im very upset

bc i been driving my cobalt for 9 months already this is my first chevy i used to drive hondas b4

and yesturday was not a good day for my car bc the cruise control is not working, the moon roof wont close all the way

i called my dealer (city chevrolet) yesturday to make an apointment and they told me just to bring the car in that i didnt need to make one so i took the car... i got there (around 2:50) did all the paper work the consultant told me that might take from half hour to 1 hour..... so there i was waiting for te car 4pm came and nothing 4:30pm nothing at this point i was a little mad 5pm still nothing 5:15 i walked to my consultant desk and asked him what was going on what was taking them too long and he told me just to go inside the waiting room and wait for him......i asked him nicely to let me know how much longer would take before i get and answer he look at me and told me that they had not had the chance to check on my car yet, i took a deep breath and look at him with anger and say so im i getting my car today or not he says if you do not want to wait i ll get your keys and ask you to leave i dont care if you come back ever again I DONT CARE. The only thing that came to me mine was poor little bastard, and i wanted to punch him on the face but i didnt i turn around and go look for his supervisor told him what happen he say he was sorry about what happened and put me on a brand new trail blazer 07 and told me he will take care of him.

Had any body had this happen b4

i feel sorry for the guy he seem very un happy person

 

LOL
"Bring it in anytime" generally means in the morning
Anytime you do a "drive up" visit at 3pm at ANY dealership (GM, Honda or otherwise) you risk having this happen. That advisor had proabably been working since 7am and was already "working for free" for an hour when you asked about your car at 5:15. (they don't generally get over-time) No real excuse for mouthing-off but everyone has their bad days.

Sorry for the lack of sympathy, but what happens day-to-day in a large shop is pretty dynamic and almost impossible to predict. So my advice next time do yourself and your patience a favor and get you ass out of bed to have the car there by 8am.
WopOnTour

 

When i took my car to the dealer i had them drive me home and call me when it was done. They even came and picked me up. I work grave yard so i didnt want to wait in the dealership.

 

Same thing I was thinking. I used to work at a dealership and if you show up late in the day to have ANY service done you will most likely have to leave the car overnight. Sucks that the service guy told you to come in any time though.

 

i dindnt feel like to leave my car with the moon roof open over night would you? especially when it has been raining lately

and i work 7-5 for the next two week mon to fri

 

Yea, everybody is "too busy" to have to deal with issues with their car. Work, school, kids, etc etc It's all a fact of life. Every person that comes into an automotive service department says exactly the same things "THEY NEED THERE CAR!"
All they can do is try to do their best to accomodate people. You appeared to be willing to leave your sunroof open for a day... so why didnt you take it to them right after you got off the phone?
In any case I think you may just have "misinterpreted" their phone comment of "no appointment required"

It's really just a question of unpredictable logistics and regular hours of business.
Generally a dealership books in appointments to keep the entire workforce busy for the entire day. But this means they have to be able to "predict" how long each tech/stall is going to be tied up for, WITHOUT even knowing the true extent of the length of diagnosis time required, parts availablity, and the time required for the actual repairs. It's extremely difficult to predict- but they generally try to "under-book" a bit in certain skill catagories, so that they dont have as many people stuck without their car over-night. But with even with a smaller shop with 8-10 stalls and techs it can VERY unpredictable, with the current "availability status" of the shop changing every few minutes.

So put yourself in THEIR shoes. A new car customer calls up and says they cant close their sunroof. They REALLY dont know FOR SURE that they will be able to spring someone free to look at it (as they are already "booked up") BUT they can't really expect someone to let the rain fill their car with water either... SO
They tell you to "bring it in- no appointment neccessary" Generally that means IMMEDIATELY! (as they already KNOW you want if fixed ASAP and MAYBE they ALSO knew someone pumped a few cars through quickly that day and was going to be able to look at it immediately or at least there wad a "window" of opportunity) You didnt say what time you called them the previous day, but had you done that it might have been an "in and out" but still... maybe not -depending on what was actually wrong with your sunroof.

