Dealer Service Rant

[Grit_dog]

Always shyed away from dealer mechanics, actually mechanics in general. Just a good way to set ones self up for frustration and disappointment.
Well, 2 separate recent warranty issues have reinforced that attitude wholly.
Actually have a couple vehicles int he fleet with warranty currently.
Few months ago, the wifes new Charger was low on coolant. Took er in, they verified leaky radiator, new rad installed, out the next day. Great right?
Week later I pop the hood, no coolant in the reservoir tank. On inspection, bottom rad hose is 1/2 off the end of the hose (not leaking though, just cant reach it without tearing some things apart to get there) and the intake tube is connected but clamp is flopping loose.
Great. Filler up with $30/gal purple juice. Have to fill twice and it takes about 3 qts to top off. Basically, noone test drove then topped off the coolant. Had to take it back for the lower hose clamp.

Couple weeks ago, my company truck transmission starts taking a dump.
It's under warranty 1/2 ton Chevy. 3 weeks later they have a new torque converter in it, ready to go... Literally don't make it out of the parking lot and it has the same symptoms as when I brought it in. Service dork says it needs to re-learn, call me back in 1000 miles, lol. The trans is slipping out of gear when the vehicle stops then revs up and slams into gear F or R. Back in the shop....Evidently, they pushed it out of the shop and didn't even take a lap around the parking lot after the first fix, or decided maybe I wouldn't notice the truck doing it's own neutral drop 50x a day!

Wonder why they charge so much for out of warranty work....to cover all the jobs they have to do multiple times before they get er fixed!

BTW, wanted new shocks on the truck while the truck was beached there.
Parts are under $100/shock for the ones I requested, before dealer markup. Quote was $1250 total, installed!!! I just laughed and told him they couldn't make up the labor to R&R the trans on a set of shocks. Dont bother!

That is all....

[Grit_dog]

And just to be a d!ck, I managed to use most of those coupons in that book. They actually were good deals.
Oil change $19.99, no problem. Bring my rusty blazer in there straight from some muddin, dripping mud all over. "Please change my oil now." lol

Tire rotation $9.99, yep while it's in, I want those 35s rotated X pattern and make sure you hand torque what lugs are left, don't want to break any more of them! Haha
Yes I know one of the rear brakes lines is rusted through and crimped off. Can I get that fixed for the $39.99 per axle brake job? No?
Ok, I want new rear brake pads anyway since you noticed it. Them ones are soaked in brake fluid and no good. Mind throwing the new wheel cylinder on while you have the drum off? It's in the glove box. You know since it will take you about an hour to heat, soak, and beat that drum off the hub anyway.....

[Grit_dog]

^ Amen.
My first lesson was with Firecrap (stone) back in the day. Growing up, we didn't use mechanic shops, unless it was rebuilding a transmission and even then, it was usually a junkyard swap. One benefit of growing up poor, makes you handy, lol.
My new GF at the time, now wife of 24years (.)(.) bought this coupon book for discounted services at firestone, they were selling the books at our college.
She takes the car in for an alignment iirc. It was a super craptacular Nissan 200sx (by Datsun dontcha know). $19.99 or something with the coupon. She calls me crying saying her car is going to be, idk, $300 or something to fix. Those forkers had a RO a page long written up. Everything from brakes to tune up to all kinds of stuff.
Was my first experience at telling a group of "professional" techs very unpolitely to go fck their hat, do the ^(&^ing alignment and park the car out front!

[soren]

Old Days wrote:
I had new Firestone tires on my Subaru, took it in for free tire rotation a week later I open the hood and see that they took the hose clamp off of the air intake and the hose fell off. So the car was not having filtered air in the engine the whole time. So from that time on I do every thing myself.

This is a result of the "free safety inspection game" A lot of these lizards want to get you in the door for any reason, and then take the time to pull engine and cabin air filters, look at tires, brakes, etc... in an attempt to sell you anything and everything you are dumb and gullible enough to buy. I had one clown who not only failed to reassemble the engine air box correctly, rendering the filter useless, but he dislocated the glove box door while hunting for the cabin air filter, and was too stupid or lazy to fix the mess.

At this point the only exposure I would even have to that game is needing to have a recall done, and anymore the first thing out of my mouth, before I hand the keys over to a dealer, or other potentially sleazy shop is, DO NOT do any free inspection of ANYTHING. Do what the work I came here for, and don't touch anything unrelated to that job.

[soren]

My son is in management with a fairly large construction company. One of his jobs is overseeing repairs done to their pickup fleet. He just had a bill for $2K to repair a "slams violently when placed in drive or reverse" situation on a newer truck. The dealer failed to diagnose or repair the thing, but billed for the $2k. He takes the truck to his in-house heavy truck shop, and asks a real truck mechanic to take a look. A few minutes later, he climbs under the thing and his truck mechanic shows him a driveshaft that is about to fall out, since a U-joint is in it's last stages of disintegrating.

