Best way to handle poor dealership experience?

[Nick]

Hi,
I currently drive a prius and recently had to replace the water pump, i then couldn’t fully bleed the coolant as the prius has fancy electronics and had to bring it in to the dealer. Long story short they failed to bleed the air out off the coolant properly and told they would have to diagnose the issue. Meaning that i could be liable for a huge diagnostic fee or could not. I was able to bleed all the air out after following the correct procedure something a toyota master tech should have done. Once the air was out the coolant level dropped a bit due to no more air pockets.

My dilemma is that i paid money for the stealership to do the job and they didn’t do it. I can easily fill up the coolant and top it off and not go back to them. However i’m upset that the dealer did not do it right in the first place. They should have taken it back and re-bled the coolant properly and then mentioned diagnosing it, or something like that. I am currently in school so when i spend money i make sure its worth it. So what is the best way to handle this? Do i go back and get upset, do i just leave it? Any advice would be appreciated.

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[Bluesnut]

Knowing the minutae details might change my opinion, but offhand I can’t fault the dealer. The reason being was that they were handed a car with a repair done by someone else and followed up with a refusal to “be liable for a huge diagnostic fee”.

Many shops, with good reason, may refuse to even touch a car that they’re going to become the middleman on due to the potential for he said/she said problems and other assorted misunderstandings.

[Nick]

Fair point. I brought the car in saying I wanted the air bled out and to do a coolant change. Before I brought the car I let the car sit for few days to to make sure the pump wasn’t leaking. I also asked them to check for leaks on the pump. They told me no leaks on the pump and I did a good job with replacement of the pump. That being said all they had to do was rev up the engine and let the thermostat open. That’s it and then top off the coolant when the engine cooled. Instead they may have drain and filled and that’s it. Also they lost a couple plastic fasteners when they put the cover on as well.

One thing to add when I went back to the dealer as soon as I drove the car. I let them know that their was air in the car (a ton more than I brought it in for) instead of them diagnosing the issue I felt they should have just took it back and double checked their work. And if they were sure everything was done correctly I would have paid the fee.

I can understand me messing up the repair, and them being liable. But they literally failed to get all the air only had to spend 10 minutes letting the engine get hot. I mean right now the car works perfectly fine. So with all that said i can see how I could be biased (maybe a lot) towards my side. So I am thankful on an outside view. So with pretty much all the small details said. What would be the best way to proceed? Thanks.

[Justin]

An airlift is one of the best coolant tools I have spent money on. Suck it down, refill and your done. Very rare do you have to suck it down a 2nd time. First time almost always gets all the air out and your done.

But don’t expect the dealer to want to be held liable for anything other than bleeding the system. You paid for that and they should have done just that. Bled the system and shipped it. Maybe ask the service manager if you could return for a proper bleed or maybe ask about if there was anything he may be able to help you with.

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[Nick]

I’ll check out that airlift for sure, sounds pretty cool.

100% agree with your 2nd paragraph, i’m not asking for anything more, they just didn’t do what they were supposed to. After some more research apparently its common for techs to forgot to do this, especially on prius’ because they are little more complex. I was able to bleed the system myself and just need the overflow topped off. I just wasn’t happy that they couldn’t do a simple task, nevertheless i’ll have to go back to get the coolant topped off and get the missing fasteners they forgot to put. I just wasn’t sure what to do if they keep insisting on paying a diagnostic charge.

[Gary]

[quote=”CARFAN117″ post=155742]I’ll check out that airlift for sure, sounds pretty cool.

100% agree with your 2nd paragraph, i’m not asking for anything more, they just didn’t do what they were supposed to. After some more research apparently its common for techs to forgot to do this, especially on prius’ because they are little more complex. I was able to bleed the system myself and just need the overflow topped off. I just wasn’t happy that they couldn’t do a simple task, nevertheless i’ll have to go back to get the coolant topped off and get the missing fasteners they forgot to put. I just wasn’t sure what to do if they keep insisting on paying a diagnostic charge.[/quote]
Well, if they keep asking, tell them the words they don’t want to hear: Small claims court.
I hope you took pictures of the missing fasteners and low coolant.

[Bluesnut]

Your only options are to ask the service manager for a refund of any monies paid to them or sue them in small claims court. If they refuse to do the former then you’re looking at the latter.
Regarding the latter, those types of claims may be 50/50 at best but it’s always worth a shot.

Just my two cents (and I’ve worked the dealer circus for years…) but the biggest problem with the service department at car dealerships are the service writers; most of whom have little or no mechanical skills and rely on BS and stonewalling to get through the day.
Customer says something to service advisor, mechanic hears or reads a different or skimpy story about the problem or what is wanted, mechanic tells service writer something which is then related completely different to the customer, etc, etc.

There are some good service writers and managers out there but they are in the very small and distinct minority.

If you talk to the service manager keep it firmly polite. If a refund is not made then in a firm polite manner tell him or her you’re going to sort it out in small claims court. Heck, have the filing forms in hand when you talk to them so they can see you’re serious.
They do NOT want to go into small claims if for no other reason than it’s time consuming and the service managers have a full plate to deal with every day without wrestling the legal system. Best of luck.

[Ian Williams]

So you want a refund for a job you couldn’t properly finish , that you had to take to a dealer ,
No soup for you .

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