Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toyota

Today has been interesting, and not in a good way.
I went by Mike Johnson Toyota to make an appointment for routine service: an oil and filter change, with a tire rotation.
I met a ROCK STAR in their service dept. named Brandon Fries, who said, «we’ll take care of you right now!» I was also advised that there was a recall on my Prius which would be addressed on Monday, since the parts had to be ordered.
I watched Sports Center on a big screen TV, while munching on popcorn and sipping bottled water in their nice comfortable lounge. There is a restaurant — inside the dealership — adjacent to the lounge. There was a masseuse on duty for free massages, although one should always leave a tip. (Every other day they have a manicurist on duty.) This is a GREAT place to wait while having a vehicle serviced.
A quick half hour later, the basic service has been done, and I am on to other things.
Brandon offered to have my car washed at no charge. I thanked him and declined, since I just had my car detailed. I am out the door. This was a great visit.
No problem, right?
{tire screech sound effect}
Wrong!
I kept hearing what sounded like a piece of gravel hitting the underside of my car every now and then. I didn’t pay much attention to it, why would I? As I neared home I heard a loud «KA-​CHUNK,» and when I looked in my mirror I saw black pieces of something come out from under my Prius. Yeah, I thought the same thing that you just did, namely «Oh $#!&, that’s not good!»
When I got home I lay down on the floor of my garage and to my shock I saw a large black plastic engine cover dragging the ground. Ah ha! Problem diagnosed. Lackadaisical mechanic doesn’t tighten the oil pan cover adequately so panel drops down and gets buggered.
Back to Mike Johnson Toyota. I’m a little PO’ed. Just a little.
I used to play fullback, so I adroitly side stepped a newbie service writer and went straight to Brandon. He saw the look on my face and he asked what was wrong. I told him to take a look under my car! He got down on his knees and did as I requested. His face turned red. He got on his intercom and basically yelled «mayday,» telling people to get there STAT. He turned to me and said, «don’t worry, we’ll make this right.» I told him that it had better not cost me anything, and he said of course not. «You didn’t bring the car in the way, and it’s not your fault! We’ll replace the part at no cost to you! We’ll make this right, Sam!»
My temper abated immediately. THAT IS THE TEXTBOOK PERFECT WAY TO HANDLE A BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE SITUATION!!! They had to order a new replacement cover, so I am going back tomorrow at 1:30 PM to have the part replaced at no cost. Brandon also said that if I didn’t mind waiting a little longer, they would knock out my recall repairs tomorrow as well, and save me an extra visit. «Oh heck, YES!»
Mike Johnson Toyota be advised… Brandon Fries is a certified ROCK STAR! Brandon will be the reason that I continue to have my Toyota Prius serviced at Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toyota, and Brandon Fries will be the reason that I will buy my next new Toyota from Mike Johnson Toyota. Give that man a raise, he knows what he’s doing!
*** UPDATE ***
Brandon «fixed» the problems caused by their mechanic. I was in and out the door in one hour. My car runs noticeably smoother after the service /​recall work.
What my MJ Toyota mechanic did for me on this visit:
1) Failed to properly replace the oil pan cover, resulting in severe damage to the panel.
2) Failed to provide an oil change notice on my windshield. This is a small oversight, but another sign that this mechanic has a problem with inattention to detail. (See above)
3) And if that wasn’t enough… today, 9.12.2015, my low tire pressure warning light came on. I checked my tire pressures, and the «mechanic» inflated all four tires to 32.0 PSI. The trouble is my Prius takes 35 PSI for the front tires and 33 PSI for the rear tires! This means that all four tires were UNDERINFLATED by the mechanic, because they either didn’t KNOW the correct pressures for a Prius and/​or he or she was just too LAZY to look on the driver’s door jamb for the correct inflation pressures.
Underinflated tires decrease MPG and tire life. I’m driving a Prius in the first place, because of its high MPG and underinflated tires kind of defeats the purpose.
I hope that MJ Toyota looks up the mechanic who «serviced» my car, and advises him or her to please be more thorough. I’m sure that my mechanic is a good, honest, hard working person, but the service that I received was not up to the usual Mike Johnson Toyota standards.
Having multiple «not paying attention to details» issues makes me question whether I want to go back to MJ Toyota for service. What will they forget to do next time?
Brandon should NOT have had to «FIX» someone else’s SNAFU, but I’m happy and thankful that he did.
PS: …and NO, I don’t need to be upsold to new wiper blades. LOL

