Interesting Observation

[10forty2]

Certainly nothing new, as it's always been a hassle to get good service after the sale..... but it seems that practically every one of these threads related to something wrong with a $30K+ vehicle gets referred to to as "Normal" or "To be expected" from the dealerships which I feel sure were VERY excited to make the sale. I went through what should have been a lemon law claim with a 2007 Toyota FJ pulling to the right from the very first day we drove it home. After about 8-10 returns to the service department where we bought the vehicle, and being told anything from "It's how the road is crowned up" to "it's a short wheel-based SUV...it's going to drive like that," I finally downloaded/printed about 30 pages of complaints from other FJ owners of the EXACT same problem. When I presented the folder to the dealership manager (who by the way personally bent over backwards to sell me the $32K vehicle), he finally responded by replacing the set of tires with the OEM Dunlops. Still didn't fix the problem so we went to another dealership and guess what...there was a service bulletin on it and it was remedied by replacing the DunFlop OEM tires that had just been replaced.

What's happened to customer service??

[BLACK10]

I agree, yet everyone says how these are the best build cars ever lol (meaning all newer cars)

[bthomp01]

Originally Posted by BLACK10

I agree, yet everyone says how these are the best build cars ever lol (meaning all newer cars)

And they are, but it's an incredibly complex piece of machinery. Every manufacturing process is going to produce defects. Be it cars, or TVs, or cameras, or blowup dolls.

EDIT: On topic, service has given way to the dollar, because most places have learned what their limits can be. Quality service is cash expensive and time expensive, the less they (dealerships, retail stores, plumbers, whoever) can get away with, it's better for the bottom line. Of course there is business to be lost with exceptionally poor service, but as long as whoever it is can stay above whatever that acceptable threshold is, they will. No different than the Peter Gibbons "Work just hard enough not to get fired" principal.

[BLACK10]

Originally Posted by bthomp01

And they are, but it's an incredibly complex piece of machinery. Every manufacturing process is going to produce defects. Be it cars, or TVs, or cameras, or blowup dolls.

Complex-yes, but thats why we pay money for it.

[bthomp01]

Originally Posted by BLACK10

Complex-yes, but thats why we pay money for it.

And as a consumer you have every right to want it to be perfect, but to expect them all to be perfect is unreasonable. If you find a defect, it sucks, but you just gotta deal with it.

Just hope the dealership you have to work with doesn't have a defect in the service department. :(

[woodj]

Originally Posted by bthomp01

Every manufacturing process is going to produce defects. Be it cars, or TVs, or cameras, or blowup dolls.

You want to elaborate on that last part?

[Nvincent4708]

Originally Posted by woodj

You want to elaborate on that last part?

hahahah!

[stray bullitt]

Originally Posted by bthomp01

And as a consumer you have every right to want it to be perfect, but to expect them all to be perfect is unreasonable. If you find a defect, it sucks, but you just gotta deal with it.

Just hope the dealership you have to work with doesn't have a defect in the service department. :(

I agree with that, but it is nice if you have decent dealer to acommodate you when things aren't quite perfect. I bought a new Jeep grand cherokee a few years ago, and something went wrong with the diesel injectors. I limped it back to the dealer, who said "OK leave it with us", and threw me the keys to his own demonstrator, effectively eliminating my transport problems instantly. Result, I was happy, and bought another Jeep later.

[NYJets77]

Originally Posted by woodj

You want to elaborate on that last part?

I would prefer he didn't.

[camaroitalia]

Originally Posted by woodj

You want to elaborate on that last part?

"it was a cold winters night and i was all alone... i wanted to snuggle but no female was around.. then i noticed my blow up doll peaking out through the closet....." lmfao

[bthomp01]

Originally Posted by woodj

You want to elaborate on that last part?

Gasket leak.

[10forty2]

Originally Posted by bthomp01

And they are, but it's an incredibly complex piece of machinery. Every manufacturing process is going to produce defects. Be it cars, or TVs, or cameras, or blowup dolls.

Naw, I doubt anybody expects everything to be perfect and have zero defects. Complex or simplex....they should stand behind the sale and take care of the customer. What I DO expect is that when I pay $30K+ of my hard-earned money for something, the dealer who took my money at least makes an effort to support the product. I'm very aware that anything manmade will break. And for the most part, I'm smart enough to realize when it breaks and if it was a manufacturing defect and should be covered. I wouldn't expect a dealership to cover something that broke as a result of something that I did (IE, tuning the engine or installing cams, etc., ) but I DO expect them to at least take the attitude that if they can fix it they will and that my purchase was important to them and not just another pain in their butts for the life of the vehicle. That's the kind of customer service I'm talking about. It seems that most dealerships' version of customer service nowadays is free coffee and an elaborate waiting room complete with flat scree TV/cable/satellite and free WiFi. I'd rather drop the car off with a competent mechanic in a small shop with a yard chair to sit in that WILL fix my vehicle and not tell me "oh, that's just a normal bump you feel...it happens to all these cars." That's like telling me the manufacturer made a $30K piece of crap!

[Cam2011]

Originally Posted by 10forty2

Certainly nothing new, as it's always been a hassle to get good service after the sale..... but it seems that practically every one of these threads related to something wrong with a $30K+ vehicle gets referred to to as "Normal" or "To be expected" from the dealerships which I feel sure were VERY excited to make the sale. I went through what should have been a lemon law claim with a 2007 Toyota FJ pulling to the right from the very first day we drove it home. After about 8-10 returns to the service department where we bought the vehicle, and being told anything from "It's how the road is crowned up" to "it's a short wheel-based SUV...it's going to drive like that," I finally downloaded/printed about 30 pages of complaints from other FJ owners of the EXACT same problem. When I presented the folder to the dealership manager (who by the way personally bent over backwards to sell me the $32K vehicle), he finally responded by replacing the set of tires with the OEM Dunlops. Still didn't fix the problem so we went to another dealership and guess what...there was a service bulletin on it and it was remedied by replacing the DunFlop OEM tires that had just been replaced.

What's happened to customer service??

When you figure this out you could start with a solution to fossil fuels, and perhaps a cure for the common cold. I hear what you are saying all the time, and the solution is in the individual, meaning don't let them BS you. If it sounds like BS it most likely is.