I seem to be another victim of my car being abused while being serviced out of my hands. Thankfully, it's not as bad as the last guy's story who posted here.

I had a crack in the bumper(and a hairline paint crack in a second place) on delivery when I got my car. I finally got an appointment to get a new bumper put on. Apparently, my dealer does not do their own body work and outsource it to a body shop in a neighboring town.

So.. it was held for over a week because they didn't realize the full front fascia was in two peices and only ordered and painted one before taking my car.

I tried my damndest to get down to the dealer yesterday while the service department was still open after work so there would be someone there to complain to should something be wrong because I had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

I got stuck in traffic and didn't make it. Upon picking up my car, I noticed grass clippings all over the place, littering my back seat and dash board. It was like someone mowed their lawn in my car!

My radio controls had been tampered with and the fuel economy had gone down a great deal, but not so much that I could claim definite abuse. It was more borderline. The mileage was in check however for the trip, so at worst they could have only abused my car for a 30 mile roundtrip to the body shop and back.(It was 15 miles away)

I also had a small dig taken out of the plastic on the dash. It's too small to really demand they fix.. It's hardly noticable, but *I* noticed it because it wasn't there before.

All these signs sure as hell point to joy riding if you ask me.

So, like any pissed off SS owner with a backbone, I started to raise hell this morning. Turns out rather than the technician handling the problem that I spoke to previously driving the car, the dealership owner's son was allowed to drive it to the body shop and back.

They agreed to allow me come in for an Interior detailing to clean up the interior. I demanded to speak to the person who drove my car personally because I wanted to hear everything direct from him. Unfortunately, he works there part time and they are not sure when he will be in again being the owner's son. I am supposed to receive another call back this afternoon from him or someone after speaking with him on the issue.

My car still seems mechanically sound, so it's almost impossible for me to prove it was abused or seek retribution for that. I'm afraid I will have to let that part go and just live with it.

What do you guys think my next step should be?

Should I press the matter farther and attempt to speak to the dealership owner about his son? I know it' sgoing to be time consuming because you can never reach anyone and nobody ever calls you back. Is it worth it?

Should I followup and file a complaint with GM on that dealership?

I also still have that survey I didn't fill out yet. I can also fill that out negatively.

All in all, as angry as I am, It wasn't all that bad. As far I know, everything is still working properly and my interior will be cleaned. There was no actual damage done to my vehicle aside from that tiny dig in the dash plastic that I have found yet.

That's the last time I take my car in for service unless something breaks I just can't live without. Warrenty or no warrently, it's just not worth it. I saved up for several years to buy that car and treat it with respect and it really pisses me off when someone disrespects my property like that which means so much to me. And I will sure as hell never alllow them to drive me car more than 1 mile(for moving to and from garage and parking lot!) again.

I really hate not being able to trust anyone in the world. People are constantly trying to screw me. I don't trust anyone to even change my oil. You have to personally check your filter to know they even changed it which is quite difficult in the SS.

 

I took my car in for the hood to be repainted so they also had to move it to another body shop. However, my dealership gave me outstanding service. They did put a chip in the freshly painted hood and pointed it out to me right away and said they wanted to paint it again. I was surprised with their honesty and it's a real testament to their dedication.

I do get nervous when they have to move it because you never know who is going to be driving it. I would not want some part time 16 year old driving my car. I would **** a brick if I found out they used someone who just got their liscense to drive my car.

I got lucky with my dealership though, the service manager himself drove my car to the bodyshop and back.

I don't think you can do much except complain. It sounds like your dealership could care less about your property, but they do care about reputation because it may mean sales. You should demand a free oil change and tire rotation. I'm sure it can be done if you go straight to the manager or owner of the dealership.

They are professionals and should act professionally. There is no reason why they should return your car in the condition they did.

 

That is some total BS man, I would be sooo pissed off!!! If they outsource the work then only like the service manager should be transporting the cars or at least a senior member of the garage... there is no way a part time kid should be driving the cars!!!

