trololo

My Z06 has been at my local Corvette dealer for OVER 3 months for what I believed would be simple repairs for them to handle. Am I wrong for beginning to feel like my patience is running out? Grab your popcorn... So I purchased a 2004 Z06 with 9,000mi on Sept. 25th 2017. Thankfully, I purchased the premium extended warranty also (3yr/50,000mi). I live in Pennsylvania but purchased the car Ohio. After the purchase, I waited several weeks for my title info to arrive in the mail, which meant I needed to get the car inspected for the state of Pennsylvania. During that time, I couldn't help but to notice a small leak underneath the rear end on the driver's side (C5 leaky butt). Also, I noticed difficulty shifting into 2nd gear. There would be a grinding noise going from 1st to 2nd and also 3rd to 2nd. The shifter would also not go into 2nd unless I was going very slow. I basically avoided 2nd gear until I had my set appointment for my state inspection, when I also had them address these issues. This was Oct 11th 2017 that I initially dropped the vehicle off at Troy Alan Chevrolet in Slippery Rock, PA. (Keep in mind, over this extended period of time waiting, my memory of exact details of phone calls is somewhat foggy, but here is the gist of the ongoing problem.) Service manager calls after the initial diagnosis, says the rear seal can be replaced to repair the rear diff leak and he says he doesn't notice any grinding issues while shifting? I said to take it back out or I could stop by the dealership and take him for a ride to show him. He takes it out again and calls me and says he noticed a "slight" clash, said it was probably the synchronizers. He said they would call my warranty company the following day and would get a hold of me with the details. After several days of not hearing anything from him, I called the dealership. He said he couldn't get ahold of my warranty company. I call the warranty company and they say they haven't had any claims filed under my account and no one has tried to file any. After playing phone tag between the warranty company and the service manager, they finally get in contact and the warranty company requested to send out a third party inspector to inspect the vehicle before repairs. About a week goes by without hearing anything, so I call the dealership. The inspector had gone out and approved the repairs several days before but no one updated me. A couple weeks go by and I don't hear anything, but I give them space and remain patient. On Nov 14th, 2017 I get notified that my car passed inspection, the leaking rear end had the driver's side seal replaced and they replaced the 1-2 and 5-6 Syncros and lock rings ($2,133.79 Labor/$1,415.10 parts/ $3,550.69 total covered under extended warranty). I paid my $100 deductible and paid for the PA inspection and took the car home (10mi drive). Car felt good and I was happy to finally have it back. Parked it in my garage and woke up to an even larger puddle under the rear end (this time on the passenger side)! I thought maybe the tech overfilled it with fluid and it was just leaking from the overflow. I took the car to work (5mi) and the first time I downshift into 2nd, the grinding is back... I immediately called the dealership and tell them I'm bringing it back for them to take a look at. I go and drop it off and the service manager says "they'll get around to taking a look at it". I leave my keys and expect to hear back from them. I believe a couple days went by without haring from them, but when I did get a call back, I got the same stories I got from them before, "It happens sometimes." "Maybe you are shifting too fast for the transmission." Basically trying to convince me that this issue was "normal" and I should just accept my car for the way it is with no 2nd gear. I insist they do something to fix it and they say they'll try and think of a solution. At this point they say they discovered the previous owner had installed a B&M short shifter and they said it was "shifting too fast for the transmission to handle and that I should purchase an OEM shifter". I told the service manager to get me a quote on the shifter and to do whatever else was necessary to repair the transmission and the now leaking passenger side rear diff seal. 3 days go by without my quote on the shifter, I call him too remind him, he calls me the next day with my quote, I said go ahead and do it and whatever else is needs. Another month goes by without hearing a word. I get a call on Dec 14th 2017 my car is finished, they had replaced all the hardware for 2nd gear, even though the original gears showed no visible wear and they installed the new OEM Shifter. The Service manager tells me "The mechanic took it out a bunch of times to test it, he's really happy with how feels and the OEM shifter seemed to do the trick." I leave work again to go pick it up, hoping that finally the car would be in working order the way it should be from the factory. I go in and the service manager tells me to take it out on a test drive to make sure I'm satisfied with it. I take it on a test drive and for the first time ever it goes from 1st to 2nd with out issue (at this point I'm thinking it finally works correctly!). I go up through all the gears, and it feels great. When it comes time to turn around, I begin to downshift to slow down and to see if going from 3rd to 2nd will finally work... What do you know, it does the same grind as before... feeling extremely discouraged, I turn around and head back to the dealership. I walk in and tell him there's no difference in how it's performing and he looks at me like I must be kidding. He goes into the shop and gets the mechanic that has been working on my car (this mechanic was actually recommended to me by a Camaro owner I had spoken to before, that is why I went to this Chevy/Corvette dealership). The