Toyota Pasadena - First Service Experience (5k miles)
1/2 (C- at best)
I wanted to share my first service experience at Toyota Pasadena. I purchased my brand new Grand Highlander Hybrid Max about 8 months ago and brought it in for its first 5,000-mile service.
Scheduling the appointment through the Toyota app was easy, and I came in hopeful this would be a smooth experience.
My appointment was at 9:15 AM, and I arrived early at 9:00 AM. There were three open service lanes, and I pulled into the third lane behind another vehicle. I stayed in my car, assuming someone would come check me in, especially since I saw an employee checking in the vehicle ahead of me. I waited patiently, assuming they were working in order.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
While I was waiting, four other cars pulled into the first lane after I arrived, and the employee began checking them in simply because they were closer to him. After the third car was checked in ahead of me, I got out of my car and asked another employee what the check-in process was. I mentioned that I had been waiting before those cars. He looked at me, said nothing, and walked away. That was already a poor start.
I then approached the employee doing the check-ins. He didn't greet me, didn't smile, didn't acknowledge me as a customer, just said "I'll be right there." Not exactly someone you'd want as the first point of contact for customers.
Once I was finally checked in, I was told to go to a numbered office and ask for John. Turns out there are two Johns in the same office, which seems like a small but avoidable management issue. The John who helped me was actually very pleasant, professional, and straight to the point. No complaints about him at all. He said he'd call when the car was ready, and I left.
The wait time was about 6 hours for a 5k service, which felt long, but I didn't complain. Pickup itself was quick and uneventful.
The real disappointment came when I looked at my car afterward.
I had a portable battery station and a refrigerator cooler neatly set up in the back of the vehicle. If I had known they needed access to that area, I would have removed or prepared everything beforehand. Instead, when I got my car back:
* All my devices were unplugged
* Everything looked like it had just been tossed back in randomly
* Nothing was placed back the way it was
To make matters worse, they couldn't even put the trunk floor mat back correctly. It was sticking up on one side. If a dealership is performing a multi-point inspection, I would expect basic attention to detail like properly reinstalling a mat.
On top of that, they left their numbered roof cone inside my car, on the passenger-side floor. So the car was returned to me in worse condition than I dropped it off.
They were also supposed to update software for a recall, but I didn't see any clear confirmation of that in the paperwork, which added to the uncertainty.
I want to be clear: I love Toyota as a brand. However, this experience left me with a very poor impression of Toyota Pasadena's service culture, organization, and attention to detail. For comparison, I've consistently had much better experiences at Honda Pasadena when servicing my fiancé's car.
This review isn't meant to be dramatic. It's an honest account. There's something off about the hiring, training, or customer-service culture at this location.
I'll be posting photos.
Overall rating: C- at best. read more