 

Yes. In all likely hood nothing was damaged but it would'nt hurt to ask for some kind of extended warranty, they f----ed and they should do more then just clean your car. JMO

 

I'd file the complaint. Hell, I would have filed it from the parking lot of the dealer!!!!! Your car is YOUR car, not some kid's to go joyriding in. That's BS. I've spent plenty of time around dealerships and the number one rule is to not touch ANYTHING in a customer's vehicle. NOTHING, the only exception is to more the seat only if you feel you can't control the vehicle safely because of the seat position. Radio should not be touched, temperature/fan settings, NOTHING. I would raise hell.

 

Yah id pull a genuine Stone Cold Steve Austin and definatley raise some hell in that dealership

 

yea i hate to think what they do to your car when you rbing it in thats why when i bring my car in if i can wait for it i will that or i go tot he sales person i bought hte car from and make sure he kwnos to tlel the service dpt nto to **** around with this car... cuz usualy if the slaes person you bought ht ecar from goes in there they wont **** around with it... cuz if they do they give not only thme a ba dname but alos will give the sales person a bad name as well and int he end lose bussiness for thats sales person... so i usualy find that it works if you get teh sales perosn to make sure the car is takin care of to the best of its ability...

 

that is why you have a hidden camera in your car..... hehehehe

 

i picked up my car with a broken alignment..........from the outside....there were MASSIVE water splash marks behind every wheel.........i got so many interior rattles and cracks ever since.......i tried complaining to GM but didnt work....

 

GM is very strict about dealership issues. Complain to both the owner and General Motors because that is absolute bull s*** what happened to your car. Don't let it go until someone is kissing your ass.

PenguinPIE, what dealer did you get your car from?

 

complain to gm customer care about how they f'd up your dash. if they damaged it, no matter how small they need to fix it for you. that's your car, not the dealership's grocery getter

 

This is a good lesson to everyone.... do some research on the dealership where your buying your car. Dont be afraid to ask questions either, a lot of hassle can be avoided that way. When you drop your car off for service, make sure you ask to have an experienced driver handle it. Then take some pictures of the car with your digital camera (real quick nothing crazy) doing that will almost assure your car will come back cleaner than it went in.

 

Well, after two more phone conversations here's what supposedly happened.

The service tech handling this case spoke to the guy who drove the car. He admitted to touching the radio even though it was against policy. He was repremanded and I let that go. The stereo still works fine, the jerk admitted it, so no harm done. I dropped that. The tech told me he kept tabs on their time and they were not gone any longer than was expected to drive to the body shop and back. My mileage also confirms this. So, any potentially agressive driving could only have been done between the shop and back(30 miles). Since there is nothing wrong with the car aside from the reduction in gas mileage which as I said, could possibly be disputed as 'normal' driving by them anyway, since I think I personally drive less spirited under normal conditions than most, I can't prove any agressive driving was done. So, I let that go. I drove the car 50 miles today and noticed no new noises and the oil life was not significantly reduced. So.. I'm going to let it go for now as I can't say with 100% certaintly it was abused.

The guy who drove the car didn't know anything about the grass, so the body shop was phoned. It seems one of the guys who is responsible for moving cars at the body shop also cuts grass. The body shop guys think he carelessly came right off the tractor into my car and had the AC fan blowing all the grass around in the car. That's as close to anyone actually admitting anything as I'm going to get. Since the body shop did not try and blame the dealership, I'm going to believe this to be the truth. Usually, you have a blame battle in this situation where both sides blame the other. Everyone agreed that was unprofessional conduct and an appointment was set up for me to get some interior detailing to clean it up. The tech admitted he saw the grass when the car came back to the dealership and he took they keys, but did not see the interior before it went out, so assumed it may have been like that.

