Argh! What a day!

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:13 pm

Some days it truly does NOT pay to get out of bed...I dropped the Cobalt off at the dealer this morning for some warranty work. I knew I was in for it with this dealer because I've purchased from them before and had a tough time. But with the next nearest dealer 20 miles away, I thought I'd take the chance. Bad choice. My complaints:1) Knocking noise when turning a corner on a rough surface (covered by TSB).2) Squeaking front suspension on REALLY cold mornings (remember this... this comes into play later... REALLY cold mornings ONLY)3) Hesitation for first 2-5 minutes of operation on cold mornings (covered by TSB)Talked with the service advisor, OK... no problems so far. We went for a test drive and he agreed with my complaints.When I hadn't heard from them by 3:00 in the afternoon, I knew I was in trouble. At 3:30, they finally called. "Your car is washed and ready to go". They had addressed all of the problems. Replaced the steering column, cleaned, greased and tightened the swaybar bushings and reflashed the PCM per the TSB. Cool, right?The first thing I noticed when I got in my car was that all of the wiring I had meticulously tucked away for my Harmon Kardon Drive+Play was pulled out of the console and all tangled up. *Strike 1*Next, I pull out of the parking lot onto the street and go to turn my wheels straight. Funny, I'm traveling straight but my steering wheel with the spokes pointed up and down would indicate I'm turning HARD right. *Strike 2 and I flipped a u-turn*Pulling back into the lot I went over their speed bump. "SQQUUEAAAKKKYYY" *It's a balmy 40 degrees outside... strike 3*I pulled it straight into the service bay and asked the first advisor who approached me "I just left here and tell me... do you see a problem?" as my wheels were pointed straight ahead and my steering wheel was clearly not in compliance. He just shook his head. Now keep in mind that by this point It's nearing 4:30 and I have to be clear across town (10 miles) to a photo shoot at 5:30. He goes to get MY service advisor... 15 minutes later he has still not found him. I'll wrap this up short because it's already pretty long. He finally got him on the phone, let ME explain what was going on with the car and I informed him I would be expecting a rental for the night. I was sent to the waiting room while they arranged things. Enterprise picked me up (wow, they live up to THEIR expectations ) and took me to my 2007 Red G6 V6. I made it to my photo shoot RIGHT at 5:30, pissed off but glad to at least be done with it for the night. When the photo shoot wrapped up at 8:30 I was happy to head home!And there I sit. Proud driver of a shiny red G6 for who knows how long while those jacknuts attempt to do correctly what I could probably have done in my driveway in half the time (minus the PCM reflash). Comically, however, I almost carried on Ragingfish's proud tradition of "G6 hunting" when a deer ran across the road between me and the car in front of me as I was on my way home this evening. Would have been a fitting end to a crappy day. Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. Bonus points to anyone who actually read the whole thing!

northvibe · Post by **northvibe** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:28 pm

ughh sorry to hear that. hopefully they can fix it though.

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:30 pm

I'm sure they will. I'm just wondering how long it'll take and whether my poor little car will ever be the same. The steering is an easy fix. How they managed to put the wheel on wrong and not notice I'll never understand but that's correctable. The suspension squeak that now occurs ALL the time... that could be really fun.

coldmm803 · Post by **coldmm803** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:33 pm

sounds like fun if you ask me, just kidding, sorry to hear about your troubles. i say you should have gone hunting with that G6

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:36 pm

Well, two things about hunting with the G6 didn't appeal to me...I don't want an airbag to the face and I really didn't want to deal with replacing a car that isn't mine.

Mavrik · Post by **Mavrik** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:41 pm

20 miles doesn't seem to far to drive after huh lolsometimes service advisors get the bad luck of having a less then capable tech work on your car resulting in them looking bad.

Celtic_Curse · Post by **Celtic_Curse** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:21 pm

I hear the 09 Vibes are nice lol.

MRCN RCE · Post by **MRCN RCE** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:08 pm

Quote, originally posted by Celtic_Curse Â»I hear the 09 Vibes are nice lol. hahasorry about your day. at least everything's getting done at no expense to you, AND you have a car you can beat on til they're finished i've been pretty lucky with my dealership. i haven't had any serious problems besides the clutch (which i had my friend who is a tech at that dealership replace for me), but they didn't hesitate to help me out and take care of me as soon as i called or pulled in for anything like mav said, 20 miles doesn't seem too far now. i'd go there next time and see how much of a difference there isbtw, how many bonus points do i get??

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:43 pm

Mav:No the 20 miles sounds pretty good. Sorry my rant didn't convey it too well but the only reason I'd hold the service advisor at fault here is if it was actually his responsibility to check the work before calling the customer. Otherwise, I think he did his job well. He obviously conveyed the concerns and the necessary bulletin info well enough to get the tech to do the work. The tech just screwed it all up. Anyway, it's definitely the tech's issue, here. The only time I got upset with the advisor was when he wasn't there when I picked the car up (though he was supposed to be) so it took forever for me to get my concerns delivered to him.Celtic:They do seem nice and I'd love to get one, but a new car is really not in my future at this point and besides, I love my Cobalt... so long as it's fixed right. The suspension might not be much of a worry since I'll be replacing the springs before long and can check the rest out myself if they can't get it fixed. I'm thinking it's the control arm bushings, myself. I can't see how the rear swaybar would make the front-end squeak, come to think of it. MRCN:You're right. It's not at my expense and the G6 is definitely fun with the 3.5L V6. I'll definitely be going out to the other dealer. I'm not the only person who's had problems with these guys. I guess my endless optimism lead me to believe my experience might have been different. Now as for bonus points... hmmm... Maybe two free moderations with no evil undertones.

