A few years back in late 90's or early 2000's, I met a guy at some Buick social event who told me his story about a dealer service department. I don't remember his name and for all I know he could be a forum member even to this day. But I somewhat remember his story.
And it goes a little something like this ...................
One day on his way to work his TR stalled just 1000 feet from a Buick/GMC dealership. It didn't stutter, it didn't stumble, it didn't even hiccup. It just died instantly. Many of us would instantly know what the problem is, and so did he.
He walked to the dealer and asked the service department to tow his vehicle from up the road. He explained his situation and exchanged information with them. He was in a jam and explained he needed to continue on with his day and would return at the end of the day to pick it up. He knew it would be a little costly to have them tow and service such a bullshit little item, but he just didn't have the time to deal with it. He told them to change the crank sensor. Called his wife and she drove him to work.
At the end of the day he returned. The service manager explained that it would be difficult to diagnose the problem because of unknown previous work that was done by others to the vehicle and that it is adding complexity to the problem . He once again explained that everything was as it should be and it was most likely the crank sensor. He asked them to change it again and said "It's a five minute job! And I'm willing to just pay you the full hour or 2 including the part cost and the tow fee! Please, I need my car back!" Life was in the way, and he explained he didn't have the time to do it himself.
For a few more days he played phone tag with the service manager and was told that they were still working on it and the sensor was changed and it wasn't the problem.
Finally, he was asked to come pick up his car. When he did he was hit with a bill exceeding somewhere over $1000 dollars. The Service manager explained that there were many problems that needed to be resolved and it was impossible for them to find the problem. But all was good now and ready to go. He flipped out! and asked about all the things they did.
Turns out, they removed his Caspers pump hot-wire kit, his voltage booster, his solid MAF pipe and K&N filter, returned his valve cover breather back to his turbo inlet, put stock plugs in at the factory spec gapping, threw away his Magnecor wires, disconnected the fish tank valve and replaced the vacuum line at the wastegate and maybe a few other things. He was told all of these things contributed to the "no start" issue. When he asked for his parts back, they were given to him from a garbage bin.
But the best part.....He obtained his crank sensor. And he could clearly see the severe damage caused by it taking a hit from the crank ring. This was the result of the owner himself admitting he had messed with it on his back in a dark garage while detailing and or servicing something else. He admitted he may have not have aligned it properly or tightened the slide locking bolt. This along with a general understanding of how these cars work gave him reason to believe it was the crank sensor right from the beginning.
He paid the bill and then immediately asked his credit card company to stop payment. Then he had a friend who was an attorney flood the dealership with never ending letters until the problem went away.
So in the end...........he stiffed them. And rightfully so.
STOP!!!!!!!!!!!DON'T TAKE IT TO THE DEALER!!!!!!!