He has an ecoboost, under warranty, with a strange engine whistle. He researched and found that it was broken exhaust studs. The service writer tells him that "it's fine, the tech. says it's normal, since his personal truck makes the same noise" My kid tells him the truck stays at the dealer until they have a competent mechanic check the studs, and asks "when did the fact that a tech.is too dumb to figure out what broken head studs are become a benchmark for how a new truck should sound and run?" They find broken studs and replace them. He picks the truck up, and it has the same whistle. He circles the lot and asks WTH? The service writer tells him that they only did one side, since that side was broke. Apparently a test drive, and looking at the other side of the engine was too much to ask. My kid grabs the keys for the new Expedition he had as a loaner, and tells them to keep trying, as he continues to put a thousand miles a week on their fancy SUV.

[hawkeye-08]

While in college, I worked at Sears automotive center, covered the service writer desk at night during the week and on Sundays. People are very trusting of their mechanics normally... it was pretty easy to sell work that was needed. Shop manager started his own shop the same time I graduated, he had a booming business in short order, 7 mechanics went with him, he wanted me to join him, but I wanted to try my college degree out..

Every business has idiots, some more than others. it is always a nice surprise when the idiot is helping someone else..

[Grit_dog]

Absolutely, I agree Lantley. Was just making a funny.
Pretty sure that’s why they aren’t balking at giving me a new truck for weeks on end.
Our newly hired equipment manager at work has been spending entirely too much $ with these fork sticks at this dealer fixing things on old trucks that should be done at a privately owned shop.

[Lantley]

Grit dog wrote:

Lantley wrote:
AS with any business you need to develop a relationship with the tech.
Sure I can go to any shop in town, but it pays to develop a relationship with a reliable shop.
That relationship becomes invaluable when you are in a pickle, otherwise you are just another number with a problem.
I do a lot of my own repairs but I try to develop relationship for all my repair needs sure it occasionally cost me more on an individual repair , but in the long run I think it's beneficial.

If I have to develop a relationship with a dude, I’m either ghey or we’re actually friends. I don’t GAF what the dude replacing my radiator is doing this weekend.....lol

Your relationship doesn't have to be with the tech per se , especially if he's ugly...LOL 🙂
But you do want someone in the building to see you as a loyal/regular customer vs. a nobody or just a some guy with a problem.
I have a regular mechanic, but I also deal with the shop up the street for smaller, simple stuff when convenience is more important than ability.
Often times who you know, is more important than what you know,who you know can often get you to the front of the line or at least help you avoid dealing with the knuckleheads.

[Grit_dog]

Update, truck has been back for 3 days again. No call, no update. Who cares. They gave me a new 2019 version of my truck to drive. Same one as before.
Got another 1000+ miles on it this week and 3000from the last visit.

I might call the service dork and schedule it for an oil change! Lol

[Grit_dog]

Lantley wrote:
AS with any business you need to develop a relationship with the tech.
Sure I can go to any shop in town, but it pays to develop a relationship with a reliable shop.
That relationship becomes invaluable when you are in a pickle, otherwise you are just another number with a problem.
I do a lot of my own repairs but I try to develop relationship for all my repair needs sure it occasionally cost me more on an individual repair , but in the long run I think it's beneficial.

If I have to develop a relationship with a dude, I’m either ghey or we’re actually friends. I don’t GAF what the dude replacing my radiator is doing this weekend.....lol

[Grit_dog]

NJRVer wrote:
Took my Ram in for oil change and fuel filter change a couple weeks ago.
Ride home I keep smelling fuel.
Get home look under the truck and there is fuel all over and oil dripping off.

They couldn't be bothered to take the time to wipe off anything.

20,000 miles and the underside has to be power washed to get all the dirt and grease off that they left.

Surprised you didn’t get charged extra for the partial winter oil coating on the undercarriage.

[mich800]

Lantley wrote:
AS with any business you need to develop a relationship with the tech.
Sure I can go to any shop in town, but it pays to develop a relationship with a reliable shop.
That relationship becomes invaluable when you are in a pickle, otherwise you are just another number with a problem.
I do a lot of my own repairs but I try to develop relationship for all my repair needs sure it occasionally cost me more on an individual repair , but in the long run I think it's beneficial.

Maybe...But if you are building such good relationships maybe it is time for a more reliable vehicle. I say this in general not about your vehicles. I have a shop near me that I need to go to maybe once every 2-3 years. Always competent and fair. I don't think I would visit a shop I had to give face time to on a regular basis to be treated fair.

[Old_Days]

I had new Firestone tires on my Subaru, took it in for free tire rotation a week later I open the hood and see that they took the hose clamp off of the air intake and the hose fell off. So the car was not having filtered air in the engine the whole time. So from that time on I do every thing myself.

[Lantley]

AS with any business you need to develop a relationship with the tech.
Sure I can go to any shop in town, but it pays to develop a relationship with a reliable shop.
That relationship becomes invaluable when you are in a pickle, otherwise you are just another number with a problem.
I do a lot of my own repairs but I try to develop relationship for all my repair needs sure it occasionally cost me more on an individual repair , but in the long run I think it's beneficial.

[colliehauler]

ACZL-like the story of the alignment. Had a (mechanic) align my Blazer. When I got home I found some tires with 50# and some with 20# of air. I had checked them all before I took it in and they were all at 35#. They went out of business as well.