When they said 1-1.5 hrs that would be merely a generous "guesstimate" AFTER the car makes it into a stall. Pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to predict with any real certainty WHEN they would be able to get it in (again depending on OTHER PEOPLES CARS!) or how LONG it will actually take to fix an INOP sunroof (from 5 minutes to 5 hours!)
Still, If the car hadn't made it into the shop by 4pm they SHOULD have told you to come back at 8am or else ask to keep it overnight. That WAS bad customer communications on their part IMO (perhaps a tech had commited to stick around late- but AFTER he finished his current job on another car)

3pm is generally the "cutoff" for parts ordering and the parts-truck would have been out on it's last run of the day. Techs are trying to get their final jobs completed so the paperwork can be prepared in time for people coming to collect their cars after work. THEN someone shows up with an issue that they really cant ignore or put off until tommorrow (ie an open sunroof or window would be a good example)
So they attempt to accomodate but they will have to convince someone to stay late (what did you tell YOUR boss the last time he asked you to stick around an extra 1-2 hours after already doing an 8 or 9hr shift?) or maybe they were waiting for a "late shift" person to arrive etc etc(some larger shops bring in a couple of techs to deal with late jobs till around until 7-8 pm)

Had you got your car there immediately after getting off the phone, or at the very least the first thing next day, your chances were better in having a "less annoying" visit to your service department.(generally never a positive thing- as your car is messed )
Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes... they generally ALL operate under very similar operational conditions. (Although some may do a better job blowing sunshine up your ass when in general everyone is still "pissed" for having to be there )

So you see a good service department will TRY to make everyone feel like the most important person in the world, but the reality is they just can't DROP EVERYTHING for every car that just drives up into the service lane.
Otherwise it would be TOTAL CHAOS!
I hope you dont have any further problems or at least you have a more positive experience next time
Regards
WopOnTour

 

put your self in my shoes now i called them at around 2 right when i got off from work that same day he tells me it will only take half to 1 hour there is only 3 people in the waiting room i wait for almost 3 hrs i see people coming in and out and my car is not ready i go and check on it snd the guy get and attitude with me because im only asking him some questions i did not fight with the guy i just talk to his supervisor

i think i made the right decision

 

I would have to agree that you did the best possible in the situation.

 

Again, you're just not getting it
There's no way they can KNOW how long it's really going to take
It would generally take a tech 10-15 minutes to diagnose that you had a bad switch for instance and assuming they had one "in stock" maybe another 1/2 an hour to put it in- ONCE IT MADE IT INTO THE SHOP THAT IS!
BUT
You could have had a blown fuse perhaps and an electrical short somewhere that could lead to HOURS of dissassembly in order to access all of the electrical circuits- how would you expect them to KNOW that??
What would you have been preferred to have been told over the phone? I'm sure they would have told you they would TRY to get you fixed up that day but...

Plus -You were a "drive up"
Those other people you observed had likely made appointments days in advance and they generally take precidence.

Also the TYPE of work affects WHICH technicians are required to do the work.
Not ALL technicians will have the neccessary skills and training neccessary to diagnose/repair the electrical problems in a sunroof and cruise control (BTW having 2 issues was another reason your late visit was doomed- although they MAY have been related) Had you come in at 3pm with a leaking oil filter or brake squeal a regular "line tech" might have been sprung free much easier...

No excuse for the attitude you received though
You did the right thing asking for the Service Manager IMO
If the advisor cant keep a "happy face" even under extreme stress when it's "raining crap" he/she WONT be able to achieve success in that demanding position. It's one of the reasons good service advisors are so really hard to find (that and the position doesnt really pay that well either- unless they are on some sort of incentive/bonus system or profit sharing)

Again, I can understand why you are not happy but at the same token NO DEALERSHIP could have "predicted" how this was going to play out...
Wop

PS> I'd be interested in hearing what the problem was after it's fixed

 

3 custumer in the waiting rooms, 3hrs wait, i see custumer coming in and out, after 3 long hrs they have not even touch my car

comprende????