So, after having a long talk with the tech, I think I believe the only thing they did 'wrong', regardless of any abuse on the car is let a part time guy drive my car. Since it was the owner's son and nothing was damaged, they offered to clean it, and they got to the bottom of things with the body shop, I don't think there is anymore I can realisticly ask them to do for me. I DON'T want their free oil change or anything else from them. I am never getting my vehicle serviced there again if I can help it. He said they use that shop because it does good body work, but they are going to reconsider after this incident.

As for the little dash dig.. I'm not even going to bring it up. I do NOT want anybody ripping the dash apart on my new car from ANY dealership. It never goes back together like it was from the factory. And it seems the Cobalt wiring is delicate enough without everything being moved around. So far I haven't had any electrical problems with mine.

So, being that it was the outside body shop that dirtied the car and I can't say with certainly how the car was driven, and nothing is wrong with it at present, I don't feel a complaint to GM is warrented. I don't really have substantial backing and dealership has offered to rectify any problems. It's all because of some ******* at the body shop, not necessarily the dealership. They had no control over that.

So, I will go get my car detailed and if I don't hear any new noises this week or see/feel any evidence of abuse, I'm going to let it go. I will definitely check for any leaks over the next few days.

 

this thread right here is actually the reason i am going to buy one of those recorders for my car when i take it to the dealer. appearently they are only $100 or so and they plug up to record the max/minimum speeds, accel/decel rates blah blah blah...

that will let me check everything from my laptop before i leave the dealer with my car

 

and where is this link to get one of these???

 

gimme a few i'll dig one up for ya

 

http://www.davisnet.com/drive/produc...p_products.asp

it's about $140... i was a bit off, here's the whole reason behind the chips though... they serve a dual purpose for situations like this


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8501438

 

his son could be 30, or 40 years old
dont jump to conclusions, i know you may be upset, but relax
and as far as the fuel economy, what if he got stuck in traffic?

 

Dueck on marine.......just got back my car from the shop today again....

 

it is against policy?!.....every time i get back my car with different radio settings........theres once i even got this ugly dark oil fingerprint on the source button

 

that car chip thing is pretty cool but it seems sketchy. there seems to be A LOT of problems w/ every type of car. but besides that its a cool lil tool.

 

Back in 02, I had a headgasket done on my Cavalier while the powertrain warranty was still good. On top of that, they did the axle seals, changed the fluid, filter and pan gasket on the transmission. I went down to pick my car up and the tech came up to me all smiles to tell me that 'my Cavalier really had some ***** and freakin' flew!'
Um... blink blink... what?
He goes on to tell me that he took it for a test ride to see if everything held together and the car really had it.
I didn't know whether to be pissed or flattered! The car seemed to drive ok and really ran well after that... i decided to let it go.

Another time, back in 98, however, I actually watched a car beating happen. My friend dropped his Neon off at the dealership for a persistant CHECK ENGINE light. So he drops the keys and we take off for something to eat. I was checking out a used Plymouth Breeze (shut up!) so we were lingering a little. These guys were idiots and didn't see us or realize that we were still in town as we watched them fog the tires out of the dealership driveway. So we jump in my car and follow these idiots around. They burned out of a couple of intersections, catching rubber in second and proceeded to beat the living **** out of my friends new car all over town for about 15 minutes! We followed the car back into the delear parking lot, my buddy out of the car before it even stopped. He went in and the two guys were fired on the spot. (I thought firing was a little extreme, but I had nothing to say... it wasn't my car) I suppose I'd be a bit pissed too. He ended up with a like 5 free oil changes, inspection for life and a set of new tires.

Scott

 

only 5 free changes?.....id ask them for free gas and whatever else they can give me :P

 

not every type of car, just certain models for certain years... and besides, i'm not going to run it all the time, i will only be using when i put the car in for repair

 

Yes, that's what I was told. In the event a tech does touch your radio, they are required to put your station back, volume back etc.. exactly to how you had it.