Dealerships + maintenace = SUCKS!

[JOES66FURY]

Is it me or do they hire morons to be service reps.

I call the shop, no answer...I wait for a return call...nothing

So I go there, sit down with the guy who takes very detailed notes on what I am experiencing with the cars transmission.

Who then schedules me to come in the next day at 10.

I show up at 10 and wait for the note taking guy. He isnt there I am told. Today is his day off and someone will be with me shortly. So I wait and wait and wait some more.

Some chick shows up. She tells me so-and-so is off today and she will be helping me. I explain in detail the issues and she stares blankly at me and asks if I added the shifter. Huh?

No sweety no, It is as purchased (not true but she cant prove it)

Who put the exhaust on? FARKING REALLY? the exhaust? who the fark said anything about an exhaust.

So, after a few head scratching moments she tells me that they wont find anything out today because it has to go to the trans shop. No shit dillhole, thats why I made an appointment and dropped the car off today and not yesterday. You've got to be effing kidding me.

If it was not for the extended warrany on the car I would do this myself. But since I payed for piece of mind, I will let them do it. However, I am sure that they will try to find a way out fo this and turn it all on me.

This isnt a small place either, it is a huge Ford dealership, multiple stores, been around for a long time.

This seems to be the norm when dealing with these places. I just dont get it...

Anyway, rant over...tell me how dealerships piss you off or screwed you over....it may put out the burning desire to take up arson as a hobby.

[STINEY]

Bought our new 2005 Dodge Magnum. Due to construction at the dealership, it ended up being a year old with 38 miles on it when we got it (for a good price by the way). By then there was already a TSB out on the pulling to the right teething issue they had, simple cradle shift cured them with some offset bolts.

Do you think they could perform such a simple cure, even when directed to their internal TSB and being specifically requested to perform it? Oh hell no, they had to monkey around with anything BUT the cradle, and for months. T

They had that car handling so bad it was a liability nightmare to release it to us. I finally convinced them to UNDO all the crap they tried, and shifted the cradle myself at home.

I really really tried to let the dealership prove me wrong, that they might be capable with some patience and guidance. But they were determined to earn a bad rap, hard to work against that mindset.

[JOES66FURY]

I took a truck into a Dodge dealer with 19K miles on the clock. It would barely run, it woulds stall and miss like crazy.

Their "fix" was to reflash the computer to take out some of the timing (A TSB for spark knock)

Uh, I didnt have spark knock, the truck runs like dog shit.

Well, we couldnt find anything.

I took the truck, running worse than it did before. I decided to look at it....guess what I found....a cracked distributor cap.

Replaced it and the truck ran okay but still not great. I looked online, found another TSB and performed that in the driveway. I simply had to reroute the plug wires.

Truck ran great for 11 more years...

I sent a letter to the manager about the incompetance of their mechanics and what I did to fix my truck that was under warranty.

I got nothing in return

I also gave them a bad review everywhere I could online.

I think for every good mechanic at a dealership there are 202 hacks.

[BangShift McT]

My rant about the 300 could go for miles. Galpin Ford here in Prescott...sold me the car with only half a gallon of coolant in the system, destroyed front bushings. During their fix (under threat of action by BBB) I got to meet the franchise owner, who seem genuinely interested in the issue and fixing it...unlike the dealer manager, greasy little f***er, who was practically molesting my Imperial when we walked back. Should've seen the franchise guy's face when I told the manager to "stop kissing my f**king ass."

[Loren]

Our experience with San Diego Chrysler dealers in the 90's when we bought a Sebring was a nightmare. Of course there's a lot less of those dealers around now.

[Barry Donovan]

Our experience with San Diego Chrysler dealers in the 90's when we bought a Sebring was a nightmare. Of course there's a lot less of those dealers around now.

a 90s sebring. Yikes. Tell me it had the rod knocker four cyl from day 1..

I actually bought a 1987 Subaru from a dealer. the old tin cans, manual steering... it was a mud parking lot. Being a mechanic at my level, I got info that was needed, been running on it for some time. Not many dealers let that out. Subaru seems to be forced to in many models. the dealer still bankrupted, re-emerged. When the subarus are bad they are real bad. A lot of American went through similar. Tail end of the 70s and 80s era. 1996 was my last attempt at the blind stampedes dealer routines.

My bro-n-law is a service writer. Even cutting through the bull crap, relatives are still paying a lot. Too many thieves it all goes down.. not just cars.

[DanStokes]

I had such differing experiences when I worked at the Buick Dealer (now out of business) in Milford, MI. We were right up the road from the GMPG and serviced the cars of lots of the GM execs. We weren't cheap but we were the best.

Fairly frequently we'd get a call from the Buick Zone Office asking us to take a problem car that other dealers couldn't fix. It was almost always a simple issue and the selling dealer hadn't done a methodic diagnosis of the complaint - in other words they hadn't listened to the owner and started from their perspective. We did get some occasional oddballs, though. I loved doing these but I worked hourly!

Dan

[JOES66FURY]

I think the biggest problem are the service reps. Most dont know a car from horse (in my experience) and cannot relate to the customers complaint. There are never ever any questions from a service manager that would lead me to believe that they really are trying to get good info for the mechanics. I think they just toss them the keys and say...hey it wont start or hey the transmakes nosie...figure it out....

