I took my car in this morning to have 3 things looked at:
1. The Pass. floorboard leaking A/C (For the 3rd time, and it looked like the last time someone worked on it... they were having a bad day... so they grabbed a screwdriver and took it out on my car... I'll take pics to show)

2. A possible sunfoof leak (One day after a hard rain, the sun came out... so I reached up to open the sunroof... and the cloth around the button was soaked!)

3. Squeeky brakes... It's under warranty... those bitches can make it stop.

I dropped it off at 9am... I got off work at 6.15pm... at 7.15pm I called and asked how things were going (they close at 8).

"We're all done, except we want to clean the carpet so it doesn't smell... but I can't do that until tomorrow."
"Can I pick up then?"
"I guess... But I have have to call over the detail shop and have them bring it over. You can just drop it off with us tomorrow."
"Yeah... I'd kinda like to drive my $23,000 car."
[Silence]
"SO... I'll be over in a little bit to pick it up!"

They didn't explain any of what they did to it... he just handed me the keys. They were closing for the night so I didn't wanna be a dick and keep them their till 8.30, because I know what that feels like when people do it to us at the Powersports store I work at.

AS soon as I got in the Car I noticed TWO things:

1. The top of the shifter (the silver part with shiney black edge) was lying in the cupholder. Never had trouble with it before. Hmmm.

SO, I go back in and ask about the shifter,

"It was that was when I parked your car this morning after you dropped it off, I thought you knew."

"Abvoiusly not... since I'm standing here asking... and don't you think I would have asked you to fix it?"

"Well, I'll go ahead and order you a new one."

Okay... sure.

2. The brake pedal had absolutely no movement at all when I went to start it (was on a slight incline, couldn't do clutch alone)

I figured the brakes were just tight because if you pump them with the engine off that happens. This was true... I started it... and the pedal LOOSENED. So as i'm leaving... nothing at all is feeling right. I figure it is just because I drove a rental 07 Cobalt LS while they had my car. I figure I just need to re-adjust to my car. NOPE... the steering is definatly... hard. The wheel is hard to turn... it feels like it is fighting with me to turn. And the brakes... lemme tell ya... TOUCHY!!! I think all they did to try and fix the brake squeek... was tighten them!!! I am so furious! I get pissed everytime I touch the shifter... I get pissed everytime the Steering fights me... and I get REALLY pissed everytime the f*cking brakes rock my car forward!

When I bought my car in April (06) I expected to have to take it in for warranty work... maybe once... NOT 12 TIMES IN THE FIRST 6 MONTHS!!! AHHHHHHHHH! I'm a U.S. Marine, very proud of this country, and I buy American made stuff... keep the money here sort of thing... but this is enough to turn a guy... i guess there is always Dodge. But I'd much rather have a Chevy. F*&K IT ALL! I'm finding a new dealership... ones that will actually FIX stuff... I don't care if I have to drive 30 minutes to get to it.

 

Welcome to my world. I will say that it would be in your best interest to get a second opinon elsewhere.

 

Was the dealer LaRiche in Findlay??

 

I was lucky with my ss/na. My dad is the service manager at our local dealer... but there are so many other stories like yours. I wonder where these techs go to school... i mean, i know more about cars just from working on saturday with my dad than most tech know...

 

Wait till you see the pics... you're gonna love them.

 

Where I found My shifter top... this is where my CD's usually are.



Here is the top of my shifter.



Where I found My CD's... not that I care about the CD's... it all about the Customer service and the way they were just thrown in there.



Ah... the Passenger side, where it leaks... You can tell why now... can't you...



Here's another pic of it... in case you didn't like the last



And I found this strap in the back floorboard... WTF did they use this for???


Pissed... I don't wanna get started ranting here cause I'll never stop.

 

Time to go to another dealer, these guys seem like amateurs

 

Go out and look at your's right now... see if someone F'd it up too! And yes, LaRiche is in Findlay. There is anothere GM dealer in town... but they are Pontiac... But the more I think about it... the more they will probably know (GTP's and G5's)... maybe I will try there.

 

Completely unacceptable...everytime I bring my vehicles in for service around here, I get a satisfaction survey...if you get one, i would love to read your response...

 

Most dealerships are losing their ASE certified techs, or firing them. The market is slow, and there is little to no work. Most of the mechanics at ALL dealers are a bunch of flunky wankers who have been fired from other dealers for ******* things up.

Out of all the dealers I service (autoglass and waterleak tech.) I only know a handfull, (if even), that I would trust to touch my car. The majority of others, I woud'nt trust to touch their own dicks.

The waterleaks are an easy fix on your car if you are interested in repairing them yourself. I had to fix the passenger right front on my car. That cracked housing though, is going to be a huge ass problem for you. After that is REPLACED, if you still get a leak, let me know, and I will tell you how to fix it.

Later,
Chris-

 

Sweet, Thanks for all your inputs. I'm gonna talk to the Pontiac dealer tomorrow, see what they can do and/or are willing to do. Hopefully they will be friendly... Worst case senario I figure they will be like "no... we aren't going to fix another Dealership's Funk up." It used to be all about Customer Service... these days it's all about the $$$GREEN$$$ But for Warranty work, they aren't losing anything are they... they get paid the same no matter what right?

