Problems with Dealership (long)

In My Humble Opinion
1

The following is an email communication that took place this morning. I thought I’d share to see if you guys thought it was appropriate to elevate it to the level I did.

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Service Manager,
I am writing to express my severe displeasure and disappointment of my
interactions with the service department at [car dealer]. If
this letter is directed to the wrong person, can you please provide the
information of whom it should go to?

I have had my car in the shop four (4) times for a single problem with the
sunroof. I understand that parts are not always available and must be
ordered, but what irks me is the lack of communication.

It is not convenient for me to drop my car off at the dealership. I live
near downtown Santa Fe, and work in Los Alamos. I am generally at work
during the service departments normal hours. I have to drop my car off at
night, and leave work early to make it back in time to pick it up the
following afternoon. Of the four times my car has been in the shop for
the sunroof, twice there has been no communication as to when it would be
ready. Once I had to wait in the lobby for nearly two hours after the
agreed upon pickup time. The other, I was asked to come back the next
day. A simple phone call saving me the 45 minute round trip drive would
have been much appreciated.

Another problem I experienced was greasy fingerprints on the area around
the sunroof when I picked up my car the second time. When I brought it in
the third time to get the weatherstripping put on that hadn’t been ordered
the first time, I asked for a mini detail, as advised by a follow up phone
survey I received. There are still greasy fingerprints.

The most recent time I took my car in, it was there for two full days.
Along with asking for the sunroof to be fixed, I asked for the ESP/BAS,
traction control, and airbag systems to be looked at, as the lights were
on. I was told they “needed more time”, and to “drive around for a while,
they might turn off”. The lights are still on.

To reiterate, I consider myself a patient person. However, I would
appreciate some communication while my car is being worked on. One, so I
know what is being done to solve the problem; and two, to save me the
drive across town.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, I truly hope the lack of
organization and communication can be resolved within this organization.

Cheers,
Santo Rugger
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Service Manager]
Mr. Rugger,

Thank you for taking the time to alert me of the situation. Please
allow me a little time to check the history and see how we can turn this
around into a better experience. I will again respond to your e-mail by
3:00pm today.

Thank you,

Service
[/QUOTE]

I got a phone call about ten minutes later, from the assistant manager (my original point of contact), asking when I was going to bring my car in to fix the dash lights. I told him I was going to take it to Albuquerque. He was blaming the problem on CarMax, even though it had nothing to do with them (I bought it in April).

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
Service,

Thank you for your prompt attention in this matter, I really appreciate it.

The only thing I would like to add is that, in the follow up phone call
from [assistant manager], he asked me to talk to CarMax about “all the problems” I’ve been having with the car. However, the only reason it has been in the
shop so many times is because the problems were never resolved while it
was there. That is the reason I feel forced to take it to Albuquerque for
warranty service.

I sincerely believe your service department can benefit from this
situation. Like I said in my first email, I think the biggest current
hurdle is the lack of communication. If the communication problem is
addressed, it is very likely the rest of the pieces would fall into place.

Again, thank you for your attention to this situation. It is refreshing
to receive such immediate feedback!

Cheers,
Santo Rugger

[/QUOTE]

In retrospect, the last line of the first email I sent was pretty snarky.

2

I sent an email to Rick about the initial situation in* October*! Rick, if you’re reading this and still have that message, feel free to post it.

3

I think you were incredibly diplomatic, and your emails are fine. And no, I don’t think the last line of your initial email was too snarky, I thought it was fine also.

I’ve been in situations like this where a business has simply dropped the ball in a certain area. Oftentimes (and it seems like the case here), the clusterfuck that causes the situation is beyond fixing with the current personnel there, and the best you can do is bring it to their attention and maybe someday someone will have the balls enough to make an effective change; in other words, there’s really no hope that you will get any personal satisfaction or resolution, you just tell them about it and be on your way and never patronize them again. You’ve told them why and it’s not your problem anymore.

I’m not a big believer in ranting and raving and getting all upset about a business that handles things as effectively as a brick wall – that’s wasted energy in my book. Tell them why and move on.

4

Elevate it to what level? You’ve asked for nothing and the highest person you’ve dealt with is an assistant manager. Near as I can tell, they’re not helping you because you’re not actually doing anything or asking for anything.

5

[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
I sent an email to Rick about the initial situation in* October*! Rick, if you’re reading this and still have that message, feel free to post it.
[/QUOTE]

Sorry, Santo my private mailbox was getting full and I had to purge it. If you still have it feel free to post it.

Drive it around to see if the lights will go out? Uhmm, how about scaning for fault codes in the relevant systems instead?
Then just maybe your employee might consider consulting the fault tracing path published by the car maker for those faults, and if they were really on the ball, see if there are any Technical Service Bulletins (TSB) for these problems.
Or you could just drive the damn thing around. Which one of these two courses of action do you think will have a greater chance of success?
But hey WTF do I know, I have only been in this business for 40 years.

If you are feeling really snarky feel free to cut and paste the above into an e mail to the service manager and tell him it is from an ASE master techncian, who just retired as a Technical Training instructor for a car maker.

6

I had to elevate service problems with a dealership once.
I took my 1yr old car in for routine inspection and learned it needed new tires. I was surprised, but had been warned that the stock tires weren’t great.
The next day I left it there to get new tires. When I got the phone call to pick the car up, the service person asked me why I hadn’t told her that the air conditioner was broken.
I explained that it wasn’t broken when I left it with them.
I had to make another appointment to get the AC fixed, but it was under warranty. Somehow, in the process of putting tires on my car, the fittings for the AC compressor were stripped.
When I picked the car up after that service, the windsheild wipers weren’t working.
That was an easy fix with another visit to the dealership.

I expressed my displeasure to the manager of the store, who bought me off with a free oil change.

Fortunately I got a “how was your service” call from higher up at Nissan about a week later, so I politely told them about what happened, how it baffled me, and how I’d never return there again.
They lost their Nissan franchise that year.

I don’t think you were being snarky at all. You deserve adequate service at the very least. If you can’t get satisfaction, escalate.

7

[QUOTE=jacquilynne]
Elevate it to what level? You’ve asked for nothing and the highest person you’ve dealt with is an assistant manager. Near as I can tell, they’re not helping you because you’re not actually doing anything or asking for anything.
[/QUOTE]

I considered the email to the assistant manager’s boss (the service center manager) to be elevating the situation. I did ask for something. I asked for my sunroof to be fixed in October, and it still hasn’t been fixed. They’ve never called to tell me when the parts have come in.

8

[QUOTE=Rick]
Sorry, Santo my private mailbox was getting full and I had to purge it. If you still have it feel free to post it.

Drive it around to see if the lights will go out? Uhmm, how about scaning for fault codes in the relevant systems instead?
Then just maybe your employee might consider consulting the fault tracing path published by the car maker for those faults, and if they were really on the ball, see if there are any Technical Service Bulletins (TSB) for these problems.
Or you could just drive the damn thing around. Which one of these two courses of action do you think will have a greater chance of success?
But hey WTF do I know, I have only been in this business for 40 years.

If you are feeling really snarky feel free to cut and paste the above into an e mail to the service manager and tell him it is from an ASE master techncian, who just retired as a Technical Training instructor for a car maker.
[/QUOTE]

My sentiments exactly! That’s why I’m taking it to Albuquerque tomorrow. The best part is, the guy in Albuquerque sounded baffled that I was trying to set up an appointment. The dealer in Santa Fe usually makes me wait at least a week, minimum, to be scheduled!

Wow, Solfy, even them “finding out” that the AC was broken sounds fishy. Why the heck would they even need to turn it on to change the tires? :o