Fun truck for 2 weeks !!!!

So you hide it with your No Fear t-shirt and Cingular wireless pager?

 

Nah, never owned either of those items in my life..I did have a Motorola beeper but that was provided by my job at the time.

I was thinking more like my Danzig shirt..or if we wanna be era correct, Big Johnson haha

 

Unfortunately you would be hired. And it would only take you five minutes to find another job.
When I retired from the military I made the mistake of taking a management position as paint and body shop supervisor at a large dealership thinking off the sales floor would not be cutthroat. It was quite a shock at the different culture. Here's my observations:
Military,
teamwork
quality
mission orientation
selflessness
attention to detail
sense of urgency

Dealership,
selfishness
lack of integrity
poor quality
no concern for customer
shortcuts
cover damage caused by shortcuts because "the customer will never see it".
no accountability

I discovered many faults in this industry caused by greed, the method of pay and chronic shortage of mechanics, painters and body men. I suffered for five long years trying to advocate for the customer, to no avail. I finally fled to another job at a defense contractor. I had lots of responsibility at the dealership but no authority. This business is extremely transient. All the "techs" care about is making as much money in as little time as possible putting in as little effort as possible. The pay method encourages shortcuts. They get paid "X" hours for any job whether they do it in less time or more, they still get paid "X" hours. This encourages shortcuts like prying off wheel trim with a screwdriver instead of taking the screws out because it's quicker and when the new trim goes on it covers up the scratched paint and dented sheet metal on the fenders from the prying. Or when a customer was ready to pick up his truck but the frame was still off a bit so they had a "tech" stand on the brakes while another rammed a tug into one corner of the bumper so that the gaps between the bumper and bed matched better, quick fix ya know. Just a couple of a hundred examples I can give you. Or leaving off parts that are unseen or any number of slipshod acts to save time. Because they want to do a ten hour job in five hours that's like getting double pay. Management only cares that they have the job and money coming in. Any attempt to discipline bad workers falls on deaf ears. We had one clown put coolant into a transmission. The customer made it down the highway a bit. We had to pay for a new trans and the "tech" never even had a word said to him. Why? because management figures better to have a bad employee than no employee. Piss off a "tech" and he packs up his tools, picks up the phone and literally has another job in five minutes starting tomorrow at any other shop. Are there any good workers in this field? Yes, but very, very few. And they are in hog heaven because they are the one's who get the good jobs for high hours because they can legitimately do 10 hours work in five hours. But we're talking maybe 5% of the employees fit this category. So my advice is if you need work done, research the shop on Yelp for example and if you find a possible decent shop talk to the manager and demand the work be done by their best people. He knows who they are and if he figures you're not the typical stooge customer who won't check anything, he may actually abide by your wishes. And if you think that the dealership I was at was an anomaly, it wasn't. All these employees from management to tech move around from company to company all the time. Nothing gets fixed because the management figures they'll be somewhere else next year so all they care about is cutting costs and overbooking so their salary that month is as high as it can be. There's no loyalty to the business or process improvement because that will cut down their commission that month and that's as far as they look, one month at a time.

 

Beat on it like its a rental!

 

I feel called out right now...

 

MONSTER ENERGY and white Oakleys.

 

Don't forget "washing" your truck with a push broom.

 

i know it can be hard to realize because we tend to be so active, but these forums represent a vocal, albeit well-informed, minority. for every one of us that walk into a toyota dealership about a tacoma, there are probably 50 other customers not on this forum.

toyota has sold about 150,000 2024 tacomas.

 

I could not work for a company or facility like that. I am in the lumber supply / construction business, which is family owned and operated for over 100 years. We have a sign one of the branches lunch/break room, which I try to work by "If you are not helping the customer, someone else will." We are located in smallish towns and work in the local communities. Like any business, the family fully understands; without our customers or employees, they would not exist. Not the best paying gig and I could move on, but I really enjoy working for them, as the family are all good people. As a manger, I and my team strive to do right by the customer and our company (sometimes we do take it on the chin, but try to do right).

 

Cracked spark plug! Just heard from 3rd party company that cuts the check and waiting for yet another case manager to review it. That should take 3 more days then we set up an exchange date. Interesting list of things that I will get charged for upon surrender if they are present.

Greetings,
Thanks for speaking regarding the repurchase of your (2024 Toyota Tacoma). And confirming the surrender dealership (Stephen Wade Toyota.)


Your case manager @Dennis, Delanie will request a transfer agent to be assigned to your case. The assignment takes about 1 to 2 business days. Once assigned, a package containing the documents that need to be signed will be sent to them. Upon receiving this package, they will make contact within a few days to schedule a time and date.


Please review the vehicle surrender process and the damage guidelines below.


As mentioned on our phone call please provide a copy of the Bill of Sale and your current registration.


WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VEHICLE SURRENDER PROCESS


Ø Please ensure the vehicle is in a clean and damage free condition priorto the scheduled vehicle surrender meeting.


