GP4L
Senior Member
So I had my first attempted scam at a dealer this week. I was in for an oil change, tire rotation, and authorized them to replace my air filter. Normally stuff I'd do myself, but I have some free oil changes from when I bought my truck. They did the oil change, and tire rotation fine - I mark my tires, and take note which one is where.. And checking the oil dipstick is easy enough. Well, for whatever reason a couple days later (yesterday), I popped open my airbox and took a look at the filter - aaannnddd it was the same dirty ass one the service writer showed me that I needed to have replaced........
So, I drove over to the dealer, walked in with my invoice and informed them that they didn't change my air filter that I paid for. Instead of asking why I thought that, the guy helping me "assured" me that my truck had a new air filter installed. That's when I semi-tweaked out, walked out to my truck, yanked the dirty filter out, and walked back with a total "F U" look on my face.
Having been in the automotive industry for about 10 years, I know that sometimes **** happens, but this was blatantly an attempted scam by the tech. I grilled the service writer a bit - said something in the nature of "I know you didn't forget to tell the tech to replace my air filter with a new one. You had to walk back to the bay my truck was in, to hand the original filter back to the tech, after showing it to me. You didn't forget to tell him that I authorized the installation of a new air filter...."
I went on to advise them to keep an eye on their techs, as obviously at least one of them isn't doing all the work they are saying they're doing. Having been in the industry, AS a tech once upon a time, I'm fully aware that certain types of people, that are auto technicians, will happily pocket NIB parts to sell online to make some extra cash.
Having handed my fob to the tech myself, I started wondering something - I'm 31 years old, male, or relatively large stature. I'm not trying to say I'm a "scary" dude, people should fear me or anything real pretentious like that. I'm sure most of you see what I'm getting at - imagine how many times somebody that knows nothing about cars. Lets be real, regardless of gender - a TON of people know nothing about cars. At my girlfriends request after hearing about my day, I showed her how to check/change the air filter in her car.
On the flip side... Maybe, because I see myself as somebody unlikely to be scammed, that's actually working against me. But I guess this is also an example of what happens when, even a large, business employs the lowest bidder to do a moderate-high skilled trade that also requires a large about of trust.
Regardless, just watch out. I've seen this happen to other people NUMEROUS times - especially the good 'ol jiffy lube oil (not) change.... Take a look, to the best of your ability, at the work that's been performed on your car after it's been in for work.
I'm not going to name this large dealer outright, as the way they made things right with me, but I'll say that they are located in Barrington, IL.
So, I drove over to the dealer, walked in with my invoice and informed them that they didn't change my air filter that I paid for. Instead of asking why I thought that, the guy helping me "assured" me that my truck had a new air filter installed. That's when I semi-tweaked out, walked out to my truck, yanked the dirty filter out, and walked back with a total "F U" look on my face.
Having been in the automotive industry for about 10 years, I know that sometimes **** happens, but this was blatantly an attempted scam by the tech. I grilled the service writer a bit - said something in the nature of "I know you didn't forget to tell the tech to replace my air filter with a new one. You had to walk back to the bay my truck was in, to hand the original filter back to the tech, after showing it to me. You didn't forget to tell him that I authorized the installation of a new air filter...."
I went on to advise them to keep an eye on their techs, as obviously at least one of them isn't doing all the work they are saying they're doing. Having been in the industry, AS a tech once upon a time, I'm fully aware that certain types of people, that are auto technicians, will happily pocket NIB parts to sell online to make some extra cash.
Having handed my fob to the tech myself, I started wondering something - I'm 31 years old, male, or relatively large stature. I'm not trying to say I'm a "scary" dude, people should fear me or anything real pretentious like that. I'm sure most of you see what I'm getting at - imagine how many times somebody that knows nothing about cars. Lets be real, regardless of gender - a TON of people know nothing about cars. At my girlfriends request after hearing about my day, I showed her how to check/change the air filter in her car.
On the flip side... Maybe, because I see myself as somebody unlikely to be scammed, that's actually working against me. But I guess this is also an example of what happens when, even a large, business employs the lowest bidder to do a moderate-high skilled trade that also requires a large about of trust.
Regardless, just watch out. I've seen this happen to other people NUMEROUS times - especially the good 'ol jiffy lube oil (not) change.... Take a look, to the best of your ability, at the work that's been performed on your car after it's been in for work.
I'm not going to name this large dealer outright, as the way they made things right with me, but I'll say that they are located in Barrington, IL.
