Brand New 1500, Issues Already

[wavery]

There is no excuse for robbing parts from other peoples cars (that's exactly what that is). That's just a sign that the service dept has poor techs and is poorly managed. If they don't have someone that can diagnose the vehicle correctly, they have ways of getting help. If that takes time, put the customer in a car and fix the customer's car right.... with new parts/tires.... whatever. New parts can be obtained in one day if need be (99% of the time). The problem is getting the diagnosis right and I'm not sure that they have done that in this case.

Carefull what you say there bud. I'd be willing to bet that I am in no way a poor tech and while I may not be the best out there, I can CERTAINLY hold my own especially when it comes to chassis issues. You have no idea so lets not start throwing darts, OK?

 

What YOU read is that I take parts off new vehicles and put the customers bad part back on said vehicle. That is not even close to the truth. I have swapped parts from lot vehicles only to get the customer back on the road AFTER I had diagnosed the concern down to that part, we didn't have it in stock, and I could get one off the known good vehicle that was sitting on the sales lot.

 

Again, massive assumptions that are making an ASS out of you know who.......Not me.

 

Not sure why you took that personally....... I'll let you be the judge of that.

 

My comment was toward the practice in general and NO ONE personal.

 

For those of us that were in Dealership Management for many years..... we have a name for the practice of steeling parts off of other cars to resolve a crisis..... It's called "Managing by panic". It is simply a poor management technique to allow this sort of thing to take place. It is seldom the tech that makes the decision to take a part off of one car to fix another car. It is usually Management that makes that (poor) decision. The tech is merely doing as instructed.

 

The problem is, once the crisis is over, the car that has been robbed suddenly becomes a "non-issue" because the car cannot complain. Seldom is there an official "procedure" in place to see that the robbed car has had parts ordered, proper people notified of the parts arrival, the job dispatched and the robbed car properly repaired. If a dealership has such a procedure in place, that is one VERY BADLY managed and trained dealership because those procedures never work as intended. Why don't they work? Because (as I stated before) the car can't complain........... In reality, it is often the buyer of that robbed car that ends up on the complaining end of that stick...... then the "Manage by panic" starts all over again. It's a vicious cycle that ends up with poor customer service in nearly every case. As I stated before....... I would NOT buy a car from a dealership that had this policy in place. It is merely an indication that the dealership has some very bad issues that aren't being resolved and the Management is reacting out of panic. If an issue gets to the stage where they have to start robbing one car to trouble shoot another car (and that's what the real issue is) there are techs and other staff that need to be trained to do their job properly.

 

I was in that business long enough to understand the concept that you cannot realistically solve one problem by creating another problem without having a poor outcome.

 

I worked for a gentleman that owned 8 dealerships. Over the years that I worked for him, I became Service and Parts Director for all of the dealerships. One of the reasons that happened is because I would not tolerate poor Management policies that had negative long-term effects on the running of the dealership. Robbing parts was the owner's pet peeve (he had been in business from '54 until he died in 2000) because he recognized the long-term effects that policy had on customer relations.

[ChevyTech77]

There is no excuse for robbing parts from other peoples cars (that's exactly what that is). That's just a sign that the service dept has poor techs and is poorly managed. If they don't have someone that can diagnose the vehicle correctly, they have ways of getting help. If that takes time, put the customer in a car and fix the customer's car right.... with new parts/tires.... whatever. New parts can be obtained in one day if need be (99% of the time). The problem is getting the diagnosis right and I'm not sure that they have done that in this case.

Carefull what you say there bud. I'd be willing to bet that I am in no way a poor tech and while I may not be the best out there, I can CERTAINLY hold my own especially when it comes to chassis issues. You have no idea so lets not start throwing darts, OK?

 

What YOU read is that I take parts off new vehicles and put the customers bad part back on said vehicle. That is not even close to the truth. I have swapped parts from lot vehicles only to get the customer back on the road AFTER I had diagnosed the concern down to that part, we didn't have it in stock, and I could get one off the known good vehicle that was sitting on the sales lot.

 

Again, massive assumptions that are making an ASS out of you know who.......Not me.

 

Not sure why you took that personally....... I'll let you be the judge of that.

 

My comment was toward the practice in general and NO ONE personal.

 

For those of us that were in Dealership Management for many years..... we have a name for the practice of steeling parts off of other cars to resolve a crisis..... It's called "Managing by panic". It is simply a poor management technique to allow this sort of thing to take place. It is seldom the tech that makes the decision to take a part off of one car to fix another car. It is usually Management that makes that (poor) decision. The tech is merely doing as instructed.

 

The problem is, once the crisis is over, the car that has been robbed suddenly becomes a "non-issue" because the car cannot complain. Seldom is there an official "procedure" in place to see that the robbed car has had parts ordered, proper people notified of the parts arrival, the job dispatched and the robbed car properly repaired. If a dealership has such a procedure in place, that is one VERY BADLY managed and trained dealership because those procedures never work as intended. Why don't they work? Because (as I stated before) the car can't complain........... In reality, it is often the buyer of that robbed car that ends up on the complaining end of that stick...... then the "Manage by panic" starts all over again. It's a vicious cycle that ends up with poor customer service in nearly every case. As I stated before....... I would NOT buy a car from a dealership that had this policy in place. It is merely an indication that the dealership has some very bad issues that aren't being resolved and the Management is reacting out of panic. If an issue gets to the stage where they have to start robbing one car to trouble shoot another car (and that's what the real issue is) there are techs and other staff that need to be trained to do their job properly.

