New Car Dealers Meathead Face Vol. 2
- Thread starter OGG
- Start date
Tig
Fucktangular
TomcatMF
Vetteless
I get what you're saying OGG. As you know, I am a bit of a car enthusiast as well. It's the same way for me with my Corvette, but since it is way out of warranty I don't bother with the dealer anymore to get it serviced. I have a great mechanic that I trust and he always does a terrific job.
The fun cars always have quirks to them.
Too bad you have to deal with such crappy customer service.
FWIW the best customer service I ever got from a dealer was Saturn. They never screwed me over, and they were very thorough and up front about any issues I had. It's too bad GM screwed up the brand so much that they had to kill it.
The fun cars always have quirks to them.
Too bad you have to deal with such crappy customer service.
FWIW the best customer service I ever got from a dealer was Saturn. They never screwed me over, and they were very thorough and up front about any issues I had. It's too bad GM screwed up the brand so much that they had to kill it.
OGG
Master of the Meh
I have bought 13 new Nissans from the same dealership (not the one with the FIAT). Along with being a FIAT Fanatic, I've been a loyal Nissan guy and Z enthusiast for many years.
There's no perfect car though.
My 2001 Frontier Crew Cab (first production year) that I waited 6 months to arrive, had a brake master cylinder fail completely while exiting the freeway at 70MPH and 164 miles on the the odometer with my wife in the paasenger seat and my 6 month old son in the back seat. It took a herculean effort to avoid crashing.
Dealer kept the truck for almost a month
Nissan sent an entire team from Japan to figure out what happened and why.
Not a pleasant experience, but it got handled.
OGG
Master of the Meh
Well, to my knowledge, they never really determined an exact reason other than it just being a defective part.
The reason for the team from Japan, was because it was a brand new model that had a completely new system, and mine was literally one of the first on the road.
They wanted to be sure it was an isolated incident and not something that was going to affect the whole line.
There was also an issue with obtaining a replacement part.
The best part though, when I got it back after a month, I only made it halfway across town before the brake pedal sank to the floor and I once again had no brakes.
I got out, opened the hood, and there was brake fluid everywhere. One of the hard lines to the new master cylinder had backed almost completely out, and the other was so loose I could turn it with my fingers.
Friday evening, service department now closed for the weekend. .. tow truck. ..
It was fucking awesome.
But that debacle truly deserves its own thread.
OGG
Master of the Meh
So I was planning on wrapping this story up today by explaining the remainder of their shenanigans and eventual "offer" they made to that involved some refunds in return for my ceasing to decimate their public image and agreeing to being silent on the matter, and a written promise to never write or speak about the incident as well as promising to never do business of any kind with them.
I was satisfied with their offer and was awating confirmation of the refund checks and the written agreement.
That was the plan.
But, I decided out of curiosity this afternoon to pop the cover off of the fuse panel to see if they had actually done what I clearly demanded of them (and which they claimed to have followed my instructions to the letter) and actually returned my car to absolute factory spec in regards to the total and complete removal of the aftermarket security system. I was very specific in letting them know that all wiring would be returned to factory spec, and that if I saw a single spliced wire or piece of electrical tape, they had better have quick access to a complete factory wiring harness.
Well, the picture below says it all. If you look, you'll see the snipped of factory chassis ground, and above that the very noticeably burnt and shorted hot wire.
Yeah, I lost my shit.
So I gave them until noon tomorrow to come up with a new offer that will satisfy my thirst for publicly eviscerating them and maintaining my sense of dignity and itegrity in lieu of a few bucks.
I also resonded to this assholes assertion that he had the removal of that system videotaped by congratuling him on his presence of mind in getting such valuable video evidence. Followed immediately by a short explanation of California's Mutual Consent laws regarding a consumers right to record calls to businesses that inform the. Caller that their call may be recorded, and how it also pertains to the existence of security cameras on site. I then wrote "the great thing about mutual consent, is that you never know when you might find yourself is say... a service department showroom with your colleagues having a conversation with an unhappy customer while staring directly at the small 1080p HD video recorder on their person that is pointed directly at you. Well played sir, well played".
