Only one strut replaced

Just come back from Fremont Toyota in Fremont CA. Under my extended warranty I had them replaced a leaky passenger side front strut. First they promised to fix it in the same day, just to get back in their word and assured me to have the truck ready next day "first time in the morning" Next day about noon when I called I was told that takes time to have them replaced, then the truck has to be realigned, blab blab blab. Today at the end of the day my truck was ready to be picked up and I was surprised to find out that only one strut was replaced, and no alignment was necessary.
Now, I always believe that they both has to be replaced at the same time,
Maybe I am wrong, but why lie about it? What do you guys think?

 

I had the exact same thing on my drivers side front...leaky shock.

I watched the entire thing....dropped truck off @7am to be the first...

at 10am I talked to the superviser and said "umm...why's my truck STILL SITTING IN THE PARKING LOT UNTOUCHED?".

15 minutes later my truck was in a repair bay. watched the entire install (my truck was repaired right in front of the ONLY glass window for the customers to watch through).
at 10:45 my truck was done and back in the lot
at 11:15 I left

in other words...only one shock and no alignment.

 

A truck won't change align like a car..
Ext warr.
Only leaky shock replaced.
No align.
That's the way it is.
I just did one on a Camry.
Wheel was off 30 degrees.
I didn't have to do anything. That's the way it is.
So I put it on the rack and did it on my own time.
I didn't get paid for it like lots of things I do.
Of course he only saw the result of my work that the car that was right.
Not that I didn't get paid for doing it right.

Ext warr is great however in some cases lacking in completeness and lack of time for doing the job right.

 

They will only fix what's damaged or broke under warranty. If you have a lot of miles on the other shock, personally I would change it. It's good practice to change them in pairs.

 

Why do I have this feeling that if this was going to be a cash repair they would have insisted that you need to do both .....

 

I'm sure they would have.

 

And probably had the alignment done also. I have to leave with I guess.
But still why all the lies?

 

Road Hazard Warranty on tires....one fails, you get one tire, not two.

There is no reason for an alignment after a shock replacement.

 

One is a warranty repair. Two is maintenance. Makes sense to me, only one is as bad. I'm sure they'd have given you 2 had you asked and paid for the other. Certainly no reason for them to do both otherwise IMO.

 

I blew out a front Bilstein HD on a 98 Tacoma a long time ago. I had about 100k on the shocks. Bilstein warrantied it and I put in the one shock. I could not tell the difference in performance between the left/right. Also unless you're changing springs, tie rods, or control arms there is absolutely no need for an alignment on these. I think alignments are one of the most oversold services out there.

 

I understand your point ... But often times it just makes a lot more sense to do it the best way.

- Replace your leaky oil filter and only the oil to refill the filter?
- Blow one tire in four old tires with lots of mileage just get 1 brand new?
- Only change one brake shoe?
- Only grease the noisy u joint?
- Only bleed one brake?


The shocks my be sold each - but I'd replace in pairs.

JMHO

 

Wow

 

Of course. I'm talking about warranty repairs at a dealership though, not proper maintenance by an owner. Dealer service for warranty doesn't cover 2 rear shocks if only one shock is leaking, which makes sense to me. But doing it in your driveway of course it makes sense to change both. Just didn't make sense that a dealer changes four tires under warranty when one is no good.