pep Boys or Firestone locally. Hell, I went into Firestone for an alignment and the guy told me I needed new tie rods. I told him "yeah I know, but I'll do that myself" He told me after I do it myself just bring it back and they will realign it for free....and I didn't even buy the "unlimited alignment" package or whatever.

When I showed back up a week later after installing tie rods I thought for sure he didn't put any "notes" in the computer about my re-alignment, but sure enough he did. Pleasantly surprised.

Sometimes I want a new truck so bad, but the whole car buying process makes me sick to be honest. Used cars are so expensive right now too

 

[DBULL]

Just say no…Upselling was considered to be part of the job back when I was employed by Goodyear / Firestone.One dealer even ran a $.99 cent oil change special to lure unsuspecting customers,who would often leave with a new suspension,tires and brake overhaul.Of course,financing was readily available….

 

[GTV]

Last time I was at the dealer was in Jan ‘20 to get a recalled SRS sensor replaced in the ‘05 Sequoia I had at the time. They took the opportunity to notify me of a coolant leak which they suspected was the water pump which means they tacked on a timing belt, cam seals, etc. to the tune of nearly $3,500 The leak was of course just the rubber O ring from the thermostat to the coolant pipe which I replaced myself for a couple bucks. The dealer is a joke, I have no idea why people put so much trust in them.

Also, I’d never waste my time with the stock 275/60R18 tire size. A 275/65 is much more common, has far more choices, is considerably less expensive and looks and rides better on a 100 series. It’s a no brainer, IMO.

 

[gatormark91]

I'll wait two days for a part delivery before I go to any dealership. (Lakeland, FL Toyota is exception, because they get parts super quick and give me Internet price). Service at a dealerhip? No F-ing way. I've had enough nightmares at Ford and Nissan with new cars, and worked at a toyota service dept. in college. Nope, no way.

 

[Mike NXP]

My service department is top notch, just need to be clear on what you need out of them and their technicians. Simple as that. and If they screw up, they fix it.

 

[jsloden]

I've had really good experiences with discount tire. Really good prices and quick installations. I watch them use torque wrenches when they tighten the lugs. I just wish they did alignments.

 

[ktmracer01]

@Patron100LC Unfortunately, you got to experience something that is becoming all too familiar with the Auto Industry. The service department actually generates more revenue for the dealership than the sale of new cars. It's a cash cow for them. And, most of the service writers that work there may not even have any experience working on vehicles. There are only a handful of dealerships I would ever consider taking my vehicles to for work that I can't do in my own garage...And, that's only been recently due to relocating to the Pacific North West.

@gatormark91 Same here, I worked at a Toyota dealership in almost every department while I was in college. That's where I saw firsthand that poor management chasing $$$ can devastate customer relations and how little people today know about basic maintenance. But, I can say, it made me very popular with customers that came through and got honest answers.

 

[Patron100LC]

Yup. I work extremely hard to try and maintain a happy customer, our dealership is small, so reviews are really important, including even buy back cars with issues, even though in FL there's no cooling off periods, and all used cars sell as is by law, we do whatever is possible to have satisfied customers.
But we are a very small screw inside a very big machine, and it's extremely hard to change people's views on the Auto sales industry, and mostly because the big dealers are still using those obsolete techniques we used when the smart phone wasn't around.

@GTV , I went back and forth with the tire size, and I would have moved up a size if I picked Any other tire brand or style, there's 100's of tires to choose on the 275/65r18 and very few on the 275/60r18 size, but since I decided to go with the Michelin LTX and it's a daily driver, city and highway, and I'm satisfied with the powerband the stock size provides, I just went for the stock size.. I just want to keep this truck as stock as possible, even ordered new stock springs that sagged and got mushy in the last 260k miles, even though they cost double than OME, and as I found out yesterday, they're back ordered.. great.

I've also had an OK experience with a local Goodyear Tire shop I used to put Duratracks on a Jeep some years ago, but I think it was because the tech was a Jeep guy and we had some things in common, it was when the Duratracks just came out and he was also considering them for his rig.. So I got a more personal treatment on that specific situation, but I couldn't find a Goodyear or a Kelly tire I wanted.

I've heard the horror stories from people spending thousands on stuff that wasn't needed, so I prepared myself for it and went in there ready with an online quote for the things I needed, but if you fall in their hands unprepared you can get really f#*%d!

