Blast them with e-mails. I just sent mine.

 

I'll tell you another reason GM dealers hate to service Corvette's. My dealer claims GM does not pay them enough on warranty claims on Corvettes. My Service Mgr. says GMs repair cost allowances on warranty repairs are way short of the time it really takes to repair on a Corvette so in many cases a given repair takes longer than GM will pay them for hence it ends up costing the dealer money in labor to make the repair. Maybe true maybe not.

 

I can think of a few things.

1) Warranty time paid by GM is usually about 50% of retail rates. Parts are also charged out at a much lower rate than retail. Also, warranty does not pay for diagnosis time in most cases where with retail the tech charges time to diagnose the problem.
2) Corvette owners tend to be a rough crowd when it comes to having their cars serviced at dealers. It would be nice to know if this policy only applies to vettes or all cars
3) Service departments live or die by the surveys sent out. My guess is they have been burned before by vette owners regardless of the service received

So rather than looking on how to make the customer happy so they return for future warranty repairs and service work, it seems the dealer doesn't want to get involved at all. While it is no way to run a service department, it is not GM who is doing this. The boycott of business should therefore be with the dealer, not GM.

I realize the OP thinks GM should do more to fix this, but there really isn't anything they can do to force a dealer's hand in this, especially if the dealer is a small dealer with low allocation already (which I am guessing is the case here). As I understand it the only time they have to work on a car is if it is towed in by roadside assistance and the car is not drivable. That is not the case here. Even if the CEO of GM were to get involved here the only thing he could do is call the dealer and say you shouldn't be doing this. We both know this won't happen, and even if it did the dealer's response would be something like "thanks for the advice... we will take it under advisement."

I think the best thing the OP can do is what they have already done. He advised others on what happened so they can decide where to take their business in the future. At this point I don't think I would waste any more time on it since even if they were to change their policy today, I doubt it would change your mind about taking the car into their dealership for work.

 

I too just sent the dealer an email. I am sure Monday moening he will know the power of the internet and the Corvette Forum. There was a thread similar to this a few weeks ago about a dealer in NY I believe. Within a few days he had taken out ads in the local papers advising that the did in fact sevice Corvettes regardless of where they had been purchased. Keep firing the emails, they will get the point. If anyone knows the local Corvette clubs shoot them an email too. Nothing like hearing from the home crowd to let these idiots know exactly how stupid policies like these are.

 

I think this is true and I think it's one reason Corvette service suffers. It almost makes the dealerships take shortcuts so as to minimize their loss.

 

I just got an engine replacement under warranty from a dealer I didn't buy from. Superior service and treatment. Its being repurchased by gm and I'm ordering an08 crm z51. This dealer has no allocation and said please bring the new one in for service.

 

This is maddening. GM (et al) go on and on about the best warrantee, the best service, blah, blah, blah...
"but our dealers are under no obligation to give it to you" WTF?

 

PLEASE! That dealer deserves a mention!!!
Oh, wait a minute. You can't do that here.

 

I have worked in the service department as a mechanic (now they're "techs". BFD). Chevy, at that.
You don't want to know what really goes on. Otherwise you'd never buy a new car.

I once saw two other mechanics break out into a fist fight because the vehicle always took longer than "book" and neither of them wanted to take it. The losing mechanic kept delaying work for over 3 weeks on the car by telling the service manager parts were on "backorder". It was finally pawned off to a new-hire who wasn't even qualified.

BTW, I have a million of them...

 

DEFELICE CHEVROLET INC
2506 STATE HWY 88
POINT PLEASANT, NJ 08742
Phone: 732-899-2844
Fax: 732-899-2437

Purchased my car in PA, I've been using this dealer from day one based on a recomendation on the forum. They have a great tech named Tommy does all the vet work. Give them a try.

 

sure you can ; chevrolet of dade city, fl

 

Well my experience with one of the two Chevy dealerships in Tucson has been like this: the bottom ranks are filled with new/green service personnel who don't understand that people who own a Corvette are going to demand more service than people who own a Cobalt. It's not that they are going out of their way to be mean or anything, THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. They are trained to speak a certain way, behave a certain way, and to give a certain level of service to 95% of their customers, who own Chevy trucks or Cobalt and who don't give a rat's *** about good service as long as its done in the end. The typical Chevy customer is not a Luxury/High performance car customer! However, once you move up the food chain a little, by talking to the sales/service managers, things change drastically. The service managers at the dealership I go to usually try to accomodate my requests and are polite and friendly. They GET IT. And my sales rep, who still works at the dealership thankfully, also gets it. After all he spent a great many hours persuading me to buy the car in the first place, and he probably hopes for return business. And I have promised him that return business as long as everyone keeps things civil. Essentially my line is: I have a C6 now, and I love it. Tomorrow I might want a Z06 or the Z07. If you provide the service that keeps me coming back, then I think I won't bother with that other dealership I didn't like before. But there's always Audi/Porsche down the road from my house. So this is one reason I like competition, it keeps sales ppl on their toes.

