I have been lucky with 2 dealerships that I deal with. Oil Changes while traveling, but I have really heard some horror stories too right here on the CF.
I'd like to hear of anything funny that happened to you at a dealership.
I have one from a few years back. Had a 63 SW back in 66 and I took it into a CA dealership for an OC and they found that my fuel pump (manual on engine) was just leaking fuel. I checked it and sure enough there was fuel all over the pump and on the floor underneath the car. This young mechanic did not find it while it was on the lift, just when he lowered the car. He said that he could get a new one installed in and hour for 169.00 (cheap back then). I smiled, closed the hood, started the car and drove out to the service manager’s desk. He too was concerned with my fuel pump. As he turned around I pulled the rubber bulb looking goody out of his pocket and smelled the fragrance of High Octane. I threw the rubber bulb thingy at the owner and left the dealership not having to pay for anything. When they found out that the manual pump was disconnected (actuating lever removed) and I was running an electric, and just using the old pump as a fill in until I received the bore block I'd ordered (from them) they were highly embarrassed to say the least. Never did go back to that dealership. Wonder if it’s still there?

 

Many years ago I went to a dealer to check the progress of repairs to my truck after an accident. When I walked into the service area there was a lift about 5 feet in the air, but the car was laying on its side on the ground. Couldn't figure out how they did it, I was just glad it wasn't mine

 

Local dealer had a cherry midyear in for repair. Hood was up. Didn't get it lowered prior to raising the lift. Mashed the hood. Repaired the hood without telling the owner. Someone in the shop was talking in the community and those rumors do travel. As luck would have it, word got back to the owner......and the dealership confessed their sins. Not sure how many hail marys that one took to clear up.

 

When I was in college I took my 97 Camaro in because the clutch was starting to go. The service advisor asked year, make, model, etc. He then asked if my car was two wheel drive or four wheel drive. WTF?

 

lmao - did he ask if it was a 2door or 4 door?

 

These are great.
I bought my 99 LPE 383 at a Nissan dealer. Got a great deal as they didn't have a clue what they had.
The salesman spent thirty minutes looking for the spare under the car, in the car, and back in the service department. I finally had to tell him there wasn't one.
Now that I think about it, I should have told him I wanted one in 17" and one in 18" and that I'd haul them home in my pickup.

 

You should have offered to take the car w/o the spare for $100 bucks less.

 

I took my 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII into a Lincoln dealership many years ago because the transmission wasn’t shifting properly. At the time the car was under a Ford ESP (extended service plan). Their diagnotistic was that the car had a bad batch of gasoline and needed and new gas tank!! Because the problem was related to gasoline I put in it, it wouldn’t be covered by warrantee. They gave me an estimate of over $800. They never even mentioned a fuel filter in their estimate or diagnostic. I quickly got the car out of that dealership.

The tranny completely blew 2-weeks later and I had it repaired under warranty at another Ford dealer.

After the tranny rebuild, I sent a nasty letter to the GM of the 1st dealer explaining exactly what happened and demanded the diagnostics charge they hit me for………..I had the refund in less than 1-week.

BTW- I still have the Mark VIII now and it still has its original gas tank.

Ken

 

Back in 1975 I had a Saab 99. I brought it in for 1k service which was paid for by Saab Scania and free to me. I also had an oil change done. Part of the 1k was a Torque of the Head Bolts, and a check of all items on the car.
When I picked up the car I asked how everything was, I was assured that the Full Saab service was done all fasteners were checked etc as well as the oil&filter change.
I paid for the oil change and some Mats and stuff I bought. The car was washed and sitting out front, I opened the Hood just to check and "lo and behold" they had performed Magic they were able to reach the head bolts and Torque them down without disturbing the dust on the cam cover (which was bolted over the head bolts) still there from the trip across the ocean. I asked the Service Manager if the service was done as well as the Torque etc. He told me that he "personally oversaw the job as it was done" I walked with him over to my car and asked about the Magic.
He didn't say a word, just walked back to the office and returned with a refund of my money including the charge for the Mats some pads etc about $100 worth.
This was by the way only my first "Saab Story", many more were to follow.
Barrier

 

A friend of mine had a lifter go down and chew the cam up a little in his 01 Z06. He took it back to the reputable shop where the vehicle was purchased and they fixed it under warranty. After a few hundred miles of driving the crank bolt backed out against the steering rack. Due to the fact that they reused the old crank bolt.