I still have to get back there for my broken hubcap and my back ordered springs.. let's see how that goes..

 

[OEMGUY0720]

That’s terrible man sorry this happened to you. I had an unusual experience too with Discount Tires, they scratched (deep) my newly powder coated wheels.I’m not even sure if it’s an isolated case or it is a common occurrence with DT.

 

[kwon-offroad]

Yeah, yeah, we all hate dealers and they all suck. (Personally I've had great luck with mine between Toyota and Mercedes. But I spend a lot of time and money there and they know me.)

But...

I'll play devil's advocate here. The one pic of your wheel appears to show a lot of corrosion and what appears to be rattle can job on top of that. I've never seen that much degradation on a 06-07 style 18" wheel before (from little that can be seen). But what do the rest look like? And is it possible that this played a factor on the quality of service received? Nobody deserves this treatment, but maybe there's more to it than just being plain ignorant on their end.

 

[Mike NXP]

If these are the worst of your problems in life I'd say your doing OK. You waited a bit long for a tire changeover that didn't go that smoothly, no big deal.

 

[Patron100LC]

Hey @kwon-offroad , yes, my wheels do look like sh#$t, I'm waiting for a nice Sunday to sand down and re-finish them. It'll take a lot of sanding.. I've already ordered 4 new hubcaps from Partsouq, and if the dealership comes up with a replacement, it's good to have a spare.

 

[FJ73Texas]

I've had really good experiences with discount tire. Really good prices and quick installations. I watch them use torque wrenches when they tighten the lugs. I just wish they did alignments.

As someone who worked for discount tire long ago. I don't really have high praise for their quality of work either but still appreciate they gave me a job when I was young and in college. Whenever I go back as a customer, I will tell them what not to do to my wheels in the nicest way possible and make sure they make a note of it on the ticket. Most of the time it works but you still get that one person who doesn't read the ticket.

One thing the OP of this thread should have done and I always do is remove the center caps yourself and leave them home before you go in for tire service anywhere, including the dealer. You can put them back on yourself carefully, not like some tire monkey banging them back on as hard as he can.

 

[zapatius]

As someone who worked for discount tire long ago. I don't really have high praise for their quality of work either but still appreciate they gave me a job when I was young and in college. Whenever I go back as a customer, I will tell them what not to do to my wheels in the nicest way possible and make sure they make a note of it on the ticket. Most of the time it works but you still get that one person who doesn't read the ticket.

One thing the OP of this thread should have done and I always do is remove the center caps yourself and leave them home before you go in for tire service anywhere, including the dealer. You can put them back on yourself carefully, not like some tire monkey banging them back on as hard as he can.

I will also say Discount Tire is the only place I've ever been to that actually used a torque wrench on the lug nuts. Went to a small independent place on my last 80 Series tires and noticed they inflated them to over 80 pounds.

 

[FJ73Texas]

I will also say Discount Tire is the only place I've ever been to that actually used a torque wrench on the lug nuts. Went to a small independent place on my last 80 Series tires and noticed they inflated them to over 80 pounds.

Oh yeah. They are strict on torque wrench usage there along with the torque sticks or whatever those things are officially called. Anyone caught using just the impact alone would get written up and possibly fired. I have no clue if they are still this strict though.

I never see other places using them or bothering to look up the torque specs. Discount Tire is very good at making sure they use the proper torque.

 

[jsloden]

As someone who worked for discount tire long ago. I don't really have high praise for their quality of work either but still appreciate they gave me a job when I was young and in college. Whenever I go back as a customer, I will tell them what not to do to my wheels in the nicest way possible and make sure they make a note of it on the ticket. Most of the time it works but you still get that one person who doesn't read the ticket.

One thing the OP of this thread should have done and I always do is remove the center caps yourself and leave them home before you go in for tire service anywhere, including the dealer. You can put them back on yourself carefully, not like some tire monkey banging them back on as hard as he can.

I know what you mean. I don't care as much about mu 80 wheels because they're not perfect but I once had an older e30 bmw that had very nice bbs wheels on it. The center caps actually had a locking mechanism so that you had to twist the center of the center cap in order for it to unlock. I never once drove that car to a tire shop with the center caps on it.