 

I was in that business long enough to understand the concept that you cannot realistically solve one problem by creating another problem without having a poor outcome.

 

I worked for a gentleman that owned 8 dealerships. Over the years that I worked for him, I became Service and Parts Director for all of the dealerships. One of the reasons that happened is because I would not tolerate poor Management policies that had negative long-term effects on the running of the dealership. Robbing parts was the owner's pet peeve (he had been in business from '54 until he died in 2000) because he recognized the long-term effects that policy had on customer relations.

 

Because I made the statement of installing known good parts off from a lot vehicle onto the OP's vehicle and you commented directly after that of how poor of a tech or management must be in a dealership like that. I have been in that position and do not classify myself as a poor tech nor was the management making poor decisions therefore, I took it personally and completely disagree with your statement. Call it a flaw but maybe I care too much about how I am perceived by my peers a bit too much.

 

Now, while I agree that this practice CAN falter as you so suggest I can also say that in my experiance, the customers satisfaction is what I am working for and if taking a set of tires off from a brand new lot vehicle fixes my customers brand new vehicle, and I can order the needed parts to repair the lot vehicle correctly at a later date, I'm pretty sure that the customer is going to be pretty happy about not having to waist their time with a return visit and maybe even tell their friends/family about their great experiance with my dealership. Does this sort of thing happen under ever circumstance? No, but again, I'd rather take care of the current in the flesh customer first and fix the lot vehicle later, than the customer be disatisfied. If that is such a terrible practice then shame on me, I guess.

 

With that, I am DONE talking about parts swapping. Back to your reguarly scheduled thread about tire vibrations.

[5829BMG]

OP please reply on what fixed your truck and how it was resolved.

[kdixer]

I cannot speak for everyone, but I would be pretty upset if I found out that the "factory seal" had been broken because the dealer robbed parts from what I thought was a new vehicle to fix someone else's vehicle. To me that defeats the purpose of buying a new vehicle. I feel like the main reason I buy a new vehicle is so I can acount for everything that has ever been done to the vehicle.

 

In this scenario, I feel like the vehicle should not have been sold until the problem was fixed.

[crepitus]

I cannot speak for everyone, but I would be pretty upset if I found out that the "factory seal" had been broken because the dealer robbed parts from what I thought was a new vehicle to fix someone else's vehicle. To me that defeats the purpose of buying a new vehicle. I feel like the main reason I buy a new vehicle is so I can acount for everything that has ever been done to the vehicle.

 

In this scenario, I feel like the vehicle should not have been sold until the problem was fixed.

I would not consider rims and tires to be breaking a seal. Now if its engine parts that a different story.

[pm26]

I cannot speak for everyone, but I would be pretty upset if I found out that the "factory seal" had been broken because the dealer robbed parts from what I thought was a new vehicle to fix someone else's vehicle. To me that defeats the purpose of buying a new vehicle. I feel like the main reason I buy a new vehicle is so I can acount for everything that has ever been done to the vehicle.

 

In this scenario, I feel like the vehicle should not have been sold until the problem was fixed.

 

Do you have a problem with cheap slightly used Chinese made rims and crappy tires? They are crappy whether they are new or slightly used.

[kdixer]

I cannot speak for everyone, but I would be pretty upset if I found out that the "factory seal" had been broken because the dealer robbed parts from what I thought was a new vehicle to fix someone else's vehicle. To me that defeats the purpose of buying a new vehicle. I feel like the main reason I buy a new vehicle is so I can acount for everything that has ever been done to the vehicle.

 

In this scenario, I feel like the vehicle should not have been sold until the problem was fixed.

 

Do you have a problem with cheap slightly used Chinese made rims and crappy tires? They are crappy whether they are new or slightly used.

 

 

 

???

 

I have a problem with the thought of buying what "I believe" to be new and finding out it has been wrenched on beyond the typical initial setup. While I do not feel the z71 wheels on my gmt900 are superior to every other wheel on the market, they were good enough for me to choose them compared to other options. And the only tool marks that are on the lug nuts were initiated by me.

 

While it is not the end of the world for rims to be swapped out, some of the previous comments did not sound like the swapping was limited to wheels and tires. In my opinion, buying a vehicle that has been a victim of part swapping is loosely similar to buying something that has been refurbished.

[wavery]

Carefull what you say there bud. I'd be willing to bet that I am in no way a poor tech and while I may not be the best out there, I can CERTAINLY hold my own especially when it comes to chassis issues. You have no idea so lets not start throwing darts, OK?

