- This topic has 11 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
-
Replies
-
Whenever I go to my local Toyota dealership to get parts for my Daihatsu (as that’s where i have to go in Australia).
There are ALWAYS suits standing in the parts/service lobby talking – I mean 3-5 people in shirts/ties doing nothing but gas bagging.
When I ask for the parts personnel it’s always the same guy who rushes from the back (of the shop) to try and help me.
The techs in the workshop are always busy.
Then I wonder about how they had to sack so many people and how they justified it.
Perhaps I always come in on their lunch breaks? (possible coincidence) but yeah, I think what makes it worse is they didn’t even acknowledge me they kept chatting about whatever it was – customer service? yeah right.
As a customer (Atlanta area), I’ve had about 50-75% decent service from Toyota. I’ve ALWAYS been scammed or at least had something not done correctly by Ford. Unfortunately, our minivan had a couple of mandatory safety recalls and I had to take it to Ford, and each time something different was broken that wasn’t broken before going in. One time was a simple brake pressure switch swap (an OEM only part, of course..) and the other time I spent the rest of the weekend replacing motormounts in my driveway. Plus, Ford has quite an exhorbitant markup on service compared to independents; Toyota dealers are surprisingly competitive.
My Ford-dealer experience covers three different dealerships with three different owners, so clearly they are in this scheme together.
Something to keep in mind — the people who check you in for service at dealers are **commissioned sales reps**. In the few times I’ve had to go to a dealer for service, my cabin air filter always is apparently very dirty…. even including the time I had just replaced it two days prior. Keep that in mind. They will try to sell you expensive extras that you don’t need. Always decline that garbage.
It can go both ways, even in the same brand and same dealer!
I took our Civic Hybrid in to Honda for IMA hybrid problems. Eventually corporate Honda authorized the work under warranty. Ended up taking 2-3 weeks and costing over $2,000 in parts and 9 hours of labor (I’m assuming that’s the shop rate & not the actual time). They gave me a nearly brand new Accord EX-L to drive all the while and only charged me $200-300 out of pocket for everything. I was ecstatic!!!
More on topic to the video, though, I feel bad for the technician who got that car. My service writer told me it was killing him. Turned out there was a wiring problem and he spent the better part of a day or two running down the entire circuitry of the car… all for warranty coverage which I understand everybody gets paid less.
Fast forward a year or two, once Honda found itself in several class-action lawsuits for the performance/durability of the batteries in these cars. I took ours in for evaluation of the poor battery performance (still under warranty) and they installed updates (designed to mask hardware problems with software) without my authorization, without performing any diagnostics, and then had the nerve to *try* to charge me $65 for it. I complained to corporate Honda, who even acknowledged the dealer was dead wrong on all counts and (supposedly) told them not to do that anymore.
That last experience is pretty much why we traded the thing in and got a new Cruze. Our new Chevy dealer’s service dept is so generous and at our beck and call, I will say that’s quite a perk of buying a brand new car. Never again, Honda…
My Mazda dealership has treated me pretty well recently.
1. They re-balanced a couple of tires free
2. Years ago they replaced the battery free of charge
3. They cleaned the passenger window track free of charge (think it was just a rang and screwdriver… but it did fix the sticking window)…
4. They replaced the exhaust heat-shield for about $200 (the cost of labor) AFTER it was out of warranty. Mazda coughed up the part and clearly fessed up that the clips that held it in place failed, so they would give a free part valued at about $400.
5. They did the recall on the wiper motor by adding a ground strap. Probably took a $1 part and 5 minutes, but it was no fuss.
6. Replaced a Power Steering pump several years ago under warranty… No fuss***********************
One thing they did that pissed me off…
Like 4 years ago when I had 15,000 miles they REFUSED to warranty the washer sprayer nozzles saying they are a wear item (B.S.). I fired their own warranty back at them quoting defects in materials and workmanship… that appear bumper to bumper within 36,000 miles… in normal driving conditions.
Since I don’t race the car and operated it on public streets… that’s normal. I only ever used washer fluids.
Suffice it to say I ended up having to pay for this repair and was pissed. 🙁
^^^ The motor corp did NOT stand behind their product! Eventually, I threw them under the buss by copying and pasting their warranties and emails into mediated dispute handled by the BBB. Then someone in upper management gave me a call spouting off toatally opposite B.S. about how they try to please the customer and this one just slipped through the cracks.
