Portland.CityJournal.us

I bought a 2008 Scion XB from Broadway Toyota. The buying experience was fine. It took just under two hours to buy the car. [ Dealer rating is currently 1.5/5 on Dealerrater.com ]

One thing the salesperson said was, "You can bring it in anytime for service. You don't need an appointment."

That was in September. Three-thousand miles later I came in on a Saturday afternoon for the first of the two free oil changes that came with the car.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, the salesperson said I didn't need one."

"Well, that's true during the week but you need one on the weekend."

"OK, I'll come back later."

So I come back on a Monday.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I was told by the salesperson and by your tech on Saturday that I didn't need one."

"Well, you really need an appointment."

"Well, you really need to tell your sales force and your weekend techs to stop saying that I don't need an appointment because this is the second time I've tried to get service and it looks like you can't do that without an appointment, so you should tell your sales people to stop saying that owners can just drop in."

OK, yes, I was speaking with a firm, not loud but firm voice. I'm a teacher. I have a voice that does this bit well.

Well enough that the tech manager comes right over and says, "We can take care of it."

One hour later, I have fresh oil. I notice over the next few weeks though that my MPG has dropped from 29 MPG to 26 MPG. I wonder if they just put in regular oil instead of synthetic. The car came from Gladstone Toyota where they used synthetic oil.

"I bet they just used regular oil and that's why my gas mileage just went down 10%."

Last Friday, after hearing Broadway Toyota ads about their 35 service bays and how you don't ever need an appointment I came in for my second free oil change. I was going to ask for and even pay extra for synthetic oil. Only the best for my car...

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, do I need one?"

"Well, we only have three techs on duty and four people just came in right in front of you. Do you want me to see how long it will be?"

"Yes, please."

"It looks like it will be a two-hour wait."

"No thanks." I left. I went to Jiffy Lube and paid $65 for a full synthetic oil change. They also washed my windows and vacuumed the car. Broadway doesn't do either.

Oh, my gas mileage, it's back up to 29 MPG.

How hard it is to be excellent? Tomorrow I'll be heading over to Les Schwab to have my winter tires removed. I bet they run out to meet me.