Question on warranty service.

mark1968 · July 14, 2022

So we just got back from a long road trip with our 2020 Sierra 1500 3.0 diesel. The truck did great and we got terrific mileage. However on the trip, we noticed several things- high usage of DEF compared to previous road trips (no towing); back up camera had a black screen a couple times; and carplay would intermittently not connect to my plugged-in phone.

We took it to the dealer today to change the oil and rotate tires and check out these things 3 things. They discovered there was an update that needed to be done to address DEF issue; back up camera requires a new module which is back-ordered and they could not replicate the carplay issue. Ok im fine with all that however what puzzled me is that they charged me a “diagnosis fee” for them not finding any issue with carplay?????? Im still under my 3 year/36k warranty and them charging me a fee to tell me what i hear many of you say on this board “cannot replicate issue” seems way out of line to me.. Am i missing something or out of line questioning this charge? Advice?

chem_man · July 14, 2022

Call the GM Executive Office at 313-667-7153.

I do not believe dealer's are supposed to charge the owner a diagnostic fee for a vehicle under the factory warranty. However, the GM Executive Office will know the correct answer and if you were wrongly charged, they will make sure you get your money back and they will also have a chat with the dealer's service department.

I was charged a diagnostic fee once by a crooked Oldsmobile dealer and I got it refunded when I pointed out that they had never charged me one before when I had our Oldsmobile in for warranty work under a GM extended warranty. The person I spoke with did refund the diagnostic fee as "a goodwill gesture". I also complained to Oldsmobile and found another service department that was honest (a Chevy dealer down the street).

mark1968 · July 14, 2022

Thank you for the input/advice and what path to go down.

mark1968 · July 14, 2022

Huh well go figure… I did call the executive line and they said that I DO have to pay a diagnostic fee if they couldnt replicate the issue. Seems really awful especially since we’ve all seen the “ghosts in the machine” software issues pop up in these trucks that the dealer couldnt find nor replicate and yet eventually becomes a big enough issue where GM has to issue a bulletin for a fix months later. Ive never had this come up with any of my cars before no matter the brand unless i was out of warranty. Maybe this dealer is just a bad, greedy dealer (note- they were the same ones on my first oil change put the wrong oil -Dexos instead of DexosD- in the engine and i had to call them out and they grudgingly admitted mistake and fixed it). I guess i should have learned my lesson then. Ill be going to another dealer (further away) from now on and certainly never buy another car/truck from them and tell everyone i know about their poor service. I hate doing that but the whole thing is disappointing.

Steve-2019 · July 14, 2022

1 hour ago, mark1968 said:

Huh well go figure… I did call the executive line and they said that I DO have to pay a diagnostic fee if they couldnt replicate the issue. Seems really awful especially since we’ve all seen the “ghosts in the machine” software issues pop up in these trucks that the dealer couldnt find nor replicate and yet eventually becomes a big enough issue where GM has to issue a bulletin for a fix months later. Ive never had this come up with any of my cars before no matter the brand unless i was out of warranty. Maybe this dealer is just a bad, greedy dealer (note- they were the same ones on my first oil change put the wrong oil -Dexos instead of DexosD- in the engine and i had to call them out and they grudgingly admitted mistake and fixed it). I guess i should have learned my lesson then. Ill be going to another dealer (further away) from now on and certainly never buy another car/truck from them and tell everyone i know about their poor service. I hate doing that but the whole thing is disappointing.

At this point in time I don't if you have any interest in this, but I would have gone to the General Manager of this dealership that you purchased the truck from and discussed it with him/her nicely (in the beginning) and if he wouldn't do anything about then I would let him/her know that you would never buy there again and that you would let everyone you know not buy from that dealership.

Mudcon · July 14, 2022

Under the stated warranty, it does state that you may have to pay. We do not charge a diag while under warranty at my dealer unless it is something that has been modified or is something of the customers fault. It is all up to the dealer weather they charge though...

chem_man · July 16, 2022

mark1968, that sucks big time. I guess I got spoiled by the dealership I use for warranty work and the stuff I can't handle. They have never charged me a diagnostic fee when they could not duplicate the problem. Heck, one time they had something like 20 hours trying to track down an intermittent stalling problem on our out of warranty 1992 Olds 88. (Turned out to be a bad fuel pump ground inside the fuel tank.)

I would do what Steve-2019 suggests. Call the dealership's general manager or, if you have been a good service department customer for many years, then the Service Department's actual manager (not just a "service manager") and ask what is going on (especially if you have purchased from them before).

Heck maybe the GMCustomerService people who monitor this forum can chime in on this as well! Sure seems like a very short sighted policy.

GMCustomerService · July 22, 2022

On 7/13/2022 at 8:27 PM, mark1968 said:

So we just got back from a long road trip with our 2020 Sierra 1500 3.0 diesel. The truck did great and we got terrific mileage. However on the trip, we noticed several things- high usage of DEF compared to previous road trips (no towing); back up camera had a black screen a couple times; and carplay would intermittently not connect to my plugged-in phone.

We took it to the dealer today to change the oil and rotate tires and check out these things 3 things. They discovered there was an update that needed to be done to address DEF issue; back up camera requires a new module which is back-ordered and they could not replicate the carplay issue. Ok im fine with all that however what puzzled me is that they charged me a “diagnosis fee” for them not finding any issue with carplay?????? Im still under my 3 year/36k warranty and them charging me a fee to tell me what i hear many of you say on this board “cannot replicate issue” seems way out of line to me.. Am i missing something or out of line questioning this charge? Advice?

This is certainly not what we like to hear, mark1968. Please know, customer satisfaction is extremely important to us. Our team would be more than happy to take a closer look into the concerns with your 2020 Sierra 1500. To do so, please send an email to [email protected] with ATTN: mark1968/GM Trucks in the subject line.

Please include your contact information, VIN, a brief description of your concern, and the name of your preferred dealership. We look forward to hearing from you. To learn more about GM’s privacy policy, please visit https://www.gm.com/privacy-statement.html.

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