Service or ripoff?

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

I think you will find that most here have their Prados serviced at dealerships or multi-mechanic workshops. There is nothing wrong with checking that the work is done. Trust is personal and there is no way you can have trust when you don't even know who is putting spanners to your vehicle.

Even in a one mechanic workshop, Trust is earned. You say you expect and demand trust before you earn it. How do we know if the workshop is dodgy unless we check? Should we just gaze at the sweet receptionist, open our wallet and take our chances? You've got to be kidding.

I suggest you go & find a one mechanic workshop every time over a muli-mechanic workshop.
You can mark stuff if you think that's the go.
Trust does not have to be earned, it can be given & most peeps do when they hand over their vehicle for service.
Trust can be lost or confirmed........ You are definitely taking chances.


I wash customers vehicles when I have time, they love it, & it makes them forget to check their marks lol.......
Never tyre shine, that sticky sh!t just makes mess & dust sticks to it.
The customer should always get the vehicle back cleaner than when they left it! Simple.

[slimf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close slimf]

What first made me suspicious was the air filter, as it was only my second ever service on the car I thought id check. It was clearly not new.. But after checking the log book it shouldn't be replaced at 20000... The oil was also dark after 20km... Thou, not pure black. The motor and engine bay is all so new that it's hard to tell if the oil filter has ever been changed. It certainly doesn't look like the area around it was wiped clean and it doesn't look like it was washed.. But at this stage im repaired to accept that it was done properly.. I will do a filter and oil replacement myself at 25000 to be extra safe.
I distrust dealers - especially big dealers with blond 20 year old babes in white coats that greet me at 8am when I drop the car off for a service.
I would rather see a rough shaven 40 year old covered in grease. :-)

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Here is where the oil filter goes.. It looks clean as a whistle, like they didn't spill a single drop?

If the engine bay is clean, rather than wet the whole bay unnecessarily, what I do is same as the sump plug, I spray brake cleaner, so it's 99% clean oil free, but not washed down so maybe tats what they have done. If its a Toyota dealer service, I think your pretty safe the oil & filter being changed. All those extra things on other services I think you might be on the right track about things not always getting done or completely. Eg; a brake fluid flush, 500ml booked out & no way you can do that, especially on a 150. Try 1.5lt!

Brake cleaner, cleans & then evaporates leaving no residue.

[letsgoplaces Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close letsgoplaces]

I would rather see a rough shaven 40 year old covered in grease. :-)

Yep that's my mechanic... and he's missing the tip of a finger when a fan kicked in that supposedly wasn't working
He's been my mechanic for 26 years... longer than i've known most of my friends

[tassie tiger Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close tassie tiger]

What first made me suspicious was the air filter, as it was only my second ever service on the car I thought id check. It was clearly not new.. But after checking the log book it shouldn't be replaced at 20000... The oil was also dark after 20km... Thou, not pure black. The motor and engine bay is all so new that it's hard to tell if the oil filter has ever been changed. It certainly doesn't look like the area around it was wiped clean and it doesn't look like it was washed.. But at this stage im repaired to accept that it was done properly.. I will do a filter and oil replacement myself at 25000 to be extra safe.
I distrust dealers - especially big dealers with blond 20 year old babes in white coats that greet me at 8am when I drop the car off for a service.
I would rather see a rough shaven 40 year old covered in grease. :-)

Why would the dealer not change the oil on a vehicle under warranty?

To save some $$$$?

And when it craps itself........... They pay the repairs. All makes sense to me.

OR

As my 4 yo says - that's just silly talk.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

The dealer gets paid for the service, but Toyota fork out for the warranty.

Also the dealer may be honest as a day is long, but then they employ someone who is less than honest and instead of changing the oil they take it for a test drive to the bakery, have a pie and an iced coffee, read the paper, drop it back at the workshop, tick everything off as done and they had an easy morning. In a large workshop I could imagine this happening.

Fact is to this day I am convinced that is what happened with the 10k service on my first Prado, I was 1000k away before I started to realize some things had not been done, even the service book wasn't filled in.......... I will never know for sure but all the evidence points to me paying top dollar for nothing.

Cheers Andrew

[Ghost Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ghost]

I go to the dealership because I have warranty, however on multiple occasions I have picked up things that haven't been done or damaged in the process of them "looking" after my cars. I question absolutely everything. I don't care if they get offended, as I've said to them theve shown that some of their service techs are less than impressive. However at this stage with my warranty I'm better off to be thorough and check their work and be able to get any warranty work done with no cost to me


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[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

When I worked for Toyota as pre delivery manager which I had a lot to do with the mechanics at the time I was always over in the work shop chasing things up and I remember the days of when the 80 series cruisers had just released and in for there services, and many a time I'd walk past the hoists where I would hear "just tick her off never been off road shopping trolley this one" and yet the customer was paying for diff oil changes, filter changes, regrease of this n that but was never done, repack bearings etc and even back then these people were paying big $$$ for a service most well over $1000. Bought my wife's Toyota new been back once for its first 1000k check never been back since. We get a new one next month and it will be the same...cheers Steve

[tassie tiger Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close tassie tiger]

Also the dealer may be honest as a day is long, but then they employ someone who is less than honest and instead of changing the oil they take it for a test drive to the bakery, have a pie and an iced coffee, read the paper, drop it back at the workshop, tick everything off as done and they had an easy morning. In a large workshop I could imagine this happening.

And you can imagine this based on what Andrew?

Have you worked in a large workshop? A large dealership? Was it a shonky one?