man comes storming out of the shop and basically rips the keys from my hand and we go out to my car for him to take it on a drive. I can sense his anger with the situation with his poor demeanor and attitude, but I sat along for the ride and waited for him to attempt a downshift into 2nd. We are causing along and coming to a stop sing when he downshifts into 2nd and the dreaded grind occurs. The mechanic then begins to curse in front of me, the customer, up and down about how he's done everything he can think of to fix it blah blah blah. We continue to drive and he kept shifting from 3rd to 2nd to find at what speed the grinding occurs. We discovered any downshift into 2nd above 25mph resulted in a grind, below 25mph was no grind. The excuses continue that I should just "accept it this way and just downshift at lower speeds to avoid the grind." I remind the mechanic and the service manager that it's a Z06 and it was built to be driven in a manner that i should be able to downshift into 2nd above 25mph, this isn't some old Ford Model T. I'm sure if I took a new Corvette on a test drive, it would be able to handle a 26mph downshift into 2nd gear.. The mechanic calls GM and asks what speed is recommended for downshifting into 2nd gear on a 2004 Z06 and they respond with "Anything below 75mph should not be an issue." So yeah, it's probably not correct for me to experience the grinding at 26mph... We go back in the service center and I put my keys back on the counter and said to make it right and fix it appropriately. They just look at me and I left. (Keep in mind this is Dec 14th, 2017).. ANOTHER month goes by without hearing a thing. Still trying to remain patient and give them space. I call my warranty company to see if they can see any new claims started my the dealership. They say nothing has happened since Dec 15th 2017(the day after I attempted to pickup) when they received payment from the warranty company. Knowing this, I decided to call their customer satisfaction number to see if I could get answers on my issue. I spoke to the owner's wife and explained that they've had my Corvette for over 3 months, I have a full warranty that will cover whatever is necessary to replace to make the car correct again and they've yet to fix my vehicle and have failed to keep me updated along the process. I also mentioned the lack of professionalism from the service manager and the mechanic. She just asked for my info and gave me more excuses "because my car isn't a 2018 Corvette, it won't shift like new." I just said I just want my transmission to work properly, my car has 10,000 miles on it. She doesn't let me do much talking and tells me the service manager will call me after he goes to lunch. A couple hours later he calls and said "we've been tinkering around with it and some things got in the way and there's a special fluid that's hard to find that we had to special order. Your car should be ready tomorrow." (what a miracle, I made a phone call and magically my car they've had for over three months will be finished tomorrow!) I then asked what that did to fix the grinding issue with the transmission, he then said "we replaced the synchros". I then asked "Didn't we do that before??" and he said yes (I don't understand if new synchros didn't fix it before, how would they now??) I say ok and wait to hear from him the next day. In the meantime, I call my warranty company to see if they had opened a claim to replace the synchros again. The warranty company says no, still the last activity wasn't since Dec 15th. I share my concerns about my situation to them and tell them about the hardships I've been having with this dealership. They agreed that it was ridiculous to be out of my car for over 3 months, especially by a Corvette Dealer. They reassured me that I'm completely covered for whatever is necessary for the repair, even if a whole transmission is needed, they would just send out a third party inspector. I said "Yeah, I'm aware of that process, they had a third party inspector come out before to insect the car for the initial transmission repairs." To my surprise, the gentlemen working for the warranty company tells me there is no history of an inspector being requested to go out to the dealership to inspect my vehicle in the past?? He said that if that really happened, there should be documentation under my account, which there is NOT. (This confused me, I wasn't sure if it was an error on the warranty company or what if the third party inspector story actually never happened?) I felt reassured by my phone call with the warranty company and patiently waited to hear about my car being ready. The service manager calls me that Friday afternoon and says "Well, I just took your car out and I'm still experiencing the clash going into 2nd gear so I know you won't be happy with it." He also said he doesn't know what else to do but try placing some other small parts in the transmission. I asked if the rear end leak had been fixed and he said yes. I told him my warranty company is aware of my situation and that they would cover whatever would be needed, and I then suggested possibly a new transmission. He sounds hesitant and said that he isn't sure if a transmission for a 13 year old car would still be available. I said to call my warranty company and try to get it figured out and he said he'll call them Monday and let me know... That is where I currently stand in the situation. This whole time I've been extremely polite and patient. I thought giving them time and space would ensure a proper repair but I'm starting to think otherwise. Is this normal? Do I have the right to start feeling aggravated with the situation or am I being unrealistic? Would would you do in my situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Vetteman Jack

Moved this to Transactions Feedback section.

