BrokenBrain

please provide your opinion on how i should handle this problem.

here's what happened:

last february, i took my 2005 c6 to my nearest dealer to have them look at a problem with a leaky coolant system. after they inspected the car, my service tech (let's call him Max just for the sake of discussion) told me he wanted to show me a problem under the hood of my car. after walking to the back of the service department, Max and one of the mechanics showed me what the balancer on my car was doing while the engine was running. basically it was wobbling and making a little jiggle noise. we all agree it was a very serious issue, so I agreed to have them fix the balancer and the coolant leak, which involved changing the water pump and belts basically. Max told me very plainly that everything they were going to do would be fully 100% warranteed - guaranteed. he gave me no reason to believe that there were any limitation on this.

they charged me almost $900 for all the work and i felt fine about most of it since they were fixing the balancer, replacing the water pump, and warranteeing all of it. i had some heartburn over the cost of the waterpump (2x market) and changing belts that probably didn't need to be changed, but decided to just do it anyway.

the morning after the work was completed i had squeeking belts. of course this was disturbing, but i decided that they may need to be 'broken in'. well, after about THREE weeks, the belts finally stopped squeeking.

fast foreward to last week: i was having some fun with my car and i start to hear these really strange knocking and grinding sounds. it was really scary. i thought for sure the main bearing was ruined. i left it in a parking lot at 'the mall' while i tried to figure out what was wrong with the car by posting over in the Tech-Performance section here.

so i decided to just drive the car back to the dealer that did the work on it in february. after doing some driving in the car something unexpected happened. virtually everything that seemed so wrong with the car went away. looking at the balancer through it was clear that it needed some attention because it was not turning regularly.

the guys at the service department agreed with me. then they decided that the work done on the car last february did not include any work on the balancer. the paperwork, conveniently for them, doesn't mention anything about the balancer on it.

so now they are telling me they never touched the balancer on my car. this is the most BS i have ever heard in the span of two minutes in my life. they even had two 'mechanics' there who tried to tell me that my balancer was never touched by them. i didn't recognize either of them so i just made it clear that the mechanic that did the work was someone else. Max, i think, would vouch for that. conveniently for them (again) Max is not available for another week.

when i asked them: 'so who fixed my car when i l left here the last time and the balance was "fixed"? who did it'? to this they had no answer.

i didn't hesitate to tell them that i thought they were completely full of $hit.

long story short: they expect me to pay them another $800 to have the balancer fixed (again.........actually replaced this time). i think they did a lousy job repairing it in the first place since the belts were squeeking after they gave the car back to me. i think asking me to spend more money on this is truly KUR-AZZZZZZY!

so what do you think? what should i do about this?

i've known for five years that the balancer on the 2005 c6 has issues, but this car had 80,000 plus miles on it when i took it to them in february. not sure if the milage on the car really matters though with a TSB on it.

S2K

What does your paperwork say? I have a massive file folder of all the paperwork I have received for each and every visit to the the dealer. The paperwork always shows what work was performed and what parts were replaced. Did you not get the paperwork or are you saying that these services were not listed on the paperwork? I just find it hard to believe that you don't have documentation from the dealer when you paid all of that money. Of course their computer system should show this as well, but if you don't trust that, again you should have the papers.

BrokenBrain

i have all the paper work for this, but it doesn't mention anything about the balancer work. under labor and parts, it reads like they didn't touch the balancer.

S2K

I am sure some car technical folks will chime in with regards to what work should have been done given what they quoted.

However, given you paid almost $900 and the paperwork you have lists the work that was performed, you might want to see if that was an appropriate amount. I don't know how much this all should cost, but it is possible that they would have charged much more if they did work with the harmonic balancer. You could check other dealers or shops and ask how much they would charge for whatever needs to be done with the balancer. additionally, check other dealers/shops to see how much they would have charged for the work the shop claims to have performed.

I am not looking to rub salt here, but reviewing the paperwork before leaving the dealer, especially when extensive repairs are in the works, is a must.

Regardless, it sounds like they didn't do a good job with the areas they admit to working on so I am not sure how they are working with you on that. Calling Chevy proper is an option and one I have used successfully in the past.

Good luck.

BrokenBrain

i realize that not knowing what the paperwork said when i signed off on it last time has put me into some difficulties regarding this; however, it doesn't mean necessarily that they didn't work on the balancer and that there is no warrantee covering that work, i am guessing.

i would really love to see some other opinions on this. any lawyers care to comment?

BrokenBrain

S2K:

please elaborate on your experience with GM proper: how did you contact them and what outcome(s) did you experience?

Mel 2001

You need to contact "Max" for his input.