I usually have really awesome customer service at Mike Johnson’s Hickory Toyota; however, the past couple times that I have had work there, the customer service was greatly lacking by a gentleman named Nick. I was waiting in the lobby and saw other employees call their person by name in the lobby; I saw other employees greet their customers and sit 1:1 with customers to discuss issues or concerns; but when it came time for me to get my car, all I heard was, «you’re ready!» yelled out in the lobby and I looked up and Nick was looking at me: no calling me by name, no coming up to me. I had a coupon that I gave to him because he hadn’t given me the cost of the service yet, and without telling me the cost, laughed and said, «if you want to save a dollar, I can just take the dollar off for you.» Well, I didn’t realize that it was only going to be a dollar difference, but thank you, Nick, for embarrassing me in front of the lobby customers; and no, I don’t need to save a dollar. I had asked him to change my number in the system because it had been changed and he said for me to write it down and he would enter into the system. I called up there yesterday to schedule an appointment and it was Nick; and the customer service was atrocious. He asked me when I would like to bring my car in and I said, «how about now.» He laughed (he likes to do this apparently) and said that it was way too crazy in there at that moment could I come at a different time. I asked Nick to give me a time that would suit them since they were too busy, and was confused as to why he would even ask me to choose a time if there were times that are «too busy.» He asked if I would come in around 6pm and I obliged. I actually got there about 4:45 and a very nice young gentleman with red hair (he’s always very polite) informed me that the wait time would be hardly nothing and that he would let me know when it’s ready. He did and then he showed me the way to… Nick! Nick said nothing to me about my service, went over none of the paperwork with me, took my card, swiped it and told me thanks. This is the best part about Nick’s customer service… I asked him where I could find my car and he said, «I don’t know. It’s somewhere out there (while pointing to the parking lot).» Like I said, I usually have great customer service, but Nick needs to be better advised on this notion. And, he never put my number in the system, so I guess I’ll just remember the old number when I call for service.

MJHT haas communicated a solution with us. We are leaving the original review, but are pleased that they are trying to make amends.

The only place to buy your next car. I have purchased several vehicles from Mike Johnson Hickory Toyota both for business and personal uses. The ownership and sales staff are top notch! They truly understand how to treat their customers. My family and I will continue to by vehicles from the dealership in the future.

Great service. In and out within an hour.

Probably one of the nicest dealerships I’ve ever had so spend an hour or so waiting in to have my car serviced.
The amber glow of the «maint. req.» light meant an unplanned visit here on my recent mini-​vacation to visit my parents. Normally I’d have just waited until I returned home to get a simple oil change, but I’m glad I did both for the fact that it turned out I basically had no brake pads left and for the opportunity to discover a really nice Toyota dealer.
With no appointment, the RAV4 rolled out of the drizzle last Saturday and into the warm service bay. Turned over the keys to the service manager who showed me inside to the waiting area.
WOW. Now this is a nice place to have to wait for your car. Much nicer than the crappy amenities I’ve experienced at so many other dealerships.
— Lots of comfy seating
— 2 widescreen tvs (and a 3^rd in the conference room area) to watch, they were all tuned to college football that day
— plenty of complementary snacks (chips, cookies, peanuts, crackers, etc — think of everything that might be in some over-​priced vending machine arranged nicely in a couple of wicker baskets)
— complementary bottle water and 3 – 4 types of sodas (there was also a soda machine if you wanted something else)
Of course there were the expected pots of coffee (didn’t sample so cannot comment on the quality of the brew). But the coolest thing by far was the fresh popped popcorn machine. Mmmmmmm I love fresh popcorn. And if you come on Wednesday evenings — they have free manicures while you wait apparently.
Oh yeah… the car service.
They did my basic service, rotated the tires and replaced my brake pads all for about a ¹⁄₃ of what I would have paid for the same service back in NoVA. Plus they let me know that my regular dealer had not replaced a filter they should have at my recent 30K service. They did the replacement and boxed up the old one (without my asking) so I could take it up with my normal dealership service department.
Overall, an incredibly positive experience on my visit here. I’m actually down in the Hickory area just frequently enough that I might consider bringing the car in for more of its regular maintenance.