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Negative Feedback About My Dealer

Hello to all.

The Service dept. came to my work dropped off a loaner truck (4/23/03) and took mine in for repairs. ?Then the nightmare begins. ?They were going to replace the seals on the midgate for the third time, along with the carpet. The carpet had salt stains that actually crystallized on top of the carpet. I also had them repair the drivers side seat. ( the threads were coming out of a seam) ?After about 1 week I called them continuously to see when I could get my AV back. They were going to wait for some rain to see if it leaked before the new carpet was installed. ?All they could say was call back in a couple of days after it rains and they should have it done. ?I was finally able to pick my AV up 4 weeks later (5/21/03) Can you believe it. When I got home I noticed grease stains on the new carpet and on the rear seat. As I began to look the truck over more carefully with a neighbor we noticed that The Dealership had did more harm than good. They tore two holes in the door panels, put a big scratch in ?the drivers door, gouged the plastic on the floor that holds the carpet down and scratched the plastic on the B pillars.It looks like they did this while they were putting the seats back in. Looks like it is time to find another dealership that takes pride in their work. I am going to make a call to the regional office on Tuesday. I did not take my AV in to be destroyed I thought I took it in for repairs. ?:8:
 
I feel for you.. Thats how I feel when I took my z06 vette in for service.

You always take it in spotless and expect it back the same..
 
Blue_Lagoon said:
They were going to wait for some rain to see if it leaked before the new carpet was installed. ?All they could say was call back in a couple of days after it rains and they should have it done.
Wait for it to rain! :eek: They never heard of a garden hose or car wash? ???

-- SS
 
SS

They told me they did try a garden Hose for about 2hrs and it didn't leak at all. For some odd reason when it rains real hard and the back of the truck is on an incline that is when the water comes into the cab. So I guess that two of the days that it was in the shop were my fault. I told them that before they put the new carpet in that they should park it on an incline to see if it would leak. One day later it rains and BINGO the cab takes on more water.

The Service manager says that the seals on the AV and any convertible can't withstand more than 18 pounds of pressure and that car washes put out more pressure than that. I think he is full of it.
 
He might be right on that one...... I know if I take my Avalanche through a drive throught car wash I will get a little water coming through the seals on the top panals. It does not leak when it rains. I would go back and do a LOT of complaining at that dealership! Let them know you are not happy with the time it took OR the condition they left your Avalanche in. GO right to the top if you need to and I would bet someone will listen!

Butch
 
The dealer is doing you a favor by keeping the truck that long. In MD, if its in the shop for over 30 days, it qualifies under the lemon law. As long as they give you a comperable loaner, it does nothing but strengthen your case. Good luck!
 
Skidd
I had the name of the dealership posted earlier but took it off because I thought that I could get into some kind of legal trouble. Does anyone know if can post the name of the dealership without any kind of legal repercussions?
 
Blue_Lagoon said:
Skidd
I had the name of the dealership posted earlier but took it off because I thought that I could get into some kind of legal trouble. ?Does anyone know if can post the name of the dealership without any kind of legal repercussions?
Yep, OK I understand your concerns... my thought is that provided you are accurate in your description of the events... that is, not making stuff up just to hurt their reputation, then you should have no problems with disclosing who they are..

BUT.... I ain't no legal bloke either, so I really have no clue about the law and I'm just trying to apply common sense to my answer above... can that work when we are talking about the law?

Anyway are there any legal types out there who can offer an opinion on this?
 
I tell you what Skidd. If you think that I am making things up, you are wrong. I told the salesman that I bought the AV from that I would buy another vehicle from him if the price was right. I just would not take it to their service dept. for work. I just don't know what the law is here in OHIO. I am not the only one in the area that has purchased a vehicle from this particular dealership and had numerous problems with the service dept. I found this out after the fact though. It use to be known that they had a great service dept.
Does anyone know if GM has a site that you can look up a service dept. ratings? I am going to ask the service manager on Tuesday what their rating is.
If anyone wants to send a private message to me for the name of the dealership. I would not have a problem giving it to you.
 