 

LOL Sounds like it's YOU that's got the attitude I think kid
Sounds to me like that consultant should have cuffed yo in da mouf
B4 you had a chance to sucker-punch HIM!

 

You were at a dealership. Not Midas, Valvoline, etc.

 

You need to understand that yours is not the only car being worked on. I understand that it's frustrating but you need patience. Maybe they were at fault for not getting to it when they said, but you should have spoken to someone in service not your sales consultant.

 

Well they shouldnt tell him theyll check it out and dont. They know hes in the lobby and they dont update him? Where is the customer service these days. They should be waiting on you becasue you have to waste your time bringing in your car to get it fixed.

 

Everyone tell the truth we would all be a little pissed off if we had to wait that long.

 

Yeah I would. But after working at a dealership for a few years I know not to arrive at a dealership for ANY service without an appointment.

 

He called to make an appointment and the dealer said just come in. Then he says one hour. We would all be pissed off at this situation.

 

LOL
Well I can already tell in THIS situation that's probably not quite the way the phone conversation likely went...

Here's a more likely phone transcript of what transpired:

Customer@2pm: Hi, I need to get my car fixed because the sunroof wont f'ing close!

Service Advisor: Oh no, that's unfortunate sir, when would you like to book it in??

Customer: Book it in? No you dont understand, my car's interior is left totally open, what if it rains or someone tries to steal my CDs??

SA: Well is there any way you can park it inside a garage tonight and bring it into us tomorrow morning at 7:30 am?

Customer: That JUST WON'T DO!! , I need to be at work by 8am, how am I supposed to get to work? and besides my GF needs to use it at lunch hour tommorrow to take my dog to the vet! PLUS what they hell am I going to do to be able to come get it after it's fixed? I dont see why you cant look at it IMMEDIATLY. I paid $25000 for this POS and you're telling me I cant get it in as soon as possible when something like my sunroof quits working? That doesnt happen over at Honda!

SA: OK, you're right. Maybe it's just something simple and we can get it working again for you without an appointment. Could you bring it in as soon as possible this afternoon and we should be to get it fixed up for you today before we close.

Customer: That's better! Now how long will it take exactly??

SA: Well sir that's difficult to say, it really depends on WHAT's wrong but it shouldnt take much longer than an hour, maybe less

Customer: Less than an hour? Fine then, Ohh I forgot to mention my cruise control isnt working either...

SA: Oh, well that complicates things but maybe the two problems are related to each other, wont know until you can get it here

Customer: OK I'll be there as soon as I drop off my GF and get a Slurpee...

 

lol
nope that did not happen like that i called for an appointment they told me to bring in the car i did and receive a bad service i think i can get better service in mc donalds (im just talking about the service consultant

 

You sure this isnt the guy that tried to help you?

 

LOL
Just funnin with ya!
But you wouldnt believe how these sorts of things play out sometimes...

Again, there's no excuse for the way you were treated
They screwed up plain and simple and hopefully you'll notice an "attitude adjustment" the next time you're there
(if he's even there at all by then)
KEEP SMILIN!!
Wop

 

maybe where is he from again

 

So uh, what you're trying to tell us Wop is that dealerships are incompetent, and that we should never expect same day service, we should wait for hours without any clue as to what's going on with our vehicles and that if the dealer is feeling froggy that day we can expect some bad attitude from the SA?

 

That sucks. I took my car in for the idle surge reflash and waited like a half an hour. Actually i stopped down to make an apointment to get it down and the service manager personally said "I can do it right now if thats ok". I am glad my dealer is cool like that.


Rick

 

Good dealerships are like 18 year old virgins, in extreme shortage.