Oil change at the dealer today....

I mentioned this a couple of days ago in a different thread about service departments. These days threatening to fuck with those surveys is about the only reliable way to get anyone's attention at a dealership.

 

Did I mention I hate hummus? As bad as waiting at a dealership.

 

You watch from outside? Most shops won't let you in the bays for "insurance purposes".

 

I have a go to place. I stand right there near the front of my truck. Technically not in the bay. I'm not in their way at all. The owner is a friend. His folks are trained by him. Doesn't put up with shoddy work.

 

I agree.

I gave a poor review of my oil change experience a couple weeks ago and actually received a response from the Service Manager. All they said was that they would talk with the techs and thanked me for the opportunity to improve their experience, but at least they read the review.

 

This happened to me quite a while back with my '00 4Runner (bought it in 2011). Took it to the local Jiffy Lube place right before a trip to my Mom and Dad's house. As we were driving through West Plans, MO, I noticed a faint smell. I pulled off at the nearest Toyota dealership and got out to do a walkaround.

As I did, two mechanics ran outside and said "Hey buddy, are you aware oil is pouring out of the bottom of your vehicle?" I told them I'd just had an oil change done; and asked them when they closed. They said "Well, technically we're closed now."

I said "Ah sh*t; well, I guess I'll have to figure it out, then."

The two mechanics looked @ each other and said "Drive it on into the bay." So I did. They took the skid plate off....turns out the idiots @ the local Jiffy Lube had essentially said "Well crap....we're out of this Toyota-spec oil filter. Here, this Ford one looks close enough."

The good news - the dealership in West Plains cleaned everything up for me, filled the engine back up with oil (it was down 2 qts), replaced the filter with the correct one, and THEN charged me their cost only (which was like $11 for 3 quarts of oil and a filter).

 

No one is perfect. Just ask this guy https://www.torquenews.com/1084/what-new-outback-recall-says-about-subaru-quality

 

I don't believe anyone in this thread (myself for sure) is commenting on and advocating for perfection. Just old fashioned GOOD.

Good: proper materials used and fasteners, filters, etc. installed correctly.

Perfection: proper materials used and fasteners, filters, etc. installed correctly AND finger/thumb/glove prints wiped off of the hood, gear shift lever and door handle(s). Invoice presented to you by a big boobed blonde in a thin cotton t-shirt with pokey-outy-things.

 

Haha. I feel like there’s probably a long running, inside joke here, but...

The ‘techs’ at the dealership I use to take my truck to always, always- unless I specifically said otherwise while explaining to the service advisor about the filter access hole- dropped the TRD skidplate to do an oil change on my truck. Then just torqued it back on farmer tight, somehow losing the right bolts, washers, etc. The creaking rarely took more than a day to develop. I’d have to take it back, or fix it myself.

I just do the oil/filter myself now. Even free, the dealship just isn’t worth the hassle.

 

Even good people make mistakes.

 

Just bought a new Tundra end of last August.......seeing this has me wondering if I should take it in for the free 2 year service at Toyota dealer or not. You'd think the Tech would have at least taken 3 minutes out of his day to start the truck and check for leaks after an oil/filter change.

 

Yep, Toyota Corp. does not think fondly of dealerships that get bad grades. Giving them a 0 usually draws a quick response.

 

Complaining hard to the service foreman is all we can do, make them aware of it.

 

I think they're rushed and under a lot of pressure to get the oil changes done. Tilly mentioned in his post that he had 13 oil changes to do. Mistakes will happen. I wonder how well oil is drained? I bet a lot of old oil is left.
I take my time changing my oil. I even try to suction out as much as I can from the oil pain. I easily took an hour to change the oil in my Tundra because had to remove the skid plate.

 

I was told that the surveys affect their pay/bonus. Probably more for the service manager, and that is why they take them seriously.

 

Years ago I used a free oil change on my 350Z (first one) and drove home, parked in the garage. Next morning, backed out onto our sloped driveway and remembered something I needed in the house. Left the car idling, came out, backed out, and noticed oil everywhere in my driveway. They hand't locked down the oil filter at all. It had filled up the plastic piece under the car all night and it all poured out the next day. If I hadn't forgotten something, I probably would have done some serious damage on the way to work before I caught it.

They sent a tow truck and made it right, but I never used them for another oil change as long as I owned the car.

I have two years of "free" maintenance on the Tundra, luckily the dealer is close to the house, but I will be checking everything after each service.

 

So are they cleaning your driveway?

 

I'm sure that they have pressure to get things done, but my last experience was both sloppy and slow. It took almost 2 hours for an oil change and tire rotation.

And in their "check installation of driver's side floor mat", they unhooked the tie down and did not reinstall properly.

 

With my 350Z, the dealer sent a power washer to my house and cleaned it up perfectly. Even went in the garage and got what was there too and some of that was from my previous car and not their problem. I did respect them for taking care of that without even needing to ask. It was offered up after the car was towed in and we were having the phone call about what happened.

 

I am glad you posted this.
Even though the first place screwed up, the second place's mechanics fixed the problem, even after they were supposed to be closed. There is a lot of crap talk on this and other forums about techs who don't know what they are doing, but the fact is, just like every other profession, the few bad apples in the basket makes all of them look bad. There are many techs out there who are passionate about their work, and do a good job. I always take my vehicles to the dealer for services and in my 30+ years of car ownership I have had very few problems with techs screwing up. I have screwed up more often doing stuff myself. I have had doctors making wrong diagnosis on my wife and kids when they were sick. I have had fellow engineers screw up designs that cost millions to fix. I have seen judges making wrong rulings. It happens everywhere, but not all techs are bad just because a few screw up.

 

I know I screw up at my job, so I always ere on the side of cutting others slack. You are right, very few go to the internet to express happiness with great service.

 

I had a tech drain my transmission to do an engine oil change. He saw a drain plug and got after it. I saw a parade of techs go to take a look, and they still would not inform me as to what happened. That was the last straw before I started changing my own oil. I enjoy it now. Gives me an opportunity to look closely under the engine.

 

Sadly, this probably came out of the mechanic’s wallet and not the company’s.

 

Your Dad sounds like one awesome cat!

 

Right? How many places do you figure oil the gasket and pre-fill the new filters with oil before installing them?

 

I can relate to this. Just recently had my oil change at Karl Malone Toyota and when I came home checked underneath and there were 3 skid plate bolts were missing and they forgot to return my wheel lock. WTF.

 

I always change my own oil. Years ago, I was skeptical about what oil they were actually putting in. I did it myself for peace of mind. I used Pennzoil because I trusted Arnold Palmer watching his commercials back in the day. After I reached 100K on my 2004 Titan, I saw Mobile1 was selling a synthetic high mileage oil (good for 10,000 mi.) and gave it a try. I would change it after 8,000 mi give or take to be safe. Last December I passed 336K before an F150 took it out of service with a driver side impact. My replacement is a 2014 Tundra Double Cab that was well cared for with 4 pages of CarFax notes showing a tight, consistent, maintenance schedule over the years and looks so brand new, it makes me wonder. It came with 106K on it and is about ready for another change. I'll be doing it myself, with Mobil1 0w20 synthetic and ordering the parts I need to do it. I'm looking forward to the next 200,000 + miles.

 

Yeah probably but I wasn't going to drive 45 minutes each way to return it.

 

Don't hold back, just say how you feel