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Originally Posted by heavenleigh
I did not receive a letter; I bought my Prius used about 3 months ago. I did send in the "update your vehicle information" post card, but I still haven't received a letter, when I know that most other people on PC and GH have already received theirs. I didn't want to take in the entire 50 page literature on the campaign because a.) I didn't think it was my job, and b.) I didn't want them to hold me responsible for any problems with the process, since it came from me and not Toyota
The information about the sticker under the hood is what I was looking for thank you for your response.
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Hillary
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Hillary,
Bear in mind that knowledge is power. PC, POL and GH are our way of keeping Toyota dealers in check. The vehicle service market is a multi-billion dollar industry. Some of the participants are honest and knowledgeable, and others are at best plain dumb and at worst dishonest. I wouldn't have hesitated to drag in the SSC50p documentation for them. All Toyota service bulletins are formatted identically and I'm sure they would have gone into their Toyota connected system and gotten their copy of the documentation and not used yours, however the official electronic documentation that all Toyota dealers are subscribed to has a very distinct look and layout and wouldn't be impossible to duplicate for some other purpose, but why would anyone?
At the same time, if they prodded about how you got it, TSBs are all publicly available, for a fee from Toyota's tech info site, but people post them online for our use. I can't speak to the legality, however it is a TSB, written to tell techs how to service a vehicle and fix a specific problem. It isn't the next NY Times bestseller and some frustrated author's life long work that is being distributed for free over the Internet. So, aside from any legal issues, TSBs certainly aren't creative and are not distributed to make money on their own, and in most instances aren't distributed to make money on the service it directs either. In other words, I'm not worried about it.
As a vehicle owner I shouldn't have to pay Toyota for TSBs on a vehicle I own. But that is my own gripe. However, lots of other people with access to those e-documents and PDFs also feel the same way and help the rest of us out.
I think your dealer needs a good reminder that you are an involved, concerned and careful owner and they shouldn't cross you because you are going to have dotted your "i"s and crossed your "t"s before you walk into their service department.
There is also a gender issue here. There is a certain anti-female or dumb-woman attitude which exists in a lot of dealerships. You may not be able to change their view of women requesting service on their vehicles but being knowledgeable about your own and your desires for its service and making it plainly known to them is essential. They don't have to like you, but they must respect you, and as such pushing their buttons and showing your knowledge about your car may not earn friends, but you aren't in their department to earn friends, you are there to get your car serviced, not get screwed on price (assuming you are paying to regular maintenance) or have hot air blown in places you don't want it blown. They might not like seeing you coming, but they won't put one over on you either.
The best advice is to get access to their Prius tech and make friends with that person. The service manager and subordinate service writers are nothing more than gatekeepers. Get past the gatekeeper and you will probably receive better service.
Good luck, happy reading!