Suntrup Pontiac
Defective Spark Plug Wire Warranty ripoff

In early April my 1998 Firebird suddenly would barely run. I managed to get it to the dealership I bought it from, Suntrup Pontiac. They diagnosed the problem as two bad spark plug wires and two weak ones, so they replaced them and billed me $47 for the part and $170 for the labor. The total was $238 with the shop charges added in.

Shortly after this I found out that GM had issued a service bulletin 99057 dealing with this very problem. GM extended the warranty to 70,000 miles or 7 years from date of in service whichever came first.

I went back to Suntrup with this information seeking reimbursement for what I had paid. After being bounced around, they finally told me that they would reimburse me for the part but not the labor. I declined this as I felt I should not have had to pay anything.

I then contacted Pontiac Customer Service. They took my information and said they would check on it and call me back. They called the next day and said that I should not have been charged and that they would arrange with Suntrup for reimbursement

Well, time went by and I never heard from anyone, or received a check, so I contacted Pontiac again. They said they would have to "reinvestigate" it. They e-mailed me back stating that the dealer had told them I replaced the wires myself which would void the warranty. I told Pontiac that this was not the case as I had the invoice showing that Suntrup had done the work. They then said that Suntrup had offered to reimburse me, but that i had refused it. I again told them about the part only reimbursement.

Their most recent correspndance states that since I refused the dealers offer of reimbursement ($47 as opposed to $238) and "it was past the deadline for claims of October (?) I would receive nothing. There is absolutely nothing in the Service bulletin about a October deadline. All it states is that GM was extending the warranty to 70,000 miles or 7 years. I was well within both of these requirements.

I am still trying to fight this with Pontiac but not having any luck...

Steve
St. Peters, Missouri

Company: Suntrup Pontiac
Country: USA
State: Missouri
City: St. Peters
Address: 4200 N. Service Rd
Phone: 6369390800

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