Gearhead Jim

IIRC, the Service Manual for our 2001 even told you to remove/open the top, and use padding.

It's not there in our 2009 SM, but it should be.

JoesC5

I had a local hotrod custom upholstery shop repair the bottom seat foam in my Z06. Took them about an hour and a half to remove the seat(they covered the sill first to protect it) repair the foam and reinstall the seat. They added additional foam, carpet square under the foam to keep the springs from cutting into it, and placed strips of leather on the aluminum seat frame to prevent it from cutting into the foam. All for $95 with zero damage. Oh, and the shop owner has three corvettes and uses a C5 as his daily driver. Tons of car show trophies for his work.

I realize it's too late for you, but others might want to check into a local shop(that has great recommendations from the hot rod crowd) do the work instead of letting a Chevy dealer touch their car.

Ryan5508

Went in to talk to a GM or owner of the dealership and ended up with the same service manager that pissed me off in the first place.

While he completely 100% will not admit they caused the damage or the shop they sent it to did it. They are at least going to fix it.

He basically kept stating that people do this all the time to their cars and try to make him pay for it. I asked how would it even be possible for a seat belt to do this and he would only say "I'm not a engineer". Apparently it takes a college education to make a simple observation. Went on to bitch about recalls and how they are working long hours.... Also denied he ever said they didn't take the seat out after giving him info from here.

I am glad I just went home weds and waited to come back but I still feel extremely annoyed with the experience. Everyone at that dealer is excellent. This was the worst person I have ever dealt with at a dealership. how he is head of the service department with extremely poor customer service is beyond me.

This is why sometimes its just easier to own a car outside of the factory warranty and have more choice.

Thanks to everyone here that took the time to reply to my issues. I appreciate it!

Minnesota Scott

I video tape my entire car before I let anyone in service touch it. Then, I have a very frank and direct discussion with the service rep that I just video taped my entire car and show him my video camera. I then explain my overall expectations of what is going to happen while my car is in for service....that is if I even bring it to a service location. I have one guy at a local chevy dealer that I trust completely..he respects my car and me at the same time...he gets it that I am wound a bit tight about my car.......if you don't have a guy like that... you need a video camera and let them know up front what you are doing and put them on edge before they have a chance to mess your car up.

To many bad stories about dealerships to mess around.
Scott

ncvette_1FUNRIDE

That is why I do everything that I can possibly do myself. I trust myself to do it right much more than the service guys.

Some service managers assume that we don't know our cars well enough to know when their dishing out BS.

I have completely stripped everything from my interior to install sound and heat insulation and it's not that hard if you take your time.

And no, you cannot change out bottom seat foam without taking the seats out of the car.

okie08vette

Glad they are going to fix it, they should. To bad about the service manager I bet they will discover he is bad for business eventually.

Gary '09 C6

ProfessorDeath

What I see is collateral damage. The trim pieces are easy to r&r, and inexpensive. I wouldn't be too upset, sh*t happens, it's only plastic. You'll look showroom new in a few days.

AORoads

This really is an excellent idea because hot rod/street rod owners get the details thing. And shops that don't get it, don't get the business from street rod owners. That goes for paint and body shops, too.

piper_chuck

"Collateral damage" should not occur when a car is being serviced by a dealer. I experienced a couple similar situations in the past where the mechanics were sloppy. In both cases the service manager listened, acknowledged that they caused the problem, and corrected it. Unfortunately, this level of customer service has not happened for the OP, hence the thread...

piper_chuck

Good, or bad, customer service starts at the top and filters its way down. Based your feeling that everyone else at the dealer is excellent, it's surprising the service manager is so bad. It would be really good if you could raise this issue with someone above him before he infects the people below him.

360Rocket

God I hope they send you a customer service survey. Thats what hurts them the most. They let someone go here this week because he showed up negatively on a CSS.

BSE1956

I agree. The stupidity of these dealers never ceases to amaze me.
$.25 worth of HD masking tape would have prevented this problem.
Don't stop until you get satisfaction

Stephen Fiorino

If this dealer does not repair to your satisfaction, get the name of the person who is in the district. I had a Mercedes years ago anf the work that needed to be done was out of warranty. But is was unusual for the AC to go and it would not shut off and sometimes blew very hot Air in the AC setting. They told me it was all my cost. After asking to meet with the Regional person, they paid for the parts and I for the labor. I had to show them all my service invoices showing them I always had my car service there. I saved $1300 just by not standing for it being out of warranty.
In your case, what Vette owner would, if there was scratches on the door jams leave it like that? No one. Push them to fix it.

JShocik

The next time you go to this dealership, insist to talk to the original service advisor you dealt with the first time, & do tell the service manager you don't trust him. If the original SA has a conscience, he'll own up to the facts.

Also, when paying, pay by check. If there is any issue whatsoever, you can stop payment on the check, tell the dealership about this, then wait & see how fast they want to take care of the issue once they find out they're NOT getting paid to mess up your car. Trust me, this works (at least for me).

Ryan5508

I am just waiting on parts they say they are replacing. Figure it will be 2 weeks based off the previous 2 days for parts wait.

Hopefully they just fix it right so I can put the car in storage and be happy about it. Since it started randomly snowing here today. At least its not sticking yet.

Ryan5508

They should be covering it. I had it figured to be around $250 in trim pieces for myself to replace if need be. I already have touch up paint but suck at using it correctly.

The funny part is at one point he said he didn't know how much it would cost to replace anything but if it was over $1000 he would not do it. Makes you wonder what they pull on other people everyday.

Ryan5508

Yeah so do I. But from what I heard from others is the owner there is also quite a "people person". They said I was probably lucky I didn't have to talk to him in the end.

LarryMow

As a former Chrysler dealership employee, I completely agree with filling out the Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Be sure to do so, be brutally honest, if you have praise for a particular employee...please try to name them by name. On the flip side, if you have a complaint, try to name names then as well. Some owners don't spend a lot of time actually at the dealership and don't really know who the crappy employees are. The good ones need promotions and raises, the bad ones need to go and quit giving the rest a bad rap. The surveys DO MATTER, I know it's kinda of a pain to spend 15 minutes answering a bunch of questions, but try to look at it as doing your part to make the dealership better and the next customers experience a more pleasant one.

JShocik

Be brutally honest with the service manager...tell him he's part of the problem. Ask him to show you how a seat belt latch can make a scratch like the ones you now have. I've seen your pictures & know the size of the latch. I can't figure out how a thick, dull, beveled latch can make a thin, sharp scratch in plastic? As soon as he caves on the scratches ( he has to, there is no way the belt latch caused them), you've got him in a lie...don't be afraid to let him know. This guy is NOT your friend, don't be concerned about offending him. He's not concerned about you or your car's damage.