Garbage service at Michael’s Toyota of Bellevue?

Anyone else taken their truck to Michael’s in Bellevue? Generally I do most of my work myself, but my airbag light came on, and that’s something I’d rather have the dealer handle. At the same time I wanted to have them inspect the frame, since the frame rust inspection was done in Colorado where I bought it and at the time (2016) the previous owner was basically told “it looks good, it doesn’t need a coating since it’s so dry here in CO rust is never an issue”. But now that the truck is in WA where it’s obviously less dry, I want to be thorough.

Anyways, had my appointment yesterday morning and was then told that the airbag light would need a technician, which they don’t have that day, so they’ll need to keep it for a day. A little irritating since they knew what my appointment was for, but it’s fine, gave me a chance to test drive a 2021 TRD-Off Road for a day.

Today I get my list of $3000 in services that the truck apparently needs:

“air bag light just needed to be recalibrated so that's good to go $169.00
power steering rack leaking from the boots $1793.50
alignment $129.00
power steering flush $180.00
no record of plugs look dark and burned $350.00
throttle body service $95.00
mass air flow sensor dirty $69.00
pcv valve dirty $98.00”

Alignment isn’t surprising, power steering rack leak is a little concerning so I figured “good to know” so I can work that and the fluid flush that I was planning on anyways.

The rest of it is where the garbage service comes in: 200 miles ago I replaced my spark plugs, replaced the PCV, cleaned the throttle body, and cleaned the MAF sensor myself. I wouldn’t be so bothered by the recommendation if they didn’t specifically say “looked dark and burned” and “PCV dirty” and “MAF sensor dirty” to give the illusion that they even popped my hood at all. For reference, here are my 200-mile old spark plugs that are “dark and burned” that I pulled out to check as soon as I got home:


When I picked it up, I asked them, “so I don’t mean this question in an accusing way, I’m just trying to see how much work I need to put in myself. Did you guys actually take things apart or inspect anything to decide what service is needed or is it just from the list of recommended maintenance for 100,000 miles?” Not surprisingly, they claim to have inspected everything. When I then mentioned that I had done most of their recommended work literally 200 miles and 2 weeks ago, his explanation changed. “Well since we dont have any service history for you, and the MAF sensor and throttle body and PCV it’s hard to really see inside, so we base the recommendation on the lack of service records and the condition of the areas around it. And that’s weird for the spark plugs, the notes say they look burnt though”. On top of that, the frame inspection wasn’t mentioned at all until I asked, after which I got vague “it looked fine” answer that seemed very made up on the spot. In the service notes I also see a note that the inspection was done at another dealership at a previous time, so I’m really doubting that they did anything at all.

I know they’re called “stealerships” for a reason, but I feel like this was just extra bad, and the fact that I did the work 2 weeks ago makes it extra obvious how sketchy they’re being. At jiffy lube at least they tell you the work is based on the recommended maintenance schedule for your mileage, and don’t pretend to have inspected anything.


TL;DR Michael’s Toyota of Bellevue is a shit dealership, does anyone have any recommendations on another in the area? I want a dealer opinion on if the frame needs at least the coating now that it lives in a more humid area.

 

Ive always had good service at Statler Toyota.

 

The lie about inspecting it is what this hinges on. Once you lie, you lose all credibility.

Call Toyota and explain that you don't feel they did the frame inspection, hopefully they'll hook something up for you.

 

Sadly this is common in all kinds of dealership settings, cars, boats, atvs. They have a recommended service sheet( complimentary xx point inspection) this is usually almost completely filled out based on unit hours or miles with no real inspection done. If they inspect it for free... they pry didn't inspect it.

 

I’m never going back there, their “off-road” department was a disappointment as well.

Don’t you dare take your truck off-roading and expect them to help you.

also, service advisor didn’t know what the torque value is for wheels.

Couple other bone head things happened to me, but I’m on mobile but you get the idea.

 

I bought my truck and previous car there and in the past had a decent experience. Last time the truck in it was bad from start to finish. Unfortunately I don’t know of any other dealerships around here that seem much better.

 

That's the Michael's is the cloest dealer to me so I went there for my free oil changes and so far they score a 'meh' from me. They did replace the squeaking high pressure fuel pump on my '16 w/o too much convincing after I couldn't reproduce the issue in front of the tech so I call that a positive experience. But they also wouldn't flash my ECU to the latest, so hated them for that. They want you to leave your vehicle for the day for any service that isn't an oil change which sucks but I can also see why they do that. I also tried Toyota of Kirkland and thought they were crap. When my '98 Taco was newer, I went to Renton Toyota for all 15k service intervals and had repeat good experiences with them and they were very reasonably priced.

 

Michael’s Toyota is trash.

 

I almost bought my SCS wheels from Michael's until I found out how much their mark-up was.
Ordered them online from SCS instead. Even with shipping it was way cheaper.
I've been going to Rodland's since I bought my 16' there new. So far so good.

 

I-5 Toyota (long drive) and Toyota of Renton were always really good to me when I was up there. Renton did warranty service on my wife's old Highlander even at 100k Miles (well, recall that was past its recall date)

 

Yea that's what really did it for me. I fully gave him the opportunity to tell me they just pulled up the recommended maintenance for 100,000 miles. Instead he flat out lied, so now I can't trust any of it and have to check my plugs and check for leaks to see if it's even true. If it's all of the sudden based on my lack of service history with them, I also don't have history of a serpentine belt replacement, oil change, trans fluid, brakes, or anything else, so why didn't those make it onto the list? Seems like 102,000 miles would be a little overdue for those since they've "never been done."

I've heard good things about them from a friend of mine also, I'll probably give them a call

 

That, plus that you gave him an out and he still tried that.

Definitely on the oil at the least and the trans. I can't recall if there's an interval for the serp belt though at 100k it's not out of the question. I did mine last fall at 110K but I live in a cold weather state

 

As odd as it sounds, corrosion around here is very limited. Coming from PA, it was a real surprise. This region is excluded from the frame corrosion campaign.

If you still need the TSB flash, lemme know. I can take care of that.

 

I ended up flashing it myself. Thank you for the offer!

 

That's great. You now got some more tools to work with.

 

Also told me I couldnt fit 285s with a 2 in lift, ucas, and cmc Yea ok

 

I typically have good experiences over there and also with Renton. They (Michaels) most recently did my custom alignment and it came out just as I wanted. Ben, the shop foreman is really good and helpful if you are lucky enough to interact with him. Full disclosure, I've never really had to do anything beyond the typical stuff. I will also note that I asked for a transmission update and did not experience any resistance.

 

This is interesting considering they put trucks with similar specs (minus the cmc) right on the showroom floor.

 

I’ve only had a good experience working with Monroe at the aftermarket accessories department.

In terms of general service, I’ve dealt with a few reps who were not good and just not informed tbh. During my recent bout of rodent issues I’ve worked specifically with a Anthony who has been awesome - id recommend him as your service manager if you go to Michaels.

 

That's what I thought. The lady wasn't really open to talking to me about it either. I wa slike, oooook.
But other than that Bellevue has always treateds me well. I like them.