Service Manager taking parts off RO's

[gully]

Rob:
First, this is a big deal! I believe these unethical business practices will catch up with this owner. We all have checks and balances in which we occasionally monitor, but this case seems like it would be full time job for you if it continues!

I think I would confront the Service Mgr. and set a policy up for these instances of adjusting pricing or removing parts. We all have some adjustments to pricing now and then and if parts are taken off an RO, it needs accounted for and written off fairly. Have him communicate with you directly on exceptions. Educate him. Take small steps to TRAIN HIM IN and DONT tick him off. Probably dont restrict his access to the parts side (at least not yet) but I definitely would eventually!

Keeping a good close relationship with your Service Mgr. is important. At least in my case. Hes my biggest customer!

Id keep the owner out of it. Let the owner worry about the Sales Dept. problems..Ha Ha

Gully

[Richard]

Rob,

I tend to shoot straight from the hip here, so bear with me; you work with a criminal; that said, why in the world would your Owner allow the service manager to steal from him to the tune of $3k a month??? Because thats exactly what it is, especially if it ends up in an inventory shortage come year end. I would have a meeting right now with your owner and make him aware that you will NOT be respondsible for the inventory shortage, and make sure you have a witness to this problem, and that the owner is aware of it, and allows it to happen.....*shaking head* I just can't believe someone with the investment of a Toyota Dealer would allow this to happen....

[jdaniel]

They are right, Rob. You can only see port#, counterman number (if entered), and date in the parts history. Do you have access to the service area report generator? If so we might be able to figure something out. Even if you can't get more details, you can still supplement your facts with "circumstantial evidence".

Jack

[eric the red]

The SM's conduct is totally unprofessional, unethical and dishonest. He should not have access to the parts side of things, and you should not have access to the service side. That produces responsibility and accountability. As things stand now, you are not managing your department, but merely filling a line on an org chart. The SM can be locked out of parts by your system administrator. How would your owner feel if you went in to the sales side and knocked a few thousand off every month because you though the car prices were too high?

[partsmandean]

If this problem were to confront me, I believe that I would take a weekend and do a physical inventory right now before you get any farther into the year. If you're suspicions are correct, your inventory is already going to be severely shy, not the percentage that you would normally expect to have. If you're inside of your percentages and counts don't seem to be out of line, maybe there's a possibility of parts being charged to the wrong RO's and not being caught by the advisors/warranty clerks? I've seen this happen a time or two!

[This message has been edited by partsmandean (edited 05-09-2003).]

[dodgeboy]

AFTER YOUR PHYSICAL INVENTORY IS DONE, TAKE YOUR REPORTS AND A COPY OF ALL THESE REPLYS ON THE DEALERS EDGE AND BRING THEM TO THE OWNER. IF HE STILL DOESN'T ACT YOU MIGHT AS WELL MOVE ON!

TO ANOTHER JOB

[This message has been edited by dodgeboy (edited 05-07-2003).]

[gman]

Rob,

If you can't make your owner truly understand the severity of this situation and get the SM locked out of any parts functions...do yourself a favor, get out now.
Life is too short to have to deal with people like this.

gman

[DaleH]

Wow!!! I agree with the others... you and the dealer need to get this settled and get the service manager out of parts. I am a service manager... and I also think you are dealing with a thief. Taking the parts off an RO is only one of the things he is doing to make the dealership lose money.

I would suggest you get your manufacturer rep involved a little. Ask him/her if they have a class on "Internal Controls" such as GM has - and they will tell you that there is an extremely high probability that supplies, tools, and even cash is leaving the dealership. If he is taking parts off repair orders, he is taking labor off too... when the customer pays cash... I would bet on it!!

[Tundra]

Unbelievable!
I don't often respond to posts, but this one pisses me off!
Who is your sysyem admin? Who has the admin password in you dealership? I have been doing this for 30 years and have seen a lot. We had a service manager that got the admin password and preprogrammed it into one key on all the service keyboards so that the writers could go in and change parts prices and remove parts from tickets. Get your sys admin to remove him from parts access and check the writers also. Change the admin password!! We caught the svc manager doing this, and he was gone in a matter of weeks. We blew him out of the computer in case someone else in service had his logon. The comptroller was "fond?" of the admin password and did not want to change it. That's when we found out from a writer that quit that there was a preprogrammed key on all the terminals in service into the admin area.When the customers came in and questioned thier bill, the service dept discounted the parts prices or took them off the ticket to apease the customers- thus making themselfs look like heros but not costing anything to the svc dept. Another trick is changing the customer type to employee, or wholesale which will discount the whole repair order. Anything that you find, charge to acct 7113 service policy ajustment and have the accountant credit parts dept.
I don't know what region you are in. but contact your DSPM at Toyota. They are trained to help out in these situations.One of the criteria for the excellence award is that the dept. be profitable.
Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Tundra (edited 05-08-2003).]

[david byrne]

Wow, talk about stirring up a hornets nest!
Yes the SM is wrong. But it is still supposed to be a team effort. If I take parts off a ticket (I have the back counter do it and charge appropriately 67d etc.) and if I change prices & I do - it is for CSI, or because some HUMAN made a mistake, or maybe to keep the sale (same reasons parts does it). But I agree he was wrong if the parts are taken off and not accounted for but discounting is okay in my book but should be restricted to certain personnel.
Again remember it is a team effort and since Service is the biggest customer try to educate the S.M.