Bad servicing.

[nt0351 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close nt0351]

Re: Bad servicing.

I wish I had one cent for all the bad stories I have heard, I would be a billionaire. It makes you feel unproud of the industry. Like all industries, we are not all like that. That's why I am on a couple of forums, to help you blokes out for free. So you have an opportunity to do the job properly and save a lot of money. What do I get out of it, a buzz helping good people out and educating them, passing on the knowledge, isn't that partly what life is all about anyway. On the question of a decent mechanic, well word of mouth is usually the best, expensive, but he's good, excellent work, etc.. A good tradesperson will always consult with you on what he or she is doing to your vehicle. After all, it is your money and your investment, and that is how it should be. An excellent mechanic will always use the best oils and fluids as far as brands and use the best parts that he or she thinks is best for your job, eg. gen. Toyota filters against aftermarket and why (this will reflect in the end price, but the job will be done properly). Educate you about preventative maintenance and how to get the best miles out of your vehicle, etc.. This will build trust inbetween you both and chances are a friendship will form. Sometimes it is the fault of a uneducated consumer trying to find a mechanic with the cheapest rates. If he's good at his job, well and good, but most of the time this is not the case especially in the 4wd and heavy vehicle's industry. There is always two sides to every story in most cases, I say most cases except to do with trust, communication and bad workmanship. There is a mechanic in my area, all us 'good' mechanics want to punch his head in for the work that he and his team of merry man do, but people go to him because he is cheap, thus lies the trap for the consumer and a lack of education from the industry's standing to stamp these practises out, giving the industry a bad name.

well put ##########,..ive been in the automotive service industry 25 plus years and couldnt agree more with your post ,...its often the case that a great tradesman/service business has a database of terrific clientele to match,

and unless referred by an existing client ,..the "id like a written quote " walk in type customer [ unfortunantly for them ] wont get a look in at such an establishment ,....due to the owner being sick to death of being told " i can do it 100 bucks cheaper around the corner " by the uneducated consumer with unrealistic expectations.

cheap price more often than not means a cheap job !!!......[ like the drop kick at the start of thread that used the clients sump oil to complete the oil change !!]

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

Re: Bad servicing.

Unfortunately its not just poor mechanics doing bad services on vehicles.....maybe its just me, but it seems to be ever more difficult to get a well skilled tradesman no matter what the trade...be it a concretor, a painter, and mechanic, a builder...there seems to be little pide and poor workmansip wherever you go....but when you find a good one you stick with them

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

Re: Bad servicing.

i recently had to put my 120 in for its service with the dealer to keep the extended warranty. quoted $250 actually told i was on a "fixed plan of $250 per service". i drop my car off first thing in morning, the guy asks for the service book, i hand it to him and he looks inside and says "you need 80000km service" and scribbles something down on his paperwork. I tell him i have a bad noise rear left wheel, sounds like something to do with brakes (i am not overly mech minded) and also ask for hand brake adjustment at wheels not just in the car at the lever. he says come back at 1pm. come back car is on hoist all tyres off. told it will be another hour, then same again, and again until finally its finished around 4pm. woman at counter raves on about what they cahnged and done, told brakes are fine and in excellent condition and then told price is: $801. I nearly fainted. Discussion starts about the $250 quted of fixed price service i was suppose to have. manager comes out, he tries to convince me i have to pay as i chnaged the service to an 80000km service not the standard extended warranty one. i reminded him he checked my car in and made the decision what service was needed. he agrees and finally hands me a bill for $250. I pay, go away and driving home hear the dreaded loud noise at back left wheel. get home , ring them up and get manager again. he says i have to book it in, 10 days wait!! and told to bring it in 1st up in morning and a mechanic wold go with me to listen for noise and he would fix it if he could hear it. i go in 10 days later as requested, meet manager, he gets mechanic, i tell him where the noise is, he says i think i know what it is, gets in car and winds down windows and proceeds to reverse only about 2 metres and says yes i know what it is, no need for a drive. car goes in, told to come back in at 1pm again. i ring him before going to be told the noise is from a "bolt that stops the handbrake mechanism sliding outwards within the wheel. not sure when he will have one and come back around 3pm" i head back after 3, told he has part and is still fitting it. I ask why this wasnt picked up at service when i specifically asked for them to check handbrake at wheel and check out the noise. he says he wlao wants to know as it is obvious and handbrake cant be adjusted with this sliced off. eventually get it back and all fixed, mechanic explains it to me and says he checked all this time and cleaned both sides of rear brakes. he was different mechanic to 1st time and it was now fixed. this guy was from overseas asia area and i will ask for him to be the mecahnic in future if i go back. this is abbreviated version and i cannot understand how they can have 2 different service regimes for same vehicle. one goes by the toyota book, other by the dealer service centre for extended warranty. and this is just an oil and filter change and check all for $250. anyone ever pay $801 for a schedule service on their prado petrol auto model. a rip off in my opinion!

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Re: Bad servicing.

