Sylvester Chevrolet, Inc.

Review: My vehicle was involved in a GMC service bulletin. I had the problem diagnosed by the [redacted] Cadillac Dealership, but I called the Chevy dealership to have the repairs done. The Chevy dealership refused to order the necessary parts until their mechanic looked at the vehicle. Cadillac and Chevy are all GM. To have a customer have the vehicle diagnosed again is a huge inconvenience in time especially around the holiday season. I n addition I am sure GM's Shareholders would love the idea that they are paying their mechanics twice to do the same work. If you are all GM you should trust in team work.

Your customer service rep was rude and disrespectful. Unwilling to do what is not just in the best interest of the customer, but also the shareholder.

In addition their Corporate Office accompanied me on a phone call to the dealership. In conjunction we were trying to come to a service agreement with Silvester. The Corporate Office also agreed the representative from Silvester was disrespectful and for a lack of better words downright rude. Based on this he got me in touch with a District Representative in order to file a formal complaint. I could cite several examples of her condescending behavior. When I asked to address my concerns further she explained that she was the manager and there was no one further for me to address my concerns with.Desired Settlement: Your policy benefits no one but the pocket of your company. IF GM creates an inconvenience with a defective part. Your policies should not further inconvenience the customer and company shareholders. It is time to re-evaluate your stores policy! By the way I took my vehicle back to [redacted]. I will be sure to tell all of my friends about the lack of good service received from Silvester, and the terrific assistance that the Cadillac Dealer provided. They were more than happy to have my business and even provided me a car to use while mine was being repaired. I was so grateful that they listen to their customers.

Business

Response:

December 16, 2013

This letter is in response to complaint ID # [redacted]. Sylvester Chevrolet, Inc. has been in business for forty-one years. During this time, we have had many customers request a part be changed that their mechanic said was bad or needed replacing. And many times the part that was replaced was not the problem. Also, General Motors’ return policy states that any returned parts will be charged a restocking fee of 33%. If a vehicle is misdiagnosed by another garage and we ordered the parts before looking at the vehicle, the customer would be responsible for those restocking charges in addition to the cost of the actual repair. Because the frequency of this occurrence, we established a store policy requiring our mechanics to perform our own diagnostics before ordering any parts in order to properly repair the customer’s vehicle. This is a common practice amongst car dealerships and garages. You would be hard pressed to find any repair facility that would order parts for a repair with out at the very least looking at the vehicle. The customer was even informed by a Chevrolet Customer Care Specialist that each dealership in independently owned and operated which is why each dealer would require their own diagnosis.

This case would be a perfect example of how a vehicle could be misdiagnosed or miscommunication occurs and why we have the policy in place. The customer states in her complaint with the Revdex.com that her vehicle was involved in a “GMC service bulletin.” Her vehicle is a 2007 Trailblazer which is actually made by Chevrolet, not GMC. A GMC bulletin would not be applicable on a Trailblazer.

The district service zone manager was contacted by our dealership after the phone call from this customer. He is the person we would contact with any issues regarding problems with warranty claims or any issues with repairs. He agreed that proper protocol must be followed and advised us to not order any parts until we looked at the vehicle.

When the customer was speaking with a Chevrolet Customer Care Specialist, the customer stated the vehicle was originally diagnosed at [redacted] Cadillac, which is also an authorized GM dealer, but wanted the repairs done at a different dealership because of a customer service issue she had with that dealership. The customer told the Chevrolet representative that she was going to a different Chevrolet dealer to have the repairs done. However, the customer claimed in her complaint with Revdex.com that she had the repairs done at [redacted] Cadillac and had “terrific assistance” despite her prior claim that she wouldn’t get repairs done there because of customer service issues.

In regards to the poor customer service, we sincerely apologize if the customer felt mistreated in any way. Furthermore, we apologize that our policy was an inconvenience for her. We appreciate the fact that making two trips to a dealership for repairs is inconvenient around the holidays. However, it is a necessity to ensure the repairs are fixed properly the first time and to promote safety.