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The Ranting Room Got a gripe about life? Want to sound off about the unfairness of the universe? Does something just REALLY piss you off? Well, come on in and talk about it!

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Unread 12-15-2008, 10:54 AM   #1
LEJ ZO6
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Default Service Department Rant!

There are a lot of reasons that GM is in trouble and none of them are going to be easy to fix. As a customer I have a complaint about GM service departments that I would like to have addressed while they are trying to clean up their act.

I have purchased and driven GM vehicles since 1965. Most of them have been Corvettes. I think they are great cars and both quality and performance has improved by leaps and bounds over the years. While it isn’t always a pleasant experience negotiating the purchase I have learned to deal with the sales organization. With the help of the internet I feel that I can, at least, get a fair price from an honest dealer.

Looking back over the years, however, I cannot recall ever having had a pleasant, positive experience with a service department. I try to do my part by purchasing the GMPP extended warranty sold by the dealer so that any vehicle defects should be addressed with a minimum of hassle. GM customers are led to believe that most everything will be repaired at no cost under these warranties.

When I have to take the vehicle in for repair the initial contact with the service advisor is usually pleasant. Things often go down hill from there. Because of the quantity of cars returned for service/repair each day it is almost impossible to have a problem addressed and/or fixed, or even looked at while you wait. This means you have to have someone pick you up from the dealership and take you somewhere while your car is waiting to be looked at or you have to wait for dealer provided transportation to take you somewhere on their schedule and at their convenience. Then you have to deal with the same process at the end of the day to get back to the dealership to pick up your car.

As a customer I view the service advisor as my representative to the dealership and feel they should represent my interests and assure that I am satisfied and that I have a positive experience. Unfortunately, I get the impression that the dealership mouths the words “customer satisfaction” but that they don’t have that very high on their priority list. It is rare that I take the car in that the service advisor doesn’t find some reason that I have to pay for something. If it isn’t an extended warranty co-pay it is something that is not covered or some service that they feel needs to be performed. It seems that the dealerships are trying to turn the service advisor into a sales person for the service department. Not very good for customer relations.

The last time I took my 2008 ZO6 to the dealer was for a “service engine soon” light. Getting the problem corrected took ½ day of my time, a $100 fee and an attempt by the female service advisor to convince me I needed to have my oil changed even though the DIC said I was 35% away from the recommended service interval.
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Unread 12-15-2008, 11:21 AM   #2
Rich Z
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Personally, I think it is just flat out wrong-headed for any business to treat their service department as a profitable source of revenue. Taking the long look at this, it is directly counter productive to providing incentive for the product itself to be as problem free as possible. If a business makes money on FIXING defects and failures, where is the incentive to not have those defects and failures in the product in the first place? Having a product returned for needed service SHOULD be financially painful to the seller, so it provides incentive for the manufacturer, or the resellers of such products, to insure that what they are selling will NOT have problems that will require that service.

As consumers, we would like nothing better then to buy a car that we would NEVER need to have emergency service done to. Truth be known, it was the imports that started coming into this country years ago that were MUCH MUCH more reliable than American made cars that FORCED the domestic manufacturers to follow suit and begin making their cars more reliable. That should have been a clear and unambiguous signal to those persons who make the decisions in the automobile industry about what we WANT from what we buy for our transportation. We don't want to be treated as cash cattle by buying a product that will produce even more money after the initial sale for them because of the failures in the products they sell.
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Unread 12-15-2008, 12:10 PM   #3
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It is for the reasons you outline, Rich, that I stopped buying "Big Three" cars for my daily drivers years ago. Except for the vette, you will not find a GM, Ford, or Mopar product in my garage. I can't even begin to compare my service experiences (or lack thereof) with Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, or BMW with those in my previous life. I currently have an '03 4 Runner with 50,000 mi that is still running the original battery!

Many have been saying the same for years but nobody in Detroit has been listening. Detroit has danced, but now the piper is at the door wanting to be paid....
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Unread 12-15-2008, 12:12 PM   #4
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Oh yeah, I almost forgot....guess who will be called upon to pay the piper??
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Unread 12-15-2008, 12:23 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LEJ ZO6 View Post