BrokenBrain

while in their offices today, one of the things i said was "let's get Max on the phone".

you won't be surprised to know that they were spectacularly unwilling to call Max (for any reason).

one of my options is to go back when Max is back to see if Max is willing to tell the truth about all of this.

SeanMo

Is your car out of the powertrain warranty? The balancer should be covered under that.

Joe_Planet

first of all, how do they warantee the work but then charge you $900??

when picking up the car why didnt you check their work?

Gary Wells

My guess would be that without Max stating to his dealership that some work was done on the balancer, and Max is not going to do that if he likes his job, and if he does, he is at fault for not specifying that on the paperwork you will be paying for a balancer replacement.
$900 will just about cover the water pump replacement, new belts, and labor & any new fluid needed.
I would guess that the dealership the 1st time around did whatever they could on the balancer without replacing it and just did not charge, so it is not on the paperwork.
Not to be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable but I think that you are beyond attorney assistance.
Never take your car back or sign for paperwork when it does not match the work agreed upon and performed.
This is probably not what you wanted to hear but I'm sure that you knew that it was coming from somebody.

3GenVettes

To me the key information in this is that your car had 80,000 on it. TSB's do not in my understanding extend the warranty. Unless you had and extended warranty that you do not mention, the '05 had 3 yr 36,000 mile warranties.

It does not sound to me like the dealer was ever obligated warranty wise. Most shop only warranty work they do for 90 days, in my experience, so you might be in that 90 days, but it would be close. Nobody likes to get the run around that it sounds like your facing, but I don't think your case is very strong. Sorry.

VET4LES

Yesterday you said your Corvette had 93,000 miles on it and as I said yesterday why would a dealer warrant a 5 year old Corvette with 93,000 miles on it that came with a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty?

gilly6993

sorry but if you signed the paperwork and it did not say anyhting about the balancer you're gonna be SOL....

redzone

TSB=Technical Service Bulletin.....not a recall.

AORoads

I don't think you need a lawyer, you need to read the above. And be more careful about paperwork the next time. This time, you are completely out of luck and recourse. My opinion is, if you want it fixed, it is all on your dime.

Plus, if the balancer was wobbling for any period of time, I would certainly want a belt (s) replaced because they may be shredding internally.

johnodrake

you may want to pay close attention to the balancer in the future, not knowing what they did or didn't do. Remember, the balancer has a torque to yield bolt and cannot simply be retightened.

Wayne O

"... I agreed to have them fix the balancer and the coolant leak, which involved changing the water pump and belts basically. Max told me very plainly that everything they were going to do would be fully 100% warranteed - guaranteed....they charged me almost $900 for all the work..."

I'm confused to begin with. Considering the age and mileage of the car, what warranty was this covered under? If everything was covered under warranty why would they charge you $900 (and why would you pay anything for a repair covered under warranty)? I've got all kinds of questions but bottom line...didn't you read the statement/bill when you picked up the car? With respect to whatever it was you discussed with the service advisor about the harmonic balancer, I think you're just out of luck.

Lastly, since you've driven the car for a good while I'm guessing the crank-pulley had not actually come-loose when they first noticed the 'problem.' FYI it is possible for a crank-pulley to have a slight wobble and still be operationally OK. You might want to have an independent mechanic verify if, in fact, the pulley bolt is still tight and just how bad the wobble is.

Walt White Coupe

First, there is absolutely nothing they can do to fix a wobbling crank pulley other than to replace it with a new one. That job alone is at least a $900 job. Sounds to me like they never touched it. And the bill confirms that.

BrokenBrain

this vehicle has had no warrantee on it for quite some time now although i did buy an extention of the original warrantee; but that used up a long time ago.

in february, while speaking with Max and one mechanic over the open hood of my car, Max told that the work they proposed to do for me would be absolutely guaranteed and not just for 90 days. this was one of the "selling" points. Max may have said something to the effect of "for as long as you own this car". or something such like that.

should i have asked to have that in writing? absolutely. should i have looked at the paperwork and insisted that it contain a warrantee and mention all the balancer work? absolutely. should i have asked to see all of the paperwork and the guarantee language in advance of committing anything to them up front? absolutely. next time i will be a far more careful consumer.

let this be a cautionary tale for all those out there who might find themselves in this kind of trouble.

but at this point, my argument is this: just because the paper work doesn't specifically mention the guarantee and balancer work, doesn't mean that i was not promised one and that they "fixed" the balancer. does having all this in writing make it easier to "prove in court". of course; that's obvious. but that doesn't mean necessarily that there is no warrantee or guarantee in effect here.