65 kit vet

Since joining the forum I have had the occasion to mention my old '61 vette a couple of time and it has brought back some memories long since forgotten. One of the better ones involved an episode that occurred a few weeks after buying the car. I had ordered the car from a dealer in Carlisle, PA whose owner was a relative of a guy I was working with at the time. I was able to get a better deal than I could locally in MD. I had noticed a scraping noise under the car(sort of in the console area) every time I went around a fairly sharp curve or on a ramp onto the Beltway. I finally decided to get under the car to try to see what the problem was. I discovered that the bolt(or bolts-don't remember anymore whether one or two) that held the back of the transmission to the crossmember were missing. My noise was the front universal joint scraping the sides of the tunnel on any decent kind of a curve-the whole back of the trans. would slide across the support.

I took the car into my local Chevy dealer(who was probably tic'd off because I didn't buy the car from them) to have the bolts replaced under warranty. I dropped the car off in the morning, explained the missing bolt problem and then went to work. When I went back in the evening to get the car, I was told by the service manager that they were unable to do anything to the car. I said I knew that part of the warranty covered replacing defective parts. He said that was correct, but since there were no parts to begin with, they could not be defective. Boy, you talk about being pissed. I ended up with someone a little higher up the ladder at the dealership and they finally agreed to replace the missing bolt(s). This was sometime in 1961 and I haven't been into a dealership for service since. Of course, that was also my last new car, which certainly helps to keep you out of those places to begin with.

desertpilgrim

Unplug your computer. Learn to read. Get into a religious sect that REALLY hates creative thought and invention. There, don't you feel better?

65 kit vet

Actually, I can already read and I feel fine. Sorry if I offended you.

2 Ag R8Cs

Pay no attention to him I have seen the pictures of the car you are restoring, he is probably jealous that he isn’t as talented as you are. There aren’t many people on this forum that have your skills let alone have been able to acquire them as self taught.

Lightfoot

not trying to hi-jack your thread there Kit but
I MISS THE DAILY PIX!!!!!


[Modified by Lightfoot, 8:46 PM 12/13/2003]

Hitch

Herb, Great story man. I have to agree your daily pics of the progress was/is impressive the time you have put into your vette. Sounds like dealership problems haven't changed it's just that more people now know how dealerships operate. I still would like to get up there sometime when I get back in the area to take a look at your progress. Keep up the good work and don't mind :bs comments. I don't know if that was meant as a joke or what up above. Regardless great story.. Dave..

waynec

1. Back in about 1969, I took my then daily-driver 63 Vette into a dealership for a new clutch. I stopped in that day after work expecting the car to be finished, but it was still on the lift, so I wandered over to see how they'd progressed. The clutch and tranny were out and there was no support under the engine... inspecting further, I found that the TACH CABLE was stretched taut and was holding up the rear of the engine. Wow, was I ticked, and gave them a piece of my mind; I was told they'd replace any damaged parts if the tach didn't work. When I got the car back the next day, amazingly the tach was working. Unfortunately it failed a couple of months later, but I'd moved away from the area and couldn't take it back, not that I'd EVER let them work on the car again! I put new tach drive gears in the distributor and replaced the cable myself, praying the distributor housing and tachometer were OK.

2. I had a 56 Chevy convertible in immaculate condition that I took into a dealership for some work (can't recall exactly what, may have been brakes or axle bearings) that required them to remove the rear wheels. This was back in about 1962. Drove it home that night no problem. The following day I packed up and left on a trip, and shortly after I got up to speed on the highway, I heard an increasingly loud banging from the rear, but before I could pull over, the drivers-side rear wheel assembly exited the car THROUGH the rear fender. I tried to get the dealership to own up, even talked to the owner, and they wouldn't. So I started talking to some automotive engineers I knew (I lived in Detroit); they said the only reasonable explanation was that some mechanic, perhaps in a hurry to get my car off the lift to put a rush job onto it, had probably put only 2 lug nuts on the wheel to be able to move the car and hadn't torqued them, intending to complete the job later. Then perhaps someone else followed up by putting the wheel cover on without noticing the missing nuts My trip home at slow speed hadn't stressed anything. I turned the matter over to my insurance company, with the engineer's written statements, they agreed and paid to fix the car, then sued the dealership and got their money back.

I don't have any more recent stories, because since those incidents, the ONLY reason I've ever taken a car of mine to a dealership is for a safety recall.