I dont know this as I have never worked at a dealership but the interaction or lack there of sure reminds me of piss poor crew debriefing on the flightline after a plane lands with issues. If there is no crew/maintenace interaction then we just have a note in a book that says somthing like "reduction gearbox oil pressure low"

Well, how low? what was the conditions when it was noted low? was there an associated oil light? was there changes in RPM? did it drop off then return to normal? nose up or nose down? All this is important for the mechanic...but often we get a simple...hey tis broke, go fix!

[68scott385]

My '97 C1500 had an extremely harsh 1-2 shift after being driven at a steady freeway speed for a few miles. Shut the engine off, restart, no problem. I took it to the GM dealer and explained my problem in detail. After waiting a week and they still had not looked at it I took my truck back.

I took the same truck with the same problem to a guy that is 1/2 mile from my house, told him the same thing I told the dealer. He told me exactly what was happening. He has gotten my business for larger jobs that require special tools that I do not have for over six years.

As for the dealer, I will not go back to one. I worked at a dealer as a mechanic when I graduated high school/trade school. In retrospect I wonder how many people felt about us the way I and many of you feel about your dealer.

[RustyRodder]

I will agree here...

Right now, With my moms Volvo. She comes home one day announcing "I bought a new car", but does she listen to me? noooo.


So far it has a strange intermittent squeel on turns (not the belt or pump), and an oil consumption issue which isnt leaking or burning it excessively. We've brought it back twice now- first time, they had it for 3 days, gave us a POS XC90, and gave it back without a single thing done. Second time they said they were bringing in a volvo tech from the factory, and gave us a loaner for a couple days again. 2 days later, we get a call "hey, we arent getting the tech until october 9th, please come get yuor car". Really? you knew he wouldnt be there for a month and had us bring it anyway? So now its going back again. I hope there is a 4th so its lemon lawed and I can tell the dealer to bite it.

[Loren]

a 90s sebring. Yikes. Tell me it had the rod knocker four cyl from day 1..

Actually it was an excellent car, once we had the 6-8 sessions to the dealer to find a loose connector past us. We drove and drove and enjoyed the heck out of that thing. Decent handling, plenty of power once you got the revs up and 30+ mpg at steady 70 with the top down. It had the Mitsubishi 2.5 V6. At 150,000 miles I had a tech tell me the head gaskets were bad so I took the heads off myself...what things of beauty. 4-valve, ports that looked hand-finished and maybe they were. Cylinders still showed hone marks top-to-bottom. And no, the gaskets were not bad. So anyhow, no complaints with the car, the trans finally went out and was fixed for $3500 and then went out again, that's really what killed it.

But, for example, Gail takes it to a dealer for service...not the horrible one we bought it from but trying another. OMG, a rear a-arm is BENT! Near collapse! She and daughter could have been killed driving that thing! (They really layed-it-on that her child could have been hurt.) They will fix it immediately for $400, just to be nice guys. Nooooo, I say over the phone, take a risk, drive it home and let me look at it. No damage, no "bent", everything still just perfect. So I call the thieving scam-artist Chrysler-approved service manager with the "news" and the guy just hangs up on me. That's the kind-of stuff that really pisses me off. How many innocent women, old people, or just regular guys were they stealing from each week? Scum with a license to steal. I had a similar situation w/ a Yamaha dealer once 'way back when I had a bike...it's like, all you gotta do is walk in and act like you don't know anything, and you're a fish on their hook. Come back and have your mechanic's eyes open and their faces all turn white and they hustle you outta there.

btw I'm not blaming the regular mechanics for all this...in the case of Yamaha, they seemed to actually empathize with me. Maybe they worked for a rotten system under their particular franchise owner, and they didn't like it.

[milner351]

for the love of all that is good and mighty, don't get me started.

[OldMachinist]

My experience as a GM service writer was their main concern was a good CSI score so we were expected to beg our customers for an excellent score on the survey the manufacturer sends out. Most people are so ignorant about cars that if you relate to them in the right way they will do as you ask so dealers hire people to relate to customers, not know anything about how to repair their cars.
I always tried to get as much info as I could about the problem to help the mechanics so they liked to get work orders that I generated.
I think Spidergearsman will back me in saying only about 25% of dealership mechanics are competent and can make money on manufacturers flat rate so anything very difficult or out of the ordinary is a challenge to get repaired.
Joe, I would suggest you call the customer service number in your owners manual and complain long and often about your issues with the dealership but do so in a respectful, businesslike way and just relate your problems without letting them know the full extent of your knowledge about cars and what is wrong.
It never ceased to amaze me how poor quality some of the mechanics were that I had to deal with at the dealership.

[JOES66FURY]

Scum with a license to steal. I had a similar situation w/ a Yamaha dealer once 'way back when I had a bike...it's like, all you gotta do is walk in and act like you don't know anything, and you're a fish on their hook. Come back and have your mechanic's eyes open and their faces all turn white and they hustle you outta there.

I wonder if that is part of the problem. I go in with specific, detailed issues...knowing in advance what is wrong and suddenly they really are not too awful interested in me. I know that the wife has take cars in for X,Y or Z and suddenly the brakes I jsut installed are worn, the tires are almost bald and so on and so on....

[SpiderGearsMan]

oh , you modded the car
end of story hahahahaah
WE SELL MODIFIED CARS ...call the service manager or better yet , go visit the owner or gm of the store