OT update on my rant about Chevy dealer

I decided NOT to go over the next day and confront them about the front hubs they installed on our 2010 Chevy Impala. Figured it would be best to go spend Thursday in the woods making a load of firewood and let myself calm down, so I didn't act irrational. The wiffey had to do the weeks shopping this morning, and I went back up to the woods to block another batch of logs.
This afternoon I pulled into their customer parking area, and there was a young salesman out in the lot where I parked. He walked over to me and aked how I was doing. I politely told him "not so good, got a beef with service dept. He walked in with me and lead me to the service managers office. Nice young guy and I thanked him.
I sat down with the service manager, and told him when I went to a GM dealer, I expected to have GM parts installed and pay a bit more than aftermarket parts. He passed the buck real quick, and said I would have to take that up with the parts dept. He escorted me to the parts counter, and handed my Weds billing to the parts manager. This guy came to me asking why I thought that Duralast parts had been installed. I handed him the box they put the removed hubs in. He then told me the boxes ment nothing, They may have just found those boxes in the shop and put them in them. I won't say all that I told him, but I doubted that they sent a mechanic dumpster diving for boxes when the wiffey requested the old parts back. At that point some customers in the waiting room had heard my elevated tone. I confronted him about the Duralast warranty, and how I could claim it if I had a failure. He told me that this invoice would be proof for their/GM lifetime warranty. I asked him why we had to pay for these, because they were the second set of hubs that they installed on this car. First pair were covered under a protection plan they offered when we bought the car from them. No answer. Finally he said they would adjust the price for aftermarket hubs or provide a lifetime warranty on the hubs. I told him to cut me a check for the diff. They wrote me a check for $237.51
I also called them on telling me that the steering rack needed replacing. They said there was some oil on the suspension under it. I told them that they as well as I, know that a $9.00 jug of Lucus PS sealer would take care of that. The parts manager then said that they don't make any money on fixes like that. I bit my toung on that, and put the bill in front of him and told him that he better remove their slogan under their logo which says "A Dealer For The People" He then hande me a business card. Little did I know that He and his brother own the franchise.
I bet by tonight there is a sign posted in the shop area, stating NOTICE" do not put replaced parts into original packaging when customer requests them back.
Loren

Let me guess, James P.?

Glad to hear you got some satisfaction. When we bought my wife's grandma Cherokee (used) it came with free oil changes for as long as we own it. Seems like every third oil change or so the are finding something that they say needs to be replaced or repaired. Most costly was a new oil pan. I still don't see any problem with it and that was 2 years ago. Anything to drum up a little buiseness ! A lot of dealers make their money this was and it isn't right ! Whether it's installing cheaper parts or saying you need work when you don't !

You and my wife would get along great! We bought a new van in 2012. Traded in an 03 Impala and 02 Ford Escape too. After we took the van home my wife took out the calculator. Took the list price deducted the incentives off trade price added taxes and fees. She was completely convinced we were over charged $1500. Next morning she called the accounting department and said what she discovered. They said they highly doubt that would ever happen but they would look into it and call us back. Sure enough an hour later they did call back apologized and next time we were they cut us a cheque for $1500. Makes you wonder how many times that happens in the run of a year and the purchaser never notices. I find 9 out of 10 times or more when there's money adding errors they don't fall in my favour.

we were repairing a new nissan that was in a wreck, air bags deployed. when the side bag went off, it tore the wiring connecter and wires where they plug into the bag. mfr will not aloow any splicing or repairs to the air bag harness. tookit to the dealer for a new harnees, 980.00 for the harness and about 7 hrs labor at 120.00 hr. got it back and started re assembling the car. my tech discovered the harness had been spliced about 1 foot back. and tucked in behind a roof support. called the zone rep thru our nissan parts supplier. dealer got caught with their knickers down. they had to replace the harness, pay rental to the vehicle owner, pay the tows back to their shop and then deliver the car back to us. nissan corporate came down pretty hard on the dealership. i hate shops that rip off customers!!!!!

A dealer in this area got caught overcharging on state contract vehicles lately. It would appear that many businesses push the limits as hard as they can these days, I get to deal with quite a few of them.

Nice round $1,500 number.

This is not a coincidence.

Dean

That was a great read, and I feel that you won one for all of us that feel like we have been ripped off by service departments. I let my wife take things in, but don't let her ok extra work to be done that they suggest. Usually they tell her things like the oil in the signal lights is past due to be changed , and it could void her warranty if she doesn't get it done very soon..
You won one for all us little guys!

In a past life, I did warranty analysis for GM for a couple of years prior to leaving to attend law school.

A colleague with whom I worked took a vacation in his nearly new car, and somewhere in S or N Carolina, stopped at a dealer for some minor work. All done and back on the road.

