Good Job!

BlackSilver · April 14, 2006

As often as we complain about our bad experiences with dealers, in fairness we ought to let people know about the good experiences.

Couple of months ago my truck (87,000 miles) came up with a bad case of injector-itis in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. Since I was 2,000 miles away from home, I had to just "take my chances" on finding a good repair shop. Turned out the closest one was Power Chevrolet in Mesa, Arizona (just off hwy 60 on Power Road). Since I was an out-of-state transient and the job was going to be low-profit warranty work, I was leary that I'd be low on their "need to please" scale.

Was I ever pleasantly surprised.

Starting from when I first limped in to the "can we help you" area, until the truck was delivered back to me, every step of the way was utterly professional, friendly, and top-notch.

The "Service Advisor", a fellow named Hiram Soto, was knowledgeable and listened carefully to my description of the problem.

The problem was quickly diagnosed.

I was promptly phoned whenever any "news" was available.

The repair (replace all injectors) was completed by the next morning.

The truck was cleaned and washed before being delivered back to me.

The $100 deductible which they could have charged me was waived.

Thanks, Power Chev. Y'all done good!

MS3DALE · April 14, 2006

Good,I'm glad to hear about the great service you received.

I'm so sick of hearing bad things about us dealers that its good to hear something positive.

Not all of us dealers are STEALERSHIPS

ChevyTech007 · April 15, 2006

Dealers have a very bad rap. I have had countless times that a customer comes in broke from spending money at a independent that finally said "it must be in the computer system". It is something that could have been fixed right off the bat. The funny thing is when I look at the invoices from the indy, we usually charge less. Oh well, it is just a very common MIS-PERCEPTION.

smujd · April 15, 2006

I'm not entirely sure that it's a misperception. While not all dealers are bad, so many are. My wife had a Dodge Avenger when we started dating--bought it before I knew her. Simply put, it was a decent car, but dealing with the Dodge dealers was hell. I will NEVER buy a Chrystler product--ever. We dealt with two "5-Star" certified Dodge dealers in Dallas. Both were horrid--in the seven years my wife had the car, I had to threaten to bring lawsuits on three occasions--twice to get warranty work done and once to get the head gasket replaced at ~42,000 miles (the dealer claimed that it must have been my wife's driving which necessitated a new head gasket that early).

I recently ordered a 2006 Sierra 2500 HD. I contacted 4 local GMC dealers by email--only one seemed interested in my business. I sent an email to all four asking for pricing on the truck--I listed the exact vehicle I wanted, specified options, colors, etc. Of the four I emailed, I received emails back from only three. All three said essentially the same thing--"we don't have that truck in stock anywhere in the area, but can order it for you." I emailed all three back saying "great, what are we looking at in terms of price to order it?" Only one of the three emailed me back with a price. One sent me another email saying that they weren't able to locate truck I wanted, but would keep looking. The third simply never emailed me again.

It's not just American car dealers, though. I have a long history of dealing with BMW dealerships. BMW makes great cars, but their dealers may be the worst ever. In the '90s, my father bought a new 7-Series BMW. After a few months, the hood was fading dramatically. Come to find out, BMW damaged the hood in shipping, repainted it (and did a lousy job), and sold the car without ever mentioning the damage or repainting.

Frankly, I my experience, there are a few really good dealers and many, many horrible dealers.

Bill

Likarok · April 15, 2006

To be honest my best experiences at dealerships have been with service departments and worst with dopey salesmen. In 99% of cases I know more about the vehicle I am looking at that the salesman. They generally turn out to be some old slick Bob Lutz looking guy or some wet behind the ears kid who has never driven anything worth more than $2000.00 and last job was asking people what they wanted on their burger.

99silveradoz71 · April 16, 2006

In 99% of cases I know more about the vehicle I am looking at that the salesman.

I found that to be the case all too often when I was looking for my truck. It was priceless trying to have discussions with those kind of people and having them tell you something you knew was completely wrong.