I know this is really a tiny gripe, but where does it end??

My 98 TR coupe is comfortably garaged for the winter at a very good friends heated garage. So every couple of weeks I tend to go for a visit...even if it is to just look at it I sometimes like to fiddle with things that for some reason or another i just dont get to during the non snowy months. I'm usually too busy just wasting gas for lack of a better reason!!

I noticed that the back 2 cargo lights in the back of the hatch were burned out. Its a 13 year old car and I've owned it for 6 years and i dont ever remember replacing them. So i go to a local Napa...expecting to look thru some sort of lighting book next to the lightbulbs that tell me exactly what replacment bulb it is. When i find none, i got to the counter and ask if the computer has a bulb number. when the guy at the counter said "No" i went to 5 other automotive stores and got the same response.

I finally resigned to the fact that it was time to go to the local Chevy dealership and ask the parts department for help. Their answer after looking up the actual light fixture was that there was no bulb and that I had to replace the whole fixture itself, and to be thankful that it was just a 12 dollar part, (and that even though I needed 2 of them and had to pay shipping because there was no way a dealership in Maine would stock such a part for a corvette) and that it was pretty cheap for a corvette.

I got alittle annoyed and left...only to drive the 40 min to my friends garage. I took apart the lining of the cargo area and popped out the fixtue on both sides only to find that there in fact WAS a replacement bulb in it, and it could be replaced again, and it even had a number on it that i could match at any hardware store, let alone an auto parts store!!! Needless to say i baught 2 of them at Napa for under 2 dollars, but if I did what the dealership said I would have waited a week and had to pay almost $30 for a 2 dollar fix....

Am i overreacting when i went back to the parts counter at the dealership and expressed my unsatisfaction with not only their knowlege of my car, but the direction that they wanted me to go??? I know this is rediculous but if they wanted me to spend $30 on 2 tiny bulbs, what ELSE would they do????

 

I bought a spare key at the dealership, before I knew any better, and when it came in they wanted $30 to "program"/cut it. I found that there was no such thing as programming the key, took it to a locksmith/Home Depot and got it cut for like $3-4.

Some things dealerships, and it is certainly not limited to dealerships, say is almost criminal. They wanted to charge me like $600 to replace the serpentine belt. I confirmed that I wanted the big black "thing" that gets turned by all the pulleys on the front of the car and they said 6 hours and $600.

Went to Pep Boys, they did it, with the belt included, for like $100.


We should be glad we are not women and don't know what is what. You'd be angry at hearing all the women that have to pay for new ball joints, brakes-all sorts of brake parts and maintenance and wheel bearings. Poor women, they get so scared that the wheels will fall off or have no brakes, they get so ripped off.

 

My experience has been mixed with the parts counter jockeys. Sometimes they are spot on, sometimes worlds apart. Best to do your research ahead of time and just go in and tell them the part number you want. Yeah, even when it comes to light bulbs I'm afraid.

 

It's getting to where there just isn't any customer service anymore. And it seems the more we get dependent on computers, the less anyone knows.

 

3 things

Incompetent employees

UAW

Government

In that order.

 

Very well said......I'm once again happy that i belong to a bunch of corvette family that would always help me....

 

I think this is the first rant about $2 light bulbs I've ever seen here.

Is that irony?

 

The dealership should have absolutley have been able to look up the replacement bulb number for you and I guarantee they had the bulbs in stock since it is a common bulb used on many different model cars. Either it was the parts guy first day and he didn't know any better or they were trying indeed to make a few quick bucks off you. As far as NAPA goes, they shouldn't be in the auto parts business if they couldn't look up a part for you. Either way, the more I deal with dealerships the more I realize that I must do my own homework when it comes to issues with my car and leave the dealerships as a last resort. Next time you need a part #, post a question on this forum, you'll likely have an answer faster than you can dial the dealerships phone number.

 

[QUOTE=hotwheels57;1576789715]I think this is the first rant about $2 light bulbs I've ever seen here



thats not the point.....3 years ago i had a bad ground on my DRL and the dealership wanted me to buy a whole new wiring harness for the entire car and said they would do it for ONLY $4,000. It was a $100 fix at a local auto electric specialty shop....It never ends....large repair or small....i HATE not having experts here in southern maine....

 

Great write up.
Stealerships just prey on the uninformed, and for those folks out there who don't have any mechanical aptitude.
Thank goodness we have the forum and camaraderie that lets us share all the many interesting and intricate details of our beloved Corvettes

 

But, had you removed the lamps yourself instead of going to the dealerships that you loathe, you would have seen that the lamps were indeed replaceable.

For future reference, this site is pretty handy...
http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...lacementGuide/

 

This is why the first accessory I bought for my car was a complete set of factory service manuals. I even got the two unit manuals that covers complete teardown and reassembly of the auto and manual transaxles and the differentials. More info than I will probably ever be able to use but I like being able to look at the details of the problem I may be having. I was amazed at the amount of space devoted to troubleshooting in the manuals. Probably the best $85.00 I'll spend on the car.

 

Big time!

 

Just other week, one of my other cars was leak anti freeze drom the under the thermostate housing (its a honda so its all backwards). I took it apart in under 20 mins, figured out it was leaking from at a O ring on the top of the water pipe that went into the housing. Ran down to auto part store to grab the O ring. I had called said they carried..they dident. I checked a couple other places no luck.

Long of the short was i had to put it back together, needed the car for the week. Well it leaked worse, so i had no time due to work to keep messin with it took it to the stealership (due to prox. of my home and it leak so bad), dropped it off, i tell them excatly what to replace, and would have back that day. I get a call with an estimate of $380. The O ring cost $2.95. They wanted to remove the whole water pipe and a bunch of extra work. I asked him to do just what i ask he refused and said they would only fix the way the wanted, i said i have it towed out of their, he said oh you can drive it....haha they never even put a wrench on it. Took it to my normal garage (when i require one) had it fix in 3 hrs....charged me $42. (still a lot for an o ring, but due to my time constantes well worth it)....i guess thats why they are called stealerships

 

Stealerships/dealerships and repair places in general or rather, the (unscrupulous) individuals that work with them.

One year, a while back, I had spent restoring an older car. Last thing I needed to do was to have new tires put on all 4 wheels. The "tech" comes back with a checklist, you know the one that has an overhead of the car along with check-boxes all around it. He had checked off that I needed 3 out of the 4 rotors replaced along with the pads for all 4 wheels. Said that they were all worn down to the limits.

I had just replaced all 4 rotors and calipers and drove the car 14 miles to this particular NTB. Thief, liar, scumbag, YES!

 

Sometimes its the uninformed preying on the uninformed.

 

It is about as nice as those who rip-off the elderly, or the disabled.

 

And the people who often complain the most about ownership costs, are owners who for whatever reasons don't do the work themselves...but expect a business to do the work for them at little or no cost. This is America, it doesn't happen that way.

Learn to DIY or expect to pay.

 

No I don't think you were overreacting when you went back to the dealership and complained. The only thing I would have done different is I would have wanted to speak with the owner of the dealership and tell him what I thought about their service.

 

In their defence gm doesn't make the bulb. If you go to the parts counter for something like that it doesn't surprise me that the only thing in the parts catalog would be the whole housing. Checking for yourself is easy and you can always ask here! The lens pops off easily also so you don't have to pull the Carpet out.

But sometimes dealerships can only do what the book says. A dealer quoted me 600 to replace the flasher. I by the book... they didn't know this forum knew of a much faster way. I fixed it myself for $20 or so in half an hour.