David Schripsema Review of Toyota of Seattle
EDIT: 8/3/16 - Their head of customer service repl...
EDIT: 8/3/16 - Their head of customer service replied to this review in-line (which I discovered by accident) asking me to contact her some time ago. I did not respond. Given the amount of detail provided, she should have had no issues proactively reaching out to us. She has since removed her request from this review without attempting to contact us.
My wife took in our vehicle for the Airbag recall service. Whilst it was there, she received a voicemail from a service tech informing us that all 4 brake pads were completely worn, the rotors were also shot and would need replacing, and a PVC valve would need to be replaced. All this to the tune of several hundred dollars.
This was news to us, as the normal place we take our car (Matt's Auto Care in Greenwood) hadn't mentioned that after the oil change and inspection ~500 miles ago. Huh.
We declined any of the additional services and went to pick up our car. Upon arrival, we were informed by no fewer than 3 separate individuals that one of the service techs would be out shortly to discuss the issues with our vehicle. When someone did show up (a pretty short wait), it was to toss us our keys, hand us the paperwork and have us sign for pickup, and point us out the door with nary a word mentioned about any issues with the car. Never once were the completely worn out brakes or PCV valve mentioned, nor were they noted on the paperwork. They DID however note (on the paperwork only, not in person) that the drivers floor mat was worn through and a safety hazard due to missing clips and had been removed - which we found haphazardly tossed in our trunk, rather than disposed of.
When we did go out to the car, it was parked perpendicularly across the incoming traffic for the service center lanes (and not in one of the half-dozen empty parking spots 20 yards away) and took some maneuvering and sideways glances from motorists trying to get around me to get out.
I should note; we set up an appointment immediately to get our car serviced at our normal place. After getting it back, they said we're 4mm from even hitting the wear bars on the front brakes, the rear drum brakes were AOK but maybe could use a cleaning and alignment, the front rotors were OK but getting thin and should probably be replaced in 15,000 miles or so when we come in for the next service interval, and they couldn't find anything in the service manuals about the valve that direly needed replacing, nor was anything out of place noted in their full work-over of the car.
I didn't even call back the service manager, as I'm sure s/he would be Very Sorry and Apologize Very Sincerely And Take Steps To Make Sure This Doesn't Happen Again and probably try to offer something to Make It Up To Us.
Well Service Manager person who's been responding to these reviews, here's something you need to learn at your service center. It takes multiple visits over the course of several years to earn a customer's trust, and precisely one bad experience to lose it forever.
There are three possible scenarios that led to the voicemail we received:
1) Your techs are poorly trained.
2) Your directive is for your techs to take advantage of people who you think might not know their way around a car or would be easily scared in to getting the service done there for convenience and safety's sake.
3) You mixed our information up with someone else's - which speaks poorly of the service center's organizational skills and attention to detail - but given a tertiary issue that's pretty unique to our car and was explicitly mentioned in the voicemail, I strongly doubt it.
I'm not a huge review writer, but cars are a mystery to so many people. If I can steer even one of those people for whom cars are a mystery away from your shop that will take advantage of them and to one that treats them like a family member, I'll happily do so.
Seriously - don't take your car here. Find a small local shop that values your repeat business and will earn it.
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