Help! Dealer Wont Do Window Recall Work

[CAVibe]

I have the infamous window clicking problem and my window jumped out of the track right around the time the recall came out. I thought I was lucky and brought it to the dealership (Martin Autogroup in LA). They took and after keeping it 3 days making me wait in their lobby 6 hours the first day, they returned it to me and nothing was fixed on it! The window was still loose and they wanted me to replace the regulator. They told me that the bolts coming out would not cause the window to be loose and the only thing that could cause that is a faulty regulator that they wanted me to pay $500 to replace. Now, I know the only thing wrong is the bolt since I opened up the car door before bringing it in and the bolt was out. The manager told me that with a loose window, they wont fix a car since they could be liable if they broke the window. However, they put in my record now that I have had the recall done so I can not go to anther dealer to have the work done either. I called Pontiac and they would not help me, they just say it is up to the dealer. I filed with the BBB and they tried contacting Pontiac but they would not budge. I even told them I would be willing to just accept that they mail me some of the bolts and I can complete the job myself, but they thought that was asking too much of them! I am contacting the NHTSA next.Any suggestions on what I can do? It is hard to believe Ponticac would have this horrible customer service, but they do. Calling over to their customer service is like talking to a wall. I would appreciate any advice on what to do. Also, if I have to do this myself, any ideas where I can get bolts, Pontiac wont even sell them to me.Thanks!

[zionzr2]

write a letter to the Dealership's Owner and explain what happened and that you will no longer recomend that anyone take their buisness to them and that you will not be a repeat customer. (Be nice and polite).I would also suggest that you escalate the problem with pontiac to a higher level. There is always someone above them. Again be firm but polite.Make sure you have copies of all documentation of everything.Might even asking a laywer if there is any action worth taking.It sounds like you have done everything you could so far. Its VERY upsetting to get ZERO Customer service for a safety recall issue or any issue for that matter.

[northvibe]

yup you need to talk to the service advisor OR go higher and keep going higher until its done. that is unacceptable for a RECALL to not be done...tell them if it breaks you'll sue...that could help its their liability if they denied you the recall i mean...its a freaking recall they get paid to do it...

[alphafelix]

I completely agree with northvibe. I spent five weeks of persistent prodding and plugging them as well as getting Pontiac involved. As a result, I got my Cargo Management System and Trim fixed within two days.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by alphafelix »I completely agree with northvibe. I spent five weeks of persistent prodding and plugging them as well as getting Pontiac involved. As a result, I got my Cargo Management System and Trim fixed within two days. It does seem the issue at hand is the dealer, not the Vibe or Pontiac. The dealer should of never of sold you an accessory that was not available for your model Vibe in the 1st place and should of fixed the trim without commenting without facts, but is good that they finally did resolve the issue. For the 5 week stress, they should of thrown in a couple of free oil changes.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by ou.grizzly »It does seem the issue at hand is the dealer, not the Vibe or Pontiac. The dealer should of never of sold you an accessory that was not available for your model Vibe in the 1st place and should of fixed the trim without commenting without facts, but is good that they finally did resolve the issue. For the 5 week stress, they should of thrown in a couple of free oil changes. depends if you trust a dealer to do a oil change this is why they are called stealerships. be nice until they f you over, then be straight forward until you get what was agreed or fixed. I actually have fun at the dealer cuz if they try something, i know my rights etc and acting like a "(removed)" or stubborn is fun as i dont do it often

[CAVibe]

