Bad Dealership Service

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starmatt
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:53 pm

Bad Dealership Service

Post by starmatt »

I thought I'd post this here to let other people know where not to go:Springfield (VT) Automart (pontiac, gmc, buick, etc.)Here's the deal: '04 vibe wouldn't start, had it towed there. Turned out to be the battery cables, which they fixed not as quickly as I would have liked, but fine. While it was in I had them look at some other, more minor things:1. The horn had stopped working.2. The backlights behind the shifter and heater knobs didn't work.When I called to check on it, they said that the wiring behind the radio was a mess (thanks to the previous owner's radio installation) and that they didn't know how far I wanted to go in that direction. I told them it wasn't worth it if it wasn't an obvious fix. When I got the bill, they had charged me $112 for that assessment (which required taking off the trim around the radio, all of 2 minutes work), but you might expect that kind of overpriced work at a dealership. Maybe they actually spent some time trying to figure out the mess back there. I have since cleaned up the wiring mess myself and have still not solved the backlight issue.They also said the problem with the horn is that there wasn't a horn on it. I assumed this was because the previous owner had installed an aftermarket horn and it wasn't in the same place as the original. If they didn't want to work on the aftermarket horn, I figured that was fine, I'd look into it myself (it's just a horn). However, when I got the car back and checked the next day, the aftermarket horn was gone. I know the aftermarket horn was under the hood when I had it towed (I'd been looking under the hood and seen it, so did my wife and a friend). So unless the towtruck driver decided to pull the horn out of it, they stole the aftermarket horn and lied to me about it (unless that's what they meant when they told me they'd pulled out some bad wiring around the battery cables - also thanks to the previous owner). And if that weren't enough, a couple days later, I heard a clicking sound at low speeds. When I opened the hood to investigate I found a nice mactools prybar making out with the radiator fan. This is probably the prybar they used to steal my horn. I think I will consider this a downpayment on the refund I should be getting from them for this experience.In summary, this dealership is:1. Overpriced, but it is a dealership after all.2. Not competent enough to remove all of their tools from underneath the hood.3. Not honest enough to tell me either that they wouldn't work on an aftermarket horn or that the aftermarket horn was junk and it needed to be replaced. The alternative conclusion to 3: Maybe they're not dishonest, maybe they just aren't smart enough to recognize a horn that looks different than the stock disc horn that comes on the car. In any event, in the mail is a nice letter to the service manager with the above text asking that my address be removed from any mailing lists after they have sent me a written apology. I think the moral of this story is to avoid the Springfield Automart.
Whelan
Posts: 3980
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:30 pm

Re: Bad Dealership Service (starmatt)

Post by Whelan »

That sucks man. I can't complain about my Toyota dealer much, they are open till 12 midnight on weekdays.The only gripe I had was I brought it in for a check, figured it was under warranty cause it was powertrain related. Turns out it was something really small, no big deal. They wanted me to pay $50 for the diagnostic. I was like, nope I was told by everyone here that it was covered under warranty and not to worry about it. He then was getting kinda whiney about it. So I then see my car pull up and I go, "oh and thanks for washing it like I asked, I'm pretty sure you said it wouldn't be a problem." He got all embarassed and red and other customers were there watching so he took the paper from me, told me I was all set and then proceeded to offer to wash the car quick right then. I said no thanks, I would rather do it myself as the brushes here are probably all covered it nasty dirt. I politely thanked him and left. I still go there for parts for my oil changes and such but it's funny cause he doesn't work there anymore. The one time I had to get service done that was beyond my capacity, the new guy I deal with down there, Mike, kicked off 20% from the bill just cause I spend enough in parts dept. for filters and such. Good guy, will deal with him again if I need to.
2012 GLI Autobahn 6MT
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VforVIBE
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Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:44 am

Re: Bad Dealership Service (starmatt)

Post by VforVIBE »

Thant sucks...Talk to the manager... if that doesn't work, talk to his bosses' boss, keep working your way up till they get it right.
“I live my life free of compromise, and step into the shadows without complaint or regret.”
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northvibe
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:25 pm