As a customer I view the service advisor as my representative to the dealership and feel they should represent my interests and assure that I am satisfied and that I have a positive experience.
Unless YOUR name is listed on the service advisors check as the "payor", I don't think you stand a snowballs chance in hell at getting him/her to stand up for you. And if the service advisor is being "incented" (getting bonuses for keeping costs down and revenues up), then it'll be even worse. I shudder ANYTIME I have to take any of my cars to a dealer. It's ALWAYS a pain in the a$$!!! In Massachusetts, I've found a place that I trust, and have been going there for over 15 years. In Florida it's a different story. I did take my Vette to Furman's over in Brandon to get the A/C fixed. I sweated over that decision for a couple of weeks before I decided to let them do it. It was only after hearing a few people relate good experiences with them that I finally decided to give them a shot. They talked to me about what I wanted done, and told me that they would call me with a price within 2 hours. 1/2 hour later, they called--told me what the bill would be and what they were going to change--and when I could pick up the Vette. When I got there to get it, it was ready as promised, the bill was exactly what they said it would be, and they had given me a free wash and vacuum! Even after ALL of that going right, I'm still reluctant to go to a dealer for service. I keep thinking "Man, I lucked out on that one. How long's the luck going to last, and when (not if) am I gonna get screwed by a dealer". I read all of the posts like yours and am convinced that finding an "un-affiliated" service facility somewhere around where I live in Florida is becoming a "MUST DO." Extended Warranty contracts range from downright "crappy" to excellent, and homework needs to be done before the purchase. I purchased an extended warranty on the used 2006 Sebring that my wife bought in 2007. Started seeing the check engine light come on and go off. It finally came on solid and I took it to my mechanic. He looked at the problem and told me that it looked to him like a cylinder head needed replaced, and that since I had an extended warranty I should take it to the Chrysler dealer to have the work done. He didn't charge me for the time or the diagnosis, even though he wasn't gonna get any work out of it. I took it to the Chrysler dealer, only to receive a phone call telling me that the warranty company wouldn't honor the repair because I lived less than 40 miles from where I purchased the car and warranty. It was 36 miles, and I had to take the Chrysler Sebring to a Hundai dealership to have the work done. It took those fools over a week to replace the cylinder head, and we had to foot the rental car bill ourselves! My opinion......... dealers and extended warranty people are out to take as much of your money as you are willing to let them take. Just my 2 cents worth, and over.
Andy
P.S. I really did have a positive experience with Furman in Brandon, and they will be the only dealer that I will go to (if absolutely necessary) in the future.
Andy
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Unread 12-15-2008, 01:27 PM   #6
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I have a friend that owns/runs an automotive repair shop in Tampa. I talked to him about warranties before I bought it. He advised me to go ahead and pay the bucks for the factory warrantee because if a major component failed it would be worth it in the long run.

To tell you the truth I think I would rather keep the money from the factory warranty and have him do the work if something fails. He does good work at a fair price and I know I can trust his shop.
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Unread 12-15-2008, 01:47 PM   #7
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I paid a little over $1300.00 to have the A/C repaired and an oil change done. They replaced the compressor (lifetime warranty on the compressor, but not the labor to change it), replaced the receiver/drier, replaced the belt, replaced miscellaneous o-rings and gaskets, charged the system, made sure it worked correctly with no leaks, lube/oil/filter, washed and vacuumed. I don't think that this was excessive, and have seen prices for just the compressor in the 650-700 dollar range. It seems to be working just fine when I get there to use it, so I'm not unhappy with the job at all. I know that I'm not capable of doing the repair, and had to trust that the dealer had all of the tools necessary to do the job correctly. Still, I was really "antsy" till I got it back and put some miles on it.
Andy
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Unread 12-15-2008, 02:30 PM   #8
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Default Having both my '06 and '82

....serviced by Fischer (Titusville) and Steele (Cocoa) Chevrolet since ownership, I've never had a personality problem. If anything it was the cars getting, and keeping, me angry (continued persisting problem syndrome).

Both dealerships have given impecable service with politeness to boot. They have bent over backwards to see me happy, as well as other Corvette owners I know. Now, granted that may not carry over to the other cars in GM's line, but I can only speak for myself and what the Corvette represents to the dealership.

I'm sure it has something to do with the Corvette being one of GM's pride and joy, and they best stick to keeping that customer happy if they want those big bucks coming in!
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Unread 12-15-2008, 03:00 PM   #9
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I was one of those service advisors of which you speak. It is a very difficult job at best. It's hard to make a customer feel good about their service experience when you are taking their money away from them. Yes , service advisors are paid on commission (most of them anyway). I was paid 5% on all warranty, internal, and customer pay tickets. We were trained to sell you things in the spirit of keeping your GM car "All GM", and using the "Mr. Goodwrench" facade to reassure you that you are getting the best possible service available. In truth, it simply was not the case. Of 22 "technicians", there were 2 that I would let work on MY car. As for keeping with the GM OEM parts, that didn't always happen either. I sold a set of OEM plug wires to a gentleman as part of a tune-up on his Corvette for $135.00.(that's $135.00 just for the plug wires) Keep in mind, this was 1986. The parts department didn't have them in stock, so they bought a set from the local parts house for $39.00. The customer was not told of this substitution, but still was charged $135.00 for the set of plug wires. The total cost for the tune-up was well over $300.00 for plug wires, AC plugs, and a PCV valve. As for the infamous GMPP extended warranty....the dealership made about a 50% profit on each one sold. I made $25.00 for each customer I "steered" to the finance manager to purchase a policy. I was paid $25.00 "spiff money" for each 30,000 mile inspection I sold. I sold ten one month. the next month I only sold 8 and was threatened with termination if I didn't increase my sales each month. The final straw was when they started the "sliding scale" parts mark-up. If a part cost $9.99 or less it was marked up 400%. $10.00 to $19.99 was 200%, $20.00 to $50.00 100%, etc. I really liked the auto business and I made more money there than anywhere else in my life, but after a while the money wasn't important anymore. This is one reason the auto manufacturers are in the shape they're in today. Dealer greed is a direct reflection of the companies.
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Unread 12-15-2008, 04:48 PM   #10
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I have to agree with Beepster

Except for the Volvo (Ford) that the wife bought a few years back and the one the daughter has (for the safety aspect-per the wife-again), all my cars ar Toyota products.

The Scion is the only one I've got a warranty on but I'm happy with the service department and pricing so far.

The 89 Landcruiser is almost unbreakable, and the boy's 83 Toy 4x4 puts up with his abuse with hardly a whimper

We've had Toyota products for years and will likely have more in the future.

I'll buy another vette, but not new and it'll be a toy
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