Reason for Visit: Service
I recommend this dealer: No
My Review of Bob Smith Toyota:
Two issues for low grades: 1. Out and out lies caught in the act and 2. Incompetence. I gave them a 1 in Customer Service due to these errors of honesty and brains, but that was only on two occasions out of six. I gave them lousy grades in Price due to gouging me for service that was billed for considerable time when it should have been mere moments or free. Read on...
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I used Bob Smith Toyota to service a 2007 Prius several times. During one service, they called me with this message: "The AC filter is filthy, you're just recycling all the dirt into the car. Cost to replace $30 parts and $20 service. Total added: $50." Not knowing how much was involved, I let them do it, but insisted that any replaced parts be returned to me when I picked it up. It turns out that the "filter" involved is a thin, formed fiber mat that is easy to replace once you know how to unlatch the glove compartment. Total time to access and replace: about 3 minutes if you move slow. Total price for a replacement filter on the internet: about $12. The one they replaced the original with was not the Official Part. It was a low-cost replacement part.
Well, that was $45 wasted, but I learned something. In the middle of the next service, they called me with this story: "Oh, the Service Manager talked to me and he sees that the AC filter is filthy. Replacement will be $55." Prices had risen.
What he doesn't know is that the filter in there is nearly virgin and the whole story is a complete fabrication. Nobody looked at it at all. If they had, they would have known that it was new.
By the way, washing or blowing out these ridiculously simple filters is easy.
When I drove off the lot, a day or so later, a service light came on. I thought they had failed to reset it. They said it was a tire light, so they topped off all the tires (free) and the light went away. But it came back, so I figured I had a slow leak somewhere. I took it to a tire store and they said two things: A nail, plus they couldn't get the wheel off due to a missing security lug--a special adapter the Bob Smith guys would have last used. Back at Bob Smith, they couldn't find the special lug, nor did they stock them.
I ended up fixing the nail leak with a $5 kit from Kragen. In the process, I found the missing lug in the tire compartment that Bob Smith's own folks missed. Oh, there it is, right under the jack. That kit fixed a tire on my Segway, too, but that's another story.
Bob Smith can't have my next services.
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