No, but I do agree with bubbatex. It's one thing for Mr. DeFelice to tell us the long service history of a dealership as it relates to Corvettes. It means they didn't start up yesterday and have a working knowledge and familiarity with the model, Corvette. Great to know.

But regardless of the "legals" of owning a dealership, the binding documents, whether or not you have enough bays, the guy's a greedy/arrogant jerk ( which I'm not saying OP is at all), your rights as a biz owner to reject service to anyone----if the state of the dealership repair keeps going down this path, people will make a decision and a choice. And the decision and choice they make will NOT be beneficial to this brand of dealership. Not just the model in question, a Corvette, but the entire BRAND. Chevrolet. It could even extend over to GM, as well.

As I said in another thread, I referenced the phrase, "tipping point." We, or I, don't know where that point is. Is it 5 publicized "bad "dealers out of a 1000? Is it 50 "bad" ones receiving publicity out of a 1000?

I don't know, but somewhere, there IS a number. And when that number is hit, Oldsmobile goes away. Plymouth goes away. Chrysler loses sales.

And that should worry all of us because it affects our cars. It wasn't long ago that Oldsmobile had the single largest selling model, year after year. That "division" no longer exists. Demise can come quickly, as I said, regardless of the technical or quality superiority of the car. All it takes is the perception of how customers are treated or received.

 

His response was partially sincere. Here is what I believe happened by reading between the lines and I have a feeling the OP is done with this thread anyway.

OP is ticked his battery is acting up, goes out and replaces battery. He goes into the dealership ticked off, Dealership explains they cannot do anything since he took it upon himself to replace the battary GM will not warranty it. Makes OP even more angry. OP proceeds to make a scene and probably has a few choice words for service writer/manager. Once he finds himself getting nowhere goes onto other issues like the wheels and speaker. He has already ticked off the service writer/manager with his tantrum and they figure screw him. We cannot make him happy anyways, he will give us a bad survey regardless so lets get him out of here as quick as we can.

OP goes home, calls customer service whom then calls dealer, Dealer explains situation. Customer service agrees with dealer. CS calls OP and ticks him off even more.

OP jumps on forum to vent and dosent realize the number of people who will jump on the bandwagon and make a buzz at the dealership. OP bails ship (notice we have not heard from him since we started emailing the dealership??) .

Dealer responds with an email which is legit on the surface but really an excuse for not going the whole mile to make a bad situation the best that they could. Dealer was 100% on the Battery, 50% on the wheels, 0% on the speaker .

IN reality the dealer should have told the op and the op should have replied with...

#1, I am sorry but we can not help you with your battery. Had you called us we would have picked it up and replaced whatever defective part you had. But while you are here let us check the system and make sure everything is working properly with your new battery.

OP. Oh. That stinks, wish I would have called you first. Thank you for taking the time to make sure all is in order.

#2, My wheels are showing signs of etching, Manager inspects wheels and lets OP know he will pass the information along but it is above his pay grade to make the call. Also advises it might be best if returns to selling dealer as they may be better prepared to force a warranty claim.

#3 Speaker is making a rattling sound.. Dealership says no problem give us an hour to look at it and see if we can fix the problem while they are checking out the charging system.

In the end
OP would leave with a little better feeling about himself, his car, and the dealership. And the Dealership would have done their job.

As it turned out, two hard heads butted heads. BOTH LOST.

At least thats the way I see it from where I am sitting.

 

Or the dealer could have been a stand up guy, fixed the car and saved a customer for GM. Instead he takes a condecending tone, gives us a cheap commercial about his dealership and still doesn't make the customer happy. The OP bought the most expensive car Chevy offers and he gets the runaround. How about checking the battery anyway? How about calling a service rep for the wheels? How about fixing the speaker rattle? This is a pile of stinky BS and I ain't buying it. Fix the car then tell me how good your dealership is.

 

Hello all I am back and it seems that the dealer responded to this thread with his side of what happened. It is not for me to try and convince anyone that what happened happened but I find that I must clarify my experience at the dealership.
Firstly when I drove my car to the dealership with the new battery in place the old battery was in the trunk, as I was told to bring it with me so it could be tested(I called the service dept in advance about the problem I was having with the battery). Also I was never asked but would have paid for the labor for my old battery to be reinstalled.
Second I have owned the car for a little less than two years so the etching on the wheels has not been a high priorty for me, that said when I spoke to the service writer I asked him to look at the wheels and see if anything could be done and if not it was no big deal.
Lastly the door speaker is what I fully expected to be repaired as it was the only problem that was clearly under warrantee.
now the question was raised was I a pain in the a$$ was I demanding did I take an attitude, in response I have been a loyal service customer at this dealership since about 1989. I used them for service because they always went out of their way to take care of my car both mechanically and physically(when I brought my corvettes in for service they were always kept inside when stored overnight). I had what I would call a relationship with the dealer. Was I looking for something for free, in the past I would tip the mechanic $50 for a $100 repair because I enjoy good service and am willing to show it. When I brought my car in for service recently all I asked for was my car to be serviced, no voices were ever raised no harsh words were ever said no confrontations ever took place in fact I never even saw the service manager I was told by the service writer the service manager would not allow my car to be serviced because it wasnt bought there.
I am in no way advising anyone not to use this dealer for service you may be treated very differently than I was, all I am doing by posting is relating what was my own personal experience.

Alan

PS The experience I had was with a new service manager, the service manager that I have been dealing with for many years recently retired.

 

Alan - I agree with an earlier posted suggestion. Let GM Customer Service and Circle Chevy both know that you have been a loyal purchaser of GM products with the models you cite and let them both know that you will be finished with both of them if they persist in the notion that Circle doesn't have to service your vehicle. And furthermore all of your friends will know about their policy as well. I agree about the battery issue but the other two statements by the dealer/owner are attempts to pass the buck elsewhere.

 

I am trying to write this post without it being a commercial for Circle Chevrolet, but I as a person believe in being fair. Much has been written in this thread both positive and negative about myself and the dealer in question but my intent in posting this thread was not to convince anyone one way or the other. My intent was to inform the corvette community about an experience I had with a dealer.
My current opinion is that if someone from this forum was to bring a vehicle that was purchased elsewhere to Circle Chevrolet they would not turn you away if for no other reason that they dont want to have two people saying the same thing about them.
So to the people who think I am either a nut or a malcontent and want to still have Circle Chevrolet service their vehicles, the mechanic who has been taking care of my cars over the years is named Reno, he is a good mechanic, respects corvettes and is a nice guy. You might want to ask for him by name to service your car.
At this point I am going to move on as it serves no point to continue this conversation. I think I made my point and now its time to put this ugly experience behind me an try to enjoy my Corvette until the time when I sell it and buy a brand that wants my business.

Alan

 

Hi- I normally hang out on the C3 side of things. Sorry to bring up an old dormant post, but the 'Emily Fleming' from GM mentioned waaaaay up at the top is a friend of ours. The subject of Corvettes came up last night in conversation and in amongst many stories she made mention of this forum, and in particular this post. Curiosity got the better of me and I made a point of searching it out. Pretty funny stuff.

I'll let Emily know what's become of the OP

 

Yes, and while you're talking to her, I'm sure you'll note that times have DEFINITELY changed, haven't they? Two years ago, GM wasn't thinking of going bankrupt, having a CEO forced out by the President, having thousands of dealers going out of business, or accepting billions in bailout money.

One might be able to say this kind of incident, multiplied thousands of times over years, along with a multitude of other issues and concerns, as well as the economy has brought about where we are today. And it is a sad condition, indeed.