Tales from the Service Department
 

I took my car into the Chevy dealer (Colonial Chevy in Chester, VA) to get a TPMS sensor replaced under warranty. I get a dutiful text message on the reg saying I am low on air although several different tire gauges assure me I am not.

This nice lady is setting up my ticket and asks what I need. I tell her that I need a new TPMS sensor on that white Camaro right outside the service department window.

"Is that a mustang?", she asked.

"A MUSTANG!?", I shockingly exclaimed. "No, Ma'am. That is a 2022 Chevy Camaro LT1 convertible". She walks off to the get the service schedule.

I look at the other two service writers and say. "A mustang? I am depressed."


I'd like to hear other stories about dumbass service writers. I am sure we all have a story or two.

While I was doing paper work for the purchase of my 2022 1SS 1LE I could hear a salesman in an adjacent office on the phone explaining all the damage they did to a customers car that was in for service, I believe it was a Corvette. After over hearing that phone call I instantly made up my mind that I would never bring my Camaro to that dealer for service.

They're some of the most ill informed, about their own product, just about any one in a dealership.
"I'm the Performance car guru here...you want what? Order a ZL1? What's a ZL1?"

Yes I had that talk actually happen.

Sounds like something I would do. At car shows, when I see a very nice Camaro, I always ask if it's a "Mustang" to get a reaction. I do the same to the Mustang guys ..."hey, that is one sharp Camaro, is it new". No matter what the reaction is, from either owners, I always reply with "oh wow, they look the same" and walk off. ...hehehehe.

Possible sarcasm just messing with you ?

Just being honest is all I want. I'm customer service job and I tell my customers whatever the truth is, even if sounds bad to admit. It has completely defused very angry people, when they hear something and realize it has to be the truth because a lie wouldn't sound so bad.

Had a guy get embarrassed in front of other customers at the Mazda dealer. IME, he had it coming'

First, he tells me I need a new air filter. I said "I wonder how it got that bad in two days?

He said "What do you mean?

I said "I just put a new one in two days ago"

That was his first "oh crap" look.

I was there for a transmission flush. He walked by a bit later and I stopped him to ask how much longer (it had been 45 min), and he said "these generally take an hour or two".

"No they don't". He then smiled, and explained how they " do these all they time, and yes they take this long".

I looked right at him and said "do you know what my job was a few years ago"

And that "oh crap" look came back. I named the machine they were using and how I had actually serviced those machines, and how long it takes to flush through the entire capacity.

If he had just said "we got a little behind so it'll be a while" I would have been annoyed but accepted it.

Not everyday you see someone call themselves a troll. :smiling1:

I don’t understand why human beings don’t realize this is the correct thing to say. If a customer is frustrated how do you think he/she is going to feel after they figured out you lied to them?

I don't have any service writer stories, but I could talk your ear off about growing up in Enon in the '60's - '70's. Is Colonial Chevy the dealership at the intersection of routes 1 and 10? I think that was Stroshieder or something like that in my era, although I may have the name confused with the dealer in Hopewell

Yep, Rt 1 and Jeff Davis Highway (we're all racists). The dealership is ancient and used to be called Heritage Chevrolet back when I bought my kickin' rad medium quasar blue 1992 Chevy Baretta GTZ. Strosnider is in Hopewell. It's still there.

At another dealer I got into a 10 minute argument with a Toyota service writer because he wanted to put the correct oil for a 4.6L Tundra...in my 5.7L Tundra. Not the same viscosity. I begged him to please put in the right oil.

Free oil changes for life or I would have walked away.

LOL, I'm not sure if it's trolling if you're speaking "in person", but you do have a real mean streak hrpiii.

Pretty funny that your user name is "I don't want a mustang" and the lady at the desk called your Camaro a Mustang :D

I made the mistake of taking my ZLE to the dealer for a track alignment before my first HPDE event. The tech had no idea what he was doing and mangled up the nuts at the top of the dampers trying to muscle them to turn. They did not realize there are alignment pins preventing the camber plates from turning -- they need to be removed first. Those pretty blue nuts now show a decent amount of bare metal. F*cking amateur!

OK, well, neither me, Chevy, nor even "service dept.", but a while ago a friend of mine bought or leased a VW e-Golf, and told me he sat there in amazement as the finance guy tried to sell him a package of "oil change" (and other clearly ICE-related services) for his battery-powered car.

Years ago I owned a Toyota Tacoma. Toyota issued a TSB where they would replace the three-leaf rear springs with four-leaf rear springs. I had fully researched this and knew exactly what I was taking my truck in for. When I got it back, I looked underneath before leaving the dealership. Sure enough, I had brand new 3-leaf springs. I knew this was wrong so I mentioned it to the service rep. He proceeded to argue with me and tell me that they knew what they were doing and there was no way I had the wrong parts installed. He got pretty fired up and I just kept my cool. I ultimately had to pull out the printed TSB and point him to the proper part numbers. I told him to get under the vehicle and look at the part numbers on the springs. He begrudgingly looked and was such an ass that he didn't apologize or acknowledge that he was wrong. Just ordered the new parts and made me another appointment. They fixed it but needless to say I never took my truck there again.