[sfzobie]

I recently totaled my relatively new 1LE and since the car is great, I wanted to purchase another. I bought my car from dealer #1, from an excellent salesman. No pressure, well educated on his product but sadly he retired shortly after I bought my car. So I call Dealer #1, asked to speak to someone in sales, and talked to someone who didn't know what the 1LE was and asked if it was the 400hp or the 420hp version.... I simply asked him to find the closest ones, talk to your manager and get back to me if the other dealers would trade. No call back. Call dealership 2, repeat the same process and don't hear anything back. Call dealership 3, speak to a good salesmen, knows the product and understands what I am looking for, but again no call back. Repeated for dealers 4&5 until I gave up and found one online, called the dealership and drove 90 min to the dealership.

Since I had done most of the work over email, I got the internet salesperson who doesn't know anything, so I just asked for the manager, who knew the car, gave me a good deal and I was happy. Then they try to deliver me the car. It's a very sunny day and the car was recently washed. I go outside and notice it's literally covered in swirl marks, like whomever washed the car used a dirty rag or something. I got the manager, who noticed and said they would fix it since I needed to get home to pick my kid up from daycare. I email the manager and tell him about the paint issue, he says no problem bring it in. I specfically mention that this car is in need of paint correction and he assures me that both he and his head detailer are well aware of paint correction and will fix it. We coordinate a time for me to drop off the car and for me to get a rental car. I arrive this morning and not only is he not in the office, he hasn't told anyone about what is happening today. I walk to the GMs office and tell him the situation, he then gets the service department involved and I have to tell the story about paint correction again, he is a service adviser, he has no clue what paint correction is, and he is trying to be as accomodating as he can, and I apologize to him as I know it's not his fault that the manager left this all on his plate, I just don't have the time to sit around. I dropped the car off around 10:30, I get a call saying the paint correction is done and ready for pickup. The call came at 2pm. Paint correction takes time, but it cannot be done in a few hours. I called the SA back and asked him to speak to the detailer and ask him exactly what he did. He called back and said they polished and waxed the car, which isn't paint correction and I told the SA if I drive down there to pick the car up and it hasn't been fixed, I will not be happy. He was professional and said simply, I am going to get my manager involved and we will make it right. So now I am in a holding pattern waiting for the manager to return tomorrow to try and sort this out.

Chevrolet as a whole has failed, they make a outstanding product in the 1LE, but the sales "professionals" hardly know the product that sits in their own lots. The only reason the dealership is fixing the paint is because they are terrified of a bad review when I get the GM survey. Hopefully they will fix the paint, make it look new and that's the end of it. I truely can't believe how hard it was for me to buy this car.

Vent over

[formoutofchaos]

I agree and understand I went through this on my c7 , and 1le and whys worse is when you have mechanical issues they can't diagnose anything never return calls make spots for 9am only to get your car three days later for a simple brake inspection ? I consider Chevy a do it yourself brand

[Realist]

I say it all the time. GM should open some closed dealerships from the bail out and just perform service in the suburbs of the big cities. Scheduling and service used to be quick and pain free, now ya gotta schedule numerous days out which never was the case.

[fastball]

Dealerships are an antiquated, archaic business.

Tesla's sales model is the future. Car dealership franchises can all choke and die as far as I'm concerned.

[JDono]

Just applied the ceramic coat to my 2SS, Ive had the car for one month and never touched the car during washing. It took a solid 12 hours of paint restoration to prep a brand new car.....oh I should probably mention that its black

[wwiiavfan]

Keep in mind, though, that nowhere have they declined to try and make it right to your satisfaction. That tells me that at least they know how important customer service is, they just need to employ the right people to get it done. So don't throw them completely under the bus. Have some patience while they try to make it right. Wouldn't you want the same consideration? It's paint swirls, it's not the end of the world. Have a Snickers.

[Bradl1982]

This is not just GM, this is dealerships of all brands.

[TunaMelt]

Originally Posted by fastball

Dealerships are an antiquated, archaic business.

Tesla's sales model is the future. Car dealership franchises can all choke and die as far as I'm concerned.

Exactly. It's time these dinosaurs die already. They profit by simply being middle men that provide subpar versions of what the manufacturers promise. Can you imagine buying a car from someone who knows what the hell it is and they actually work for GM? And they might even put the right amount of oil in it!

[fastball]

Originally Posted by wwiiavfan

Keep in mind, though, that nowhere have they declined to try and make it right to your satisfaction. That tells me that at least they know how important customer service is, they just need to employ the right people to get it done. So don't throw them completely under the bus. Have some patience while they try to make it right. Wouldn't you want the same consideration? It's paint swirls, it's not the end of the world. Have a Snickers.

They are supposed to know what to do. Especially when someone spends $45k+ on a brand new car.

I do not give dealerships a millimeter of leeway for "trying" after I've purchased a new car from them.

It's all business, I have zero tolerance or compassion for people who can't or don't know how to do the job they are paid to do.

It's their fault if the people they hired are incompetent. Every single dealer employee at every single Chevrolet dealer in America should understand how important Camaros and Corvettes are to their owners. Seriously.

[Glen e]

Originally Posted by cooper1965

ROFL......You MUST be kidding right??
You do understand, the average sized dealership has a large % of employees who make as much a year, as you average McDonalds employee..Right??

Don't bother coop, I've discussed this before, it's more complex than enthusiasts want to make it.

There are good dealerships (like the Penske Group) and many small chain operators that run solid deals. I have one in ft Lauderdale with Autonation. But many bad ,yes. The dealer model is ANTIQUATED, but isn't going away soon. You can't run a Tesla deal as a volume brand. And state dealer lobbies are too strong.
Do your homework and find a good dealer BEFORE YOU BUY. The car buying experience can still be decent these days. I go and meet the service mgr before I contract the car, to get a few things straight: rental car, oil Changes, how many true master techs, etc.

Work the system, it sucks, but you can reduce the brain damage by starting with a good dealer.

[ninetres]

Polishing removes swirls. Did you go look at it after their attempt? (I realize it was way fast still). What if the polishing removed the swirls? Not out of the realm of possibility for a new car with some surface swirls from a shitty wash.

[trboxman]

So, does 12 hours of paint correction basically strip off the clear coat entirely or just mostly?

[fastball]

Originally Posted by cooper1965

ROFL......You MUST be kidding right??
You do understand, the average sized dealership has a large % of employees who make as much a year, as you average McDonalds employee..Right??

My Mom bought her Corvette Z51 in October last year and the dealer tore the window sticker removing it. This was after specifically asking to take care removing it as she was going to have it laminated.

She gave them all zeros despite otherwise decent service.

[Tumba]

I agree many dealership employees make roughly minimum wage. One more reason we should quit raising it imo. That's obviously not the entire issue. Current regulations in the USA make it difficult for businesses to hire full time employees at entry level positions. My experience with this is limited to IT with support and help desk type positions. It wasn't too long ago these positions looked great to kids leaving their first job and trying to start a career. Now these full time entry positions can barely keep ahead of the minimum requirements that keep raising. Money that would normally go toward their sallary goes to things like more health care than they need in order to offset the cost for older people. Many of these benefits aren't required for part time empoyees so it's full time entry level positions that get hit the hardest. Any raise (not including benefits) is rarely significantly more than the minimum wage they made before. I'm sure many smarter than I will disagree with me here but I believe this is part of the problem and certainly isn't helping.