In two (2) weeks I got two letters. One saying SCREW YOU… and the other KISSING MY ASS.. <== Basically, they were just saving face and their A+ ^^^ After this event, I have had nothing but positive experiences with service though... I have had nothing to complain about.
Infiniti has also treated me pretty good. They tell me they will give me a free oil change; since, I just bought my new G35 Sedan…
The free one had damn well better be with their Nissan Synthetic Ester oil, too!!! I paid $37,306.81 OTD for it… so it seems to me they can afford to $50+ labor once. If not, it will be my last Infiniti
I find as a apprentice technician in Canada, most dealerships that are flat rate don’t want to teach a apprentice’s because it’s slowing them up and there not going to be able to make any money. I do understand this but it just grinds my gears sometimes. My instructor when i was in school told me most of the times when we went on work experience to a dealership the tech’s told them to frig off because they don’t have time to be waiting and explaining everything. Even though i only work at a service station( suspension, oil changes etc.) we don’t get into under the hood stuff usually but i do learn alot because they are taking the time to teach me, they are paid by the hour.
I always knew I wanted to work in a well-reviewed independent shop when I got out of tech school. A part of me is scared and desperate and insecure, and afraid I’ll have to have some humble pie and take a job at Jiffy Lube, which I’m not above. Oh the Jiffy Lube scandals, what irreversible shame and damage that caused. The other part of me wants to go for it, and at least try, and maybe get my foot and resume in some doors of these well-received independent shops with good reputations.
What advice do you have for doing that, even if they’re not hiring? I’ve been looking for jobs on craigslist and most require experience of course, and I’m just a fresh tech school grad come May with A6 and A8. I may be able to get a smog license but not sure.
There is a job fair tomorrow I’m attending (any advice?), and I don’t know if there will be any independent shops. Probably mostly dealerships. I’ll work at a dealership for sure, happily, but I would love to work at a highly reviewed independent on like Yelp or something. Oh there was one independent hiring with an ad on Craigslist, and I looked up their yelp, and it was absolutely terrible. Outright fraud. It made me sick to my stomach and hopefully BAR takes care of them. I’ve got a resume, my unofficial transcript from the community college I’m attending, my A6 and A8 score reports, and a DMV record attached.
I’m willing to relocate. I actually want to relocate out of this big city. Always liked small town life. Some quaint, sleepy little coastal town by the sea. What should I do? Just send my resume to every good independent shop in town? Or just go to the dealership job fair and get one there, and maybe a few years down the line, go to an independent?
So I just came home from the job fair. What a rollercoaster. Excruciating at times, and good at others. It was all dealerships including Maserati, Jaguar, and BMW which was pretty cool. I didn’t interview with any of them because those car brands intimidate me. Maybe that was a mistake not to, but I want to work on cars for regular people. I don’t know, it’s just me, the waste and excess is not to the level of repugnant, but that’s a good word and something along those lines.
My first interview with a Toyota dealership went surprisingly well. I felt elated and in shock after that one. Came in didn’t know what to expect and wow, I was in shock. He really seemed to like me. Oh but how quickly that bubble was deflated. This was a three person table, a Honda dealership, and they showed no signs that they liked me, and gave everyone a piece of paper with a website and some information to apply online. I was a bit dejected after that one. But it was nothing compared to the next interview. This was another Honda dealership, and this man spoke some truth, and he spoke it strongly. I can’t remember it exactly but it was something along the lines that there is so much more to this business, and he welcomed me to come by the shop sometime and shadow someone, to see if this is what I really want to be doing. I think he invited everyone else to come by and shadow as well, because he told my friend the same thing. He said things about I don’t remember exactly, how a lot of the job is about dealing with people. Oh, just because a place is a dealership doesn’t mean they’re stocked with all proper working equipment like a tire machine. Many really true and ugly things side of the industry. Something about problems with parts and something about service orders or writers or something. It was terrifying, just his face and the way he said it, lol. Nothing I haven’t heard before. I’ve read for hours and hours about flat-rate and dealer politics and plenty more horror stories. But oh man, his eyes didn’t blink, lol. After that I went and cried.