Thanks for your advice on my problem and I will try to escalate the problem further up in Pontiac and at the dealership. I have had a hard time finding out who is higher in Pontiac. I talked to the customer service rep and she agreed there was a problem and she moved me up to someone higher who also thought something should be done. She then moved me on to Parker Stevens who is a "district specialist" in the escalations department. He sounded like a broken record even though I could tell he understood the problem and knew what was happening to me was wrong, he told me Pontiac has a policy that no matter what, they stand behind the dealership and assume they are always right. He said they will help customers talk to the dealership, but not get involved any more than that. I talked to his boss, "Ericka" and she had the same position. They would not tell me who is higher than they are. I tried calling back many times and could not figure out who is higher up. Any help would be apprciated.I did manage to find a higher up person at the dealership, I had spoken to the head of the service department, but I found a higher up person and am trying to contact them now.I hope this works out. I have recommended Vibes to other friends and family and 4 have bought them so I feel responsible if they end up getting this type of treatment too! I hope this is an isolated case, but Pontiac sure showed me they don't give any customer service at all. I would be hard pressed to recommend them again, not based on their cars, but on their service.

[ProtonXX]

how this this story come out. I just had my bolts replaced & however my window is still jumping out of the frame.

[Kari]

You guys should come to the dealer here that I take mine to now...I haven't taken mine in for the recall yet because it hasn't clicked or slid or done anything weird, and they are absolutely DYING to work on my car. Keep calling and sending postcards and stuff. I'm waiting for them to get REALLLLLY good at it before I let them take my doors apart, especially since I'm not currently having a problem.

[alphafelix]

There is an address on the back of your sales contract for DMV Dealer section. I found the website for the one in Wisconsin and emailed them. If worse comes to worse, these are the people that will mediate any issues you may have with the dealer.

[CAVibe]

Thanks for the tip on contacting the state. I found a place to file a complaint with the state and hope they can help. The online form asks for their license number with the state and so I called the dealer and they would not tell me and then I called Pontiac and they said it was propriatary so they could not tell me either. Then I looked on my receipt and there it was at the top...no secret at all, but I guess they did not want me to file a complaint!I also got a responce to my BBB complaint. Pontiac sent a note to them saying they carefully considered my problem and since my car was past the 36,000 miles for warranty, they would not help. I don't see how that is related to the recall, but the guy at the BBB told me he agreed with Pontiac and I got nowhere and worst of all, he labeled it as Pontiac making a good faith effort to help me even though they did nothing! I have always had good luck with the BBB but this time they were not helpful. Perhaps it is the local office of the BBB out there in Michigan that is Pontiac sympathetic or something?The only bright spot is a coworker today told me he was buying a new car and test drove a Vibe since he liked mine and he was considering getting one. I told him my new opinion of Pontiac and I think I convinced him that getting a Vibe would not be a good idea!

[zionzr2]

A Safety Recall is NOT bound by Warrenty!! If a 4 year old Car has a Safety recall of a componet then it Has to be fixed by the dealer free of cost to the owner of the vehicle. Even if the Vehicle is 10 years old same thing.Under a TSB they could make you pay if you are out of warrenty but not a recall.I say keep escelating!!

[northvibe]

WOW I mean its more of the dealers fault than "pontiac" itself, but for the district pontiac reps to say stuff that like?! thats freaking concerning. Maybe mention something to corporate pontiac thats just @#$@#$ up not to do a safety recall.... I just wonder who else with a vibe they have done this to

[jake75]

[QUOTE=CAVibe]I also got a responce to my BBB complaint. Pontiac sent a note to them saying they carefully considered my problem and since my car was past the 36,000 miles for warranty, they would not help. I don't see how that is related to the recall, but the guy at the BBB told me he agreed with Pontiac and I got nowhere and worst of all, he labeled it as Pontiac making a good faith effort to help me even though they did nothing! I have always had good luck with the BBB but this time they were not helpful. Perhaps it is the local office of the BBB out there in Michigan that is Pontiac sympathetic or something?[QUOTE]I have found that more often than not the BBB is just a shill for business. After all - it's membership dues from business that funds the BBB. But keep bugging them - point out that it is a safety "recall" involved here. Send a letter to the editor of the lcoal newspaper pointing out BBB's failure to understand the situation. Some TV stations have a consumer complaint desk. On the other hand - perhaps you are dealing with a dual problem.1. The bolt thing that is covered by the recall.2. A separate problem that is not part of the bolt thing and is not covered by the warranty since it is poast 36 months.The dealer doesn't want to fix the bolt thing without fixing the other problem becasue they think they would be liable. Solution woudl be for you to sign a specific agreement exonerating them from that liability. However, since they have to have the door apart anyway to do the bolt thing I would think the cost to fix whatever else is wrong should be adjusted. But by now you have ticked them off to the point that I doubt they will bend even 1 degree.

