The ALL Florida Online Corvette Club - Gordon Chevy can't fix car

My name is Jay Troxell

For the fourth time, I've had problems with the Service Column Lock. Three years ago a dealer in AR supposedly did the recall work to my car. Six months later I had a problem and discovered that the dealer did not do the recall properly. After fighting with a second dealer in AR and twice having my car towed in, I had to provide them the copy of the recall and I thought I was good. Thought wrong!

Last week I got the dreaded Service Column Lock message again. So, knowing the history, I made another mistake. I had it towed to Gordon Chevy in Tampa. I provided them the invoices from the previous work showing that the column lock has been removed and a steering column bypass (I think GM calls it a relay) was installed. Their diagnosis, the BCM is bad. Only $1200 and it will be fixed!

After talking to several mechanics, including a GM certified one and the Owner of the Corvette Shop (on N. Dale Mabry), we all agreed that the steering column bypass is a more likely cause of the problem. I called Gordon and asked if they would like to take another look at it, specifically the steering column lock. They kept my car over the weekend. Monday Skip, the fixed operations manager called to tell me he was happy with the original diagnosis and the estimate is $1200. They never looked at the car again. They threw out terms like "certified GM mechanic" and other people's "Shade Tree Mechanics." Basically telling me that they knew what was wrong and everyone else did not. They didn't even know that I didn't have a steering wheel lock or a bypass, even after I provided an invoice stating it and they had the car!

After paying $83.83 for the diagnosis, I had my car towed to the Corvette Shop. Two hours later, after replacing the Steering Column Bypass, I was back on the road for only $135.

I went back to Gordon for my money. After arguing with them about the work that was done by the AR dealer (stated on the invoice), I provided them a copy of the recall that stated that this was correct. They went to GM and finally agreed to refund my $83.83. Nothing else. Not even an apology.

Don't take your car to Gordon Chevy. They don't know how to fix it!