Thread: 60K Service Story

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Here's one that I've been saving until I could jot it down without it becoming a novel or mini-series.

Last Wednesday I took the Yota Rav 4 to Madisonville for it's 60,000 mile service and while I was wandering around the show room and I heard the service manager call someone so I went up to the desk and asked if he was calling me. He said "yes, I've got some bad news for you. Your wheel bearings and rear brakes are completely gone and it's not even safe to drive home but we can furnish you a car if you leave it here to get fixed. The cost will be around $2000 !" Well, at first I stood there speechless and then told him that I needed to call my wife and discuss this with her which I did and we decided to get a second opinion. The SM didn't seem too happy with our decision but he said "OK, I'll get them to finish up the basic maintenance and bring it around for you." Which he did and I paid my bill and split.

Now, on the way home I'm thinking to myself. "Wow, how could that much be wrong all of a sudden and only 60K miles on it?" Then the little light went off in my pea-brain just as the cell phone rang!

SM: Mr. Byars?
Me: Yes !
SM: Did I speak to you about your rear bearing and brakes?
Me: Yes !
SM: Well, Sir, that wasn't your car that I was talking about !

Some may call it a case of mistaken identity and some may call it my bad hearing but I call it - - - not taking care of business and not making sure who you are talking to.

P.S. and hindsight - - - - I should have asked to see the problem and that was totally my fault.

I call it "Creative Selling"!

yep dealership pulled that kinda stuff on my wife couple times. I always said NOPE bring it home their full of well you know. I've guess I should but I've never taken a car in for those things

Or getting caught with your pants down. Mistakes do happen when you have a lot of cars that look the same, and humans do make mistakes, so it looks like there was some miscommunication between the tech and service manager.

A friend was just telling me he took a job at a marina where they were asked to replace the mechanical steering on a boat with a new hydraulic steering setup. They got the job all done and when the owner came to pickup his boat he asked why they hadn't done the switchover. They had done the work, but on the WRONG BOAT !

So they had to put two techs on the job, one on the first boat, removing the hydraulic steering and replacing the old mechanical steering, and another tech installing the hydraulic steering on the boat that should have gotten it all along. I wonder how they hid all the holes they had to cut in the wrong boat so the owner never knew it happened?

If you think car dealers are bad, I could tell you stories about the marine business that would curl your hair !

Don

A friend of mine's wife brought her Tarurs X to the dealer it was making a noise something in the rear????? They told her $478. to repair.Her husband told her to bring it home . They said they could do it for "maybe $350". He told her again to bring it home. That night they brought it over here, It was the left rear brake making the noise. One pad was completely gone the other 3 were very bad. New rotors and pads $112.00 it took 1 hour to get parts and repair. I understand they have to make a living but 4 times the parts.

I've told this one before. My ex had a Buick LeSabre and a local transmission shop advertised a $ 29.95 fluid and filter change, so I took it in. The mechanic pulled the pan and looked inside and said "looks good, I see no metal, fluid looks clean." and he put it on top of a garbage can.

Now the service manager comes walking out of the office with his little clipboard, looks into the pan and says, "Oh, man, you have BIG problems here!" I asked him what he meant and he said "Your transmission is on it's last legs." I see the mechanic look over his shoulder at me with this look that says "WHAT AN IDIOT !"

I told him it would be fine, just do the fluid and filter change and I would be on my way. He got highly PO'd and said "OK, if you really want your wife driving around in a car that is going to strand her somewhere !"

The car ran great forever, and my Son Don bought it from us and used it a lot too. One night on TV I saw the cops had raided that transmission shop and arrested the service manager for doing fraudulent work. Yes, there is a God in Heaven.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Or getting caught with your pants down. Mistakes do happen when you have a lot of cars that look the same, and humans do make mistakes, so it looks like there was some miscommunication between the tech and service manager.

A friend was just telling me he took a job at a marina where they were asked to replace the mechanical steering on a boat with a new hydraulic steering setup. They got the job all done and when the owner came to pickup his boat he asked why they hadn't done the switchover. They had done the work, but on the WRONG BOAT !

Don

Don, here's a similar story that a friend just sent me:
In '71 I worked for a Chevy dealer and two identical Malibus had been in for service. Now these cars were exactly the same color with the same options. Two different cars and two different ignition keys however one ignition worked in both cars. You guessed it......customer comes to pick up his car and goes outside and gets in the wrong car starts it up and drives away.

Second customer comes in later and his keys won't turn the ignition lock cylinder on HIS car. Confusion ensued and it was only later when second owner looked in the glove box that it was clear it wasn't HIS car. Took a little while to figure it out.

Call the first customer and told him the car he drove home wasn't his car. It wasn't until he looked at the personal items in the glove box that he was convinced. When he came back to the dealership and the two cars sere side by side it was funny then.

Back in those years it wasn't uncommon ,although rare, for any given key cut to "work" in more than one automobile, but to have two identical cars in for service on the same day sharing a "close enough" ignition key had to be rare.

That's funny.

Don