Please remember the forum rules on responding to dispute threads.

Crosis

Its not unrealistic to expect things to work right when you've paid for a warranty. Keep with it and see if you can find a new tranny.

trololo

My thoughts exactly! Thanks for the words of encouragement. Hopefully an update early next week...

striper

At this point I would get that car out of the dealer and take it to a Corvette performance repair shop, like RKT in Frederick, MD. Transmissions are one of their specialties and they have fast turn around. Maybe there is a way you could get your warranty company to help you on this before they waste more time with the dealer. I don't understand how they could be so lame to work on it several times and not get it repaired. The car might be older but some trans components carry over to other models and years. I also have never heard of magic voodoo fluids. There must be a specific unique problem with your car they can't figure out. My '03 Z06 has 160,000 miles and still shifts just fine with no grinding. Good luck.

3sACROWD

You do not have the right to START being aggravated. You should have been pissed two months ago! They have failed miserably.

Do you have an owners manual? If yes, you may try calling the 800 number that is listed in the back. While the car is out of factory warranty, you need to at least let GM know the poor performance of the dealership. (The dealerships are franchises)

Your car should not grind in a downshift or upshift situation. There is a shifter alignment procedure you can do yourself. I doubt it is your issue but worth the 30 minutes it will take to do it. As others suggested, see if you can take it to a reputable transmission place. A new transmission isn't likely available but the guts are.

Good luck and keep us posted.

trololo

Rick@RKT Performance

Give us a call, we can take care of your issue and we work with warranty companies. We can have everything done in few days. Our shop is about 4 hours from you.

Rick

striper

To the OP, there you go. I suggest you go to RKT and he goes and contacts you directly himself. I wouldn't even bother calling the dealer anymore. For all you know they never have done anything to your car and are BSing you all this time. The only one really getting all upset is you. Call this guy before you have a heart attack, the aggravation is not worth it. The worst thing that can happen is nothing more than what's happened so far, though I highly doubt it. Rick has many people on the forum that mentioned him to me.

trololo

UPDATE- Since my original post I opened a case with Chevrolet regarding my situation with Troy Alan Chevrolet. I'm still waiting to hear from my local representative. The service manager from the dealership told me last time we spoke (Friday morning) he would contact my warranty company Monday (yesterday) about getting approval for the replacement of my transmission. Of course, Monday goes by with no information from the service manager. I give them the majority of Tuesday to give me a call and I hear nothing so I call the dealership at 4:00PM.

I called the same Customer Service Representative I spoke to last week (Dealership Owner's Wife). I stated my name and she immediately said that she's tracking the process of my vehicle and she mentioned something about how the service manager had contacted me, which never happened. I told her he was supposed to call me but never did. I asked her if 105 days in the shop was standard turn around time for their Chevrolet/Corvette dealership, she replied with "I don't know". She then continues to explain how my car is too old to be repaired and they usually don't work on cars "that old". I asked if I'm the only person with a car from 2004 and she replies with "I don't know". I then asked what I'm supposed to do at this point, can I take it elsewhere and have it repaired? or am I bound to this dealership's parts/service warranty? She says "You can come pick up your car!" (Not fixed). And I told asked how is that fair if you've already received $4,000 from my warranty company and got paid to fix my car but the problem still hasn't been addressed? She then insists over and over again that I speak to the service manager but I remind her that this service manager is who I've dealt with for the past 3+ months with ZERO results/communication. I asked to speak to the owner and she avoided that and said she would walk the phone to the service manager "with the owner". I'm then put on hold and the service manager picks up the phone.

I asked The service manager the same series of questions and also why he hadn't called me to keep me informed. He gave me some excuses and said his parts guy has been on the phone "for days" trying to locate a transmission for my car. He said no-one has them and he doesn't know where to locate one. I asked him if I could go elsewhere with my car and he said I wouldn't be able to get the car repaired somewhere else because since this dealership worked on my car already, I'm bound to their "Parts/Service Warranty". So basically if I accepted it the way that it is and tried going somewhere else, they'd tell me I have to go back to this dealership that has had my car for over 100 days...

