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Old 02-13-2020, 03:37 PM
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Default Houston, we have a problem!

Guy has his new Mustang upgraded with a supercharger. The Ford dealer takes it for a test drive and carnage ensues. It was really fast until wasn't.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enth...cid=spartandhp

I had a similar but less dramatic incident with a Chevy dealer over my kid's IROC. The front end had just been refinished following a tow truck operator incident (rolled the chin spoiler under and broke it trying to load the car without wood planks).

I dropped the car off for the kid at the Chevy dealer to have some incidental stuff done. When I dropped the car off, I asked the Service Manager to verify there was no damage on the car which he gladly did. As we walked around, I pointed out the new front fascia and paint the towing service had just paid for.

When I came back to pick up the car that evening, they handed me the keys and told me where it was parked. Normally, they have a porter get the car for you. It was dark and rainy and my spidey senses were tingling when I found the car parked in the farthest (darkest) corner of the lot tight against the brick wall of an adjacent building facing away from you as you walked to it. I leaned over the fender and saw the nose of the car had been smacked hard. I turned around and walked back into the service department, asked for the Manager and handed him the keys saying "I couldn't find my car out there, would you have one of your guys bring it around? He looked at me weird and I just looked back at him and said, "Stick around, you saw the car when I brought it in", posturing that I knew what was up.

The service guy pulled the car up to the service door with the crunched front end in full view. I looked at the Service Manager and asked "When will it be fixed?" He just shook his head and apologized profusely but I suspect he was complicit in trying to cover it up, thinking I would just drive it home, discover the damage there and then they would deny it happened while in their possession. To their credit, they replaced the entire front fascia, blended the paint back into the hood and fenders and did a first class job. According to the Service Manager, the car porter had "been on the gas" and hit another car and they had fired him (probably the night it happened). The fact they were not up front about the damage was most disappointing.

Have any service department horror stories to share?

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Old 02-13-2020, 05:51 PM
66sprint6 66sprint6 is offline
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Had a 2004 Sierra 1/2 ton that they couldn't fix and then wouldn't fix. The HVAC was f'd up from new, went hot or cold by itself, the controls completely unresponsive. The wipers went on and were unresponsive. Stuff like that. So after a while, they kind of avoided me and they were brusque when dealing with me. Sure it was the truck as much as anything, but they sold me that truck. The third one in as many years as well.
They're long gone now, as they were a P/B/GMC dealer. None of the other dealers around there closed, though. Ford, Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc. They've been having record sales years.

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Old 02-13-2020, 06:16 PM
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With these new cars putting out over 500, even 700 horses these days most drivers really aren’t skilled enough to handle them and there’s plenty of YT videos out there that prove it.

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Old 02-13-2020, 07:06 PM
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Son in-law had his first service on his new car done by Ford dealer. Dropped in for a visit to our place after picking it up. As he was leaving noticed a fairly large oil puddle under the car. It was new clean engine oil. Looked under the car while it sitting there idling and noticed a stream of oil pouring onto the ground roughly from where the oil filter sits. It was FWD east west engine so the oil filter is at back of engine near firewall. I thought the service guy may have not tightened the filter or either the rubber gasket got displaced or was double stacked will the old gasket being stuck to the engine.
Jacked up the car and got underneath it to see the oil filter's case was crushed and at one of the crushed creases it had cracked. With engine running there was enough pressure for oil to pour out.
Check the oil dipstick and there was no oil registering on it so she was fairly low.
My conclusion was that when the car/engine was built the line worker may have had a bad day and really screwed the filter on tight. When the service guy used his band filter wrench he has crushed the filter trying to remove it. I surmised that due to this service happening late Friday afternoon and the oil change being probably done by an apprentice/junior he could be stuffed trying to get the old filter off now that it was crushed and just left it knowing the car had to go out before knock off time. Mind you they did charge him for a new filter.
We got the car towed to the dealer where they proceeded to deny that it happened there and insinuated that the son in-law must have done it tinkering with the car. Mind you, the car was back at the dealers within a couple of hours after the service and my son in-law wouldn't the difference b/w an 'open ender' and a 'ring spanner'.
They quickly changed their tune when the Son in-law mentioned he was a lawyer and he was not happy in the least.
He got them to write up a report stating what had happened in case there was some engine problems down the road. They did do a DTC scan and it did not show up with any codes for oil pressure, engine oil or engine coolant over temperature and he was quite sure no idiot light came on while he was driving.
Obviously never went back there again.