I worked for the Government Motor Garage. Now, if there was one place that you could really be shonky you would think it would be a govt one. Like, you know how lazy govt employees are? All lazy shiny ass' bums suckling off the teat of everyone else ( )

There were systems in place to make sure it all got done correctly. They actually have these systems in modern dealer workshops. Quality control people who's only job is to make sure stuff gets done correctly according to the systems. It would take a system designed to achieve your machiavellian scenario or those proposed by others that its one big scam.

Mistakes occur and there should be no excuses for it.

But, the this type of talk is pretty poor. Slag off an entire occupation on your gut feeling or the fact that you are convinced that things were not done on your vehicle once.

My first wife screwed around on me. I don't sniff my new one every time she walks through the front door.

[Ghost Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ghost]

And you can imagine this based on what Andrew?

Have you worked in a large workshop? A large dealership? Was it a shonky one?

I worked for the Government Motor Garage. Now, if there was one place that you could really be shonky you would think it would be a govt one. Like, you know how lazy govt employees are? All lazy shiny ass' bums suckling off the teat of everyone else ( )

There were systems in place to make sure it all got done correctly. They actually have these systems in modern dealer workshops. Quality control people who's only job is to make sure stuff gets done correctly according to the systems. It would take a system designed to achieve your machiavellian scenario or those proposed by others that its one big scam.

Mistakes occur and there should be no excuses for it.

But, the this type of talk is pretty poor. Slag off an entire occupation on your gut feeling or the fact that you are convinced that things were not done on your vehicle once.

My first wife screwed around on me. I don't sniff my new one every time she walks through the front door.

I agree that mistakes occur. However I've seen first hand what they try and get away with, and this isn't a small dealership. Trust me I've pulled them up everytime and I only deal with the service manager for both my cars


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[tassie tiger Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close tassie tiger]

I want you to know I care. I really do.

For AJ and Ghost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpnvTjtpyIg

[REN470 Member Find all posts View Profile Close REN470]

And you can imagine this based on what Andrew?

Have you worked in a large workshop? A large dealership? Was it a shonky one?

I worked for the Government Motor Garage. Now, if there was one place that you could really be shonky you would think it would be a govt one. Like, you know how lazy govt employees are? All lazy shiny ass' bums suckling off the teat of everyone else ( )

There were systems in place to make sure it all got done correctly. They actually have these systems in modern dealer workshops. Quality control people who's only job is to make sure stuff gets done correctly according to the systems. It would take a system designed to achieve your machiavellian scenario or those proposed by others that its one big scam.

Mistakes occur and there should be no excuses for it.

But, the this type of talk is pretty poor. Slag off an entire occupation on your gut feeling or the fact that you are convinced that things were not done on your vehicle once.

My first wife screwed around on me. I don't sniff my new one every time she walks through the front door.

Hi,


I agree with Tassie Tiger - all this talk is a bit rough, in fact I don't know why some people on here buy Toyotas as all they do is bag the dealership, the service department and the D4D engine, yet they own one and some have bought more than one - doh. I always take mine to the dealership but I also sell my cars regularly so most times they are still in warranty but from my experience my dealership is great, never had an issue with warranty but just a hint into the mindset - Now I work in the Bike industry for one of the big ones and our technical and warranty manager always looks at known service history when a dealership calls in with a major engine issue like detonation, even before he contacts the customer - no service history and he's on the defensive already.

Now I had a mate who ran a workshop and he had a really annoying customer who marked things, checked everything before he would pay for proof it was done and they would just pull out his filter (no dropping of the oil) and replace it with a second hand one they had pulled off another car and cleaned up and sent him on his way just because he was offending them with his absurd requests - what do you do then stay and watch them actually do the work?

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

I go to the dealership because I have warranty, however on multiple occasions I have picked up things that haven't been done or damaged in the process of them "looking" after my cars. I question absolutely everything. I don't care if they get offended, as I've said to them theve shown that some of their service techs are less than impressive. However at this stage with my warranty I'm better off to be thorough and check their work and be able to get any warranty work done with no cost to me


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My fall back position is if they don't do it and something happens, its their cost. Not saying that happened but my replacement of a motor having done only 80k was a blessing.

[Ghost Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ghost]

I want you to know I care. I really do.

For AJ and Ghost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpnvTjtpyIg

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, champ if u wanna just trust blindly then who's the bigger fool?


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[Ghost Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ghost]

Hi,


I agree with Tassie Tiger - all this talk is a bit rough, in fact I don't know why some people on here buy Toyotas as all they do is bag the dealership, the service department and the D4D engine, yet they own one and some have bought more than one - doh. I always take mine to the dealership but I also sell my cars regularly so most times they are still in warranty but from my experience my dealership is great, never had an issue with warranty but just a hint into the mindset - Now I work in the Bike industry for one of the big ones and our technical and warranty manager always looks at known service history when a dealership calls in with a major engine issue like detonation, even before he contacts the customer - no service history and he's on the defensive already.

Now I had a mate who ran a workshop and he had a really annoying customer who marked things, checked everything before he would pay for proof it was done and they would just pull out his filter (no dropping of the oil) and replace it with a second hand one they had pulled off another car and cleaned up and sent him on his way just because he was offending them with his absurd requests - what do you do then stay and watch them actually do the work?

And you have just proven why people don't trust so easily! People tend to trust first, but trust me once you've been burned a few times you start wanting them to earn your trust. The old saying "once bitten twice shy"


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