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Rant about incompetence at the dealer

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Gliderman8

Gliderman8

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Took my daily driver into the dealer for an inspection today. Everything went well and my car passed with no problem! However, the tech (I use the word very loosely) recommended that I replace the cabin filter as he removed it and said it was dirty.
Not wanting to pay them $65 to replace the filter, I decided I would order one for about $12 and install it myself. I paid the dealer and drove home.
Later in the afternoon, I switched on the AC and was astonished to hear the awful noise coming from the blower motor so I removed the filter cover from inside the glovebox and then removed the old cabin filter that the tech had reinstalled. At first I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary but the blower sounded terrible. I then switched off the blower and reached my hand down into the squirrel cage fan blades. I found a tissue inside the blower fan cage!. The tech must have switched on the blower with the filter out and it sucked in a tissue from my glove box. He just reinstalled the filter and cover and gave me back my car.
I called the dealer to report what I found and asked "why did they removed my cabin filter when all I brought the car in for was an inspection"? His response was "we always do that". I told him he had no right to remove the filter when I only brought it in for and inspection and the filter was not part of the inspection!
 
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Could be incompetence, but my Nissan dealer does a "32 point safety inspection" at every 5000 mile service. That includes checking the cabin air filter.

And you'd never have known the filter was dirty, if the guy hadn't removed it!

Sloppy work not checking for the tissue, definitely.
 
NutmegCT said:
Could be incompetence, but my Nissan dealer does a "32 point safety inspection" at every 5000 mile service. That includes checking the cabin air filter.

And you'd never have known the filter was dirty, if the guy hadn't removed it!

Sloppy work not checking for the tissue, definitely.
Click to expand...
I sure would have known if the filter needed replacement. I do check them once a year.
 
Unfortunately it seems like almost all service places do these "multipoint inspections" on things other than what you actually take the car in for. Even oil change places feel this need to test the battery, correct the tire pressures, examine the air filter, etc. Its all about upselling under the guise of convenience. Every time I get an oil change I immediately go find an air nozzle and reset the tires back to where I want them because they always air them down to what their computer says without any regard for what wheels and tires are actually mounted on the car.
 
My favorite cabin filter story was when I took my old SUV back to the dealer for its first oil change and I asked them to change the cabin air filter, since I had bought the vehicle used. "This model wasn't equipped with a cabin air filter!" they declared. Okay, silly me. I went back and checked the manual and sure enough, that year didn't have a cabin air filter.

Cut to: The very next oil change at the same dealer. Guess what, suddenly it "has" a cabin air filter. It must, because they're recommending that I change it!

The punchline? They couldn't find the filter to show me how dirty it was. Hmmmm. So, if I had agreed with their recommendation, what do you think I'd have gotten for my $48? (I have a guess, and it rhymes with "stewed")
 
I remember many years ago taking my Mazda to the dealer, for the 7500 mile service. Service rep told me that I need to drain, flush, and refill the trans.

Hmmm, factory manual says not needed until 60K miles

Service rep says "but the fluid is getting dark".

:nonono:

(That when I learned that some dealers are required to do the "32 point checkup" by their warranty, and/or by their finance companies. Don't do the checkup, warranty is cancelled.)
 
Here’s my story. Okay two stories. I took my wife’s Nissan to a local oil change shop and they brought out a dirty cabin filter to show me. I said I’m all set I’ll change it myself. The tech went back to the car and drove it out. I later changed it myself and it was so involved that there was no way he put it back that quickly.
I took my Mercedes SUV in for a routine service. Later that day I got a strange call from the service manager telling me that they weren’t sure if they had changed the air filter. They wanted to make it right and would have a tech come to my house to do it. The tech showed up that evening and had an air filter with him. He insisted that I didn’t have to go outside but I did anyway. As he was nervously fiddling with the filter box I noticed a water bottle and shop rag under the hood. I laughed and he had to admit that another tech had forgotten them and he was sent to cover his mistake.
 
