I've had enough

[ToniCipriani]

It all started out on a day when my suspension was making a funny clunking noise at low speeds, about two weeks ago. I've talked some other G6 owners, and it was actually a bulletin, so I took her in. I brought the TSB number along with me, just to speed things up and help them out. First off, the guy didn't really pay too much concern, and started dissing me off with like "yeah we have those things already", and wasn't really letting me express my concern. Then it's the standard routine, looking up if there's other work to be done. Turns out that there's a huge list, ranging from brake maintenance and annual service. However, these were actually done, when I was in Waterloo at another Chevy dealership because of my location at that time, also for price (59.95 vs 99.95 per set, just to lubricate some slider pins and cleaning), and it was understandable that they don't have a national network for regular maintenance work, so they didn't know about it. I declined their offer to do the work, since it was already done.

So the warranty repair work proceeded, after getting everything set up. Right around 1-2PM that day, I was notified that my car's work was done, but here's everything starts. Turns out that the guy was just trying to get some business on the phone. Over the phone, he was like telling me about my brakes. Content was basically, "yeah, your pads are going, and by the look you need new rotors too..." He made it sound like it was complete urgence, and tried to push me to make a decision immediately. I decided that I needed more research into better alternatives, since their quoted price was way too high. So once again, I declined the offer. However, when I got there to get my car back, I asked him if my brakes were metal to metal. His tone totally changed from what he was like over the phone, and it's like, "no there's more than 40% of the pads left, and whoever did stuff to your brakes didn't do it properly so there's still noise... blah blah blah". So OK, fine. I took my car and went home.

Then today, the brake noise seemed to be a little bit more bothering than usual, so I decided it was time for another dealer visit, along with another TSB for cluster lighting. I know it shouldn't have happened, since I did my brake maintenance like 3 months ago in July in Waterloo at the Chevy dealership, which should then last me for a whole year (I suppose that's what "Annual Brake Service" means). My car wasn't even that active, had been in storage for most of August, and sparsely used prior to that, like once or twice a week. I've been using it more lately as I commute to work. So it's definitely not sitting to rust. Again, it was the usual routine, set up the repair order, look up the list as usual, and the same brake maintenance advisory showed up. Again, as I did it already, I declined the offer. So goes the repair work, and it came to the time I was notified. The service advisor claims that nothing is found and was checking with me about the symptoms again. I tried to tell him about it, and before I got to finish talking, he tried to stop me from talking and just seem to want to talk about "the condition of my brakes" again. He claims my brakes are "extremely dirty and all rusted out", so I was "recommended to do the brake maintenance" yet again. So I figured out, that didn't make sense, so I demanded to see what was the "rust and dirt" they were talking about, since the maintenance was done recently and couldn't have rusted out so fast. The advisor just shot back at me: "there's nothing to see, so do you want to do the brake maintenance?". I declined the maintenance, again. They also tried to take away the courtesy wash that was included, and completely lying to me about it. I know there was bird crap that was stuck to my car, and yet it was still there, "after they washed my car". I went back to the cashier, and told her that my car wasn't washed yet, and I was passed on to a service rep. The service rep had the guts to actually tell me this: "Oh it was raining outside, so it just looks like it's not washed." And yet it was only a cloudy day, the ground was dry, not to mention the bird crap was still there. I told him, if it's on the service order, I'm entitled to it, so please wash it. So he took my keys, looking very angry, and rinsed my car.

I just have to say, me as a customer, I feel totally uncomfortable on the high-pressure sales tactic and the dishonesty that they've expressed, especially I know what they are doing. I've never had a service centre with such a bad attitude, and it could be me not giving them regular business frequently and only asking for warranty work. But anyhow, I just don't feel like I should be treated this way.

Our family has been a loyal customer with GM, and I sure hope something can be done about this. We've never had this kind of crap from any other dealers.

Calvin Cheung

2006 Pontiac G6

2002 Chevrolet Cavalier VLX

1995 Chevrolet Lumina

1992 Chevrolet Cavalier VL

1990 Chevrolet Corsica

1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera SL

Edited October 16, 2007 by ToniCipriani

[A Horse With No Name]

Would be nice if MFG. had more control of dealers. Most of my local GM dealers are not people I'd buy a car from.

You have my sympathy.

Chris

[ToniCipriani]

I almost forgot about this thread...

Well actually I expressed some distress to the service manager that I won't be going back to them after this, they quickly switched me over to another service advisor and gave me a free oil change.

Up till now the guy's still working there, but he doesn't touch my car anymore.

But I still think if dealers are managed properly things like this wouldn't happen in the first place.