I also talked to my warranty company and they said the same thing, since they paid this dealership and since they installed parts on the car, they have to complete the repair. So basically my car is being held hostage at this dealership until they locate a transmission. This dealership has a 12 month/ unlimited mile parts/service warranty. At this pace, I'll probably reach the 12 month timeframe with the car still in the shop and I could just take it elsewhere then!.

So as of now, I think I'm basically stuck... Can any of you that understand the process of how dealerships find/order parts for clients with extended warranties, explain to me if what I'm being told sounds truthful?? I feel somewhat lost as to what to do next at this point. Is it really impossible for a Chevrolet/Corvette dealership to repair/replace a 2004 C5 ZO6 transmission???

bravo29

You might have to do what I did. Look around yourself for a new transmission. Call your warranty company saying you found one and get approval it can be purchased through the dealer. Call the idiot dealer saying you found one and the warranty company states they can buy it. Give them the info and hope for the best.

I had to do this for my mom's Honda accord. That is what she got for buying a honda at a chevy dealer.

trololo

bravo29

Call any shop as long it rebuilt and comes with some sort of warranty. It doesn't have to be a gm direct or gm parts warehouse. Call rick and RKT see if they will get you one for through your warranty or even have the dealer call him. Might have to ship but at least your getting one.

trololo

UPDATE- My local corporate Chevy Rep just called me. I told him the situation and he agreed it is ridiculous. He said that the dealership's customer service manager had ALREADY contacted him TWICE yesterday, needless to say, my phone call to her must have shook them up some when I told her I opened a case with Chevy. He said she made it sound like it was no big deal but I painted a better picture of the severity of the issue. He's supposed to put pressure on the dealership and get a hold of me on Monday with an update. No word from the dealership today. Chevy apparently has ZERO T56's in their inventory but they are not deemed "discontinued" yet. After 106 days I've gotten used to this waiting game. I've been in contact with Rick from RKT. I'm not sure what could be done by a third party a this point though since my dealership has been paid already and they have a warranty on their parts/service. I also wondered if they could just purchase the trans from RKT but I believe they can only buy genuine Chevy parts directly from Chevy. Any further insight is appreciated!

trololo

UPDATE-Service manager called me yesterday and said he talked to my warranty company about a new transmission and apparently they said they WOULD NOT approve a new trans. I called the warranty company to see why not and the adjuster said that it is because the dealership cannot properly diagnose the problem because they are claiming they can't see anything wrong with any of the parts. The dealership is planning on tearing it down again today, once again, and I'll probably receive another phone call stating they can't figure it out My question is, why did they receive payment from my warranty company back in December for this issue that has been ongoing since October 2017 and has yet been resolved? How could they finalize the "job" and receive payment if my car was still in their shop? Seems strange to me. Today is the 107th day Troy Alan Chevrolet has had possession my vehicle...

kh400

[QUOTE=trololo;1596444531]UPDATE- My local corporate Chevy Rep just called me. I told him the situation and he agreed it is ridiculous. He said that the dealership's customer service manager had ALREADY contacted him TWICE yesterday, needless to say, my phone call to her must have shook them up some when I told her I opened a case with Chevy. He said she made it sound like it was no big deal but I painted a better picture of the severity of the issue. He's supposed to put pressure on the dealership and get a hold of me on Monday with an update. No word from the dealership today. Chevy apparently has ZERO T56's in their inventory but they are not deemed "discontinued" yet. After 106 days I've gotten used to this waiting game. I've been in contact with Rick from RKT. I'm not sure what could be done by a third party a this point though since my dealership has been paid already and they have a warranty on their parts/service. I also wondered if they could just purchase the trans from RKT but I believe they can only buy genuine Chevy parts directly from Chevy. Any further insight is appreciated![/QUOTE Here is what I think (after 35 yrs working in dealerships), They have never had the transmission out of the car . They are simply blowing smoke up your ***. Forget them and find a reputable repair shop that will honor the aftermarket warranty. PS: Aftermarket waranties blow. Everything is covered but what is wrong with the car at this time! With only 10K on this car, it was rode hard and put away wet. Sorry. Good luck!

trololo

[QUOTE=kh400;1596459137]

trololo

The Rabbi

I would get in touch with the owner, not his wife, using guilt and shame and to please help. This is a serious situation and could become a legal battle with his name in the headlines, not something he would want.

I used to be the GM at a dealer and would never have allowed this to escalate, I would have been personally involved. Maybe it's the general mgr you need to speak to. Ask him how he would like to be treated this way.

trololo