To be a fly on the wall during a service visit

If I were you, I would be posting the video under an anonymous account. Having your name in full view might not be the best long term strategy.

 

I try not to think about these stories about service departments when I take my truck in for service. I am happy with the service department at Dan Hecht Chevy/Toyota in Effingham, IL. (About 110 miles east of Lou Fusz)

http://www.danhecht.com/

Like there body shop also!

 

I don't really care what they say about me...I am a prick...so he actually had me dead to rights just on my appearance.

What bothers me is the "piss up a rope" comment. A "no problem found" diagnosis in my shop requires multiple people to sign off....after a road test with the customer. If it does not do it with the customer, THEN there really is no problem.

 

Koons Toyota in Tyson's VA gets my vote for a great service department, with connections to good modification shops in the area. (Trick Trucks Chantilly).

I imagine they're good because of the pretentious douche bags that frequent Tyson's often, they probably just don't want the hassle.

 

Dash Cams are excellent proofs when this stuff happens. I would have lost my FJ Cruiser's 1GR-FE if I hadn't had one and been out of thousands as my warranty was going to expire in a few thousand miles.

I recorded the service manager and technician talking during a test drive of the vehicle, saying they should tell me the issue was "normal" until they could get a component failure on one of two components they thought was the problem. I saw the footage later and sent the service manager an email asking them to replace both of the components they mentioned during their test drive instead of waiting for a failure.

In their defense both of them were very professional outside that singular comment. They replaced both parts under warranty (over $2600 in labor and parts though), and the service manager put me in a very nice rental.

Dash Cams are highly underrated, but having that kind of ammunition can be hard to wield properly sometimes. Good on you for approaching this calmly and for understanding locker room talk exists and that great, professional people say things they would love to take back sometimes.

 

No long term strategy. I don't expect or want anything from them. I simply am no longer their customer. I have a different dealership servicing my vehicle and am mostly happy with them.

 

Maybe I'm not getting it, so there is no problem, right? Then why complain?

 

Sorry for your problems. Not all dealers are good. Was this thread point just a rant?

 

Actually this thread was more of an entertainment and education type of thing. I guess I should have just asked if I can fit 305/85R20 without a lift. I guess that would have been a better use of this bandwidth.

 

I still have a rear end howl under light throttle application. Since there is no real fix, I just turn up the radio now.

 

Entertained me...

 

What's the law about consent and video recording in Missouri? My quick google skills says it's a one party consent state, meaning at least one party has to consent to being recorded. Seems kind of sketchy you sharing this. BUt entertaining nonetheless.

Edit to add: I'm not judging, I'm debating a dashcam and am unsure about the legality of instances like this. I bet someone is going to probably tell me it's been debated before and I should search. I should probably piss up a rope.

 

I thought this would be a perfect place for my first post.
I run dashcams in my Tacoma and my son's 1989 Toyota pickup (he's 17.) I have a tire warranty on his tires and took it to the local tire store where I bought them (Tires Plus) for a balance check. They don't test drive unless there is a specific problem they are looking for, but for some reason, they decided to take my son's truck for drive. I have a great shot of the truck backing out of the bay, and one of it pulling back in. The tech disconnected the camera for his joy ride.
When I found out, I was pissed. The district manager was pissed. The corporate customer service Director was pissed (yeah, I went to corporate.) We were mad for different reasons. I was mad that the tech took the truck for an unnecessary joy ride. The manager and director were upset because it looks shady, and because dashcams actually protect the company from bogus claims. They protect the shop and the owners.

Lesson learned for me was to hard wire the dashcams. I'm not concerned about the legalities as there is no expectation of privacy inside someone else's vehicle.

 

Egggggzacklyyyyy.

 

The law seems to disagree, but it's state-dependent. Many states have 1- or 2-party consent eavesdropping laws, but many of these laws are about audio and not video. Even still, that alone isn't enough for me to not get a dashcam, and your story reinforces the benefits... even if it puts me in a slight legally grey area.

 

Awesome thread/video.

Thanks for sharing.

Dealerships are absolutely terrible.

Seems like the only decent one i have seen is the one in Huntington Beach CA.

 

My ex fiance took my truck into the dealer one morning and said all the techs and service manager decided to have a meeting at my truck, everyone put their coffee mugs on the hood and they were all leaning on it. Needless to say she ran in the garage and started bitching at all of them, I imagine they were not speaking very kindly of her afterwards, lol.

 

Just put a note (in small print) up by the camera that "by operating this vehicle you consent to being recorded". That is what business do to cover themselves legally, so it should work in reverse to. You are not responsible for them not following the "posted warning"

 

Been procrastinating on this dash cam stuff. But now I'm going to get one and hardwire it. Any suggestions on a model?

 

He either has the viofo a119, or the a119s
with the gps module