[alphafelix]

At this point in the juncture, I would gather all the documentation referencing the safety recall, all of the contact points you had with the dealer and consider small claims. The state should be able to give you direction on that.

[CAVibe]

I found another place to ask for help, AAA. They are an AAA approved repair shop so I filed a complaint with the AAA and I hope to hear back from them soon. So, I have the State agency (BAR) and the AAA that I hope will help but I am waiting to hear back from them. I had asked the dealer if they would reopen the door so they can see that the bolt was not replace and if they can show me that it was, I would not only not bother them anymore, but I would pay them for the labor to open the door. If they saw the repair was not done, then they could just finish the repair without charge. They told me no, they would not agree to that. They would not give me any more reason than no, they would not and they do not have to do.I got another call from a higher manager in Pontiac and she held the same view as the other people in Pontiac. She said they stand behind their dealers no matter what and that even if their dealerships are shown to be in the wrong, they would not get involved. She said since they are independent and not owned by GM, it was not appropriate for them to get involved. I did try to get the recall out of my record so another dealer could do it, but Pontiac refused just saying they stand behind the dealer and did not want to do anything that would upset the first dealer. For now, I am in a waiting game but at least I have things going that might help with this!Thanks again for everyone's advice.

[CAVibe]

UPDATE:Finally getting somewhere, AAA came through since the dealer was AAA Certified, they had to let the AAA investigator talk to the mechanic and look at the mechanics notes which were different than what they give the customer. He found that they did not put a new bolt in the window that was loose, they said the bolt head broke off so half the bolt was in the regulator section that the bolt attaches. Rather than use something to remove the broken bolt or suggest just replacing the the section that the bolt was attached to, they told me they did replace the bolt and suggested that I replace the whole regulator. The AAA investigator got the dealer to agree to give me the bolt so I can have it done elsewhere and told me that their suggestion to replace the whole regulator was unnecessary. I will pick up the bolt at the dealership when it comes in.I actually think that the recall should cover this even if the bolt broke, but the dealer does not think so and AAA is not quite sure what the recall should cover. I am very thankful to AAA though, the investigator was helpful, he listened to the problem and found out what happened. That is much more than Pontiac customer service did and much more than the dealer did when I talked to them. I am not sure what I will do next.I suggest anyone having problems with dealers look to see if they are AAA certified since AAA had the most helpful resolution system. The state is still investigating the dealership, I am not sure if I should call that off or not.

[alphafelix]

Thank you for giving an update, I will use this information as well if I am confronted with the same response.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by CAVibe »UPDATE:He found that they did not put a new bolt in the window that was loose, they said the bolt head broke off so half the bolt was in the regulator section that the bolt attaches. Rather than use something to remove the broken bolt or suggest just replacing the the section that the bolt was attached to, they told me they did replace the bolt and suggested that I replace the whole regulator. The AAA investigator got the dealer to agree to give me the bolt so I can have it done elsewhere and told me that their suggestion to replace the whole regulator was unnecessary. The state is still investigating the dealership, I am not sure if I should call that off or not. The lies that the dealer told you would appear to be a violation of the "deceptive practices act" that exists in virtually every state. You should make the state aware of what the AAA investigator found.You should also make GM aware - at this point bankruptcy is their Karma.The proof of the pudding will be if the window operates satisfactorily after you get the bolt put it.

[specialbuddy]

What if I never got a letter in the mail? I called the number and entered my VIN and work needs to be done. The window will not go back up.