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Old 02-13-2020, 07:25 PM
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Bought a Jeep GC in the summer of '14. Shortly after I noticed a brake rubbing sound at wheel speed at the right front wheel, comes and goes ,had to listen closely. Took it in several times, still did it. During the winter of '16, after a right turn and slowing to a stop, there was a loud BONK from that wheel that was felt thru the chassis. Took it in and told the service writer EXACTLY how to duplicate the event. He writes down something like " noise from front wheel when stopping".

Anyway, a day or two later, I had to call them back to find out (they didn't call me), and the writer guy says the mech didn't find anything wrong. I went there and took the guy for a ride...sure enuf, I could duplicate the problem.

Days later I call again, The mech is sick. blah, blah. 10 days have gone by, I decide to get the car and take it elsewhere. No work was done, problems were as they were before.

Strangely the bonk only seemed to happen during the winter, slippery pavement and AWD?

In any case, this past summer it needed a fuel pump relay under warranty so I took it to a different dealer, told them to check the brake stuff. They fixed the relay and said the rotor was warped and I needed new brakes., only $500. No thanks, I go a dealer only for warranty stuff.

Turns out the pads had about half of the life left , but I replaced the pads and rotors with the PowerStop drilled and slotted performance stuff. No more noise, no bonking during this winter.

I figure maybe the original rotor was too thin and the lug nuts may have bottomed before the wheels were snug against the hub flange. Maybe. No more problem tho.

George

I gave the original dealer a lengthy, bad review on their website and they called back and I reiterated about their poor service and personnel. Never went back.

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Old 02-13-2020, 07:52 PM
mgarblik mgarblik is offline
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Those of us who work on cars for a living are the last ones to want things like this happen, but they do from time to time and it sucks. That's why dealerships and some smaller shops like mine have insurance. That's what it's for. Somnetimes the very worst happens and the customer just can't be made whole. One example that still haunts me to this day involved one of my students in a co-op work situation. He was racking a 1996 Impala SS for it's first oil change in slipery conditions. Car went up and then slid off the rack falling on it's side between the posts totaling it. Then I get the call. I rush to the BP Procare to see what happened. It was awful, every single piece of glass broken out, every piece of sheet metal bent and the frame bent. It was toast with 3000 miles on it. The owner had special ordered the car and waited almost 6 months to get it. Loaded with options and in dark Cherry exterior with black leather interior, all special order. Insurance settled with him but he was unable to order a replacement because the order date was past and they were ending B body production. What a mess.


Last edited by mgarblik; 02-13-2020 at 08:04 PM.
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Old 02-13-2020, 08:38 PM
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CoWorker bought a Chevy Truck. The paint fell off. He complained. Dealership had no way of helping. He drives a Toyota truck now.


Water-based Primer....really? Did GM really doooo thaaat!?

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Old 02-13-2020, 09:25 PM
mgarblik mgarblik is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud View Post
CoWorker bought a Chevy Truck. The paint fell off. He complained. Dealership had no way of helping. He drives a Toyota truck now.


Water-based Primer....really? Did GM really doooo thaaat!?
Yes, they really did do that!! The GM truck lines were among the last to changeover to the water born paint systems. You can thank the EPA for that deal. Thousands and thousands of GM cars and trucks were repainted at no-charge to the customer. Your co-worker was likely not forceful enough or his truck would have been repainted. Not making excuses, because there was no excuse for that paint system in the early years it was used. I have seen large sheets of the color crack and just fly off hoods and roofs when a driver would hit a pothole.

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Old 02-14-2020, 10:33 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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I did all of the paint and body work on my 77 t/a. I had a shop build and install the motor. I stopped by to check on the car and they had an accident with the lift and put a nice dent in the front fender! They carted it off to a local body shop for repairs. It turned out fine but I was a bit disappointed at first. I was at the same shop (they do the service on all my vehicles) a few months ago and they were working on a 68 firebird. Car is immaculate, original paint example. Whilst it was sitting in the lot to be picked up by the owner another customer backed into the pass side fender!!

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Old 02-14-2020, 12:14 PM
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As a shop owner I inflicted damage to a customers car. She had parked behind my shop truck and I got into it and backed into the passenger door. Brand new 1977 Monte Carlo. I had a friend straighten and repaint the car door in one day, looked fine.

Stuff happens, but you really hate when it does................