Next I met with the only independent shop there, a smog test and repair center. I’ve passed my A6 and A8 and I’m currently in a smog class, but don’t have my L1 or equilivent. I’ll have to look back into the requirements. I would love to work in a smog test and repair. What I love about smog is I can instantly see results of whether or not a repair fixed and if the car will pass smog. When I passed smog with that failing Civic, I was elated. And I was elated when I passed smog with an 87 Chevy Sprint Turbo that I went in blind with. And we’ve worked on a few cars in class that failed smog, and I really really enjoyed it. So I’ll work to get that license.
After that, another Honda dealership, lol. I stayed away from Chrysler because I’m afraid of American cars, and I don’t have any affinity I guess for them. I like Asian cars because they’re reliable and all that junk. After a night of ups and downs, this was the highest. He said that I and one other person was, you know, good, I don’t remember the exact words. I had five pages in my resume. First page was a list of the 47 units of automotive classes I’ve taken, and a few sentences about myself and my work ethic and beliefs and things like that. Second page was my school transcript with grades. Third and fourth were my A6 and A8 score reports. And last page was my DMV record. We made an appointment for 10am tomorrow. He seemed nice. He said he believes that things happen for a reason, and that was pleasant to hear, it was endearing.
And oh my my, the last interview. A Toyota place. This man kind of looked like Al from Home Improvement, and I said out of everyone to my friend that he seemed, I don’t know, I would say now pleasant and kind. But this man meant business, and I liked this interview the most, even though it was the most terrifying, well 2nd to the man who made me cry, lol. He grilled me. I think he’s also some sort of airplane mechanic as well and told some story about how someone would give a question after question until you got one wrong. He asked me the minimum tire depth, and how to measure a tire. He asked me about caster, camber, and toe. He asked me what might cause wear on only the outside of the tire. I said under-inflation. He asked what else? I did not know the answer and it killed me. He asked me what I would do for a P0301 misfire on a 2010 something. I think he asked something else as well. I fully support this line of interviewing, even though I did miserably. That was good, I approve of it, and would want my hiring manager to do the same, and I would do the same as well. He said he had over 300 applicants and 30 open positions. He told me about how they promote from within, how one of his crew leaders started as a detailer, how he has small crews so he makes sure his guys get work and get paid, and he guaranteed over 40 hours with overtime, which is a heck of a thing to say. But I don’t know if he liked me, I would wager no, given my performance on his questioning. But I would love to work for Al from Home Improvement, and if he meant what he said with those promises, then I think that’s probably one heck of a place to work. Technician morale and retention rate. One of the most important things.
Oh what do I do? I’m going to that Honda place tomorrow at 10, but I would take a job at a tire shop if it meant I could get out of this big, wretched city in a heartbeat. I would gladly take a lower salary if it meant I could move to a nice small town, away from all this city mess. I’ve applied online to two places yesterday and have heard nothing. Is this right, to take a job at even Jiffy Lube if it meant getting out of this horrible city? Or am I being crazy? Oh diary, what should I do? Lol.
I would, I would, I would. Well, maybe not Jiffy Lube. I’m going to try, and any advice would be awesome. Maybe I should drive down there, probably an hour drive, and drop off some resumes at some really well reviewed independent shops. Would that be better than e-mailing or faxing a resume? Oh man, I’ll go tomorrow, heh. Oh, in a heartbeat, in half a heartbeat. To work in some low-stress, nice little shop in a quaint little sleepy town, away from the city, away from the noise, away from all of it. My soul needs it. It is damaging the very fabric of my soul being in this city, lol. When push comes to shove come May, and if nothing better comes my way, I will literally work an unpaid internship at Jiffy Lube if it means getting out of this forsaken, wretched city.
Oh, I need advice. Or something, I don’t even know. A year ago I had no aim or direction, no hope, job searching for so so long and at countless countless places. And now I might have a job at Honda, and it was more than I could ever expect or hope for. A state of shock. And I’m counting my blessings and grateful. And I am terrified.
Eric, thank you for being our face, our voice, our friend, our mentor. You can change this industry. We can do it together. Your face and voice are a comfort. Lol, I don’t know how to better say that, but know that there is a less weird and better way to say that. Thank you for being there, for all of us. Just thanks.
[quote=”AaronMartinSole” post=56907]
Eric, thank you for being our face, our voice, our friend, our mentor. You can change this industry. We can do it together. Your face and voice are a comfort. Lol, I don’t know how to better say that, but know that there is a less weird and better way to say that. Thank you for being there, for all of us. Just thanks.[/quote]You’re most welcome. I think you’ve got a great attitude and I wish you all the best. Keep us posted on how things turn out on the job front. Thanks very much for your comment, it really made my day.
