# Do you own a Toyota?



## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Whilst we have only been back a bit over a week from Oz, I have already had 2 battles about rip offs or lack of customer service (yes I know, I hear you saying, what else is new).
This is a pretty good one though, the car I bought is until a few days time, still under dealer warranty, a Toyota Vios, nice car and happy with it. So I decided to stay with Toyota service until the warrant ran out, only done 18,000ks.
Took it in for 20k service, which is a 'major service' quoted 4900 )give or take). I left the car at 8am and it went stright into service as I had booked the previous day.
I was told tdo come back about 10am, got back at 10.20am and itr was sitting out the front finished, 2 hrs would have been all it took.
Got my bill 5800 pesos, so I had a look at the invoice, noticed 'service charge' 1800 pesos, thought it was a bit rich. Reluctantly handed over the money, whilst waiting for it tobe processed, saw that I had been charged 4.1 hrs 'service charge' which was a good trick seeing it was there for 2 hrs. So back I go to the 'customer service officer' a nice guy who does ihis best and very polite and helpful.
I raised the issue with him, he stuttered and stumbled and said it was the fee they charge irregardless of time spent, then changed his mind about that a couple of times. I ask for the Service Manager, the old 'at a meeting' trick and I still stood my ground. A femal customer service lady came and took me into an office. Again dtrying thee same explanation amongst others, all of which I refused to accept.
In the end I suggested I would contact Toyota Philippines as I was ost unhappy and felt i WAS getting stiffed. Final result I was refunded 945 pesos.
They made a fatal mistake of calling me yesterday to ask if I was happy with the service and you can imagine my response.
Message is check your bills. I won't be going back to Toyota needless to say.
It does get tiresome though.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

mogo51 said:


> Whilst we have only been back a bit over a week from Oz, I have already had 2 battles about rip offs or lack of customer service (yes I know, I hear you saying, what else is new).
> This is a pretty good one though, the car I bought is until a few days time, still under dealer warranty, a Toyota Vios, nice car and happy with it. So I decided to stay with Toyota service until the warrant ran out, only done 18,000ks.
> Took it in for 20k service, which is a 'major service' quoted 4900 )give or take). I left the car at 8am and it went stright into service as I had booked the previous day.
> I was told tdo come back about 10am, got back at 10.20am and itr was sitting out the front finished, 2 hrs would have been all it took.
> ...


Totally amazing but still not surprising considering where we are. 
If it were me that this happened to I would still take all pertinent paperwork and bills etc and email it not only Toyota Philippines with a strong complaint but would also send a copy of it all to the appropriate office/person at the headquarters of Toyota Corp in Japan. Simply put, they can't fix what they don't know is wrong and this is a smear on their name and reputation.

It is important that we stand up for what is right in things like this and this IS one issue that I think would be handled well considering a copy would be sent to the corporate office in Japan. It is important to know and send the name(s) of those you dealt with here so they can take action.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Hmmm! Should you be billed for the amount of time to perform the job by one mechanics or by the number of mechanics working on the job per hour they spend. There is normally a standard that each job requires a certain amount of time to perform. Did just one mechanic perform all the maintenance or did multiple mechanics work together to perform the maintenance in a shorter amount of time but with increased labor hours because they were doing different task at the same time? Was not there have no idea.

Chuck


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

bidrod said:


> Hmmm! Should you be billed for the amount of time to perform the job by one mechanics or by the number of mechanics working on the job per hour they spend. There is normally a standard that each job requires a certain amount of time to perform. Did just one mechanic perform all the maintenance or did multiple mechanics work together to perform the maintenance in a shorter amount of time but with increased labor hours because they were doing different task at the same time? Was not there have no idea.
> 
> Chuck


Over the years I have bought brand new cars and even used cars still under warranty. Any car that is under warranty when taken in for something covered by that warranty there has never been a charge of any kind. It is and should be covered.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Asian Spirit said:


> Over the years I have bought brand new cars and even used cars still under warranty. Any car that is under warranty when taken in for something covered by that warranty there has never been a charge of any kind. It is and should be covered.


The car was in routine service at a mileage point not warranty service for faulty parts, etc. My 1K and 5K service with Hyundai were labor cost free after that labor is charged.

Chuck


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

bidrod said:


> Hmmm! Should you be billed for the amount of time to perform the job by one mechanics or by the number of mechanics working on the job per hour they spend. There is normally a standard that each job requires a certain amount of time to perform. Did just one mechanic perform all the maintenance or did multiple mechanics work together to perform the maintenance in a shorter amount of time but with increased labor hours because they were doing different task at the same time? Was not there have no idea.
> 
> Chuck


I gave them the opportunity to justify that, but they did not do so. If what you alluded to was the case, I would have accepted that scenario - they did nothing to push that suggestion.
I might add the hourly fee is 450 pesos an hour - their mechanics would be lucky to be on 500 per DAY. I can get a service in Oz for less than that figure and mechanics there are paid $1000-$1200 a week at least, not $75AU a week. Figures are a bit out of whack there I think!!!


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Asian Spirit said:


> Over the years I have bought brand new cars and even used cars still under warranty. Any car that is under warranty when taken in for something covered by that warranty there has never been a charge of any kind. It is and should be covered.


There was no additional work done, only the 20k service.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Asian Spirit said:


> Totally amazing but still not surprising considering where we are.
> If it were me that this happened to I would still take all pertinent paperwork and bills etc and email it not only Toyota Philippines with a strong complaint but would also send a copy of it all to the appropriate office/person at the headquarters of Toyota Corp in Japan. Simply put, they can't fix what they don't know is wrong and this is a smear on their name and reputation.
> 
> It is important that we stand up for what is right in things like this and this IS one issue that I think would be handled well considering a copy would be sent to the corporate office in Japan. It is important to know and send the name(s) of those you dealt with here so they can take action.