When I was working at the same chevy dealer as my father in 1975 the guy next to my fathers stall was putting motor mounts in a chevy van on a Weaver twin post lift. He jacked the engine up too high and it slid off the lift, same as Mike had described above, fell on top of a pickup truck where fortunately my father had gone to the parts counter just a few minutes beforehand. I think the van was totaled, can't remember if they fixed the pickup it fell on, or not. It could have turned out much worse had my father been working on that truck, instead of him being at the parts counter when the accident occurred.

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Last edited by Sirrotica; 02-14-2020 at 12:22 PM.
  #11  
Old 02-14-2020, 12:35 PM
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I got a car for my daughter two weeks ago. Last Sunday I backed it into my dads truck. New record for me, damaging a car within 7 days of purchase. Its 10 years old, and I found a parts car on FB marketplace, even the same color. Trunklid and taillight, $60.

Sitting near the parts car was a 64 Bonneville 2-dr - a customer's car there for mechanical work. If it belongs to one of the Pontiac faithful on here, let's make a deal!

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  #12  
Old 02-14-2020, 01:12 PM
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Default GENIUS

My family use own a Pontiac dealership and they had a REAL GENIUS mechanic!
The shop had 9 lifts in the service area and this GENIUS drove a customers T1000 into the shop. When he pulled into his space for the lift he went in too fast and ended up going underneath the work bench and through the wall into the new car lot.

Lucky no new car was on the other side of the wall. The GENIUS was history and the customer's car was totaled. The customer was given a replacement new car. I'm not sure I would consider a new T1000 as a replacement that was any good. Nothing more than a Chevy Chevette (sp).


Last edited by napster; 02-14-2020 at 01:19 PM.
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Old 02-14-2020, 01:56 PM
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mrennie mrennie is offline
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Yes, sh!t happens, but its how you handle it when it is your fault that makes the difference between salvaging the relationship with the customer vs. customer telling the world how bad it was handled.

I bought a new 2001 GMC Sierra, had issues with the ignition switch and bring back to dealer. Mechanic used a flat blade screwdriver to pop the 2 halves of the steering column cover apart, breaking all tabs on the switch side as well as putting gouges where the 2 halves meet up. I pick up truck and see this, go back into shop and show this to the service manager, he says it was an accident...great, what are you going to do about it? He says if I'm really that picky they have a gray cover in stock, they will paint it black to match the bottom half. Seriously? The cover wont even stay in place, of course I want it fixed. I tell him NO, you will replace both pieces your cost, which they did.

Next visit to same dealer, I am reporting cold air draft on PS on truck and they bring it into their body shop. Go to pick it up, get home and open the passenger side door and see some grey fuzz on the side of the seatback...looks like carpet fuzz..pull it off to discover a 1/4" hole punched into the seat fabric! Start looking around and body guy has left an awl sitting on the rear floor mat, so I can only assume he poked a hole by mistake when working on the truck and instead of disclosing it, he cuts a piece of carpet and shoves it in the hole to hide it.

I bring back to dealer the next day, service manager says no way they could have done that, and accuses me of burning a hole with a cigarette...nice story except I don't smoke and neither does my wife. He continues denying they did it, saying they had no reason to be working anywhere near the seatback. After showing him the tool left on the floormat with mechanics initials and threatening small claims court they finally agree to have it fixed.

Bring it to 3rd party upholstery shop and guy there tells me he makes good money fixing damaged interiors from that dealership...

Karma got them in the end, they lost the GMC/Pontiac dealership when GM went into bankruptcy, and they closed down.

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Old 02-14-2020, 03:04 PM
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In 1964, I took my '64 GTO to our local Pontiac Dealer, Nelson Brothers Pontiac in Milwaukee, WI for warranty work on the Muncie. The car was stolen from their lot--not difficult, as they put the keys on the floor under the front seat.

Since the GTO was my only car at that time, I had to borrow my parents' Ford Fairlane. Now, I wonder why the dealer didn't offer a loaner. In any case, my GTO was gone for 5 days. The Milwaukee Police called me telling me to get my car moved from the parking lot it was in or it would be towed--not friendly! I went to pick it up and noticed---empty McDonalds cups and wrappers in the back seat, filthy interior, bald rear tires (car had less than 4000 miles), and empty gas tank.

While cleaning out the interior, I found a half-page from the Milw. phone book with a phone number underlined. I took it to the police. They staked out the address (a young girl lived there) and the first day, another stolen Pontiac-a Catalina, pulled up to pick up the girl. As he went into the house, a police officer hid inside the Pontiac. When the guy came back to the car and was getting in, he shoved the officer and tried to run away. They arrested him and found there were more than 10 cars stolen from dealers by this same group of thugs.

