‘AFTER YOU SIGN THEY SWITCH UP.’
A woman who says that sales staff turned on the charm to get the deal done got a very different reception when she came back for service. Her five-second TikTok complaining about it has drawn more than 2.4 million views and furious agreement from customers, former salespeople, and even some service advisors who spend their days on the other side of the counter.
TayJanee (@tayjanee) posted the five-second clip on April 21. There’s no dialogue. Instead, a text overlay reads, “Ever notice how rude car dealerships are to you in the service department after you buy a brand new vehicle from them?????? LMAO.”
The top comment, from user6121732456206, signaled that this was a familiar experience. “And your salesman walks right by you like he never met you,” they wrote.
Lou Reign noticed the same thing, writing, “Suddenly nobody is offering water or anything.” And Dinero summed it up in the terse register the comments section ran on: “BRO AFTER YOU SIGN THEY SWITCH UP.”
TayJanee herself chimed in with specifics. She said she bought a Jeep and was told for the first year and a half that squeaking brakes were normal, only to eventually be told that she needed new ones. A family friend inspected the brakes and said they were completely fine.
In a separate reply, she described bringing the car in for a highway-speed steering-wheel noise.
“The service desk employee told me she needed to take my car for a quick drive in the parking lot to see if she could hear the noise — otherwise the mechanics wouldn’t look at it,” she wrote. “I explained that the noise only happens at higher speeds on the highway, but she insisted that if she couldn’t hear it, they wouldn’t check it that day.” She says she eventually took the advisor onto the highway herself, at which point the noise was audible and a part was ordered.
One popular comment came from someone who self-identified as a service advisor. “Service Advisor here … we don’t hate you,” wrote Dre. “We just hate the promises Sale’s gave you and half of them aren’t true. Apologies for taking it out on you guys. We need to work on that.”
Several other advisors echoed the point. “It’s because we have to deal with the false promises that the salesman give you because they just want you to buy the car,” wrote Liz. Johnathan Greenberg put it even more bluntly, writing, “Sales promises the world and make customers think everything’s covered so they can get the sale and it falls on service.”
Nikki Reads, who claimed to be a former warranty manager, offered a longer explanation. “The amount of times I’ve upset a customer denying warranty claims because it’s normal wear and tear or service but their sales person told them it was warranty is immeasurable,” they wrote.
In a sense, it’s nothing personal, just a matter of incentives. Car salespeople and service advisors operate on very different commission structures that pull in opposing directions. Salespeople typically earn a percentage of the gross profit on each vehicle sold, which means their incentive ends at signing.
Service advisors, meanwhile, often work almost entirely on commission from the services they sell. As the North Carolina Consumer Council warns, “Most service advisors earn little or no base salary; instead, they make a percentage of each service they sell.” That means warranty work and free first services—the things a new-car buyer is most likely to come in for—can feel like money lost rather than relationship-building opportunities.
Motor1 previously reported on a Chevrolet salesman who walked viewers through his own commission math, explaining why finance-office add-ons and extended warranties generate far higher margins than the car itself.
That context matches up with observations from other commenters. “It’s the finance manager after you decline all the extra stuff they try to push,” wrote Rrrrrkkkkk. Others described finance managers insulting their profession, yelling when they brought an outside check, or going silent once a buyer turned down a $4,000 bumper-to-bumper add-on.
Not every service advisor in the comments section defended the behavior. “As a Toyota technician I can tell you if you are coming in for your free first 5 services and they are treating you poorly because it’s just a free service then they are shooting themselves in the foot,” wrote Henry Tierney131. “That is their opportunity to build a relationship with the customer and ensure customer loyalty.”
Several commenters said they’d already made the switch on that basis alone. Emmainthepit wrote, “Switched to Toyota & never been happier!” BabyRena said she bought her next Ford at an Audi dealership because her local Ford service department had soured her on the brand.
TayJanee’s response to one commenter made the broader point: “Don’t sell cars to people then be mad when they bring them in 2-4 months after buying them because they’re junk. Got warranty for a reason.”
Motor1 reached out to TayJanee via TikTok direct message for additional comment. We’ll be sure to update this if she responds.
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