I own a 1985 corvette that was bought used in 1989. I did not purchase from dealer but always had it serviced by them. About 4 years ago, the car was running rough and leaking some oil. After several mis diagnosis, the service advisor told me i needed a new engine as the oil was leaking into the cylinders. I ask him if he would guarantee me that would fix my problem as the price quoted was $3000 and he said without a doubt. I consulted another shop in town and they said the price was too low for an engine so i went back and ask the service advisor what i was getting for the money. He said "everything under the hood would be new". I questioned that and asked do you mean the air conditioning and other similar items. He then said no, just the engine.
I felt that without a doubt that should fix everything. I went back to the other shop and told them what they had told me and they said go for it at that price. I went back to the dealer and talked to the service manager at that time. I asked what i was getting and he handed me a copy of parts on order that had no decernible description, just a lot of part numbers. I questioned what all that was and he said he really didnt know but it was to represent all the components of a new engine. He then asked if i wanted a gm motor or jasper motor. I asked what was the difference and he said the jasper was a little cheaper but the warranty was 36 months vs. 12 months for the gm. I asked for his recommendation and he told me to get the jasper which i did. When they calld me to pick the car up, a new advisor opened the hood and said "what do you think?" to which i responded, it looks like the same damn engine that was there before. He said it is, we only replaced the lower block.
I should have challenged more but at the time i felt if it fixed the problem then ok. All of that is only relative because of conversations that took place later. When they could not get the jasper block to stop leaking oil after several attempts, they began blaming me for not getting the gm block. Then they said because i didnt replace the entire engine, that new components caused more stress on older parts thereby making things worse. They have since prohibited my wife from coming back to the dealership and told me never to bring the car back because i just couldnt be pleased. I tried to go thru the local bbb for arbitration but they refused and had their attorney write a letter advising me they have done all they could. At one point, the manager simply told me their people were not trained to work on older cars and they were not capable of fixing it. I asked for a refund, for them to pay for another shop to fix it, or for them to fix it, all which they declined. I would love to join in a class action suit as i have heard all kinds of stories from former high up employees of this dealership and ex mechanics. Please contact me or have the media do it.
0 comments