That's absolutely right. Complain all you want to Toyota, there is little or nothing they can do to terminate a bad dealer. The manufacture-dealer relationships are governed by state automotive franchise statutes, which are written by the dealers themselves (they're the local guys making the "contributions" etc.). Maybe you'll feel better and maybe Toyota can get the dealer better training, but the dealer will be around for a long time.
Well speaking only for me, I only mentioned "troll" just because the figure was so extraordinarily out of range and the title of the thread is somewhat inflamatory. I mean asking if Prius are "throw-away" cars in Prius Chat? But no harm, no foul. I said "if", I always give someone the benefit of the doubt. I also am not so forgiving of the dealership. First of all this was presented as being the "Service Manager" not a "Service Writer", so I'm attaching a higher degree of responsibilty if this is actually the manager of the service department. If this is the Manager of the Service department, his representation and comments were not only wrong, but highly inappropriate for someone who represents Toyota directly to the public. In my opinion, Manager or simple service writer, in either case misrepresenting the reality of one of your dealerships major selling automobiles is not acceptable. Sure, I'm for education and being as non-confrontational as possible. But dealership service centers need to have people working in them that know enough about The Prius that they aren't giving owners bad information. If the OP is sincere, and I have no reason to believe that he/she isn't being sincere, then of course they can share their personal experience. That's not the point. However, it wouldn't take too much digging or real knowledge to figure out that The Prius is NOT a throw-away car.
This is true, Toyota dealers/service have no idea about their cars. I got incorrect information from my Toyota dealer. I never experienced this with any other auto brand.
I have...many times. Perhaps you just have never owned another make of car that you had a community such as this to check that information against? Car dealers are all independently owned and operated...quality varies greatly.
We live in Oregon and the 2010 Prius battery is warranted for 10 years or 150,000 miles. This is a 100% warranty, and not pr o-rated. Which is good if your battery is defective at 140,000 miles your battery will be replaced 100%, at no cost to you. This is what I have been told, please correct me if I am wrong. Also, Oregon is one of several states with this warranty,
In the 8 years that I've lived in my town, the dealership has changed hands three times. In that time I've bought 3 new cars from them. I would rate their service as poor overall and fully expect yet another new owner to take over soon. Too bad Toyota corporate can't/won't fix this part of their business.
Complaining here will do you no good. You should write or call your representatives in your state legislature. Try to get them to change the laws so that Toyota (as well as GM, Ford, etc.) can dump bad dealers. I won't hold my breath while waiting -- car dealerships are often run by some of the most policially connected people around.
All vehicles are throw-away product, just like any other consumer-driven product like baby diapers. The difference is Prius is made to be more an "eco-friendly-highly-re-recyclable" throw-away.