Upon returning to work and waiting a bit for the data base to update, he investigated his warranty claim in the warranty database. He found that GM had been charged for hundreds of dollars of work that was not needed and had not been done.

Quick telephone call to the right person, and after investigation, the guilty dealer lost his franchise. No doubt, he's selling some other brand now.

Such is extraordinarily uncommon but it does happen.

Warranty fraud is VERY common, and you pay for it.

Dean

Local dealer here overcharged several different police departments something like 750,000 dollars for service and repairs. Here is the kicker. The dealer caught it, immediately fire the service manager, notified both the state police and FBI. Seems the service manager was getting commission on parts and labor. His cut was something like 250K. The dealer sense they found out and reported this has been bending over backwards to overcome this problem. The former service manager has been indicted. The investigation found that the dealership itself wasn't involved in any way and cooperated fully with the investigation.

That's one of those "what were you thinking" moments. Ripping off the cops?

Rick

Well, as far as it went, I totally agree with you and how you handled it. You caught them red handed ripping you off and you called them out on it. When you got to the part about the steering rack, I just about fell out of my chair! They wanted to sell you a $1000 part plus hundreds more in labor over a couple of drops of oil? And they told you that they didn't make any money fixing it "economically?" Really? I sure would have told that guy a few things about honesty and integrity. Apparently, they have a shortage of both.

Just so you know...
Those gimmicks like "free" oil changes, "free" state inspections, and any other "free" goodies are solely designed to get you into the shop where they can nitpick your car to death and oversell you things that you really don't need.
Some words to live by:
"There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Had a local shop here charge me 800 bucks for a clutch in a 4.3 Chevy work truck. I thought "man that's high." Got to looking at the invoice, and the parts were higher than the local GM dealer. (I called and checked) On the invoice, the code for the parts was AAP. (Advance Auto Parts) I called them out on it, and they said it was a computer billing error. Yea right. Got some money back. This was 15 or 20 years ago.

Sounds like you did pretty good, except for the part about the hubs having been already changed. Was there no warranty on the previous hub replacement?

How many miles that the seven year old car is on it's second set?

I removed the transfer case from a jeep cherokee and took it to dealer to have it repaired. After I had it re installed, I realized that they had charged me for the entire job, which would have included the removal and installation.

Glad you were able to get things right,no more ripoffs than in vehicle repair these days and equipment repairs for that matter too.Looks like their operating plan is to install cheap
parts,give the GM Warranty like they are GM parts and then figure the customer will sell or trade before they go bad.

In the 1970s, I took my 72 Vega to a Chevrolet dealership in south Dayton, OH for a "new" engine under the GM extended warranty campaign for cylinder wall damage due to coolant leakage into the cylinders. According to GMs literature the replacement was supposed to be "cost free."

Upon picking up the car abour 6 weeks (!) later I was astonished to find out that they had charged me for engine oil, filter, anti freeze, both radiator hoses, both heater hoses, thermostat, spark plugs (the head was not touched aside from R & R), etc. All of these items had been changed within the past 30 days and they had been so told. They also charged me for various gaskets, etc. and two hours of additional labor due to the headers, which I had installed and which actually made R & R of the exhaust a bit easier.

Upon questioning the service manager about the extra labor, I was told "We always charge two extra hours for headers, one hour each side." Astonished, I informed him that it was a four cylinder.

I'm sure that GM also paid for these parts and supplies (aside from the 2 hours of gravy labor). Warranty fraud was rampant then as it is now.

Making a long story short, he would not budge on anything nor would the dealership owner.

I paid the bill, moved on, and never went into that dealership again. That's been over 40 years. I've also told many folks about my experience.

Had I then known what I know now, I would have contacted GM.

Dean

PCA I worked for in the '70's bought new Fords for the loan officers- Boss "bought local", and wanted to have the Ford dealer to do the service work as well. That lasted quick- Mine was the first that needed an oil change, and they replaced a headlight- 112 bucks! And this in 1977. Boss immediately told everybody that we're going back to the independent mechanic we had before, except for serious warranty work. The independent was a young guy just starting out, and I'm still using him 40 years later- a more honest guy there never was.

Also took an '87 Ford Aerostar in to a different Ford dealer for a cooling problem- they charged 1.5 hours labor for a thermostat and coolant flush. I griped, they said .5 to change the thermostat, 1 hour for the flush. They said "If you don't want the new thermostat, we'll take it out and put the old one back in." I said "just give me my old one, I'll change it myself"- I had my tool box with me. I changed it out in less than 5 minutes, took their new one back in, and said "there's your half hour labor- your watch must have stopped during my job". I did get a refund.