I hear what you are saying Gene, but to be honest, I doubt it would make any difference. 
In addition, as I have said, I am just getting worn out with constant battles over customer service, faulty products and have only been here 8 months. There is no conception that you have to act honourably and fairly here.
When I got some work on my house done several months ago it was the same, trying to get a proper job done was impossible. Lack of effort and pride in their work, just does not happen here.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

mogo51 said:


> I hear what you are saying Gene, but to be honest, I doubt it would make any difference.
> In addition, as I have said, I am just getting worn out with constant battles over customer service, faulty products and have only been here 8 months. There is no conception that you have to act honourably and fairly here.
> When I got some work on my house done several months ago it was the same, trying to get a proper job done was impossible. Lack of effort and pride in their work, just does not happen here.


Yep I hear you. Nothing seems to matter in any facet in life except money, booze, and sex and I'm not sure in what order:confused2:. That's really the bottom line. Life here to the locals is an all out effort to make it a never-ending party and work as little as possible. My understanding is that even the Spanish found it that way when they discovered the country centuries ago--including the corruption. Takes a good two years or longer of living in the islands to be able to just let it roll off your back and try to enjoy life.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Asian Spirit said:


> Yep I hear you. Nothing seems to matter in any facet in life except money, booze, and sex and I'm not sure in what order. That's really the bottom line. Life here to the locals is an all out effort to make it a never-ending party and work as little as possible. My understanding is that even the Spanish found it that way when they discovered the country centuries ago--including the corruption. Takes a good two years or longer of living in the islands to be able to just let it roll off your back and try to enjoy life.


Thanks Gene, 2 years for heaven's sake, hope they have not hauled me off to the giggle house by then,


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

mogo51 said:


> Thanks Gene, 2 years for heaven's sake, hope they have not hauled me off to the giggle house by then,


Just have to take it one day at a time and eventually small stuff won't bother you more than 4 or 5 time per day-Hahaha. I've been here 15 years and they haven't locked me up yet :hail::rofl:


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

Asian Spirit said:


> Over the years I have bought brand new cars and even used cars still under warranty. Any car that is under warranty when taken in for something covered by that warranty there has never been a charge of any kind. It is and should be covered.


Yes, but normal service items like mogo was getting does not fall into warranty service.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

bidrod said:


> Hmmm! Should you be billed for the amount of time to perform the job by one mechanics or by the number of mechanics working on the job per hour they spend. There is normally a standard that each job requires a certain amount of time to perform. Did just one mechanic perform all the maintenance or did multiple mechanics work together to perform the maintenance in a shorter amount of time but with increased labor hours because they were doing different task at the same time? Was not there have no idea.
> 
> Chuck


Mogo, by service charge are they talking about labor? If so, I would agree with what bidrod is saying here, although I don't like it. In the U.S. it is a common practice to bill the "book" hours for labor. Think how hard it would be to keep track of the actual hours worked and each mechanic will work at a different pace.

However, that does not explain the difference between the quote and the actual bill. I would be looking at the diff between the quote and actual billed, and ask about "why the diff?". Are there any stupid things you did not authorize?

I belong to two car clubs on FB and there is a lot of sharing of service cost info. You would not believe what some dealers try to get away with! p1000 for a car wash. p800 for worthless engine flush. Etc, etc.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

mogo51 said:


> There was no additional work done, only the 20k service.


Never said there was additional work done. The 20K service has specific jobs accomplished as do9es any other service, they entail specific times to accomplish each job. Does it take one mechanic 4+ hrs to accomplish those task? Would it take half the time if two mechanics are doing different parts of the job at the same time? Labor maybe charged by number of mechanics doing different aspects of the 20K service at the sametime. I wasn't there so no knowledge of actual situation. As to most Filipinos being able to explin something correctly, after 8 years here I really haven't found that individual.

Chuck


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## Tukaram (Dec 18, 2014)

Since you were only there 2 hours and they charged you 4... could they have had 2 techs? So 4 man hours? Probably not - just asking ha ha


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

Here is a related article that might interest some of you:

https://www.autoindustriya.com/insi...&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=casa_im_boost


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

DonAndAbby said:


> Here is a related article that might interest some of you:
> 
> https://www.autoindustriya.com/insi...&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=casa_im_boost


Interesting article, thanks for the link.

Cheers, Steve.


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

Asian Spirit said:


> Yep I hear you. Nothing seems to matter in any facet in life except money, booze, and sex and I'm not sure in what order:confused2:. That's really the bottom line. Life here to the locals is an all out effort to make it a never-ending party and work as little as possible. My understanding is that even the Spanish found it that way when they discovered the country centuries ago--including the corruption. Takes a good two years or longer of living in the islands to be able to just let it roll off your back and try to enjoy life.


Well after 4 years I still can't take it full time. Have to get my breaks, and fortunately my stateside projects require time away. That said, I do miss my woman and the excitement.. haha. As far as corruption.. I read once that the it started with the Spanish friars who introduced the concept of "patronage" which eventually turned corrupt. According to what I read, apparently there was no system of bureaucratic or municipal process where one could simply get something done, hence the need to ask a a favor of the friar, which required a bribe. That became rooted in the culture after 300 years.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Wel all I can say is that they caught on very quickly.


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