Looking back, I can't imagine why I didn't insist on the dealer replacing the rear tires and cleaning the interior and exterior, but I was 22 years old and didn't pursue it like I would today.

The attached pictures are of that car.
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Old 02-14-2020, 03:12 PM
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I was training dealer personnel back in the mid 90s, there was a local cadillac/saab dealer that had the old two-post, inground, air/hyd lifts. Foot operated. Nighttime cleanup guy comes in with the floor zamboni, cleans the shop. Later that evening, a salesman sells a new Saab, and leaves it in a service stall for morning PDI/delivery. I'd been working with the shop techs all week. Good guys. Well, 6 am, I arrive - about the same time as the serv manager. He hits the switches to turn on the air compressor, etc and goes to making coffee. I meet up with him, we walk to the shop, and I kid you not, there is a brand new white saab standing, perilously balanced on its nose. You could literally walk up to it and put your hand on the muffler. The serv manager dropped his coffee, and called a local towing company who came in and held it up in the air while the rear lift post was let down. Damage? A small ding in a fuel line, and a front license plate bracket. No fluid issues, seemingly nothing else.

The guy running the floor zamboni hit the foot switch for one of the two lift posts, but since the air compressor was off, nothing happened. When the serv manager turned everything on the following morning, the Saab stood on end about a minute later.

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Old 02-14-2020, 03:54 PM
mgarblik mgarblik is offline
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This is the worst thing that ever happened to me personally as a technician at a Pontiac dealer. Had a 76 Trans AM come in for a theft recovery. I did all the theft repairs and there were a fair number of them. About 1 every couple months. Anyway, this one I was putting a new steering column in it and the guys said, "hey, it's lunch time, lets go". It had a white vinyl interior. Back in those days all the trouble lights were incandescent bulbs with a metal cage around it. I flipped the light on the drivers seat and didn't turn it off. When we returned from lunch, there was an awful smell in the shop and smoke coming from the car I was working on. The trouble light had melted through the vinyl, through the foam and all the way to the springs. This was 1979 so the car was 3-4 years old. I had only been working there half a year or so and the service manager said I had 2 choices. Either pay for all the damages, or be fired and walk. I ended up paying to fix that car out of my pocket. It was about 3 weeks salary to pay for it all. Both front seats and the rear seat had to be reupholstered, drivers seat foam replaced. They did the drivers seat alone first, but since it was white, it didn't match exactly, so they did them all. Lesson learned the hard way.

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Old 02-15-2020, 10:31 AM
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Region Warrior Region Warrior is offline
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^I hated them^
Don't know how many times burned arm, shoulder, wrist under vehicles.
And you know want happens if accidently spray brake or carb cleaner on bulb...
Threw all mine out as soon as flourescents came out.
Then them went LEDs came out lol.

Forgot to mention the early ones with metal shields.

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Last edited by Region Warrior; 02-15-2020 at 11:06 AM.
  #18  
Old 02-15-2020, 10:58 AM
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I bought a new Monte Carlo SS in 1985. I brought it back a few days later so they could replace the crooked decals on the drivers door. They call me and tell me its ready, I get there....no car! Service manager, several employees, all searching the dealership. About half hour later, two mechanics drive up in it....they took it to lunch! Dealership washed it and filled the tank for me.

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Old 02-15-2020, 11:16 AM
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It's not uncommon for someone to drive a car to test drive a car to lunch to see if they still have a problem they were working on, but there is obviously no need to test drive a car for a decal replacement.

The Buick dealership I worked some employees would test drive cars and stop at a certain bar, the bar owner would see certain dealership personnel drive up and pour a shot and a beer, and have it sitting on the bar when they came through the front door. These guys were alcoholics and it went on like this for years, true story.

Unfortunately there are quite a few alcoholics and drug abusers in the auto repair industry, this particular dealership had more than I've ever seen though. The owner was also an alcoholic, so it went from the top down.

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100% Pontiacs in my driveway!!! What's in your driveway?

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  #20  
Old 02-17-2020, 10:41 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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Something very simple, I took my f 150 in for work. They had to remove the front wheels. The next day after getting it home (which was already about a week later than promised) I walked around the pass. side and saw yellow tape on the hub cap. Like most (I would guess) centre caps these days, the lugs are just plastic and for show. The entire cap snaps off with a bar to reveal the real lug nuts underneath. Some competent mechanic of which I am sure I was paying top dollar for the service, put a wrench on the plastic lug nut and broke it. The tape was to hold it in place until the crappy glue (that didn't work) set up. Needless to say that is when I switched shops.

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