Don't get me started on the local car dealer in Trenton, MO! Service department will rip you off in a heartbeat!

Since Missouri has a "vehicle inspection". we all have to take our vehicles into a registered shop for inspection in order to get a license plate. Neighbor lady bought a used F150 about a month ago. She took it in to be checked. All 4 ball joints were "bad". Low and behold, the inspection place she went to specializes in alignment and suspension work, and it would cost $600. Took it elsewhere, and they said ONE was bad. Turns out he is a friend of alignment guy, and recommended him to do the work..... I told her I would replace it for her, if she bought the parts. Replaced it, and found that there was NOTHING wrong with the old one!
The whole system is a rip off...I know vehicles that are - literally - held together by caulking and baling wire, that pass inspection with flying colors, and others that fail due to a 1/4" tear on a windshield wiper. Neighbor has one that has a sign on the dash, telling him that the lights must be on, in order for the turn signals to work (among other things)! It passes every time!

I call BS on the Aerostar story. Those things were popular when I started wrenching. Only thing that can be done in less than 5 minutes on an Aerostar is open the hood. Thanks for helping me remember the nightmare those turds were, makes me thankful for the stuff I work on now where the engine is actually visible.

T F, You just drove a 20 penny spike with one hit.
Loren

The car only has 86,688 miles as noted on invoice, when I made original post. We haven't put 5000 miles on the car in the last year. Both of us are retired and don't travel much.
Loren

They are ranked as one of the most difficult vehicles to work on under the hood BTW...

I am not taking up for a dealer most don't understand the pay structure ell I don't either... Its probably the root cause of the issues.

Its called flag hours, flat rate, commission.. When I come back in my next life I am gonna be a heavy equipment mechanic you get paid from the time you start to the time you Finnish. NO book time to beat and NO quick place on every corner to compete with...

Just wondering how many folks would show up for work Monday with no guarantee what you will take home Friday.

NO that don't make it right are a excuse its a evil of the industry.
To compound matters folks want there car fixed while they set and wait... GRRRR

One thing that was easy on the Aerostars was the transmissions. I could get one of them on the bench in less than an hour. I sure did overhaul a lot of them back in the day, By 1988, they figured out why they were continually failing and made them a lot better. In the meantime, I overhauled a lot of 1986 and 1987 transmissions.

As I said, I had to bite my tongue on his comment about the Lucas Stop leak. I did ask him if he could sleep at night.
Loren

(quoted from post at 05:45:35 09/23/17) The car only has 86,688 miles as noted on invoice, when I made original post. We haven't put 5000 miles on the car in the last year. Both of us are retired and don't travel much.
Loren

Click to expand...

Sorry, I couldn't read much on the picture of the invoice. Is it salt damage that is ruining the hubs? I'm used to 300,000 miles on wheel bearings. I just don't use dealers because I think they are no better than my local mechanic. they seem to prove it over and over. Most local mechanics are ex dealer mechanics who got frustrated by dealer shenanigans.

as far i concerned you getting warranty on 2010 with that many miles unless you paying for a extended policy was gift they gave to calm you down. you need to open shop and find out.warranty for dealers is a no win situation period. in my business they now put warranty on for seven years, i dropped that line of product. old parts gave back in boxes you were odd person out wanting those back and still get warranty. my shop if it truly is warranty those parts have to be sent back to factory,you walk out with them warranty is void. they were way more than generous with you. like said before fix yourself next time,then see if you get refund from parts guys.

You got it all wrong. You misinturpeted my post. The money they gave me back was the difference in price between what they would charge for genuine GM parts verses Duralast parts. There was no warranty involved. When we bought the car it had an extended warranty plan which covered the first set of hubs less the hundred buck deductible. Those replacement hubs had maybe 20K miles on them and were growling. I didn't ask for warranty on this set (didn't know GM had a lifetime warranty on them), and probably IF the first set of replacement hubs were indeed GM hubs why didn't they say they were warranted. They have all the service records on this car. I question how the owner/parts manager could make the statement to me that the part number on the invoice says that I have a lifetime warranty on the Duralast hubs. If I did not want them to cut me a check for the difference in price between the two brands. Doesn't that sound a bit fishy to you???? It sure struck me funny.
Loren

I wonder if GM would have any interest in hearing about how they planned to bill autozone parts with a GM part number and then turn that into GM warranty if/when they failed ?

Some GM cars had a lot of wheel bearing issues for some reason. Rendezvous was the worst it seemed. When I worked at the GM dealer we tried GM and aftermarket ones with similar problems of short life.

Probably selling Hondas now, that's the way they roll. Quite common for Honda dealers to turn down the warranty claim unless you buy one of the upsell items like a transmission, cooling system or engine flush