Post by northvibe »

dealerships usually charge not by the hour but by service. my bff's dad works for chevy and they bill for that specific fix not on the hour so the boss wants it done real fast so they can get more done that what the gm manual says but he being a good tech said f you no, i work at the pace i work so things get done right. So that could be why its so much...that and you may want to find a good mechanic other than the dealer for those reasons. places like angieslist has good recommendations and reviews.
Whelan
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Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:30 pm

Re: (northvibe)

Post by Whelan »

A lot of places are now charging by the job and not the hour, they estimate the hours ahead, hence estimates are more accurate nowadays. Oh and north, did you just use BFF as in best friend forever?
2012 GLI Autobahn 6MT
starmatt
Posts: 36
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:53 pm

Re: Bad Dealership Service (VforVIBE)

Post by starmatt »

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Thant sucks...Talk to the manager... if that doesn't work, talk to his bosses' boss, keep working your way up till they get it right.Yeah, the letter is going to the service manager and if I don't get a reply in a week or two, another will be going to the store manager mentioning that I didn't get an apology from the service manager. If that doesn't get a reply, I may have to do some digging to find out how to send a letter to his/her boss. Quote, originally posted by northvibe »dealerships usually charge not by the hour but by service. . . . places like angieslist has good recommendations and reviews.Yeah, $112 is a little steep for just checking something out, but not unreasonable if it were something hard to get to. They probably just charge that for checking on anything electrical since that tends to be a little harder to check than other types of problems. That is by far the smallest beef I have with them. It would even be excusable if they had decent service.Unfortunately, there's no angieslist listings in VT.
Kamikaze
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:36 pm

Re: Bad Dealership Service (starmatt)

Post by Kamikaze »

Well, since the topic has bad dealership Service, I thought I would include:Never go to Delano Honda in Delano MN... the service manager is a walking ****head with a dirty mouth. I have a 5yr warranty on my bike, and they said they wouldn't cover a manufacture defect because it looked like I had taken the bike apart, which honestly is besides the fact, because if I took it apart and it broke b/c of that, yes it woudl be my fault, but if there are documented cases of the problem failing (which there are a ton of them for the piece that broke) then it should have been covered... they charged me $140 in labor for something that they didn't even fix. I ended up fixing it in 5 minutes. I told them to go **** themselves, went online and searched on 600rr.net to find a way to fix the problem. Now I'm having a problem with my Rectifier, and there's no way I'd go back, and actually, I probably won't buy another Honda b/c of it.
August 2009 VOTM Click HERE for my Garage
northvibe
Posts: 7641
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:25 pm

Re: (Whelan)

Post by northvibe »

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »A lot of places are now charging by the job and not the hour, they estimate the hours ahead, hence estimates are more accurate nowadays. Oh and north, did you just use BFF as in best friend forever? yes best friends forever!! known him since i was 2 yrs old.
ehoff121
Posts: 756
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:19 am
Location: Conn.

Re: Bad Dealership Service (Whelan)

Post by ehoff121 »

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »I can't complain about my Toyota dealer much, they are open till 12 midnight on weekdays.Toyota of Westport?Would think you'd go to Colonial Toyota based on your sig.
2005 Pontiac Vibe AWD - Platinum
Whelan
Posts: 3980
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:30 pm

Re: Bad Dealership Service (ehoff121)

Post by Whelan »

Quote, originally posted by ehoff121 »Toyota of Westport?Would think you'd go to Colonial Toyota based on your sig.I go to Colonial mostly. I work in Norwalk so if I need something during lunch like a filter or blade replacement, I will swing up there.
2012 GLI Autobahn 6MT
Stealth_Vibe
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:17 am

Re: Bad Dealership Service (starmatt)

Post by Stealth_Vibe »

i just wanted to add to dealerships not to go to: i wont tell you the story to each just give you there name and location Brunswick Ford Lincoln MercuryBunswick Me 04011Whaling City Ford lincoln Mercury MazdaNew London, CT 06320Girard Toyotaright across the street from whaling city fordNew London, CT 06320Cardinal HondaGroton, CT 06340Topsham ToyotaTopsham , Me 04011
2005 Vibe GTpower group, moons and tunesdoor sils, injen cold air intake dress up kit, chrome accents wipers pedals shift knob "T.ha H.ate U. G.ive L.ittle I.nfants F.u**S E.veryone" THUG LIFE
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