What happen to integrity with dealerships

I read so much about how these dealerships are these days and it's so sad. I worked for Toyota from 96-2008. And you don't have to take my word for it but the two dealerships worked for did everything and anything to fix it right the first time either be warranty or customer pay. We didn't just say it was your fault so pay. We had pride in fixing the vehicles we worked on and stood by it. I now read members stories and it really makes me sick. I understand when we take our vehicles in for any type of work that at times there will be misses and mis diags. But to out right say it's your fault and clearly for some its not their faults is horrible to me. I now work for a huge used car company and me personally and alot of other mechanics at work we take our job and show pride in it. I also have great friends still mechanics for Toyota that do great work and show pride. I know there still is good dealerships like the ones I go to and I hope you guys and gals find one also. I'm not saying this for likes or reply I'm just saying there still is some good dealerships out there and and also I guess what I'm saying is where is the pride and integrity in not just Toyota but all dealerships. Just my rant I guess.

 

I believe there are still great dealerships out there that care about the customers. It is just human nature to write reviews about bad experiences and not about good ones. The Toyota dealership nearest me was unfortunately not the best by far, sales and service. For example, on my first 5k/6month service, I only had 2800 miles on my truck. I still asked that my tires be rotated, it's included in the scheduled service so I wasn't asking for something outside of what was supposed to be done. They put on the customer service sheet that it was done but it wasn't. Small thing but now I don't trust them. They had numerous complaints on the dealership as a whole, they are under new management now so (owner cleaned house on sales and service sides both) maybe things have changed.

There have been some on hear who have made good comments about dealerships so they are out there.

 

The part of not rotating I never understood that. Takes a few minutes at most. For Toyota customer service is huge. Surveys are everything to Toyota. We had techs and advisors fired for having to many bad surveys. So you think these techs and advisors would be honest and get it done. Back then you didn't want bad surveys. For every bad survey you needed 19 perfect ones to make up for that one bad one. And yes there surely are good dealerships but it seems from what I see in the forum there are a lot more bad. With that being said I do understand that some customers over do it and won't be happy either way.

 

I don't think anything has really changed other than the ease with which we can share information with one another. Forums and review/rating sites make it so much easier for a frustrated consumer to make their problems known to others.

Forums tend to distill this into a skewed perception since unhappy people are far more likely to complain to anyone who will listen than happy people crow about their good experience.

Dealerships vary. Dealership employees vary. Some are good and some really suck. That was as true thirty years ago at it is today.

 

I feel the same way. I normally won't take it in unless I absolutely have to. I end up doing a lot of the maintenance myself and have even put a lift in my garage. Anything harder, I normally take it an independent mechanic that I trust unless it's warranty related work.

 

Not all dealerships are the same. My local Toyota dealer gave me the absolute worst buying experience I've ever had, but both times I've been to their service department went very well. I've had top notch buying experience at Volvo, Audi and BMW, only Volvo had a great service experience. I cringed every time I had to take my Audi in, I started using a local indy shop even when I could have have maintenance done free at the dealer. Over the years I've found it best to stay calm with service and try to work out issues with the SA or SM, and if its not warranty and you are not happy with your dealer's service department, plenty of good indy shops out there!

 

Interesting comment about surveys. I agree, that is the same with most car makers. But, I've given my dealer 2 very unfavorable surveys about the buying experience, I have never heard a thing from them. After I drove away, total silence. No follow up, no thank you. No phone call about the surveys. I think my dealer doesn't care about the sales side of it's business.