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=56987]You’re most welcome. I think you’ve got a great attitude and I wish you all the best. Keep us posted on how things turn out on the job front. Thanks very much for your comment, it really made my day.[/quote]
🙂
So yesterday I stopped by the dealership. It’s actually the fourth highest rated dealership on Yelp, and there are a lot of dealerships in this sprawling city. It was beautiful. I would have loved to have worn a Honda technician uniform. But my heart has always been for a little mom and pop shop in some small town by the sea.
Everything was going swimmingly well. This man really liked me and he wanted to hire me. I knew I had it. I knew I was going to get this job. He told me the night before that he believed things happened for a reason. Out of all the interviewers, he was the most kind and pleasant. Just a really pleasant human being from the few short moments I met with him. I looked at the photos of his family in his office, and there was so much vibrant life and love I could feel oozing off those pictures. Anyway, there was a little hiccup. I was one of his last interviews, and it was 9:30 at night, and after you get countless resumes, you learn how to skim. He had missed the part on my resume about how I can’t work on Saturdays, and that I might have to leave work early on Fridays in the winter, when the days get shorter. I became a Seventh-Day Adventist about two years ago, after being an atheist for long, but that’s a different story. I had a few skeletons in my closet as well, and I told him that, but he said that honesty was the best policy, and I wrote that I was a kid back then, and that I grew up, and that I went through a life-changing experience, though I didn’t say what that was and I didn’t tell him that I was an Adventist. I guess maybe I didn’t want to confuse things and make it a religious issue, because it wasn’t at all, and I completely understood and had no hard feelings whatsoever, and these places are busiest on Saturdays and so it just wouldn’t work. They said they may be able to work something out for me, but I would so completely understand if they couldn’t. And I really want to work for a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 independent anyway. But I was so extremely flattered by his kind words concerning me and my resume, and how much he liked me and wanted to hire me, and it gave me a bit of validation. Before I ever had an inkling I wanted to get into the automotive industry, in those days when I looked and looked for a job and no one would hire me, it was refreshing to finally see and be surprised, that, “Wow, someone actually wants to hire me!” How absolutely shocking, lol. So I thank that man for that, for giving me that sense of, I don’t know, self-respect or something back.
I went to a few sleepy, small, quaint, charming little towns about an hour and a half south of me right after the Honda meeting, and dropped off about 6 resumes to a few highly reviewed, highly regarded independent shops. Shot in the dark, but hey, you miss 100% of the chances you don’t take right? One shop owner said, “Give me a call when you get your smog license.” That was the #1 shop as well, and it was beautiful seeing those techs working on cars. I fell in love with one town I stopped in. It was Novato, CA. Petaluma seemed nice as well, but I don’t really know that much about those towns. I spent the past Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz, and I loved it, and I’d love to live there as well. I helped my uncle remodel a house some time ago in a little sleepy beach town called Venice in Florida when I used to live in Ocala. It was near Sarasota. It was beautiful, the perfect example of a sleepy little beach town. We went fishing almost every day and my uncle drank almost everyday with the family we were remodeling the house for. He’s dying of terminal brain cancer now. Years of smoking and drinking finally caught up with him. If anyone ever knows someone who has cancer, and you will, I would recommend a documentary called “The Beautiful Truth”. I don’t agree with everything in that documentary, but it’s an eye-opener. The three healthiest and longest living people in the world are the Okinawans in Okinawa, Japan, the Sardinians in Sardinia, Italy, and the Seventh-Day Adventists who eat vegan. Two of these groups share genetics and geography, but one group spans the entire globe, and has advocated a plant based diet for over 150 years, whose health principles have withstood the test of time. Life is precious, and too many of our loved ones are dying of preventable diseases. It is a tragedy, but there is so much hope. So many great documentaries have come out concerning our food and our health. There is a revolution going on. Ten years ago you’d be hard pressed to find organic food in the grocery store. Now there is a plethora of passionate organic farmers and health foods and books and documentaries. I have so much hope.
But anyway, I have a rambling problem, lol. Just wanted to give an update. Four more weeks of school and then I’m officially done. I might go to a few more independents and drop off my resume. I think I want to take another ASE or two as well. It seems when you’re entry-level, they really want you to know more about brakes and tires and suspension, which makes perfect sense. So maybe I’ll take A4-Suspensions and A5-Brakes next. Wish me luck.
