We all know the kinds of stupid stuff dealership do to try to upsell customers on things, but I recently ran into an elaborate scheme at Northwest Hyundai.

I took my car in for routine maintenance and the service advisor came back telling me I had a nail in my tire and it was too close to the sidewall, so I needed to replace the tire. They texted me a video of the tire, showing what appeared to be a nail in the tire. I didn't have time to screw around with it that morning (and didn't want to pay dealer prices for a tire), so I left and scheduled an appointment at Discount Tire to have the tire repaired or replaced.

When I went into Discount Tire, I was informed there was nothing wrong with any of my tires. No nails or defects that would require repair or replacement. They even let me into the bay to look at the tire with my own eyes.

I find it fascinating they actually sent me a video of my tire to try to convince me to buy a tire. I wonder if they just stuck something to the tire tread to make it look like a nail, and how many customers fell for this trick and paid for a new tire.

I knew Keating was shady, but damn.

I struggle to believe people are capable of stuff like this, I always try to find other explanations beyond "pure evil".

Did they contact wrong customer?

Did someone mistake that photo from another vehicle as coming from yours?

ie, just a mistake?

If they were truly pure evil, wouldn't they drive a nail into your tire knowing you would be inspecting it yourself or elsewhere? Any chance they just went ahead and patched it?

Ryan the Temp said:

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I knew Keating was shady, but damn.

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I'm sure the resident Keating employees on this forum will forward this to the Keating group management, and after a quick investigation, will fire the mechanic and the service department manager.

Who am I kidding, they will say you were in a voluntary relationship and the fact you walked away is proof there was no coercion.

Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

I mean, this is a crime isn't it? How do they not get busted, no one bothers to investigate?

You're supposed to email Andy before you deal with a Keating dealership so he can make sure you don't get scammed. Duh!

Ag for Life said:

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Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They then can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

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Just looked at the video again and compared it to my tire.

100% NOT my tire.

Ryan the Temp said:

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Ag for Life said:

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Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They then can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

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Just looked at the video again and compared it to my tire.

100% NOT my tire.

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The plot thickens...

When we bought a new 2009 Toyota Highlander years ago I would take it to the dealership for oil changes as they were "free" for the first 30K miles. As I waited with the others for them to perform the services, I watched this same dealership employee show the exact same dirty cabin air filter to individuals one by one. The women generally fell for it and were horrified it was so dirty and the men were generally more skeptical. I just couldn't take it and would wait to for the scummy worker to return to his hive, then I would try to explain to people what they were trying to pull. Many appreciated it but some would dismiss me as not knowing WTF I was talking about, but hey, I had to try at least. I started getting the stink eye pretty quickly from that dealership scumbag after he caught on.

I always replace my own filters. That's a half step above pumping gas on the difficulty chart.

Video:


My tire:


Close enough to fool someone who isn't paying attention.

another favorite - telling you that you have an oil leak and they can smell the burned oil. If you refuse the thousand dollar service, they take used axel grease and smear some in your cabin filter bucket.

You bring it back because, lets face it used axel grease smells horrible, clean out the smear and Voila! fixed oil leak.

Damn that's shady.

They are flatout full of ****

Nothing new. Son brought his truck in to get inspected at quick lube shop. Shop said air filter was dirty and needs to be replaced. He then informs them that his dad and him replaced it last week.

that is flatout shady af

BCOBQ98 said:

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Nothing new. Son brought his truck in to get inspected at quick lube shop. Shop said air filter was dirty and needs to be replaced. He then informs them that his dad and him replaced it last week.

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My wife went to a quick lube shop to get an inspection. She called saying they told her the oil was dirty and needed to be changed.
1. How could they possibly know that without an oil analysis?
2. I replaced it last week.

Quote:

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The weird thing I didn't mention was that they flagged the nail in the tire as I was preparing to leave after service was completed. They sent the video and explained the service tech didn't tell them about it before they told me my car was ready, which was their explanation for why it did not appear on the service paperwork. I guess I should have mentioned that tidbit in the OP.

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So this is the service advisor trying to get more work. I guess they work on commission? They must have that video saved.

Ryan the Temp said:

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Ag for Life said:

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Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They then can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

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Just looked at the video again and compared it to my tire.

100% NOT my tire.

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Do they still have consumer reporters at local TV stations?

I'd be emailing that to a TV station yesterday

I'm flatout sorry you had to deal with that, OP

Well done

I think the service advisors are paid a percent of Any Upsell in addition to their base salary.So this may be just one more scam dreamed up by this particular advisor.

Just to echo Complete Idiot - that's a crime, right?

But then to add to it, they sent you the video, which could be incriminating evidence. That's just crazy, right?

I bet if you look at the video's meta-data, it wasn't even taken the same day...

CanyonAg77 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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Ag for Life said:

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Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They then can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

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Just looked at the video again and compared it to my tire.

100% NOT my tire.

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Do they still have consumer reporters at local TV stations?

I'd be emailing that to a TV station yesterday

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SLIME!!!!! IN THE TIRE MACHINE!!!!!

Iv'e got a good one for you. Bought a newer beater to replace the half-million mile Vibe. Picked up a '14 Escape Ecoboost. Did struts, brakes, oil change, plugs, air filter, hoses, headlights, v/c gasket, picked up wiper blades.
Put 3K miles on it and got a low boost code. Took it to CS Ford cause I was pressed for time.

The mechanic condemned the turbo, but didn't say anything about the waste gate actuator, which seems to be the common issue (online). They quoted $4500 to replace the turbo. I can buy it online from several dealers for $900. Book time is 6 hrs. Should be around $2,000.

Then they quote the BS stuff, such as brake fluid exchange, new spark plugs, wiper blades, trans flush, differential service, transfer case service, etc, etc, etc, to the tune of $4000.

I told the circus adviser that I gave less than half of the total quote for the car, and wasn't going to drop that much on it.

So the total quote was $8500. They only got the $100 diagnostic fee. I figured they would be high, but damn....

Keating?

More like flatout cheating, amiright?

aggiepaintrain said:

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that is flatout shady af

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CanyonAg77 said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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Ag for Life said:

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Probably the same video they send 5 times a day and if a couple fall for it, cha ching! Then he can enter an additional race somewhere after they sell an additional 100 sets of tires.

This is a similar scam to when they pull the dirtiest cabin air filter or air filter you've ever seen out from their desk drawer claiming it's out of your vehicle. They then can then charge to change a $15 cabin air filter for $100+

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Just looked at the video again and compared it to my tire.

100% NOT my tire.

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Do they still have consumer reporters at local TV stations?

I'd be emailing that to a TV station yesterday

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this.

and blowing them up on social media asking why they tried to sell a new tire.

With all the stories on this auto group I am shocked they haven't broken up/sold off to at least pretend to be run by better people at this point. It can't just be common knowledge on TA.