As for the Customer Satisfaction surveys... I got one almost everytime I went there... Until they installed stage 2 for me... and charged me 6 hours of labor to do it... There were many problems with that install, you can read about them in these 2:

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/problems-service-maintenance-69/stage-2-problem-31255/
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-0l-lsj-performance-tech-47/wheres-my-7000-rpms-31233/

But Ever since I threw a fit when I found out that the 5 hours of labor didn't include the reflash they forgot - DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BECAUSE HE DIDN'T READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE KIT HE'D NEVER INSTALLED... and then still charged me full price for....... I haven't recieved one since. Funny, when i actually want one... I don't get it. I think I am going to go straight to GM with this. Pictures and all.

 

Does GM not realize that things like this really hurts bussiness? By the looks of things they just lost a return buyer and it could have been avoided with simple customer service...

 

GM does realize, thats what the surveys are for. It is very important to the dealer to get good surveys, thats why many will give you things to let them fill it out for you. Call the 800 number and be as nice as you can to the person you talk to and explain your problem. They really do whant to help and GM willstep on the dealer if they are getting a lot of complaints. Good luck,
Dennis

 

This is true. However, like I said, its NOT just DOMESTIC dealerships, its ALL of them, ALL makes. The car market is slow, the economy is slow, and people are spending less on maintainance for their vehicles because they dont have the cash. When it comes to feeding your family, or fixing your car. The car is the one that gets cut from the equation.

When no one comes in for work, the ASE techs. and the guys that have been there quit. Also, the guys that have been there, and are near retirement, or up there in years and make the cash, get FIRED. This is because your greedy dealership owner doesn't want to pay that guys wage, etc.

Its a fucked up market. If you don't know the dealer, and the mechanic, its a roll of the dice no matter what car you buy, or where you take your car for service. Thats just how it is.

Chris-

 

WEll that is nice that the busted the heater box and Ilike how they stored the cds for you. Dealers just dont seem to give a care anymore as long as they get paid it seems like.

 

hey that sucks .... please add you experience to:
best and worst chevy dealers for GMPP, warranty work and service

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/problems-service-maintenance-69/best-worst-chevy-dealers-gmpp-warranty-work-service-32583/

maybe that thread may help you find a good dealer in your area!!!

best of luck!!!

 

Hey, what was the deal with the sunroof leak? Mine just did it today, and never did it before. All kinds of water coming in around the sunroof switch.

 

BEFORE taking anything apart, open your sunroof and use a small bottle of water to check your sunroof drains. This sounds like the front sunroof drains are either clogged, or have some off of the retainer.

Remove your A-pillars, and sun visors. Drop the headliner and hold it down with something. Check to see if your hoses are connected to your sunroof retainer assembly. Use a air compressor and air gun to blow out your hoses, also blow out the holes on the retainer that the hoses attach to. Re-attach the sunroof drain hoses, check to see if they are draining properly onto the ground through your rocker pannels. (Or is the cobalt drain near the door hinge like on Grand Ams?)

Once they are all clear, use some small zip ties to make sure they remain tightly attached to your sunroof retainer assembly.

There is also a HOW TO on this site, or the REDLINE forum on how to repair/check these things out...

Chris-

 

shouldnt have to fix ur own sunroof.

 

This is true, but just in case he wanted to, or in case his warranty is up. Im just telling you what I do when I service the car at the dealer.

 

Get an cobalt LT better quality less problems.

 

I'm not sure how it's better, we all utilize all the same basic parts. ..

 

Yea, I wasn't even going to touch that comment. Not sure how its "better quality". The same wankers that put my SS togehter put your LT togehter. The assembly plant is just a few miles from here.....

 

By the way I called up GM Customer service and they were great. At a dealer I had my sunroof tightened and had a check performed on my CV joints. Based on my average mileage dropping and 1/3 of a tank of gas being burned it seems like someone took my car out for joy ride.

GM said the dealer denied everything but GM will have to drop their "dealer rating" anyway. GM is also going to give me a $500 credit for any type of service I need perfromed on the car. GM is also sending me a letter and keeping an internal record stating that if my car does break an axle or crack a tranny case later on down the road that it will be covered and that if abuse is evident it will go against that dealer rather then my warranty.

Even though I ran into an idiot dealer, GM is doing a perfect job of keeping my business.

I'm looking at getting my wife another mama car. A V50 T5, G35, 3.6L Passat, Audi A4, 325xi are all on her list; I think I'll just get her a used Grand Prix GXP now.

 

Dude the similar **** happened to me at the stealership.
But what i thought was a simple oil change ended up being an ass raping.
I dropped my car off at 7:30 in the morning. I called them at 12:30 to check up and they said they didn't take a look at it yet. OK thats fine. I then called up at 2:30 and thats when I heard the bullshit. They told me that my oil was leaking and they needed to change some gaskets so I won't be able to pick my car up today.
Hmmm the car only had 6000 miles on it at the time and their were no oil puddles in my driveway. I said ok fine when can I pick the car up by the way this was on a Monday Morning, they told me Thursday at 3:30. How many gaskets did they have to replace i asked. they don't know. ******* Dumbasses. When I got it back I noticed the bottom of the front spoiler was a little weird. I rubbed my hand underneath it to find that they scratched the whole thing up. Also I looked underneath the car and found that they replaced my oil pan. Those ******* bottomed out my car and had to replace my oil pan.
I told them I know what they did and I wanted to speak to a manager.
Of course their isn't one around. I called GM and reported the dealership.
They also they broke my Shifter thing too. They tried to be slick and glue it back on.
They would have gotten away with it too if it didn't fall off when I was driving the car home. I noticed that any dealership you go to you walk in straight and you walkout bold legged. No Matter where you live.