Again....... the comment was not intended to be personal. The comment was intended toward a policy not any individual...... The "Poor tech" comment was about some tech's inabitility to properly diagnose a problem, order the parts and repair the car (which is what a techs job is) forcing Management to make a "Panic" decision to direct a tech (maybe the same tech, maybe not) to rob another vehicle. That is poor training and policy.

 

This is exactly what this discussion is about. The OPs vehicle has obviously not been properly diagnosed which shows a lack of properly trained techs (that is not directed at you BTW)..... Putting 70 miles on the customer's car and handing it back with the same issue is simply outrageous..... there's just no other word for it. That means that the tech test drove it (a lot) and obviously the Service Adviser (they probably don't have a QC tech) drove it and still gave it back to the customer like that.......

 

If anyone thinks that is good Management, I will tell them that they are mistaken. This type of thing comes from the top down. Given the premise that the management may be poor and the tech and Service Adviser involved were incapable of resolving (or apparently even detecting) the problem. Does anyone really think that these same people are capable of successfully pulling off a wheel swap without having this issue continue on to the next customer that ends up with the swapped from vehicle????

 

In the Dealership world...... it has been my considerable experience that this sort of thing is endemic and can only get worse over time.

 

I am from a family of Car Dealers. My father owned a GM Dealership in SoCal from 1952 until 1973. I started out working in the parts dept when I was 16. I went through the Gm "Dealers Son" training at GMI for 4 years. When I graduated, GM hired me as a Service Rep but I soon became involved in a Dealership Management Training Program that sent me all over the country giving seminars. That wasn't good for my young family or my off-road racing passion.... (but that's another story) so I took a job as Service Manager at a GM Dealership in LA. I did that for too many years. Now retired..... sort of.

 

My point being..... I've seen it all.....I've heard all the arguments for "Creative Management Techniques" like this and I can tell you with much authority...... It is destructive to the running of the dealership and it is destructive (over the long haul.... not a 1 case basis) for customer satisfaction.

 

Off the soap box...... and off to San Diego.......

[pm26]

I cannot speak for everyone, but I would be pretty upset if I found out that the "factory seal" had been broken because the dealer robbed parts from what I thought was a new vehicle to fix someone else's vehicle. To me that defeats the purpose of buying a new vehicle. I feel like the main reason I buy a new vehicle is so I can acount for everything that has ever been done to the vehicle.

 

In this scenario, I feel like the vehicle should not have been sold until the problem was fixed.

 

Do you have a problem with cheap slightly used Chinese made rims and crappy tires? They are crappy whether they are new or slightly used.

 

 

 

???

 

I have a problem with the thought of buying what "I believe" to be new and finding out it has been wrenched on beyond the typical initial setup. While I do not feel the z71 wheels on my gmt900 are superior to every other wheel on the market, they were good enough for me to choose them compared to other options. And the only tool marks that are on the lug nuts were initiated by me.

 

While it is not the end of the world for rims to be swapped out, some of the previous comments did not sound like the swapping was limited to wheels and tires. In my opinion, buying a vehicle that has been a victim of part swapping is loosely similar to buying something that has been refurbished.

 

 

Agree, I was just being sarcastic, that's all. I am not happy with the quality of Chinese made rims that GM uses on these trucks.

[kdixer]

Agree, I was just being sarcastic, that's all. I am not happy with the quality of Chinese made rims that GM uses on these trucks.

 

Honestly me neither. The clear coat is pitting and corroding far too much for my liking.

[wavery]

Somebody ask me how I played a large roll in getting Fiat banned from importing vehicles into this country in 1981. It has a LOT to do with this exact subject..........

 

Gotta go...... bye.....

[5829BMG]

Start a new topic and leave this to the OP's orginal concern

[508gm1]

So ... ... did the dealership resolve your problem? I kinda glazed over the last 2 pages of arguing. Maybe it would be worth while to ask for a loaner truck until they fix it. But I am sure you would just like to enjoy your own truck.

 

Cheers, Brendan

[ruggedlife]

i dont mean to sound like a jackass... but you bought a truck knowing there was a problem... you should have told them to fix it and then you'll buy it, not buy it and then try to fix it later... or picked a different truck on the lot or went to a different dealer... i wouldnt go in and find a truck knowing it has problems and buy it anyways, id find one somewhere else with out problems...

[SouthCo]

Didn't even read all the post but I would never sign my name on the line for a truck that didn't drive perfectly. I'd tell them to fix the issue, call me and then I'd be back to do the paperwork. When shopping for a family truck 3 years ago, I found a 2006 Suburban LTZ with 6.0 and loved everything about it. It was fully loaded (nav, dvd and all) and had low miles. Test drive was perfect. The passenger rear door paint didn't match perfectly and they said no problem lets do the paperwork and we'll take care of it. I told them I'd give them full asking price but I wanted it fixed first. Gave the salesman all my info and said call me as soon as you got it fixed and I'll come get it. Well he didn't call and I wasn't surprised. Some sucker probably bought it and didn't notice or got jerked around.

 

I went out and found a 2005 yukon denali xl with less miles and for less money that ran perfect. I would never do paperwork on something not perfect. Once they got your money, they can play games. Hope you get it worked out.