Bricks will be shat in the morning.
I was satisfied with their offer and was awating confirmation of the refund checks and the written agreement.
That was the plan.
But, I decided out of curiosity this afternoon to pop the cover off of the fuse panel to see if they had actually done what I clearly demanded of them (and which they claimed to have followed my instructions to the letter) and actually returned my car to absolute factory spec in regards to the total and complete removal of the aftermarket security system. I was very specific in letting them know that all wiring would be returned to factory spec, and that if I saw a single spliced wire or piece of electrical tape, they had better have quick access to a complete factory wiring harness.
Well, the picture below says it all. If you look, you'll see the snipped of factory chassis ground, and above that the very noticeably burnt and shorted hot wire.
Yeah, I lost my shit.
So I gave them until noon tomorrow to come up with a new offer that will satisfy my thirst for publicly eviscerating them and maintaining my sense of dignity and itegrity in lieu of a few bucks.
I also resonded to this assholes assertion that he had the removal of that system videotaped by congratuling him on his presence of mind in getting such valuable video evidence. Followed immediately by a short explanation of California's Mutual Consent laws regarding a consumers right to record calls to businesses that inform the. Caller that their call may be recorded, and how it also pertains to the existence of security cameras on site. I then wrote "the great thing about mutual consent, is that you never know when you might find yourself is say... a service department showroom with your colleagues having a conversation with an unhappy customer while staring directly at the small 1080p HD video recorder on their person that is pointed directly at you. Well played sir, well played".
Bricks will be shat in the morning.
OGG
Master of the Meh
These assholes clearly are not down with OGG.
I'm so fucking pissed right now.
Here's a funny tidbit...
This dealership is part of a larger group of dealerships known as The Bob Baker Auto Group. They have this insanely irritating jingle that is cheesy music behind a guy singing "The Bob Baker Auto Group, where it's so nice to be nice".
The guy who wrote, assembled and sung that jingle...
My drummer.
Yeah really.
Last night I registered the domain name www.nicetobenice.info
Motherfuckers wanna play?
I'm your Huckleberry.
I'm so fucking pissed right now.
Here's a funny tidbit...
This dealership is part of a larger group of dealerships known as The Bob Baker Auto Group. They have this insanely irritating jingle that is cheesy music behind a guy singing "The Bob Baker Auto Group, where it's so nice to be nice".
The guy who wrote, assembled and sung that jingle...
My drummer.
Yeah really.
Last night I registered the domain name www.nicetobenice.info
Motherfuckers wanna play?
I'm your Huckleberry.
OGG
Master of the Meh
Just got off the phone with the awesome case manager at FIAT USA who has been amazingly helpful and supportive through all of this.
Now armed with the above picture, shit just got real.
The car is going to a different dealership on monday morning to first verify the fuckery and then unfuck it at Baker's expense. The service manager was quite eager in fact to take this opportunity to be hero.
I am spinning circles trying desperately to resist the overwhelming urge to release the fooking fjury with a web based apocalyptic OGG verbal assault.
I need a fucking tranquilizer.
Now armed with the above picture, shit just got real.
The car is going to a different dealership on monday morning to first verify the fuckery and then unfuck it at Baker's expense. The service manager was quite eager in fact to take this opportunity to be hero.
I am spinning circles trying desperately to resist the overwhelming urge to release the fooking fjury with a web based apocalyptic OGG verbal assault.
I need a fucking tranquilizer.
OGG
Master of the Meh
Yup, that's the one. It has the Abarth motor and trans, but it's actually tuned for higher output than the Abarth and doesn't have that fiercly angry little exhaust system.The 500L, that's the new 4-door Fiat?
If I ever learned how to drive a stick, the Abarth has always looked sweet to me. Though for that kind of cash I'd rather have a Fiesta ST or a Focus ST
So it hauls balls without calling attention to itself.
Sucks that this has gone on so long. That dealer seems to have a really incompetent service department and some really crap techs, plus the absolute shit management. It is shocking their best answer is to try to buy your silence. What if a customer wasn't a car reviewer with a following? One can imagine they would be fucked. Hopefully the new place can fix it...especially with the manufacturer's reps pushing them towards a resolution.