800 dollars is about the right price for the 80000 service as they change everything, mine was at trade and i payed 700 plus.

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

Re: Bad servicing.

thanks rob. glad they changed it to $250 for me even after changing all filters etc as per 80000km service. cant believe its worth that much WOW

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Re: Bad servicing.

I sure hope they didn't ask you to pay the 2nd time round. Anyway stuff the Toyota service department. The first mechanic you had was probably an apprentice. There are heaps of them at every Toyota service centre. Even though you ask for a certain mechanic, they still take your car away (out of your vision) and you wouldn't know who worked on it anyway. I'd recommend you find a good non-Toyota service mechanic who has their Toyota service accreditation (ie able to stamp your book). I've recently found a great mechanic at Kmart Tyre & Auto via a referral from a friend. Never been to a Toyota service centre since!

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

Re: Bad servicing.

unfortuanately i have to take it to them for service as part of their warranty conditions. i didnt pay for it, they "threw" it in as part of sale. no i didnt pay anything the second time so guess the extended warranty is working for me. this dealership is in parramatta and you can see your vehicle in the service area from the waiting room. must be tough to work in condition like that as no one likes someone breathing down your neck or watching your every move. i just need to remember this guys name and ensure they let him do any work. funny thing is my first visual impression of him was not the best. thought i was in for a long tough day but he was brilliant. he went out of his way, said he dismantled the whole assembly in both rear wheels and cleaned and checked it all before reassembling. even insisted i go with him on a decent test drive where he was able to freely talk to me. my original thoughts on extended warranties on late model cars was they were a waste of money. from reading around here i am starting to change my mind. just hope i never need it anymore

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Re: Bad servicing.

he went out of his way, said he dismantled the whole assembly in both rear wheels and cleaned and checked it all before reassembling. even insisted i go with him on a decent test drive where he was able to freely talk to me.

Now that's service! Customer orientated rather than $$$ orientated. You can only get that from people who take pride in what they do or people who are actually trying to get somewhere with their career!

Anyway, good to hear it worked out for you.

Cheers

[Brenton Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brenton]

Re: Bad servicing.

Question: Can you have a registered machanic service your new vehicle from day one & keep your warranty?

[camdyson Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close camdyson]

Re: Bad servicing.

Yes - so long as they follow the recommended schedule to the letter & use genuine Toyota parts where needed.

x2 on everyone else's comments. Never happier since leaving Toyota for a private mechanic.

Cam

[mickmac_42 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mickmac_42]

This is a bit of a rant about how my i went from having a high opinion of a workshop based on a good experience, to having a low opinion based on repeated bad experience.

I used to own a Holden Cruze which at the start of the year blew the head gasket. I'm a bit suss on the previous mechanic because the car had only just been serviced and i thought they should have picked up on the warning signs. Anyway, we arranged for the car to be towed to a workshop at slacks creek which had been referred to us by a friend. They got straight into it and within a couple of days we had the car back, but it cost us a few thousand dollars. I drove it out of the workshop and within a couple of kilometres the engine warning light came on. I immediately called the workshop owner/manager and he told me to bring it back in. By the time i got back, he'd organised a hire car for me so i could get home while he kept the car overnight for testing. The light had come on from an un-cleared code, but he drove my car home to make sure it wouldn't have any more problems. Owner dropped my car at my house the next morning and picked up the hire car. I was a happy chappy.

Fast forward 5 months and we sold the car to one of my wife's friends. She's notorious for not taking care of her cars, and about a month ago something let go in the Cruze. Not sure exactly what it was, but there was oil everywhere. Thinking it may have been linked to the previously blown head, we arranged for it to go back to the same workshop. They work their magic and fix it up. Apparently not linked to the blown head in any way. Just wear and tear that lead to a catastrophic failure of something. A couple of days later she notices the air conditioning isn't working well, then not at all. Takes it back to the workshop to see if they can find out what the problem is. They "fix"it and tell her it was a loose fitting. She takes it away but within a couple of days she's got no air again. Takes it back to the workshop suggesting that maybe they damaged something when they were repairing it. They get an air conditioning guy in and he works his magic. They tell her the evaporator is leaking and it'll be $1600 to fix it because they need to pull the dash off to get to it. By this stage she's getting a bit suspicious and she asks me to come into the shop. I had a chat with the mechanic and he repeats the story. I asked what test they did to determine it was the evaporator, and he tells me they pumped the system with some gas and used a detector all across the system to locate the leak. I asked him how he was able to get to the evaporator if it was behind the dash, and he admitted that they hadn't actually checked the evaporator, but it was the only logical place since they couldn't locate the leak elsewhere.

I told my friend she should get a second diagnosis, but that it would be a big job to replace the evaporator if indeed that was the problem. She takes it to another mechanic who has a look at the condenser and sees a big slash across the back of it. He charged $160 to replace the condenser and the air conditioning has been working a treat since then.

I was getting my Prado serviced at that workshop, but since they recently tried to screw me on replacing the injectors i won't be going back there.

I did try speaking with the owner but he was away each time i called.

Mike