Blue Lagoon I feel your pain, the headliner in my AV is separated about 1/2 inch from the windshield, my service manager was questioning me regarding the monitor in the sun-visor, trying to say that the sun-visor had something to do with it, which I know it didn't,
You should PM Chief and ask if it's ok to mention the dealers name here.
 
FYI, lots of Dealers names have been posted in the past. For both positive and negative reasons. No reason it should a problem if you're telling it like it is.
 
Here is a great story..

Was I surprised after a few days to find out that my Avalanche was hit. I came out of the mall and looked at the rear and said to my wife something doesn't look right. She mentioned to me that she noticed it at home but being so close to the bumper we didn't think anything about it.

Happened between Tuesday - Friday and I only went to Work and home so it must have happened at work. No big deal. Passanger side bracket under the bumper was bent so I bent it back. Still didn't look good. Took it to my local Chevrolet Body Shop to find out what's involved in getting it fixed.

Lou Bachrodt in Pompano Beach Florida. David Brown assisted me telling me that 2 parts needed to be replaced to bring the bumper back to the original condition. $200 in parts. $75 in labor. I figured it's brand new with 2000 miles on it I'll get the thing fixed.

Bring it over today with the parts and he tells me 2 hours is all they need. I call 2 hours later and it's done. I told him I would be down.

Hold on the story gets really good now.

Arrive and look at the truck and the bumper really doesn't look much different. Now what I mean is that the step where you place your foot now had the plastic cover back on and everything was put back together but there still was a slight tilt and the spacing between the bumper and the side cladding was not as equal in distance as the drivers side.

David comes out and tells me that they are always different with regards to the spacing and I understand that there are differences but I would have thought that it would have been perfect. So I ask him for the parts and he tells me that they are in the back. I didn't press him too much so I left and on the way home it bugged me to think that I just spent $275 and it wasn't perfect. So I jump under the truck at home to find out that only 1 part was replaced. The larger beam costing $165 wasn't there since the old one was never changed.

Back to the dealer and everyone was so surprise to see me. I demanded the parts back and David comes out telling me that ohh by the way they didn't need 1 of the parts and here it is. The Tech thought he placed it in the back for you. Ohh really.... I asked him why the bumper wasn't perfect like he said it was going to be. His excuse was that the outer part of the steel was bent and even thought they tried using a frame adjuster they just could not get it back to the original shape. It was the best that they could do for the money. Now if I wanted to change the cladding, bumper and all items costing over $1000 it would be perfect but they were trying to help me out. This was not an insurance claim.

What a scam. I have to say it's all together but I really felt that they were not up front with me telling me what was going on. I would never recommend this dealership for body work again. Talk about a let down. My next choice is to look around at another dealer and see what they say. I just wanted other people on this forum to know about this dealership and what they tried to pull. If I would have never gone back they probably would have pocketed the $165 part.

I have to say honestly is important and all David had to say when I picked it up was look it didn't come out like we thought. I have the part that we didn't use here so you can return it and get your money back. It was more involved then we thought and to fix it like new it's going to take these things to make it right. That would have been more then fair. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist but come on we all love our Avalanche's and we want them to look their best.

Beware Lou Bachrodt. The word is out.
 
Man, I understand how you must feel.

I remember a stat growing-up that people who had a good experience buying a car told something like 3 people. Bad experiences, however, were shared with 8.

With the Internet, you can magnify those figures (or whatever they may be)!

I participate in another forum for my sports car and it's amazing when folks get good service - people rave about it, send others, etc.

Was it really worth the relatively little money they made to cause you such dissatisfaction and get the action plastered on the net?

Sorry to hear about your experience.
 
heyheyrca, that is a real bummer and how often do they convieniently 'forget' to put customer parts in the back?