I had a catastrophic trans failure on my past car, a 2008 mazdaspeed3...still under warranty ( I recall it was right around 32K miles). I had a good dealer work to get things fixed right, even after some regional level people thought I must have destroyed the trans from a missed shift. My dealer knows me well, as I had bought 2 mazdaspeed3s at the same time, and one became a DS/STX class race car, with the other that failed being my daily driver. I doubt I would miss a shift in my daily driver. Anyway, the local guys stood up for me with the regional rep and got me a new transmission, and they did it by escalating to corporate and bringing in some mazda engineers and send parts of my trans to California and Japan. The end result was a determination of a metallurgic defect in the transmission layshaft forging and NOT a user issue. Mazda bought that car from me, and I got a sweet deal on a replacement new car from mazda. I made out well, as I bought the car outright when new, and they gave me a ton of value for it to end the chapter. I got a brand new car 4 years newer for a couple grand out of pocket (of course, the mazdaspeed3, fully loaded is still under 30K, so it wasn't a giant offer, but I was very happy to get a new daily driver with better interior stuff). If I didn't have a good relationship with the local dealer, I would have probably been fucked, as I have nothing in terms of influence in the automotive biz. Your story sounds like a really BAD local dealer, and hopefully corporate can fix it.
Of course, we all want to see you trash that dealer HARD.
I had a catastrophic trans failure on my past car, a 2008 mazdaspeed3...still under warranty ( I recall it was right around 32K miles). I had a good dealer work to get things fixed right, even after some regional level people thought I must have destroyed the trans from a missed shift. My dealer knows me well, as I had bought 2 mazdaspeed3s at the same time, and one became a DS/STX class race car, with the other that failed being my daily driver. I doubt I would miss a shift in my daily driver. Anyway, the local guys stood up for me with the regional rep and got me a new transmission, and they did it by escalating to corporate and bringing in some mazda engineers and send parts of my trans to California and Japan. The end result was a determination of a metallurgic defect in the transmission layshaft forging and NOT a user issue. Mazda bought that car from me, and I got a sweet deal on a replacement new car from mazda. I made out well, as I bought the car outright when new, and they gave me a ton of value for it to end the chapter. I got a brand new car 4 years newer for a couple grand out of pocket (of course, the mazdaspeed3, fully loaded is still under 30K, so it wasn't a giant offer, but I was very happy to get a new daily driver with better interior stuff). If I didn't have a good relationship with the local dealer, I would have probably been fucked, as I have nothing in terms of influence in the automotive biz. Your story sounds like a really BAD local dealer, and hopefully corporate can fix it.
Of course, we all want to see you trash that dealer HARD.
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OGG's dealer sound like Wayne Ford in Wayne, NJ. I brought my '94 Mustang GT to them once to do an oil change, which at that time was rare because I usually did them myself, but there was some reason I couldn't... Anyway, they had a kid work on my car that was apparently not even an employee. He didn't realize that the SN95 5.0L motor had two drain plugs on the oil pan, so he only pulled one. He never checked the level after adding an additional 5 quarts of oil to the engine. About half a mile away from the dealer I blew out my oil pan gasket and sprayed oil everywhere. I took the car back and got my brother to come over there to meet me. Now, my brother wasn't working at the time, but was an ASE certified tech who used to work for another Blue Oval certified dealer, so I needed him as backup. They tried to tell us that I drove down the road, added oil to the engine, and tried to blame it on them. My brother reamed them out and threatened to call in some contacts to have their Blue Oval certification pulled, which would basically mean the end of the dealership. They suddenly did whatever we asked. They put on a whole new oil pan and cleaned up the mess of burnt oil on the underside of the car.
Oh, and I should add there was no funny business on my side. I was driving on the Florida turnpike in 6th gear at 75 mph when the transmission exploded. I didn't miss a gear. I didn't swap the trans from my race car into the street car. It could have happened to any commuter.