Here is a letter I wrote to my dealership owner after my last "adventure" there. It shows those of you with good experiences what the rest of us OFTEN deal with. I did get a letter of apology from the owner... BFD! I'll not go back--for anything.

Dear Mr. XXXXXX:

I have been a very satisfied owner of a C-5 Corvette I special ordered from your dealership some time ago. However, I had a very unpleasant service experience today at your shop that I would like to make you aware of. I always wanted to know how my customers faired when I was a businessman and this is intended to help prevent similar unfortunate and unnecessary experiences for both myself and others in the future.

I brought in my Vette this morning to have a headlight repaired that continued to run after the light closed. The part was ordered and after a few days I called and was told I could bring the car in. I did so. When I picked up my car I flipped on and off the lights after I got in and they worked fine. Imagine my dismay, however, when I got home and looked at the cover of the repaired light, only to find it grossly misaligned. I could stick my fingers between the front edge of the cover and the front bumper! No exaggeration, honest! I immediately returned to your dealership and got XXXXXX, my service-writer, to come look. She got the technician and I pointed out the problem to both of them. Essentially, they just shrugged it off, literally. I replied that it had NOT been that way this morning when I brought it in and I asked them to compare it to the other cover… and please fix it.

As if things were not unpleasant enough, the technician said there was nothing to be done and XXXXXX proceeded to tell me my car had BEEN WRECKED in the front and did I know it. Since I am the only one who has ever driven this vehicle, apart from your service techs, I was dumbfounded by this response, to say the least! I explained that was definitely NOT the case and how I knew beyond a doubt. XXXXXX then countered by saying, “The front has been repainted.” Again, I explained that was not only incorrect, but totally irrelevant to the issue at hand, the misaligned light cover, and that what had been repainted was simply the “no name” front tag cover I personally installed. Clearly, your employees were looking for any excuse to dismiss my concern. Sadly, I fear such disappointing and disgusting tactics work all too frequently with far too many customers.

After listening to these shenanigans, I suggested that anyone could tell by looking at my car with its many custom fitments and condition that it was important to me, pampered, and that I flat-out refused to accept it as presented. I will not bring in anything to be fixed only to have something else messed up. Both employees continued to disavowed any knowledge of how this happened or that anything could be done to fix it. The technician said there was no adjustment. But, since I was having none of it, EVENTUALLY they decided to pull it behind the shop and “...look at it.”

Fifteen minutes later the car was returned and the light cover was correct! I now know exactly how long it takes to do the “impossible.” 15 minutes! Imagine! Again, XXXXXX claimed she didn’t know how this could have happened since they “…only installed an actuator.” And I replied, “Simple, you worked on the light.”

Finally, just before leaving I asked XXXXXX if I might speak with her privately and I asked if I could make a suggestion; when she replied yes I said that when a customer, especially a Vette owner who obviously cares dearly about his or her car, says there is a problem that she respect and take the concern seriously, instead of making excuses as to why it can’t be fixed. To her credit, at that point she apologized. But, no customer should be treated like this in the first place.

I suppose I spent too many years working in dealerships that functioned differently than this when I was younger. But, would you wish to be treated this way? Or, what if it had been my wife… or yours? Would they have been as persistent as necessary to get what they paid for?

In conclusion, this is my second experience in a row with your service department that I’ve been unhappy with and I finally decided I must take the time to let you know. I’ve a friend I referred to you who bought two of your cars (including an ’04 Vette) since the first of the year. He has had occasion to speak with you personally about some issues with his Vette and he speaks highly of your attention to such matters. Hence, I thought it might be worth the time to write. I would hate to further recommend your dealership to others if I thought they might be treated as I was.

Thank you for your time.

 

Titus-Will in Olympia, WA has done right by me with both purchase and service.....

 

Karl Chevrolet in New Canaan, CT was absolutely fantastic during my purchase. I cannot speak for their service department but I would bet it is just as good. Most of the Karl family works at the dealership so they seem to really care about their reputation.

 

ttt

 

To continue from here with these two was your mistake. At this point it was time to go talk to the general manager/owner of the dealership.

 

Having sold cars at one time and my father was a Service Manager for Volkswagen for over twenty years, I can relate to the idea that there are indeed, two sides to every story.

Absolutely, there are some really lousy dealers out there. I've heard some of them laughing about how they screwed customers. On the other hand, I've also heard most of them agree that the most dishonest person in the car business is the customer....and I agree with that sentiment.

 

Bad Service

Bill Heard Chevrolet.

I was a former GMAC customer
Bought my vert in Dec 02. Dealer dragged me in 3 times between Dec and Apr 03 promising delivery (I was waiting for my new SSN).
After a few painful hours each time they then refused to deliver.
Finally took delivery in Apr 03 when my SSN was reissued. Why not just tell me to wait?
Turned into a dog and pony show and ruined the "buying experience".
They offered a number of "freebies" as an apology but never delivered. They promised to register my car with DMV but didn't. I get hit with late fees.
To make matters worse, having refused to deliver they then screw me out of 4 months of my very expensive extended warranty.

WOULD I GO THERE AGAIN - NOOOOO!

