Service woes: Is this a sign of things to come?

916TrailBoss · December 13, 2023

I purchased a 2024 Trail Boss on Saturday. When I test drove it immediately the steering wheel squeaked when turned. The salesman said it was a known issue and there was a recall for it. Nonetheless, he down played it and even I figured this would be a simple repair, especially if known.

So I made my appointment for this morning and when I got their the service writer said he is aware of a recall but not on 2024 trucks and that it would require a more lengthy service to diagnosis the problem since there is no recall on this truck. Furthermore, he said he'd need the truck for 2 days and the soonest they could look at it would be in 2 days.

I said no thank you and left, squeaky steering wheel and all. I called the next dealership 5 miles away and will take it in tomorrow morning. That service writer felt confident that fix it while I wait.

I went through this same BS with RAM for the last 5 years, bad service and was looking forward to a different brand and hopefully a different experience, but so for they're the same.

Pryme · December 13, 2023

3 hours ago, 916TrailBoss said:

I purchased a 2024 Trail Boss on Saturday. When I test drove it immediately the steering wheel squeaked when turned. The salesman said it was a known issue and there was a recall for it. Nonetheless, he down played it and even I figured this would be a simple repair, especially if known.

So I made my appointment for this morning and when I got their the service writer said he is aware of a recall but not on 2024 trucks and that it would require a more lengthy service to diagnosis the problem since there is no recall on this truck. Furthermore, he said he'd need the truck for 2 days and the soonest they could look at it would be in 2 days.

I said no thank you and left, squeaky steering wheel and all. I called the next dealership 5 miles away and will take it in tomorrow morning. That service writer felt confident that fix it while I wait.

I went through this same BS with RAM for the last 5 years, bad service and was looking forward to a different brand and hopefully a different experience, but so for they're the same.

You lost the upper hand by not having it fixed before signing for the truck. Hopefully they get it done quickly

the8rotor · December 13, 2023

4 hours ago, 916TrailBoss said:

I purchased a 2024 Trail Boss on Saturday. When I test drove it immediately the steering wheel squeaked when turned. The salesman said it was a known issue and there was a recall for it. Nonetheless, he down played it and even I figured this would be a simple repair, especially if known.

So I made my appointment for this morning and when I got their the service writer said he is aware of a recall but not on 2024 trucks and that it would require a more lengthy service to diagnosis the problem since there is no recall on this truck. Furthermore, he said he'd need the truck for 2 days and the soonest they could look at it would be in 2 days.

I said no thank you and left, squeaky steering wheel and all. I called the next dealership 5 miles away and will take it in tomorrow morning. That service writer felt confident that fix it while I wait.

I went through this same BS with RAM for the last 5 years, bad service and was looking forward to a different brand and hopefully a different experience, but so for they're the same.

Salesman got you man! Sucks but a good learning experience. I have never signed for a vehicle with any known defect. Setting yourself up for a runaround with warranty issues.

916TrailBoss · December 13, 2023

Trust me I would had normally had them fix it before leaving. But I was buying it from a dealer 3 hours from home and their service dept was closed. Of course no one told me about that before going there. Hopefully my local dealer can fix it today, currently onsite waiting now.

64BAwagon · December 13, 2023

The dealer with the most skin in your deal was the one you bought it from. To the others, youre someone who bought elsewhere and unless they are trying to use this opportunity to gain your future business they dont need to have your interests in mind.

Dealerships are independent businesses and not all run the same, although GM would like to think they dont, they vary widely in their skills and commitment to customers.

Its water under the bridge now but the time to get it repaired is before you hand over the check. When you did that you lost all your bargaining power.

Hopefully the one youre at now will get you squared away.

ember1205 · December 14, 2023

20 hours ago, 64BAwagon said:

The dealer with the most skin in your deal was the one you bought it from. To the others, youre someone who bought elsewhere and unless they are trying to use this opportunity to gain your future business they dont need to have your interests in mind.

Dealerships are independent businesses and not all run the same, although GM would like to think they dont, they vary widely in their skills and commitment to customers.

Its water under the bridge now but the time to get it repaired is before you hand over the check. When you did that you lost all your bargaining power.

Hopefully the one youre at now will get you squared away.

In this situation, the selling dealer couldn't care less. At three hours' drive, you aren't even in the same DISTRICT as them from a GM perspective, and they know full well you aren't putting all of that time into driving back and forth for repairs.

When you buy from a local dealer, and are a repeat customer, THEN they care about you. Still, service departments and sales departments are completely separate entities and don't even share customer information with each other many times.

64BAwagon · December 14, 2023

They share info if the sales person who has you as a reliable customer finds out service screwed you over, ask me how I know. LOL I have been buying vehicles from the same guy (with a few years exception)

My son sold Chevys for 3 yrs, the hardest part of his job was dealing with the service manager, they had a very contentious relationship because my son held them to the standard that the SM should have.

ember1205 · December 14, 2023

36 minutes ago, 64BAwagon said:

They share info if the sales person who has you as a reliable customer finds out service screwed you over, ask me how I know. LOL I have been buying vehicles from the same guy (with a few years exception)

My son sold Chevys for 3 yrs, the hardest part of his job was dealing with the service manager, they had a very contentious relationship because my son held them to the standard that the SM should have.

But as you said... "reliable customer." In this case, it's a one-off. The non-local dealer will never expect this buyer to return.

It used to be that Service Departments existed so that Sales Departments COULD exist. Now that they have to show that they're carrying their OWN weight, and with GM letting them do pretty much nothing without approval from the mothership (for warranty purposes), it's hard to get -any- dealership to take good care of a good customer. I went through this scenario when I bought my Camaro.. 150 mile drive to the dealer to buy it and they gave me a stiff-arm when it came to requesting them to deal with issues that were present at the time of delivery. Trying to work that out with a local dealer was a HUGE fight with GM that dragged on for about a year.

MaverickZ71 · December 14, 2023

Around here ("flyover country") they still like to play that old dealer game of the service writer acting like your best friend until they see another dealer's ID on the back of the vehicle. Then it all turns pissy and you immediately move to the back of the line, every line, every time. Good luck.

Edited December 14, 2023 by MaverickZ71

64BAwagon · December 14, 2023

The approval process exists due to the frequent use of the "parts cannon" rather than doing the diagnostics, I have heard some funny stories about that from an insider I know.

I walked away from a deal on a fifth wheel back in 2021. Lots of stuff wrong on it. I had the check in my pocket and walked away, gave them 2 weeks (their timeline) for repair and they still hadnt got it done.
Sad that they would have even tried to pass it off to a customer in the condition it was in.