[ToolGuy]

"They told me that the bolts coming out would not cause the window to be loose and the only thing that could cause that is a faulty regulator that they wanted me to pay $500 to replace."The dealer is correct and not lying to you... My car did not click at all but got the recall work done and my car is way out of warranty. The recall is just to replace two 10mm bolts, the two bolts that hold the window to the regulator. I also had to replace my drivers regulator, months after the recall when the window fell into the door. The two are and were NOT related.At first I put a new window in the car for $127 thinking that was the issue since one of the two clips broke off and 4 weeks later the car broke the same clip that caused the window to fall into the door in the first place. I posted here but no one responded thus I assumed no one but me has had this happen to them. The next step was to replace the reg $150 which I have never done so in any of my cars. I did that and bought another new window $127 and the problem was gone. I did all the work last month...You could see the old reg flex the plastic window clip that broke as it came to the full closed position. This clip is not available on its own and is glued to the window, the glue is not available either.My suggestion is to get the new regulator which is not covered under the recall, just the two bolt are. If you do not, your window will fall into the door as well, that is if the clip that broke on mine is not already compromised and if you do not know how to help it up closed, it will be a lot bigger issue for you. If you cannot get anywhere with the recall bolts and GM, go buy them from GM, they are not much, maybe a few buicks, are maybe 3/4 inch long if that and when the reg is replaced, have the new bolts installed too. The dealer will sell them to you or another delar will, they have to, these are the only two bolts holding the window in place and the parts desk has to get them since it is updated in the GM parts database to use these bolts recall or not. The longer you wait the more it will cost you since it will be a window and regulator. My window clicked if it was all the way down and we closed the door before the clip completely broke away. I thought what the heck was that since it never made that noise before. My wife drove it to the store and came back and said go look at the window now! The clip broke and the glass fell into the door. Apparently these window regulators are made of cheap steel that bends over time and will cause the clip to break. I watched the old one verses the new and you could honestly see it flex. This recall is associated with many window issues but honestly it is misleading and really not associated with many issues, since it only replaces the bolts.You can also pay for everything, save all receipts and still persue GM. If GM feels it honesty was a GM issue, they can pay you back provided you have the receipts. GM calls this Goodwill. I would keep the parts too just in case.Good luck!

[NibCrom]

ToolGuy! Where have you been!

[ToolGuy]

Hey there NibCrom! Thanks for asking...Wow, where do I start! I had to go through a major job and career change. I am still working with vehicles, Military vehicles now made by International Truck to be exact and have been in Mississippi 2 out of the 5 weeks I have been with the new job. That travel will slow now that we are in our new building.Anyway, I had to do what I had to do and glad I did since the auto industry, as you know for Michigan is really bad and getting worse. Glad I am not in it anymore! Hope you have been well these days my friend?

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by ToolGuy »Hey there NibCrom! Thanks for asking...Wow, where do I start! I had to go through a major job and career change. I am still working with vehicles, Military vehicles now made by International Truck to be exact and have been in Mississippi 2 out of the 5 weeks I have been with the new job. That travel will slow now that we are in our new building.Glad to see everything is OK with you TG. I was starting to wonder.

[ToolGuy]

Thanks ou.grizzly. Hope all is well with you too!

[CAVibe]

Just wanted to follow up on my Vibe. My Vibe is all fine now with the new bolts in place. I am sure there are some Vibe's that happen to need a new regulator at the same exact time as the bolts have a problem, but I think that is pretty rare. If you are getting the recall done and they try to sell a regulator or other things, I would look carefully to make sure its needed! I would be out over $500 if I had just accepted what they told me!Anyways, thanks again to AAA and the state Auto Repair agency (BAR) both of which helped me quite a bit. No thanks at all to Pontiac who did nothing and accused me of being the problem even when the BAR and AAA called them and explained that the dealer was suggesting unneeded repairs. With the US car dealers having problems, its a shame that I am buying my first foreign car ever because of my bad experience with Pontiac. Its also a shame a had to write to my representative and senators requesting they don't support the GM bailout. I think GM's bad service is not worth everyone paying for!Anyways, my window works now!