Ø Any missing equipment, cracked or broken windshields and windows, interior damage or body dents should be repaired in advance of your meeting. Should your vehicle have any damage beyond normal wear and tear you will be expected to pay for it prior to the completion of your vehicle surrender OR at the vehicle surrender.


Ø Arrival at the vehicle surrender with damage can result in the dealership preparing an estimate and you paying the dealership for the repairs to be completed or re-scheduling of the vehicle surrender for another date and time once you have had the repairs performed.


Ø All sets of keys and remotes must be presented at surrender. You will be expected to return two (2) sets of keys and remotes (if applicable). If you are unable to locate all keys and remotes, you will be expected to pay the replacement cost for them at the vehicle surrender.


Ø Please leave all owners’ manuals and warranty guides in the glove compartment of the vehicle.


Ø All personal belongings should be removed from the vehicle before the surrender meeting.


Ø You will be required to sign any and all documentation necessary to transfer title of the vehicle to the Manufacturer. All registered owner(s) MUST be present at the vehicle surrender.


Ø All original equipment and any accessory for which you are receiving a refund must be on the vehicle at time of surrender. If you chose to remove non-reimbursable accessories from the vehicle, prior to surrender, you must do so at your own expense. You will be responsible to pay for any damage beyond normal wear and tear that was created by or exposed by the removal of non-reimbursable accessories.


Ø Below is a “Damage Guideline” that the Transfer Agent will follow when your vehicle is inspected.




DAMAGE GUIDELINES

- Any exterior damage that does not break the paint or can be hidden by a business or credit card is NOT chargeable.

- Minor rock chips to the hood and frontal area are acceptable as normal wear and tear.

- Windshield and glass damage (including cracks or chips) is chargeable to the customer at replacement value.

- Bumpers, guards and exterior moldings permitted with minor dents, nicks and scratches.

- Interior component must all be operable, light staining and wear are acceptable.

- NO burn marks or tears in the interior.

- Any missing equipment must be replaced.

- All bumper stickers MUST be removed. Any damage caused by the removal of the bumper sticker must be repaired or paid to be repaired by the customer.

- All other damage is chargeable to the customer

 

Sheesh, that looks very similar to the lease guidelines for returning a vehicle

 

These motherfackers have you coming and going.

Right? And we have all been there before. I handed in a leased Hummer and they charged me $1100 for a 3rd row seat and the vehicle doesn't even come with one and I had to prove that to them before they would cancel the bill.

 

I plan on sticking with the same dealer and Toyota so hopefully they won't give me too much crap when I get another one

 

Nice to have a business like that. The automotive field is transient so there's no skin in the game for the future. They look at staying for a matter of months not years or decades. Additionally, owners try to squash competition so there's always plenty of fish in the sea and they don't care if you have to leave your vehicle for weeks or months to get fixed. In my area the population has tripled since 1970 yet we still only have the same number of dealerships of any brand and just a couple guys own all the dealerships. So they want a pseudo monopoly and have no concern about the customer's inconvenience.

 

Anyone out here live close to Claremont Toyota in California or better yet have a hook there?

 

Heard this so many times from my brother in law, 40 years doing body work. He is that 5 percent you mention..not b/c he's my brother in law either. Quite a few times he's left a place and within a year they call pitching him to return. Definitely a changing profession of course.

I'll admit to the first one. I have black Oakleys. Not b/c I'm a bro, because they work best for me. No my hat isn't a flat brim either, though it does get misunderstood by many.

 

At least it was something "simple" but after all that you've been through, you didn't need anymore surprises or shit-level (lack of) customer service from that stealership. Hopefully the next few days of driving it will go smoothly for you.

 

I only had one guy like that. I never had to check his work. The day I started work I discovered a customers F-250 that was there for six months torn down and sitting in the boneyard. Of course the customer was livid and frequently came by to see if there was progress. management kept giving the "waiting on parts" excuse but it was the pay method that caused this. When I handed the techs a job they would immediately flag all the hours to get paid. Then tear down the vehicle and ask for more work, flag those hours and on and on. They wouldn't want to finish the job because they would not get a paycheck because they were already paid. This is why I tell people if a shop tells you it will take a week, it won't. Be ready for a long haul. After a couple years of complaining to management about the pay system because I was tired of abuse from customers for something not my fault and sympathized with, I finally got a compromise and was allowed to flag only half at the start of a job and the remaining at the end.

 

Something tells me that F250 person loved you..yikes, 6 months.

 

Yeah the estimators were supposed to take the heat from customers. They're the front end, I was in the shop. But they decided to transfer irate customers to my phone. That truck stayed another six months before the"tech" could be persuaded to complete it and even then it came back several times for do overs. And the kicker is even though I was in a management position the "techs" made three times what I did. Dealerships are a nightmare. Work holidays, no vacation time the first few years then just a few days. My father passed away shortly after I started working there and the first words out of my boss was "Well you know you don't get any time off for that, right?" I have no love for that industry. Between the greedy scum who inhabit it and the incompetence, I stay away other than initial purchase and warranty work.