Dealer courtesies

Today I took my Prius to the dealer for the (non-urgent) steering column recall which is under way. It took about 2 hours, during which time I lounged around their comfy reception area, swigged their rather good machine-made coffee and read a fun book. IOW, no real pain.

When the job was done, they said it was their habit to recompense for the hassle: (a) a bottle of champagne (75cl, with Toyota (GB) Ltd tag, but no Toyota Part Number); (b) top up the petrol tank; and (c) vacuum the interior and wash the exterior.

Sadly: (a) I'm not a big fan of champagne; (b) I filled the tank just 22 miles earlier, expecting to run dry on the way there; and (c) the car wasn't too dirty and they made the windscreen smeary whereas it had been nice and shiny.

However, all were pleasant and well-intended courtesies. What of dealers elsewhere?

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson
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Are you kidding? ;)

Reply to
Hachiroku

Not a word is false. Truly. I was somewhat surprised. The only other recall I've experienced, the dealer was sociable but hardly overwhelming with the niceness. I thought this might be a Toyota or *.jp cultural thing. They also supplied two letters with fine grovelling apologies for their shortcomings (my paraphrase).

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

Makes me want a recall. Somehow I don't think I'd get the same treatment in Florida..

Reply to
Charles Pisano

Andrew, I don't believe he was accusing you of any falsehoods... As a matter of fact, I'm rather certain.

It was a comment on the American Toyota dealers - they will gladly do the recall work (since they are getting reimbursed for it), but unless Toyota Corporate was springing for the perks like the Champagne and free fuel fills, most USA'n dealers are not going to go that far.

Exceptions being those dealers who think it very likely you'll come in again soon and drop a lot of money to buy a new car - then they'll lay it on notably rather thick (well into the "kiss-up" range) trying to leave a good impression. Or the owner of the dealership just happens to also own vineyards and/or a winery...

Lexus dealers might be more inclined to spend the extra money on some of those perks themselves, because they're aiming for a more upscale market - people who are more interested in cachet.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

I had the same recall done today by my original dealer's shop. Yes, about two hours -- the first time. The mechanic reassembled the shaft with the steering wheel about ten degrees anti-clockwise off-center and got grease on the passenger's seat. They delivered it to me in that condition. I had them fix things, but the wheel is still a few degrees off, this time in the opposite sense. The next alignment will set it right, they said. Nonsense. It was right when I brought the car to them.

And to my consternation a chap from the parts dep't sauntered into the customers' lounge, scooped up most of the complimentary pastries and took them back to his desk.

They gave me a certificate for a free LOF, but they'll never see me again.

You have a gem. So did I until today. I've been driving 100KM to this dealer, but I'm confident I can find shoddy service closer to home.

Still, the time wasn't wholly wasted: I made progress in G. K. Chesterton's autobiography. I commend it to your attention.

Reply to
Masked

Bruce, I am really sorry; but your posting got snipped by my kill fill setup. Problem is, in another NG a dumb-prat has been using ax4.com as his ISP of main choice and spewing a load of dumb-prat gibberish, whilst varying his From: lines. My kill file setup is simpleminded and doesn't let me include anyone excluded by any of the rules. So this clobbers you and other normal folkses who use that ISP. (Sadly there's something about it that also appeals to the dumb-prats -- a bit the way Google Groups gets abused.) :-(

-- Andrew Stephenson

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

You drew the short straw there. Sorry to hear it. IMHO you'd be entitled to complain to Toyota, as the dealer is carrying out the work for them (and -- I'm guessing -- sending them the bill). If the dealer fouls the job, both you and Toyota are being gypped.

I assume you took it to the senior person at the dealers and gave him/her a bollocking? (Well, maybe not if it's a "her". )

People keep recommending that to me, every few decades. One of these lifetimes... (I was reading Terry Pratchett's "Thud!".)

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

If you actually meant 4ax.com, it is a non-existent ISP. It is tacked onto the end of message IDs of posts made using Forte's Agent newsreader which is popular among many posters, good and bad.

Reply to
High Tech Misfit

Oh, I don't believe he was fibbing! it's just that, do YOU know of any dealers HERE that would do that? I certainly don't!

When I was selling Mazdas and Nissans I had a customer come and order an '81 RX7 with almost all the options. I think the only one he passed on was the AT. Wrote a check for half and said, Call me when it gets here.

We got the car, and I called him to come and make sure it was what the wanted (he didn't even drive one of the Demos we had!) He said, You, I'll take it, and whipped out his checkbook again. I said, Wait! I have to get it prepped! He said he would go run errands and be bcak in an hour.

I flipped one of the drivers a few buck and said, Go get a bottle of Moet...

Put it on the passenger's seat after detailing. He was a little surprised and said Thanks! No, THNAK YOU!!!! NO hassle over price whatsoever, and I made a FULL commission! (remember, 1981 was NOT one of the best years for auto sales!)

Reply to
Hachiroku

Ah, thank you. That makes the problem more interesting: how to kill dumb prats without also killing those I want to hear from. (I did realise the "ax4.com" appears in posts by the Good Guys. It is the classic problem of preserving liberty despite actions of those who abuse it to oppress the liberties of others.) :-(

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

According to someone in the other NG (with the dumb prat), that default setting can be changed. Bruce, if you could do that, I would be so happy to get your posts back. But don't ask me how you do it. The added observation by the person suggesting this (ie, kill if Message-ID contains "@4ax.com") was that it's sure to kill a lot of worthless traffic. My guess is that the prats as a whole are techno-dim and wouldn't think to change setting.

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

I haven't used Agent in years, but I believe the setting can be overridden by toggling a setting in the agent.ini file. This setting determines whether Agent or the user's news server generates the message ID.

Reply to
High Tech Misfit

There are many other header fields you can filter against to try killing a persistent twit, there is usually *something* in the headers that remains constant. Some trolls have multiple names, but they rotate through the same batch and only occasionally invent a new one.

The whole idea of having Agent hash out it's own MessageID numbers was for true randomization - exceedingly low odds of two messages being assigned the same MessageID.

If you do not assign a MessageID before you send off the message for posting and let the ISP assign the MessageID, it usually has your full and valid e-mail address in it "for security tracing purposes" either totally in the clear or very poorly encrypted. Sorry, but that's not an option I'm willing to use, there are enough holes in 'the net' now.

The 4ax.com domain was deliberately set up as a 'blind domain' - they can try to harvest names and spam that domain all they want. It is a valid and registered domain, but it does not have a mail or web server. So try all they want, all their attempts to exploit information in that header field are stifled before they start.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

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