I want to give a quick update. I could make this really long, but I’ll do my best to make it as short as possible.
I had a terrible experience with a very popular chain shop. There was just such a disconnect between the higher ups and the managers on the ground. I was promised certain things, and everything was made very clear and plain, because I did not want to repeat the same mistakes I made before. So I made sure that we were all on the same page. After training, on Thursday, I called up the manager of the shop I was supposed to be going to, and he had no idea who I was or that I was going to come aboard. He asked me to come in on Saturday. I saw now obviously that the managers that had hired me had not spoken to him. I told him I was not available then. He was audibly aggravated and annoyed and rude, and asked, “You can’t work on Saturday ever??” and annoyedly brushed me off, and in a rude manner told me to come in on Monday. They were open on Friday and Sunday. I was crest-fallen, and was afraid that my new manager wouldn’t like me because of this. I felt for him, because if he needed someone to handle the extra traffic on Saturday, the busiest business day of the week, then I obviously would have been the wrong person to hire. I myself would not have hired myself if that were the case, if I were in their shoes. So I felt for him. There was such a disconnect between management and the people working on the ground.
The next day, on Friday, the manager called, and told me to take Monday off as well.
I was promised forty hours. There was no ambiguity there. But the first day I worked on that Tuesday, that same manager sent me home early. “Unfortunately there isn’t enough business to keep you on.” And the schedule I was given did not add up even near 40 hours. I would never make a promise I couldn’t keep. I felt treated like dirt. I felt so disrespected, so marginalized, so worthless. There was no malice in what they did, on the part of corporate anyway, just a disconnect, a mismanagement, a negligence. But when you are messing with someone’s living, messing with the only means someone might have to feed their children, there is no excuse. I can’t imagine how poor immigrants are treated, and paid nothing, and all the while their children at home are starving.
After work, I rush over to corporate, and I am in tears. I just wish there was honesty, because if the higher ups had been honest with me, and had told me that my not being able to work on Saturday would be an issue, and that I would not be able to have 40 hours a week, I would have thanked them, and looked for another job. There was no malice in what upper management did, just poor management on their part. But the way I was treated by the manager on the ground… I felt so disrespected, and felt treated like dirt. I wouldn’t want anyone to be treated like that. Maybe he was taking out his frustration with corporate on me. He was in need of staff, and they sent him someone who couldn’t work on their busiest day. So I felt for him. I told my trainer how I felt, and he had no idea what to say or how to react. I was too emotional, and I left, thinking to return when I was more level-headed.
That same day, I get a voicemail. It might as well have been a voicemail from an angel. A man calls me and asks me to come in for an interview, from a resume I had sent weeks ago that I’d forgotten about. I go in for an interview that day. I expected nothing to result from this, for this to be just like a number of other interviews I’d had. They had just skimmed my resume, asked me to come in, and skipped the part where it says I can’t work Saturdays, and tell me that it’s a deal-breaker, and thank me for coming in. This shop was also open on Saturday. I came in expecting nothing. I told him that in my resume it mentions that I can’t work on Saturdays.
He said that would be fine. That man would be my new boss.
I have been three months at my current job, at a fantastic independent shop. I couldn’t be happier. I am doing so much, learning so much, doing things that another place might not have let me touch even after a year. Everyone here is amazing, and my boss is very laid-back and kind. I wish there were more kindness in the world.
I went back to corporate, returned the loaner uniforms, and we spoke, and things ended on good terms. I really liked my trainer. He was a good guy. And the woman that hired me too, that promised me those things, I had no hard feelings whatsoever against her. I didn’t really know her, but just from her presence, she seemed like a really nice, pleasant woman.
Everyday here has been amazing. Time just absolutely flies at this job. Oh can you imagine the anguish of a desk job, watching the clock, counting down those agonizing minutes. But I come in in the morning, and all of a sudden, it’s lunchtime (a full wonderful hour, and the boss doesn’t freak out if we go a few minutes extra), and then all of a sudden, it’s the end of the day. I love independent shops. I love working on all makes and models. We’re also a smog shop, and we smog all the cars of this one exotic luxury used car dealership. I have driven a Corvette and a very nice Mercedes. I have seen and touched an Aston Martin. There are many more cars but my memory fails me. But yeah. I’m very blessed, and I’m very happy, and I thank God for all I have. So much for a short update. I tried. So that is what’s become of me.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.