Dealer tried screwing me. Am I wrong?

1mm of wear on the pads and the service advisor will tell you its critical to get your brakes done..

 

What good dealership is that? I'm in South oc

 

I'm not so sure about that. The dealership is constantly blowing up my phone, begging to change my oil, even at just cost.

 

I might be the minority here, but in most cases, dealership service centers are not intentionally screwing you.

Having worked for 3 dealerships in several sales and service roles, I can honestly say they're mainly just poorly trained and managed, with the wrong people in the wrong positions, and/or simply rushing too fast when they get busy (leading to mistakes or forgetting things).

In addition to that, they're generally used to dealing with a lot of bullshit and crazy people... I had a customer crash a brand new car into a curb and tow it to the dealership to demand we replace two wheels and tires, control arms, and skid plate / lower fascia all under "warranty repair" with less than 100 miles on it because "it happened on its own". They dumped the broken vehicle in our service driveway and refused to move it until we covered the repairs (which we didn't).

I've also had many customers bring in their own parts (incorrect part #s, cheap knock-offs, etc.) that don't end up fitting their vehicle and/or will demand warranty repairs after they clearly broke parts on their car while attempting their own maintenance.

I could share customer stories for days... But, if the dealership is making it right by installing the correct parts, I wouldn't call this an attempt to screw you. As others mentioned, the service advisor probably goofed-up and forgot to make a note in the repair order.

 

You could be right, my issue was being charged for the more expensive pads after asking repeatedly for them, being told I was getting them and then receiving the economy pads. I may have come off a little harsh using the words “trying to screw me”

 

They were probably hoping you would not read the paperwork.

 

So far, I’ve had good experience with Tustin Toyota from a service perspective.

They did a bunch of stuff on several of my cars and just in general they’ve always been good to deal with, did the thing they were supposed to do. This has been across several cars now. Most of it has been minor warranty repairs on my last car or TSB check on the Tacoma.

 

I'm shocked they didn't tell you that you got the correct parts. I wouldn't be shocked if you take it back and they tell you that they swapped them for the ones you wanted, but leave the cheapies in there. Might be worth a check once you get it back.

 

I planned on marking them with a sharpie and asking to see the new pads before install.

 

It is the dealer, the service advisor is the service customer's interface to the dealer. A bad mechanic is on the the dealer also.

 

Sure they are calling drumming up business they pay people to do that, just ride by your local dealer and see how full the waiting area is. If the OP decides not to go back they will not sweat it because someone else is waiting for his spot.

The OP will be out some time but they will correct the issue and that’s all Toyota cares about.

The dealer will give you a free oil change to get you in there to look at new trucks.

 

When do they not?

 

Eh, I lean on the side of it just being an honest mistake. Dealers are doing brake jobs all the time and using the economy pads because people don't even know to ask, and they probably get charged more than someone showing up at the parts counter. Parts don't just have one price. There's full retail, discounted, jobber, etc. Using their service, you are likely paying the full retail price. Show up at the parts counter, and you may be quoted full retail, but in my experience they give you a discounted price that is more competitive with aftermarket prices. If you complain about the full retail price and they think you will walk (and it's not a hard-to-get part), they will typically give you the discounted price. Especially if you are nice and respectful. At least that has been my experience. I've picked up oil filters and plug washers before, and they just give me a handful of the washers at no charge.

Attaching the premium price to the economy pads doesn't seem likely. That would take an override in the system, and I find it highly doubtful anyone there would be going through the trouble. They add the part they used to the invoice, and it pulls the retail price.

It probably wasn't explicitly or clearly called out on the work order, so they just did what they always do.

 

I work in a powersports dealership in service management and if I took the call on this, one of my guys would be getting chewed. If someone is willing to spend more money and they specifically ask for something, that BETTER get done. Mistakes happen, I get that. I deal with other peoples screw ups every day (mostly all day), how you handle it makes all the difference.
Wrong parts installed and wrong parts charged to the customer is a massive problem and seems like an attempted last second coverup in hopes you wouldn't notice the wrong brake pads.

Long story short: If I were you, I'd let them make it right and if you go back again, talk to a different service writer.

 

You might want to just do it yourself.

I'd fair to guess that there are some techs out there that'd set their impact gun to 5x torque specs on your hardware if they feel you're fucking w/them.

 

I'm no fan of dealers in general, but I agree with this. Someone also made the point that there's likely zero closed loop comms between the service writer and the hands-on tech. Tech gets a sheet that says pads and rotors, walks to the shelf and pulls the parts, gets to work. Closed loop comms are required to prevent errors.

The ubiquity of youtube vids and the vast expertise in this community mean that hopefully we all feel comfortable with simple DIY's.

Anecdotally, I actually had a great experience with the east coast dealer in NJ where I found my 3rd gen. Every part of the transaction was transparent, communication good, and they replaced a part no questions asked when the truck arrived to me on on the West coast and I found a problem that neither I nor they had seen before.

Still, service depts are different.....

OP, hope it all gets resolved as it should.

 

They seem like they’ll make it right. Will report back Saturday afternoon.

 

I’m sure they will. Not worth thinking about as long as you get what you payed for . You will never truly know what really happened

 

Reporting back, all went smooth. Pads replaced without a hitch. It may just be the placebo effect but I feel like the pads that were just put on bite a lot harder than the cheapies. I’m guessing that’s the reason the semi metallic are more expensive than the ceramic. Maybe it’s just in my head, anyone had this experience?

 

Semi metallic do stop better. They are much harder on the rotors