Rancho Motor Company
Rip-off! 100,000 mile diesel warranty not covered

We have purchased 7 vehicles from Rancho Motor Company over the course of 7 years. Throughout those 7 years, we have always dealt with the same salesman, Bob Morse. He has always done a very good job taking care of us. However, their service department has always been a different story. They are rude, have a lack of knowledge, and have always kept our vehicles for a very long period of time-even for minor basic repairs or maintenance. While Bob was in sales, if we had a problem with the service department, he took care of it. Since then, Rancho has undergone some changes. They have moved on to High Pressure Sales, therefore Releaving Bob from his duties. And the service department? Here we go.

I now have a 1997 GMC Sierra, a 1999 GMC Sierra, a 2000 GMC Sierra, a 2000 GMC Sonoma, a 2002 GMC Sierra, a 2003 GMC Sierrra, and our 1998 GMC Sierra (which was stolen in March) - hence 7 vehicles.

I have brought the 97,98, 99,00, & 02 into the service department on many occasions to get random things fixed. One thing in particular, the fuel tank switch - this is the switch that changes from the front tank to the back tank when the front on is empty. Still, to this day, i have 5 trucks with a broken fuel tank switch. This is not what our complaint is about but it is one example of just how great this service department is.

On the 14th of July our truck broke down again. It was 50 miles away from our main office and about 60 miles away from Rancho Motor Company. We called Rancho and spoke with Don Baker (fleet service writer), we told him that the truck is 60 miles away, (turbo has already been replaced twice-last time 8 months ago-or 10,000 miles ago) He replied that the turbo is under warranty, which means the towing is under warranty-to call a tow truck and have them tow the truck to the dealership and they would pay the driver. So, thats exactly what we did.

The tow company shows up at Rancho with our truck on the back, and Bonnie, a service writer who is always AWFUL called and asked no questions, she started yelling about the tow truck being there and wanting a check and who the heck do we think we are sending a tow truck without telling her? After about two solid minutes of Bonnie yelling, we told her that we got approval for the tow from Don Baker. She dod NOT accept the explanation, and put us on hold and went to ask Don if ok'd the tow. Then without aplogy, she got back on the phone said fine and hung up.

(at this point, our truck has been at Rancho's Service Department 4 times in 15,000 miles) This truck now has 69,000 miles on it. The turbo failed 8 months ago and was replaced by Rancho Motors-which in speaking with other diesel mechanics, I am told they did it wrong. (these are GM Certified Mechanics). The all tell me the same thing— "replace the turbo—Replace the oil" Because when a turbo goes bad, it begins to cook the oil turning it into sludge. So, 10,000 miles ago our truck got a turbo replaced and was given a clean bill of health by the Rancho Motors Service Department.

Since that time, the truck appeared to be fine, the oil was changed twice as scheduled, by a certified mobil diesel mechanic, (we use him because we can't afford to have Rancho keep our truck for a week for something as simple as an oil change). At this point, Rancho says they are NOT going to warranty the truck because the oil looked like sludge due to lack of maintenance— that they need maintenance records in order to warranty. Yeah right. So, I produce our maintenance log, the same as the ones that I keep on all our trucks, and surprise! Rancho says not good enough.— I know - oil does not turn into sludge over night. However, when oil is not changed when a trubo is replaced, that is what begins the sludge factor. We assumed Rancho had replaced the Turbo correctly - based on the fact they are supposed to be Mr. Goodwrench and all. Correctly, meaning changing the oil at the same time of replacing the turbo.

Our maintenance continuues as ususal, we did two oil changes, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, oil came out during each change, so we thought nothing of it. Rancho maintains that we did not do maintenance on our truck—so tell me this, why isn't the turbo failing on all of our other trucks? Is this truck the red headed step child of the company? Do we treat it differently from all of our other vehicles? Why would we do that?

SO, now I get a call from Don Baker saying he needs a check for $11,300.00 to make the truck run again— turbo failed - sucked all the oil out - now you need a new motor. Ok, why isn't our motor with a 100,000 mile warranty under warranty now? Especially since the problem began with the trubo they have already replaced wrong twice? Since we did not run down there with a check for $11,300.00 they put the truck aside — and left it there.

Now, I am a little frustrated, I call GM to speak with someone about 1) the way I am being treated by their authorized service center, and 2) why the heck won't they warranty our truck?

It is ow 8/15/04. I speak with a very nice woman at GM named Janel Mond. She seemed very upset by the way Rancho is treating the situation, and treating us. She begins the "escalating process".