In my case the dealer is 20 miles from my house. If I didn’t ( or couldn’t) fix the problem I would have driven 40 miles round trip for the problem they caused. Grumble, grumble.
 
Rhodyspit75 said:
I noticed a water bottle and shop rag under the hood. I laughed and he had to admit that another tech had forgotten them and he was sent to cover his mistake.
Click to expand...
Oh man... not quite 2 years employed at 2 different dealership service departments (that was as long as I could stand the business) and I have stories like that.
Headlight not working, tech replaced the bulb, customer came to pick up the car... headlight still not working. Tech had forgotten to plug it back in (which means he never checked to see if the new bulb even fixed the problem). Someone actually lost his job over that one.
Dealership employee complained that the oil pressure light was on after we had changed her oil change a week or so earlier. Quick inspection found the oil cap sitting on top of the battery, where the tech had left it. The entire engine bay was covered in the oil which was no longer in the engine.
A very very experienced senior tech (ASE certified and all, not an untrained kid like the rest of us were) changed oil in an older Lincoln, took it for a test drive... and walked back to the dealership. He had neglected to refill the oil and didn't notice the idiot light. Customer got a brand-new engine in his 60k mile car at our expense.
Replacing rusted-on sway bar end links, the tech used a torch. But instead of heating the studs dull red, he used it like a cutting torch. Customer was waiting for the 1-hour job but had to be given a rental car while we waited 3 weeks for new A-arms.

But then there are stories that customers can tell which really honestly were not anyone's fault, they just coincidentally happened while they were there.
Customer comes to pick up her older car from some routine maintenance but can't unlock the door. The lock cylinder picked that moment to break. No, we didn't do it, we swear -- we won't even charge you to fix it (which doesn't make us look any more honest).
Customer comes in for a check engine light, turns out it's a loose gas cap, no charge, we tighten the cap and clear the code -- but when I got in to pull the car out, the (then-new) Immobilizer system picked that moment to go haywire and prevent the car from being driven at all.
Customer waits 3 weeks for (automaker) to ship a replacement transmission. Tech gets it installed in less than one working day, pulls it out for a test drive... some plug or cap or other (a couple of inches in diameter) pops out before he's out of the parking lot. Umm... how long before you can get us another transmission?
 
JHaydon said:
Oh man... not quite 2 years employed at 2 different dealership service departments (that was as long as I could stand the business) and I have stories like that.
Headlight not working, tech replaced the bulb, customer came to pick up the car... headlight still not working. Tech had forgotten to plug it back in (which means he never checked to see if the new bulb even fixed the problem). Someone actually lost his job over that one.
Dealership employee complained that the oil pressure light was on after we had changed her oil change a week or so earlier. Quick inspection found the oil cap sitting on top of the battery, where the tech had left it. The entire engine bay was covered in the oil which was no longer in the engine.
A very very experienced senior tech (ASE certified and all, not an untrained kid like the rest of us were) changed oil in an older Lincoln, took it for a test drive... and walked back to the dealership. He had neglected to refill the oil and didn't notice the idiot light. Customer got a brand-new engine in his 60k mile car at our expense.
Replacing rusted-on sway bar end links, the tech used a torch. But instead of heating the studs dull red, he used it like a cutting torch. Customer was waiting for the 1-hour job but had to be given a rental car while we waited 3 weeks for new A-arms.

But then there are stories that customers can tell which really honestly were not anyone's fault, they just coincidentally happened while they were there.
Customer comes to pick up her older car from some routine maintenance but can't unlock the door. The lock cylinder picked that moment to break. No, we didn't do it, we swear -- we won't even charge you to fix it (which doesn't make us look any more honest).
Customer comes in for a check engine light, turns out it's a loose gas cap, no charge, we tighten the cap and clear the code -- but when I got in to pull the car out, the (then-new) Immobilizer system picked that moment to go haywire and prevent the car from being driven at all.
Customer waits 3 weeks for (automaker) to ship a replacement transmission. Tech gets it installed in less than one working day, pulls it out for a test drive... some plug or cap or other (a couple of inches in diameter) pops out before he's out of the parking lot. Umm... how long before you can get us another transmission?
Click to expand...
Oh boy! I’m sure there are PLENTY more incidents that happen that are never reported by customers or techs. Thanks for sharing.
 