Good Service

Vista Chevrolet

Polite service. All the jobs I've asked them to do have been done correctly and on time.

They get my vote.

 

I have had negative experiences with GALLES CHEVROLET in Albuquerque, NM. First time they worked on my differential, but didn't come close to have the subframe bolts torque'd to specs. Last time I went for service, they started off with grossly misdiagnosing a problem that most people on this forum would be able to diagnose in a heartbeat. I've also seen a lot of their body work, and being off shade with runs in the paint is common.

I've done all the other work on my car myself, so I haven't had the chance to find a good dealership.

 

Jack, i do not understand how you can agree with a statement that the customer is the most dishonest person in the car business.can you back that up with a few examples. The dealers seem to be out to screw the customer before during and after the sale. 1st before the sale with misleading ads that if you read the fine print you would realize you would need to be the Pope who just graduated college and got out of the military all in one to get the advertised price. 2nd during the sale they try to find out how much you will pay with an assortment of questions from how much i want to pay per month to what do i have to do to sell u this car today and 3rd after the sale buy trying to screw you with interest rates,add on that you do not need, and the ever popular document fee. I could go on and eloborate but most members here have been thru the buying experience and know first hand what i am talking about. now let hear what you have to back up your statement that the customer is the dishonest one.

 

San Jose area


Good - Carls

I've heard good things about Courtesy though.

BAD - Andersons in Los Gatos , Raines in Sunnyvale

 

Can I back that up????

How many examples do you want? Got any idea how many bad checks dealers take in each month? How many people get a tune-up and then come back a month later when the water pump goes bad and want the dealer to fix it? How many people know there's a problem with their car and do a quick fix just to get it to run halfway decent until they can unload it on a dealer?

How about a guy that made a deal to trade in a completely worn out 63 Chevy (this was back in the mid-70's). The only thing on the car worth anything was the wheels. He had a nice set of American mags on this piece of junk. When he brought the trade-in to the dealer to close the deal, he'd taken the wheels off and put a broken battery in the car. Screamed bloody murder that the deal was for a 63 Chevy and that we should take it after he'd stripped it. Or the couple who kept me running for three days to get them financed only to try to pass of a stolen credit card to use for the down payment.

The list is endless. Dealers may WANT to be crooked but there ARE laws and regulations that prevent them from being REALLY crooked. For the most part, those laws don't apply to customers and believe me when I say that customers take full advantage of that omission.

Oh, speaking of getting the deal advertised, my son, who just graduated college this past May, got the exact deal advertised by Team Ford here in Atlanta for a brand new 2004 Mustang at 13,999. They financed him with NO credit and a part-time job (I was amazed).

One thing that you should remember, dealers and the people who work for dealers, are just like you and I. They don't like to be called crooks and they don't like to be treated as though they've already committed a crime. If you go in a dealership with that sort of attitude, you won't win any friends and when YOU need them to go over the line a bit for you, that isn't likely to happen.

Are there crooked dealers, you betcha. Bunches of them. But there are lots of honest dealers too. They're just like customers, some good, some bad.

 

That's funny, because I have never had a good experience at Win Kelly. Although it was with my Cavalier, I would never let them touch my Vette. I almost bought another Honda instead of the Vette strictly to avoid Chevy service like theirs.

 

Tried to purchase vehicles from the local dealer, CLIPPINGER CHEVROLET (West Covina, Ca.). A 1990 Silverado; 1994 Corvette;2002 Avalanche; and my '04 Vette. Started there everytime because they are in the community where I worked . Bought every ride mentioned from a DIFFERENT dealer. They really tried to rip me last year on the new Vette . So I bought at MARK CHRISTOPHER Chevrolet -Ontario, Ca. Got a good deal without all of the bloodletting. I have had good service at Clippinger - probably because I know the service guys there.

That's my $0.02.

 

ttt

 

I would *NOT* service a vehicle at Huffines Chevy in Lewisville, TX.

Service department was a joke and I got the dealer installed paint scratches for free.

 

I've had an ongoing electrical problem with my Vette which necessitated many trips back to the dealer,Criswell's in Gaithersburg, MD, and I must say that the folks there, at all levels, were first-class. I never got the feeling of:"Oh, no, here he comes again."

 

JIMBAD

Did you get the problem fixed???

BC

 

Knoepfler Chevrolet Sioux City, Iowa 51101
http://www.kchev.com

Do not use lifting pucks to lift your C5 or C6 and damage the cars.

Service manager will not repair damage done by his employees.

Family owned for over 90 years.

 

Same here. It would seem that if I was selling something so expensive, I'd make sure I'd do it quickly before the buyer changed their mind. In my case, the salesperson (hi Judy) went to eat dinner while I was waiting on her. She didn't tell me beforehand that she was going to leave for an hour. The only reason I waited was that my ride had already left. Otherwise, I would have just left and not returned to that dealership. BTW, this was at Kevin Whitaker Chevy in Greenville, SC, and my experience with them started bad and got worse from there.

 

thanks to everybody for posting ! keepem coming and lets make it tough on the s#!ty dealers that deserve it and the good ones will shine even brighter. .