[Modified by waynec, 11:03 PM 12/13/2003]

Jack Jagello

Took my new 64 coupe in for a dealership oil change and I just happened to be back in the garage area as my car was being lifted up on the hoist. At the time, the dealership used some sort of a fixture to prevent the car from rolling off the back of the hoist. Unforturnately, the fixture was now lifting and supporting the rear of the car by the rear bumpers resulting in both bumpers' lower undersides being bent up. When I approached the service manager what I had observed, he visually concurred and uttered, "I'll tell you what, we'll(the dealership) give you a free grease job AND oil change". When I told him in no uncertain terms that I wanted new bumpers he replied that he couldn't do that. I then said, " how much you want to bet"? Got my new bumpers - dealer installed!

Lightfoot

welcome to the forum Jack!!!!! 1st post? :thumbs:

Jack Jagello

First time.

Solid327

Safety recall!? Kind of an oxymoron after the story you told. :D

OEM car quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Many dealerships, however, while having gotten bigger, more opulent and modern still employ the same BS tactics in sales and service as always and the OEMS seem to allow it if not condone it.

65 kit vet

Thanks for the good words, guys. I certainly didn't make that post to upset anyone, especially something that happened over 40 years ago at a now defunct dealership. Back then there was an attitude that if you didn't buy the car here, we don't want to work on it. I would think that has changed now as competitive as the business is.

2 Ag R8Cs

I got both my 96 & 98 Vette with museum delivery. Dealer service was terrible with both cars different dealers. I still have the 96 but sold the 98 so that I could buy a 62. I very seriously doubt if I will buy a new Corvette in the future. Chevy needs to do something to make the dealers honor their warrantees without a battle.

JWD01

Nothing has changed. If you want horror stories about service, go to the C5 section. "Customer service" doesn't exist at GM. For every one person that has a decent expirience, there are hundreds that have gotten screwed. That's one of the reasons I got rid of my C5. :seeya

REVIVER

I bought a new 1995 red Tran Am. I loved the car but it had a few slight flaws in the paint. I was a custom painter at the time and frequently got work from the dealerships because they could not satisfy the customer with the repairs.
I Had a great deal of experience with the dealerships "so called" quality repaires and had no confidence in ever taking my car in for repairs.

This was conferemed when the car developed a rear main seal leak with only 4000 miles on it. I took the car in and told them the main was leaking and the throw out bearing was making noise when pushed in when the car was stopped. They took the car and had it for a full week. When I went in for a surprise visit they had the trans torn apart and said they had added die to the oil and could not find the leak and the tranny needed new bearings. I got the car back another week later with the same throw out bearing making noise and the rear seal still leaking. I took the car back and told them to change the bearing and fix the seal. They changed the bearing and said the seal was fixed. Bearing good, leak still there.
That week I got a letter from GM inviteing me to a paint clinic several counties away. I took the car to the clinic to see what it was about. They asked me if I had any paint issues. I told them I could see through the color on the rear spoiler and some rainbow spots on the rear bumper but no one else would notice them but another painters trained eye. The tech rep said he agreed the color was thin on the spoiler and the rear bumper had trian rail dust imbedded in it from transport and they would like to correct the problems and I said NO. He asked why not so I told him of my confidence level in dealership bodyshops. He said he would have a spoiler painted at the factory and shipped in two weeks and the dealer will install it. I reluctantly agreed. The spoiler arrived and I took the car in. I called for pick up and they said they had a problem. THEY HAD PUT A FORK LIFT THROUGH THE CRATE AND THE SPOILER. I told them to put my original spoiler back on and I am comming to get the car. When I got there the original spoiler was on WITH SEVERAL CHIPS AND SCRATCHES. I was so pissed I took the car and traded it in. That dealer asked, when I came to get my new tag, did you know the rear main seal was about to blow out on it? I said yes and after three trips to service and they said they could not find the problem is why you own it now.

As I said, I love that car and miss it today, but as long as my hands and eyes work I will probably never take my car to a dealership body shop.

I am sorry if I have offended anyone and I am sure there are good quality guys working in those body shops but I have had to clean up after far to many of the bad ones. Just my experience talking :seeya :flag :flag

six-T-six

I've had a good story but it was on my Ford Expllorer. I usually fix my car myself, but I always bring it in for recall work. I brought the car in for a recall for an electrical switch and when I picked up the car, they also gave me four new tires to replace my old ones which were already well worn! This was when Explorers had those tire problems and people were complaining dealers wouldn't give them new tires.

cbernhardt

I bought my '98 from a small dealership in southeastern NC. My car was about the 3rd Corvette the dealership had EVER sold. They have one man in the service department that does all the Corvette work and they even let you talk to him on the phone! The only work I have had the dealer do so far has been an alignment to correct the tire scalloping problem (C5 owners will know what this is) and the recall for the column lock (C5 owners will know what this is) and seat belt retractor, but I have been well pleased with their work.

When I completed my '62 frame conversion car I drove it 200 miles to this dealer for the 4 wheel alignment because he was the only one that would let me "observe".

Charles