When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Dealers are not upolsterers. They do not have the skill or equipment to upolster seats. I know OEM will not send a new seat but that is what they should or you get the wrinkle problem then the kiss off. Believe me Lexus would never tolarate that shabby way. GM will never change.70.000 for a car and you get the kiss off
Buddy of mine had paint issues on the front bumper of his 13 GTR. No local dealership would touch it because it was Super Silver and is a mega expensive paintjob outside of the factory. Nissan sent a rep from Michigan to his house here in Pennsylvania to look at it, he called and got a brand new painted bumper shipped from the factory.
It's a shame, I've been watching some forum dealers for the right GS to pop up in inventory.... but now I think I need to take a closer look at some of the competition, sad because a Yellow C4/C5 was my dream car as a kid, this is doing nothing but tarnishing that.
Dealers are not upolsterers. They do not have the skill or equipment to upolster seats. I know OEM will not send a new seat but that is what they should or you get the wrinkle problem then the kiss off. Believe me Lexus would never tolarate that shabby way. GM will never change.70.000 for a car and you get the kiss off
As I said earlier, outside of Lexus and maybe Hyundai you're not going to get that type of service.
Even the Germans yank you around. Dealers are SUPPOSED to be capable at installing seat covers. They are trained to do it, and they fail because they just don't care or can't get the right people (or turnover so you constantly have to re-train).
The OEMs have policies, and the Dealers are supposed to abide by them. But everyone here wants to make more money, so corners get cut. I have a love-hate relationship with Dealers. They can be good in some ways, and terrible in others, all depends on the Dealer Principal and his/her priorities.
Again.. Dealers are not upholsterers. To do I good job requires skill, Much time devoted to the craft. You can't get upholstery training in one day, then do one job every 2 years and be any good at it. most techs at the dealer probably never reupholstered a seat in their lives. The dealer is not about to let the tech fool around all day with getting it perfect . I know someone who did it for a living he told me in no way will they get it right without experience or luck.It can take steaming,, stretching and more to really do a good job.
Again.. Dealers are not upholsterers. To do I good job requires skill, Much time devoted to the craft. You can't get upholstery training in one day, then do one job every 2 years and be any good at it. most techs at the dealer probably never reupholstered a seat in their lives. The dealer is not about to let the tech fool around all day with getting it perfect . I know someone who did it for a living he told me in no way will they get it right without experience or luck.It can take steaming,, stretching and more to really do a good job.
I don't think you're getting the point with my comments.
It is not a question of if a dealer is an upholsterer not. They need to provide that service. If they can't do it in house they should farm it out to a local sub-contractor. The dealer gets paid X for a warranty claim (based on book time) therefore they should find a company willing to fix the issue for that cost.
A dealer wants your service as a customer. The dealer KNOWS how the OEM works. The customer expects the dealer to solve the issue and does not care about what the OEM will replace or what the dealer will get paid. The dealer should not make his/her relationship an issue with the customer. The customer sees the dealer and the OEM as the same person, and does not care who pays for it, just that it is fixed well.
Dealers unfortunately can continue to have "average" to "below-average" service and yet they can maintain their license. The OEM has a difficult time "firing" a dealer and replacing them with a better one (even in bankruptcy Chrysler could not shed some dealers, they fought in court for 8 years now and some are coming back). So this prevents the free market from operating as customers are "trapped" by distance to dealers. You can either go to the "crappy" dealer or not go at all. Dealers know this, and frankly many of them could care less. They are in the business to make money, not provide customer service. The OEMs pay for it in lost sales. They can't even "pay" the dealers to be better. So many dumb rules are involved in franchising laws.
I remember an almost identical thread over on the Audi site I used to visit . . . the dealer finally replaced the whole seat to keep the customer happy.
A few replies mentioned upholstery--I wonder if an auto upholsterer could get the cover to fit?
Been working with GM Executive care since I sent them pics of my seat coming apart, They escalated to the regional executive and have been working on resolution. The rep says her hope is that I can get it fixed at a shop of my choosing and GM will cover the bill. The problem is it's now been almost 2 months since I found my seat coming apart and there has been no action, only talk. Horrible service all around from GM and their dealership networks.
GM Eventually came back and told me to meet the regional manager at a local upholstery shop at x date at x time. They were able to tighten up the seat and get it back together.
A couple of weeks later the side bolster came apart again. I spent another month back and forth with GM until we could get an appointment to have the shop look at it again. They said the clips that hold the leather in the seat tracks were worn from being in and out so many times. He bent the teeth on the clips out to try and get them to hold better and asked GM to get them new ones so when it comes apart again they can fix it for good.
The repair with the old clips is still holding strong 2 months later so I'm going to wait to see if/when it comes apart again to have them touch it.
I took my car to the dealer back in September due to warranty about to expire and the suede insert being wrinkled at the bottom. They decided they needed to replace the entire seat cover, they ordered one and this is how I got it back.
I got the service manager out to look at it and he agreed they needed to do better. I took it back the week before thanksgiving to have their "interior guy" look at it. They called and said it didn't look much better. I said that wasn't acceptable so they sent it off to a local trim/upholstery shop. They called and said it still didn't look better and they were ordering a new seat cover which was backordered.
They called last week and finally said it was all fixed up and ready to go. Went down today since its unseasonably warm here in Pittsburgh and opened the door to find this...
(Indent on bolster wasn't there at the dealer, I did it for the pic to show how loose the cover is)
My wife was with me today and she thought I was being dramatic when I came back into the dealership. I told her to go out and look at it herself and she came back in and said she agreed with me.
I told the service advisor to keep it until it was made right but he insisted I take it and he was going to engage the regional rep/manager on Monday, they are a 45 minute drive and it's the middle of winter, we lucked out with a day like today (62* and Sunny with clean roads from rain the past 2 days). I begrudgingly signed the pickup paper and drove it home.
Am I being too picky and should just accept this as normal? This is what my seat looked like the day before I took it in the first time, I'm getting real sick of the runaround from GM dealers. I already engaged customer care and they interfaced with the dealer to escalate the replacement seat cover.
The biggest issue with replacing them seat covers is the way they come shipped to the dealer. These pieces are coming to our parts department vacuum sealed. Not a good thing to do to a piece of leather. Most wrinkles, etc. come from this issue along with the fact that the whole seat should be "cured" before re-delivery to the customer from service. I hope you get your issue resolved and that QA at the factory improves to catch these issues before they hit the dealer or consumer. I wouldn't say it's a huge known issue but GM is taking notice
Last edited by KennyG MacMulkin; 09-15-2017 at 10:07 PM.
my car is at the dealer with comp seats for this exact problem. The driver side was really bad, but the passenger side was starting too. They ordered a seat cover, but the bigger wait is the retaining cilps. It sounds to me like this is a known issue with these seats. Is this a durability problem? My car was a show car, so I'm sure people didnt really pay attention to rubbing the bolster when they got in
One of my 2009 Corvettes with red interior and seats had premature wear on it and the dealer wanted to replace the seat back so I brought it back in for that. After they replaced it there was a substantial wrinkle in it which they say would work its way out and it did. I was skeptical at first but I guess I got lucky on it.
So, no, you are not being pickey and we hope it works out for you!
02-15-2017, 06:59 PM
Dealers
