1KULC7

What a poor excuse of s service department and customer service. On December 31 I drove my 2013 Camaro RS, which has sat idle for two months, that I purchase from Koons on my way to work, it was VERY early in the morning around 6:45 AM. The Check Engine Light came on when I was driving to work, and stayed on, since Koons was on the way to work, I decided to go there and have them check the code to see how serious it was. Since I have not driven the car for a couple of months, I figured it would be something minor, like dirty O2 or MAF, which I could clean easily, but just wanted to make sure it was nothing more serious to be sure and the car is under warranty. Since we where driving the Camaro on a trip for New Years after work, just wanted to make sure. So, I drive into the the service lanes, NO other customers are there at all, I am the only one in the entire service entry area. I sit in the car in front of the service reps desk, as that is how they prefer you to do, they are suppose to come out to your car to greet you and help you. Well he is standing there gawking at me, so I get out of the car and explain to him the light came out and could please he put a Snapon Diagnostic Reader on and tell me the code, as my wife and I were on our way to work and plan to go away after work for New Years and we were going to drive the Camaro, told him I was concerned until I knew what the code was. He told me, remember NO OTHER customers are in the whole six lane service area, they are JAMMED at the moment, could not take me today, and the earliest appointment would be Friday, that I would have to come back on a scheduled appointment. I asked one more time if he just could get the code to determine if it was serious enough that I would not take the Camaro on the trip, told me he was too busy. Said fine, and made an appointment for Friday just in case. I drove three blocks down the street to a friend that has a Snapon diagnostic tool, found the code, (P0171) which upon further inspection I found the problem in about two minutes, under the manifold cover a vacuum tube on the rear of the intake manifold, slipped off the fitting, put the tube back on, and the code cleared.

This is why GM has problems. I WILL NEVER BRING MY CAMARO BACK THERE FOR SERVICE, Mike Furman hope you are reading this because you got another Camaro Customer too (I bought my C7 from Mike), I will not deal with Koons again...and to think just a few weeks ago I went to bat for them on this very forum talking about the mark ups on the yellow Z06 they have on the showroom floor.

What a joke Koons is....I use to buy cars there in the 80's they screwed me over with a Camaro in 1985, I NEVER returned until I bought this Camaro and a Buick Encore from them, but NEVER AGAIN. I will stay with Criswell, even though its a drive for me, Criswell has never screwed me over. NOT telling people not to buy or visit Koons, just relating what happened to me, and that could happen to you.....

Papas02C5

Thanks for the info. I guess I will not stop by there if I have issues next time I'm in the DC area....

ckwhite

Sounds like the service writer was just a lazy jerk. You should consider printing out your post and delivering it to the dealership owner, explaining that he would be losing business - not just from you - but potentially from many other customers in the are due to this guy's lack of responsibility.

Who knows (?) maybe you could get his rosy **** fired!?

Mdm23

Just a lazy service writer. Not sure if you should label the whole service department based on his actions.

crowz

I have a customer that is a dealership and from what Ive seen if you have a lazy service writer you have a BAD service department. Nothing gets passed them so if they are not doing their job that kinda determines the entire experience.

Mdm23

I sort of agree but I actually was a tech at one time. I saw some terrible service writers come through and I saw some good ones. Our techs were awesome though. They're just like waiters/waitresses. Sometimes you get ones that aren't that good, but if I like the food I'm not gonna let that one server keep me from the restaurant. Most people put too much stock in the writers imo. I wanna know if the techs can fix cars not buddy up with the service writers. With the turnover there is in those positions you normally shouldn't expect too much.

WKMCD

Joe Mallo - vette tech - has been with Koons a lot of years and has a very good reputation. He has a loyal following of vette owners in the area. I'd toss this one up to a bad/lazy service writer.

AORoads

Sorry, I gotta disagree on the bad service writer or waiter/good service or food. Any one person along the chain can ruin a customer's experience. And it starts AS YOU DRIVE UP TO THE DEALER, and goes on from there. If the helpers in the drive lane BEFORE a service writer gets to you smacks your car with a broom handle, who cares how good the service is? If the service writer doesn't give a damn, who cares OR knows how good the service technician is?

If the waiter disses you and ignores you for an hour, who cares if the food is great? Reward good service all along the way, not waiting for the good things to happen after the bad. OP makes some valid points. And if Joe Malo gets to read this, since it influences his income, he may want to take some action. Why? Because if OP had been driving thru from Cleveland, he would've been treated differently and immediately taken in---that happens or should, at every dealer for travelers.

Send the whole thread to Crystal or Jim Koons and maybe it'll get some attention.

MarCorpsMustang

I used to get my previous Corvette (C6) serviced at Koons specifically to have Joe Mallo work on it (presumedly). I tried to buy my current/new C7 there, but couldn't get any "traction" (pun) from the Internet sales department (I buy through USAA's buying service). I live out in Loudoun County (Purcellville). Does anyone know a good service location for my 2015 C7 out that way? Anyone been to Jerry's Chevrolet for Corvette service?

I know Criswell (where I bought my car) has a dedicated Corvette service team, but that's a long way to drive to have the car serviced. If it's worth the drive, I'll make it, but only as a last resort.

1KULC7

Joe left Koons last year, for a better job.

1KULC7

Agree and I did.

Jaboor

I used to own a 2006 Dodge Charger and long story short after a month in the dealership for a 50K service and new tires the Dodge Koons dealership gave me the car without bolting my tires on!!! 300 feet from the dealership and my rim bends breaking the axle. I ended up selling the car two months later since my engine overheated...

WORST DEALERSHIP EVER!

z28lt1

Any more info you can provide on where he might be for those that used his services (although I've been using Criswell for a while personally) I used Joe when he was at Pohanka and after he went to Koons until I purchased the C6 at Criswell.

Bandit1

DocHolliday

I've dealt with a handful of folks at the Koon's service department, one worse than the next. The sales manager there is a really good guy, but that service department is terrible.

I make the drive to Criswell for service.

z28lt1

What's funny is I find their sales department to be atrocious, and will never even attempt to buy a car there anymore with all the troubles I've had with them. Service was always good for me.

MarCorpsMustang

The Criswell inventory was clearly exponentially higher than anyplace in N.VA. I assumed Chevrolet provided them such high inventory due to their sales success. I made the one-hour drive to Gaithersburg and was overwhelmed by an inventory of 70 Corvettes on the lot. This told me they must be doing something right. Therefore, if the quality of their service department is equivalent to their sales department, the one-hour drive (each way) for routine service may be worth it. I welcome comments from additional Corvette colleagues who have had their cars serviced by Criswell.

DocHolliday

Yea, I can't speak for the whole sales department - but the sales manger himself did right by me when I had to have my 2015 Tahoe bought back for a quality issue that the service department simply couldn't sort out.

PCMIII

Doesn't matter if you are trying to buy a car or get some service, they suck period. They don't care because they have the best location in NoVa. Koons is horrible.

skipper972

The worst service experience I ever had was with Koons on my C6Z and never went back; used Tony's Corvettes instead. Bought my C7 from Mike Furman at Criswell and just had my first service: terrific experience!