Thanks for sharing.
 
Here in the great state of New Jersey(yeah right :8:) you can't pump your own gas. Some how the rubber bumpers for the gas tank door keep disappearing.
This has happened on my 99 Sierra, 02 AV, and now my 03 AV. The only conclusion I can come to is that the attendants are stealing them when I gas up :8:. To add insult to injury. Bennett's Chevrolet in Egg Harbor Township, NJ
charges me $4.05 ea for new ones. Online the price at GM Parts direct is:

GM PART # 15768697
CATEGORY: All
PACK QTY: 10 CORE CHARGE: $0.00
GM LIST: $2.28
OUR PRICE: $1.35
DESCRIPTION: BMPR-DOOR

That's 177% over list price and also why I'd never buy another vehicle from them even if it was for free.


 
Are you serious!?! You really can not pump your own gas? Is that at all stations or just some? Are you even alowed to get out of the truck?

Oh yeah, that dealer sounds pretty shady too!

~bekind
 
Mellow Yellow said:
Here in the great state of New Jersey(yeah right :8:) you can't pump your own gas. Some how the rubber bumpers for the gas tank door keep disappearing.
This has happened on my 99 Sierra, 02 AV, and now my 03 AV. The only conclusion I can come to is that the attendants are stealing them when I gas up :8:.

AAAARGH! I just got gas in NJ yesterday, following a job interview. I hate other people touching my AV! NJ has the best gas prices in the tri-state area, but I hate the attendants putting their mitts on my Av. :8: Now I have to go out and check for my gas door bumpers! :8: :7:
 
bekind said:
Are you serious!?! You really can not pump your own gas? Is that at all stations or just some? Are you even alowed to get out of the truck?

Oh yeah, that dealer sounds pretty shady too!

~bekind

Yes NJ is Pretty FD up :8:- However - I dont let these Idiots Pump My gas and have yet to have an Incident - Most People are lazy so They could care less if I do there job for Them.
 
Can't pump gas in Oregon, either! It's really not that bad and gas isn't much more expensive. (I lived in Portland for 4 years - hope they get MLB! Great state and wonderful people and we miss the mountains and the coast - but Houston is also a great town!) I do prefer to pump my own gas if only to not have the attendant scratch the paint all around the gas cap filler door. They would also tend to overfill the tank. But, I tend to baby my vehicles.
 
OK, someone clue me in here...

Is there an attendent union or something driving this or has some genius in NJ and OR decided that we are too stupid or unsafe to pump our own gas ???
 
When the wife and kids and I drove to Disney World, we stopped off on the Garden State Parkey to gas up. I think I pumped my own gas on my mini van. I always prefer to fill up my vehicles, for lots of reasons. But to steal the rubber bumpers - thats a bunch of bovine pucks.

Leave it to NJ to do something this stupid.

Just recalled - under Ohio law station cannot provide matchbooks to those buying cigartettes, but they can sell butane lighters. Some genius probably lit a cigarette while gassing up and dropped the lit match on the ground. :2:
 
Oregon made self service illegal after someone accidentally (smoking while filling up?) killed several people at a self-service station in the 70's or 80's - so I was told. No union pressure, just a safety issue borne out of a terrible accident. As a consequence, there are far fewer gas stations, unlike Houston where every Kroger, Wal-mart, and nearly every street corner has a gas station. So far as I know, the attendants in Oregon are not paid well. but minimum wage in Oregon isn't bad. One guy would man 8 pumps or more running from one car to the next. No oil check, tire pressure check, or window wash - just gas. It is full-service in name only. Nicer stations like the Chevron I went to in downtown Portland (near PSU) would wash the windshield.
 
I stopped at a chevron in Gold Beach, got the full treatment. Of course the lady did admit she was checking out the AV,....she owned an 02, and mine is an 03. If the bumpers were being removed at gas stations, I would make it a habit of checking these after the tank is full. Only takes a couple seconds.
 
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