So a neophyte sales staff will come up to me and tell me that they have no loaner car, they can't service my Corvette today, they don't know why after changing my tires the TPM light comes on etc... etc... He will be smug, think he knows it all, and be uncooperative. Spend only 5 seconds on him, just enough time to ask to speak with the supervisor. The supervisor I find will be apologetic, courteous, and helpful, and he will bend over backwards to help you. Funny thing is even though the supervisor HIS SUPERIOR is there giving you the time of day and helping you resolve the problems, JUNIOR there will still be arrogant unhelpful and totally indignant that his boss for some mysterious reason sees it fit to be nice to you. This is the mystery of the dealership service center.

Moral of the story? Don't be content with the service they offer you. You have to demand the service you want, make it clear to them that you aren't just another ordinary customer. My recent experience (involving an incorrect oil change) has reaffirmed this POV.

 

This is BS. Unacceptable BS.
Just sent the below email. Hope it helps !
HOLD THEM TO THE STANDARD





I've recently purchased a Corvette, despite the resistance I've encountered from others who insisted that the service would drive me away. Despite the obvious performance overmatch over lesser BMERs and the like, it would appear that the Corvette is somewhat unattractive due to the fact that it is a Chevy, and customer service and support is not priority for all GM dealers, Chevy in particular.
I've recently been informed that your facility has refused warrantly service for Vette because it was not bought at Circle. I'm sure you have your reasons ( regardless of logic associated with them). However, I'm not as certain that you've fully realized the consequences of your decision:
1) Alienation of yet another customer.
2) Personification of the mental lethargy that is Chevrolet customer 'service.
3) The really bad press you are recieving; I write you from the west coast. Word do get around.

Changing your mind is a form of an intelligence that, thus far, your facility has yet to demonstrate. Consider carefully the price of your insensitivity. Those of us on the recieving end will do so when it comes time for a new car.

Govern yourselves accordingly,

 

True, but perhaps GM could stop sending them cars, GM is independant of that dealership after all...

Or maybe they just don't get cars with the better options, or less high end, higher profit margin cars. I'll bet that would change their minds.

 

This has been a really interesting thread to follow. To all you folks out there who have sent e-mails to the offending dealership: please follow up if the dealership responds. I'll be interested to see whether all of this has a positive effect on the situation.

 

no brainer refers to the dealer, they make $ on that type of work !! Also , now they lose a customer??!

 

THIS POLICY NEEDS TO BE PROPERLY DISPLAYED
WE DO NOT SERVICE CARS NOT PURCHASED FROM US

GM TAKES ON THE UNIONS AND THEIR COMPETITION BUT NOT THEIR
DEALERSHIPS..........THEY PULL THIS ON ME IT WILL BE LAST CORVETTE

ALSO,IF I LEASE THE CAR BELONGS TO GM RIGHT?

 

last week I had to take my '08 in for service, leak in the transmission line...the first words from the service writer, "Did you buy this from our dealership"...of coure I had. so it didn't matter...Wonder what his response would have been had I said no...

 

Oh man, this is disturbing. Not what I would necessarily expect from a dealer who sold you an expensive car - and their flagship model at that.

I haven't finished reading through all the posts and hope one of our dealer friends will chime in. Someone made the comment that this wouldn't happen at a Lexus store and I tend to agree even though I don't have a Lexus. I do have a couple of Mazdas though and I can asure you this sort of thing wouldn't happen at a Mazda dealer either.

These guys just don't seem to "get it" do they? I like my C6 and, thus far, it's been just fine. I have a feeling though that if I had subscribed to this forum before I bought the Corvette, I might very well still be driving a Porsche.

In fact, now that I think about it, let me tell you that I used to have a 911 Targa, which I bought used, and it was 5 years old with something like 30K miles. I knew it was out of warranty.

Still, I noticed early on that the trainilng edge of the "Targa Bar" looked as thought it had not been comletely painted or something might have rubbed off the paint in that area, say, if the back window had been replaced.

I happened to stop by the Porsche dealer in Seattle several months later and showed them the bare spot on the bar. The service advisor scratched his head and asked me if I could bring it by when the Porsche regional rep was in town, a week or so away. I did, the rep looked at it, scratched his head, called Porsche NA to see if the rear window had ever been repolaced and, when it turned out it hadn't, arranged to have it repainted for me under warranty. Beautiful job too.

Now this is what I would expect from a place where I just spent 60-large or more.

GM used to have something like 2/3 of the domestic auto market. Now they're struggling and trying to play catch-up. Sounds like they have a long way to go, huh?

This is sad.

 

I have a feeling that this is a misunderstanding, are we hearing the whole story here??

I mean its ridiculous for any dealership to turn down warranty work, some even make up warranty work to make a quick buck.

I'm not saying this is the case here, but maybe this customer is a super huge pain in the butt or something? I don't know if I buy into a dealership taking it "personally" if you didnt buy the car from them.

I hope the people that sent emails get a response and post it here, the curiousity is killing me, please, keep us informed!