A Tale Of 2 So Cal Dealers: Showcase Chevrolet (good) Versus Cormier (bad ) Chevrolet

Gary Wells

White turbo Buick trailer park trash
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
FWIW & IMHO: I know that this is a TurboBuick site, but I also know that a lot of turbobuick owners are vette owners also: therefore the post.

About 2 months ago I posted a reply that I was getting screwed around by a So Cal dealer, and that I would post full details when the ordeal was over with. And then I needed another month before posting to let my temper settle down. This basically involved the electrics going out and the rear driver seat rocking. Short version: Cormier being about 2 miles from my house, I called Cormier to make sure that they had some qualified personnel, and explained that the electrics were out and the rear driver seat rocking motion. Driver side door controls inoperative, dash instrumentation read just the oposite of what it should, gas, battery, oil pressure, gages. They said to bring it in Monday afternoon. Took it in Mon aft. They gave me a ride home but never offered me a loaner vehicle, even though my car is still under warranty.They promised delivery the next day. Tuesday the service writer called me and said that they had gotten busy and did not have a chance to look at my car, but would the very next morning. Wednesday aft the service writer calls me at home and advised that the technician had an emergency at home and had to leave at noon. Said that first thing Wednesday morning he would get the tech on it. Wednesday he called me about 2 PM and advised that for some reason the tech had not started on it yet but would immediately. so I went down there unannounced at 5:30 PM and to my non-suprise, it was still sitting out in the "Open yard Hospital for sick cars". I asked to see the service manager, and in the time that they could not locate the service manager, the writer had the service tech start moving my car in his stalll (probably so I could not have it towed out of there). Then both the service writer and the service tech went in to see the service manager and plea bargined pretty much on their knees their case before I could mine. Service manager said that he personally would straighten everything out. No call Thurs so I called them and the writer said that they had found the problem and that the service manager had tested the car several times during the day and found everything satisfactory, but they wanted the car till Fri, the next day to install the part for the rocking chair" driver seat. I said ok. They didn't call Fri so I called them at 5PM and they said that everything was ok, and come down and pick up the car. Unfortunately they would not take me to my car till signed the work authorization so I unsuspectingly did. When the car came, the factory alarm did not work right, the windows would not operate from the driver side door panel, gas gauge was way below empty, and the dash gauges went berserk while I was sitting in the car. I basically hand-gernaded and got the service manager. He said sorry and they would go back over everything Mon. I said ok
No call mon, so I called them. They contradicted their own story and said that the sensors were out on the body sensor and the driver side door sensor, and before when they said that the problem was fixed, they had just cleaned the sensors and that they naturally did not stock either of those. They will order right away, and I was to look for them to call me Tues or Wed. I said ok. Tuesday no call and I called them and they said that they had located the parts in the warehouse and that the parts would be in Wed.
Wed no call so I called them and they advised that the warehouse shipped the parts late, and that they had just gotten them, but my car would be the first thing on the list Thurs. Thursday neither the service manager or writer would answer the phone, and when I got down there, the service was closed.
Friday they would not answer the phone again, so I went down there, and they were just finishing up on the car, but advised that they needed the car over the weekend to finish up on and double check everything. Monday After work I went to pick up the car and they said don't worry about signing the work order, that they had reopened up the old one. I got my car and got the hell out of there. The seat back was still broken just as it was when I had taken it in. They did replace the missiing gas, but could not offer any explaination
as to where the gas went. The fckng car only had 14 more miles on it than when I had taken it in, eliminating the reason for missing gas joyriding, but the car was short about 5 gals of gas.
I called up Showcase Chewvrolet in Westminister and explained the events to them and would they fix my seat. Sure, we'll be happy to was the reply. When I got down there i went and asked to speak to the service manager, Leonard Roy, and explained everything to him. He had the car inspected immediately so they could order the parts without having to keep my car. Leonard Roy explained to me that when they got the parts in, they would call me, I would bring the car in, they needed the car for 2 days due to the seat needing to be re-upholesteredafter replacing the seat back frame and that they would get me a loaner car, and I would only miss my Z06 for a max of 2 days. Just like clockwork, and just like Leonard Roy and the service tech promised me, they had a call on my recorder when I got home the 2nd day.
Sorry for the extra long post, but I feel that people should know and be aware of these things. In a nutshell, I can not say eoungh bad about Cormier Chevrolet, Carson, Ca., right off of the 405 parking lot, and I definitely can not say enough good about Showcase Chevrolet in general, and in specifics, the cleanliness of their shop, the upbeat attitude of both the service manager, Leonard Roy, and the service writer that I had, of whose name I unfortunately can not remember, and the service technician who actually did the work.
If you are in the general area of Showcase Chevrolet, and are in question of where to take your car, give them a try, and you will not be dissappointed. I really regret to having to write/post this, but nobody should ever have to go through what I had to go through after buying a $ 54 K car.I would never trust a broken roller skate to Cormier, and you shouldn't either. End of rant, but this was necessary for the general benefit of Chevrolet owners everythere, especially vettes.
 