Sublimewind · Post by **Sublimewind** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:50 pm

And this is why I try hard not to deal with the dealer... Good luck bro..

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:58 pm

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind Â»And this is why I try hard not to deal with the dealer... Good luck bro.. Well, I figured "hey, I have a warranty on this car and need my free-time to get my truck running, so...".*sigh*

Mavrik · Post by **Mavrik** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:01 pm

and experience with dealers changes from dealership to dealership. I can tell you most people that walk through the service doors at my dealership don't have the same experience you had. I can also say most service advisors are very busy and can't check out the car when its done and trust their tech to have done it right.

ArcsVibe · Post by **ArcsVibe** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:07 pm

Geez! Man Millster that sucks! I hope they get their act together and fix it!

millster · Post by **millster** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:37 pm

Oh, definitely. I've heard good things about the other dealer near town, here. I think I'll be checking them out in the future and possibly if these guys can't get it fixed today.Arcs:Thanks. I hope so too. Although with the rental, at least I'm not in TOO much of a hurry. I do kind of miss my iPod and steering wheel controls, though.

MRCN RCE · Post by **MRCN RCE** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:34 am

hope you didn't leave the ipod in the cobalt, otherwise you might REALLY be missin it Quote, originally posted by millster Â»Now as for bonus points... hmmm... Maybe two free moderations with no evil undertones. time for the sailor mouth!!! actually, sailor fingers. haha just playin

millster · Post by **millster** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:12 am

Quote, originally posted by MRCN RCE Â»hope you didn't leave the ipod in the cobalt, otherwise you might REALLY be missin it time for the sailor mouth!!! actually, sailor fingers. haha just playin No way! The only thing still in the car is the Drive+Play adaptor. The iPod itself is with me. The worst they could take me for is the $2 in change for parking meters in my ashtray. Oh and "sailor fingers"... ha! Good one. Well, still no word from them so I'm guessing they didn't work on it last night after I dropped it off. That or they're tearing the whole blasted thing apart.

MRCN RCE · Post by **MRCN RCE** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:19 am

i'd bet all of my bonus points that they've got it sitting out in the parking lot

millster · Post by **millster** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:34 am

Quote, originally posted by MRCN RCE Â»i'd bet all of my bonus points that they've got it sitting out in the parking lotWell, if they DO they'll be getting what you avoided with your bonus points. On a serious note, I still have yet to hear from them as to the status of my car so things do not look good at this point. Next time I'll remember, it's just 20 miles.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:37 am

That is just.... suck! Man, what is it with the "geographically-convenient-to-you" dealers being absolutely worthless? I feel your pain... I ran into the same thing with the Hyundai, I brought it in to this dealer that's like 3 mi from home and ended up wishing I had driven the 90 miles to take it to where I bought it, at least they halfway have a clue up there. Yep, I guess sometimes it's worth the drive to go elsewhere even if it isn't convenient for you.I hope these bozos get your car fixed up! Until then, flog the G6 every chance you get. LOL! just watch out for the deer of course.

millster · Post by **millster** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:41 am

Yeah, I know! These guys are the largest Chevrolet dealer in this area, too. You'd think with the amount of money the owner has he must be doing something right, but everyone I talk to says "Oh, don't buy from them" or "Oh, don't take your car there". Weird.Now as for flogging the G6, since it's well beyond break-in, I've given it the go a few times. I'll tell ya, if I could plop that 3500 V6 in my Cobalt I'd be one happy boy. Funny thing is, according to the trip computer in it, it's getting the same gas mileage that my Cobalt is reporting. That's kind of sad in a way, now that I think of it.

millster · Post by **millster** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:51 am

OK. Well, the G6 has been returned and the Cobalt is back in my hands. The squeak is gone, the steering wheel is straight and all seems to be back to normal. Except that it stinks of Simple Green. But that'll go away before long. All said, the G6 is a fine car and that 3500 V6 has a lot of power but I'm glad to be back in my little Cobalt. I missed it.

vibebob · Post by **vibebob** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:38 am

glad things got worked out in the end.my dads 2001 Buick LeSabre gets 30+ mpg on the highway ** sighs ** but he can't haul big items

ragingfish · Post by **ragingfish** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:21 pm

dude, BEWARE THE DEER!!! glad you got your car fixed...right...FINALLY...i unfortunately am addicted to my 3500...it'll be a while before i can ever agreeably downsize to a I4...

lovemyraffe · Post by **lovemyraffe** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:43 am

Wow, that sucks.(I know I'm a little late on this)

Argh! What a day!

Argh! What a day!

Re: (northvibe)

Re: (coldmm803)

Re: (millster)

Re: (Celtic_Curse)

Re: (Mavrik)

Re: (Sublimewind)

Re: (millster)

Re: Argh! What a day! (millster)

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Re: (MRCN RCE)

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Re: Argh! What a day! (millster)

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