Folks like us may be the lucky ones, we know enough to know BS being thrown in our direction and have knowledge about what they say needs done. So many anymore are just "button pusher" when it comes to their cars. So many other activities to spend time on and the sheer complexity of the modern auto. I have only one niece out of all my brothers kids that show any real interest in how the bits of a car work.
 
When the service guy said I needed the transmission oil change, and I showed him the Mazda service schedule for the car, which said wait until 60K miles ... service manager said I was the first customer he ever met who actually read the schedule.

:bananawave:
 
Had a Chevy S-10 pickup that was pinging. Changed the ignition bits - no change. Gave the dealer a shot at it and had them change the oil and filter while it was there. Couple weeks later the service engine light came on. Back to the dealer - the PCV valve was plugged with oil. Paid for a new valve. When I got home, I checked the oil level. Two quarts high. Call the service manager and told him why the PCV valve was plugged. He wouldn't accept that they had put too much oil in the truck; the dipstick and the owner's manual were wrong. I've not been back to that dealer.
 
It might be worth noting here that (if my experience is typical of the industry) dealer service departments are not interested in training new hires, nor are they set up for it. There is some on-the-job learning, mostly of the "I guess THAT didn't work" variety, but for the most part new hires are expected to have some level of experience already. They may be shown a couple of general policies, but beyond that they're mostly left to learn it all on their own.

One of the places I worked, the manufacturer had off-site training seminars. I don't know how involved they were (hands-on? lecture? Zoom?) because we were only allowed to send one tech to each seminar. Not sure if that was a space limitation thing (we only received one invitation) or a budget thing (owner was too cheap to pay for a second), but we had 6 techs working on that brand. IIRC there was one or maybe 2 training sessions in our area each year.
 
JHaydon said:
they're mostly left to learn it all on their own.
Click to expand...

In many places I've worked over the last 20 years, training has devolved into "watch this video" or "download this pdf". Actually working with people who know what they're doing seems relegated to the distant past.

Exceptions - of course. But training has gone from "let's work on this together", to cheaper, digital shortcuts.

Sad.
 
I have a very trustworthy mechanic - and my previous one similarly. Previous mechanic I had an Intrepid (yes doc, I know :D) took it in for a timing belt change and it gave way driving it into the stall. New (used engine there) fortunately it had come with a warranty (same place) so it didn't cost very much more than a deductible. My only slight grumble was that it took longer than it should have to get him to take seriously that the ticking sound was the sound of the timing belt going.
 
I worked at in independant garage many years ago, we had one regular customer, an old biddy with a citroen 2CV,
Came in for a full service and MOT.
job done off she went.
Came back two weeks later, not happy that an indicator bulb had since blown, and questioned why we did not replace
it on the service, Because it was working at the time she was told,
But she insisted that we should have known it was about to fail, But how would we know it was about to fail we asked.
Because the bulb allways starts to flash before it blows we were told.
 
mezy said:
Came back two weeks later, not happy that an indicator bulb had since blown, and questioned why we did not replace
it on the service, Because it was working at the time she was told,
But she insisted that we should have known it was about to fail, But how would we know it was about to fail we asked.
Click to expand...
A couple responses by a friend who was an independent shop owner in similar situations:
"Well, the crystal ball was broken the day before we saw your car."

On answering the phone and having some fella ask what could be wrong with his car, as it was making an alarming sound (and trying to mimic it verbally):
"If you put the car on the phone I'll ask it."

And my fave...
A caller asked what it would cost to do an oil change, he was quoted the regular price, then asked how much if he brought his own oil and filter:
"The same. Take two eggs to McDonald's and ask 'em to make you a free Egg McMuffin."
 
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