 

I've talked with my dealer service manager about those surveys. I know he takes them very seriously. He said 1 or 2 bad surveys can be the difference in say $1500 (can't remember if he said it was their EOY bonus or if it was some type of monthly thing) But he showed me an entire list of all the ones he had received. He told me he has called customers back and ripped into them for giving them lousy reviews, asked them never to come back to the dealership again as they were not welcome there. People are idiots; for instance you have some that will write a bad service review just because they're pissed off about "feeling" like they got a bad deal on a car 3 or 4 years prior at the same dealership even though maybe Service Dept went above and beyond that day and even gave them a freebie on something. Folks don't differentiate or discern between one department and the other (sales from parts & service)

 

Toyota has been good in my book. Always had Hondas and their service has gone down the tubes. Day and night from my experience. My wife has a toyota and I noticed the difference when getting services or even just buying parts over the counter. So i sold my honda and I'm happy with toyota.

 

Well, I've been lucky so far with the two main dealerships i have ever had to deal with. So far, (knock on wood) all my service work has been done just like it's supposed to be done, and one dealer even jumped me ahead of some others on my rear spring replacement since the person that the springs were being saved for never returned any calls or e-mails.
Curious about one thing, though. Does it seem that people get better service from smaller, more rural types of Dealerships, or the big city ones? That would be interesting to see what people on here think about that...

 

Logic tells me that more competition would demand better service. You might get lucky with a rural dealership with super nice folks or maybe you know everyone who works there BUT you could get hosed if they know they're the only show in town.

 

I thinks it's more of an individual thing. I've found a good advisor and I make my appointments with him.

 

The smaller dealership I use sometimes only has one issue for me. Basically, you CAN'T just drive in to get something worked on unless it's a dire emergency. You need an appointment for EVERYTHING! But, then techs aren't rushed that way, and I always have the same service advisor, so it kinda balances out. I know a lot of dealerships only work with appointments, of course. I just wish the little one close to me let you make them on-line, like Knoxville does. But, their website isn't set up for it, so you have to call...

 

I recently moved to Dallas. There's a Toyota dealership literally 1 mile away from my work. I went there once for service and they overfilled my oil by about a quart and they didn't lube the driveshaft like they were supposed to for this particular service (I had purchased an extended service contract when I bought the truck new). I even had the sheet printed out exactly what they needed to do on this 60,000 mile service. Made it simple, but the tech messed up the simplest of things. My service advisor was the nicest guy, so apologetic, etc. when I brought it back in. I never filled out the survey because it doesn't differentiate between the service advisor and the tech. I wish it did, cause the service advisor was great but the tech obviously was horrible and I couldn't give a positive review on the whole survey and knew a negative review would affect the advisor and not the tech.

Anyways, I now go to one that is over 20 miles away, super inconvenient, but amazing service, great reviews online, etc. I got lucky and the service director/manager himself happens to be my advisor. I have a feeling techs don't screw up or neglect things as much when a higher-up happens to be the advisor.

 

That's just it, the economy went bad in 2008 and Toyota's relationship with dealers probably saw some belt-tightening. Dealers got reimbursed less on labor for warranty repairs, and there's more red tape in getting warranty replacement parts. Of course, most of those policies tend to stick even after the economy recovered.

 

I once got a survey where everything was perfect but the customers comment screwed me. We gave free donuts and coffee every morning but this customer was upset that there was no free soda lol. Not joking my manager told me just don't even worry about this one

 

I had a bad service experience where my truck got damaged and Toyota sent my the survey 3 time but I didn't fill them out because the dealership always takes care of me and I found no reason to get them in any trouble or cost them money.

 

That's the thing that's so horrible about these types of surveys. It's like people can't even make suggestions because it's considered "negative" feedback by corporate. Or if anything is less than "100%" it's negative.

 

I must be one of the lucky few that has had nothing but good experiences with my local dealer. I didn't even buy my truck from him but rather another dealer about 30 miles away but he has always taken proper care of me anytime my truck needed service or recall work.

 

The dealership I got my truck from is "ok." They still give you a run around on MSRP, but when it comes down to servicing the vehicle, if you hear so much as even a rattle they'll investigate and fix immediately. And if they can't see the problem, they'll ask you to replicate it for them (situation I had with a Corolla) and they'll fix it then.