I'm glad to hear you found a dealer to take care of you. I have found similar experiences when taking my Trailblazer in for service and such. It seems that once you find a dealer who really does go the extra mile to make sure you're happy and your car is in good order, it's well worth it to keep going back. Even if that dealership isn't as close or convenient.

I've also seen on a few occasions where dealers with bad reps also go under after a while. No doubts as to why.

I do have one question with your situation. With every set back and silly excuse they give you, why didn't you start bucking it up the ladder?? Myself, I try to be a very patient person. I try to be reasonable and give people the benefit of the doubt. But I'm also QUITE aware when someone is pissing on my shoes and trying to tell me it's California rain. Usually when I start hearing these excuses and BS, I start working my way up the ladder. For every day you give me a BS excuse/run-around I start to speak to one person higher.

Long time ago, my family had a problem with a Mitsubishi and ended up calling in the regional manager for Mitsu.

But then again.. posting good dealers vs. not so good dealers on the net really does have it's benefits as well. Word DOES get around. Granted, I'm nowhere near Cali... but if you're ever in Maryland.. I could tell you which GM dealers to avoid and which ones to patronize (Win Kelly in Clarksville comes to mind) :)
 
I did go in to see the general manager several times, but he was not there, and I got lined up with the Customer Relations rep, at about the same time that they were getting things wrapped up.
It seems that their managers know what is going on, and don't see any reason to change anything. When the service writer and the service manager get by with not answering their phone, and you have been told that they were not busy and they were in their offices, does it sound like they are worried about what their management thinks, and does it sound like their management is going to do anything to resolve the problem?
The net is mightier than the sword, and the word will go out.
Thanks for your suggestions, though.
 
My mom had a similar prob with a dealer in town, she took her Venture there to get another key. Well, they kept it for near 4 days (one or two minor things too, GM doesn't make interior parts like they used to) Well, to make a long story short they charged her a full hour labor for "programming" the key, and $35 for the blank! After a quick look on the I-net, "programming" consists of putting the old key in, turning the vehicle on and off then starting it with the new key within about 30 seconds. As you can imagine, there were words and we did get a key no charge, but in my book it was more then worth a complaint to orginizations who keep track of dishonest businesses.
 
Reminds me of the time my dads very rare limited edition Mercedes suffered a broken power window motor under warranty. I took it in to the dealer, and explained the window motor stopped working with the window about 2" from being up. They told me they had to order the motor, no suprise. So I asked them to manually roll this one up, as the car sat outside. The dude basically told me they were too busy to do that but would "tape it up with duct tape" for me. Nice, just what everyone wants to hear after dropping 50 large on a car. I ended up doing it myself.
 
FWIW & IMHO:
Actually, I wish that there had been more miles put on it ahnd here's why. I took it in Cormier's for 1. All of the electrics were out: The driver side door panel control was totally non-functional. All of the dash instrumentatiion read just the opposite of what it should: Gas gauge reading way lower than it should. Oil pressure half of what it should read, Ampmeter "0" when it appeared to be charging, Temperature gauge all of the way over, etc, etc. 2. See if the rear end was leaking fluid. 3. Repair/replace the rocking back driver seat back. When they called me in there the first Friday, 4 days after their receipt of the car, and they told me that everything was fixed, they said that they required me to sign for the car repairs before taking me to my car. When they brought the car out, it was just as before, nothing worked, just as when i took the car in. However the gas gauge read way below empty, and I know that it had at least 3/8 of a tank in it when I took it in. I observed the mileage odometer and it had only 15 or 16 more miles on it than when i took it in there. I figured that i was missing at least 5.0 gals of gas, and my question to them was "Where did all of my gas go?" They replied Service manager testing the car to verify that everything was ok. My reply was The car is not working properly, everything that was broken before is broken now, and you only logged 16 miles on the car. Maybe a 1.5-2.0 gals at best explained. Now would a major dealer disconnect a speedometer for joyriding. No, they would not.
So where's my missing gas. My worst fears were realized when I inspected the oil level a little while later. Oil had actually been burnt onto the dipstick about an inch above the full mark.
That motor has never gotten that hot to justify that. They let the car idle till hell froze over in an attempt to verify that the body mount & driver door sensors were working properly. There is no where else that gas could have gone. And that was my worst fear. Sorry for another long post. The seat had to be repaired by Showcase at a later date. Showcase knew what the problem was and knew what was required to fix it.
 
You should also inform the BBB of this incedent.

Nothing worse than crooked dealers who run on a shoestring budget.

I enjoyed your rant :)
 
FWIW & IMHO:
This same thread was posted on other boards/sites for the same reason that I posted it on here. I believe that people have a right to know of my problems and experiences there and make a decision for themselves: You are welcome to review the other comments FYI:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=943088
http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69895
http://www.ihadav8.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=121
http://www.t6p.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4650
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/sh...threadid=139577
http://*********************/forums/s...&threadid=28701
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235971
http://www.ls2.com/forums/showthrea...threadid=142580


It turned out that my experience with them was not exactly isolated.
FWIW: If they have a problem with a '02 Z06, you know that they are going to have a problem with the ZR1.
 
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