8-19-04 I speak with John Wilkins, Owner of Rancho Motor Company, He did not sound very happy to be speaking with me, I ask him what is going on with the truck - he said "we were told to fix the truck - turbo, motor and all other problems with the truck" aka fuel switch. So, cool Janel handled the problems.

8-23-04 I spoke with John Wilkins again, said the truck will be done in a couple of hours.informed me that he did not replace the motor as GM had instructed him to do. He said, we do not need a new motor - the motor is fine.
8-24-04 Now i am frustrated again. So I call Janel again. I tell her the story, she begins the re-escalating process. 8-25-04 I spoke with John Wilkins again. He stated oil pan has sludge and debris in it. Stated that I need to go look at it. So I agree. I go to Rancho Motor Company and i have the Owner of the store, the shop foreman, the service manager, and the general manager of the store all there. Now, not stating this as fact, I think they thought I was coming alone, and they thought if they were all there, they could intimidate me (being just a girl and all)
1.) NO, and 2.) I didn't come alone.

So the General Mgr. And the shop foreman left. They show me the oil pan, and boy were they right - it was gross - too bad they didnt change the oil last time they replaced the Turbo.

So I ask, A week ago, I was told that you could go no further until I gave your a check for $11,300.00- now that GM mentions the word warranty, you say there is nothing wrong with the motor? Why? The service Manager, Al Trudeaux, said and I quote, "GM is not the one paying for the new motor-we are" Then even he looked shocked that that came out of his mouth and disappeared.
So, then we ask, how come the oil was not changed last time turbo was replaced? John Wilkins answered this one, and I quote again— "because the turbo fixed it"
8-26-04 I spoke with John Wilkins again. He said the truck was done and asked when we could come pick it up. I called Janel, She said if Rancho thinks the truck is done, go get it, she wouldnt want them to charge us some ridiculous storage fees. She said be prepared to bring it right back to have our motor replaced.

8-30-04 Went to pick up the truck - drove off the lot, went approximately a half a block and turned around and drove it back to Rancho in a huge cloud of smoke - not unlike the one that brought us there in the first place.
9-2-04 Called another GM dealer. And I quote, " If the turbo depends on the oil so much, why do you think we change the oil when we replace a trubo? Don't you think that is common sense?"

Also, I called Janel, she said Rancho and area service maanger are maintaining their position that we did not perform maintenance on our truck. She suggests that if we find another authorized GM repair shop to say that the truck is warranty-able, GM will uphold the warranty.
We called Al Trudeaux and told him that a tow truck will be there shortly to tow the truck away. He asked where we would be taking the truck. We stated that we would be taking the truck to another dealer who actually cares about the problem, and I notified him that he would probably never see us again - we would be taking our business elsewhere.

9-10-04 New dealer said everything was fine had to perfoem some cross warranty and they will begin work on truck. Later that day, Dealer called - said they were just about donw with cross warranty, when they got a call from Rancho. After Rancho called every dealer in Southern California until they found our truck. Then they get a call from the same Area Service Manager who told them NO warranty work on this truck at all ever, by anyone. They had black balled our truck. We gave Janels phone # to the dealer so they could find out what was going on.
While Rancho had our truck for over a month and a half, I had to go on without a truck— which is something I cannot afford to do. Actually I was in need of two trucks, one because our truck got stolen in March, and two, because Rancho won't fix our truck and give it back. So, instead of maintaing loyalty to the new and not improved Rancho Motor Company, I went out and bought a Brand New Ford F-450. Maybe Ford has their act together a enough to not have these kinds of problems.

9-24-04 Spoke with Janel she said she could not superceed what an area service manager has done. She called the service mgr. At the other dealership where our truck is. She finds out that the area service mgr. Is the same for both stores.

She advised that she is going to consult with her boss to get a hold of the area service managers boss and see if they can negotiate something.

9-28-04 Janel spoke with her boss and he spoke with the area service mgrs boss and they are maintaining their position to not warranty the truck due to lack of maintenance.

This truck was maintained just the same as all our other trucks.
We will maintain this until this is resolved. All of our other trucks run — except for that fuel switch problem — I did nothing different with this truck.
Now I am at the point, that I will follow these guidelines.
1. I am faxing a copy of this report to Rancho Motor Company.
2. I am faxing a copy of this report to General Motors.
3. I am filing another report with General Motors as the topic.
4. I am filing a report for every truck that I have that is broken and has never been fixed.

Company: Rancho Motor Company
Country: USA
State: California
City: VICTORVILLE
Address: 15425 DOS PALMAS
Phone: 7609558200

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