Bad deal luckily nothing was hurt and all they had to do was put in a new bolt.

Then when the vehicle was returned to him they had evidentally started the car and drove it in to fix it, shere it sheared the belt and threw the belt into the hoodliner and tore it up pretty good. But the dealership did fix everything.

 

Funniest "Near" Screw-up was I had taken my car in for electrical issues...

When I got the call and the service writer told me I had to pay $75 for a diagnostic. I drove to the stealership and started laughing when he gave my the run-down...
... the service guy didn't like this and took a fighting stance with me... an asked me what was so funny... in turn, I turned my body as well...
... I never did tell him I had my .45 in my waist and a matching set of chrome bracelets for him if he took the swing... But later, I thought about how funny that would've been

 

Violence solves everything

 

My buddies 99 coupe had the crank bolt back out and the balancer was wobling a little. GMPP warranty and the dealer said they would yank the motor and replace the crank.
I told my buddy they would probably just put a new bolt in it and not really do the work. 18K miles later the pilot bearing went out, which should have been replaced since its in the crank. Looking at all the related bolts to yank the motor.....they didnt do sh#t!!

 

While living in AR a few years back, I took my Vette into the local Chevy dealer to get it serviced. As I looked into the service bay area, I was shocked to see a new C5 laying on its side on the service bay floor where it had just been lifted for an oil change, etc. The owner was called to the service area from the customer waiting room was, to say the least, rather upset. The car had just been purchased two months prior from the same dealership and was in for the new car "check up". Dealership wanted to repair the car, but the owner threatened lawsuit, so the dealership finally gave in and replaced with new. Needless to say, I found another place for service for my Vette!

Bronk

 

The dealership I bought my first vette from gave me a voucher for a free oil change.
so I took it in.
the tech kept telling me that he remembered when this car came in, and he did the pre-sale inspection on it, and everything looked great.
After he changed the oil, he spent the next 10 minutes looking all over the engine compartment. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "How do you check the transmission fluid?"
This was a GM service center.

 

I took my suburban in to a stealership in manassas VA for a new ignition module and a coil replacement. i popped the hood when I picked it up to make sure the work i paid for was performed. Low and behold the brand new coil still had 20k worth of dust on it. the manager still wouldnt give me my money back when i showed him. I had to go above his head to get my money back. What an a&*

 

Took my '91 Pontiac Firebird Formula to a Goodyear Tire place to have the tires rotated. If you've ever had one of those cars, you remember that the front wheels are wider and have about a 3/4 inch lip on the rim and the back wheels are narrower and have no lip.

I guess I assumed these guys would know that just by looking and dismount the tires from the wheels so as to leave the front wheels in the front before they'd rotate the tires. But no; these lazy idiots just put the rear wheels on the front and the front wheels on the back. Big fitment problem.

When they finished and went to back the car out, it wouldn't steer correctly and they were all panicky not knowing what was going on. They tried to tell me something was wrong with the car whereupon I pointed out the obvious and they, very embarrassed, made it right.

Never went back there again...

 

I've never really had any stories with stealerships cuz I pretty much refuse to deal with them. My favorite stories are actually from the Syclone and Typhoon forums. Some guy had just purchased his Typhoon and needed the fuel pump swapped out. A local guy offered to help him do it as his place for a 6 pack, but the guy didn't trust him for some reason, he wanted the "professionals" to do it for him. Well lets just say that 1300 bucks later he wasn't a happy camper. The funniest story is some guy took his Syclone into the dealership for some warranty issues, this was right after the trucks had come out, maybe a year. He pulls it back into the work bays and one of the techs has him pop the hood and hand him the keys. The tech then tells him that he can't work on the truck because he voided the warranty when he installed the turbo. Needless to say he just took the keys back and drove the truck away and took it somewhere else. Didn't even bother explaining it to the guy cuz he still didn't want him to work on it.

 

Yeah... I know..what was he thinking? I'm just glad his boss walked over when he did...

What do you think Gandhi?

 

I used to get service reminders in the mail to have the tires rotated on my 97 Vette.