Just a bit of a vent that I would like to share with the rest of the class and get off of my chest at the moment. It's a little lengthy so if you feel like skipping to the good stuff, just look for the sign. 
As many of you may remember, Alison and I bought a 1999 Chevy Suburban last August. We were the second owners, following an elderly lady that only used it every once and a while to get around town. Needless to say, it was in very good shape and had somewhere around 80,000 miles on it. It is an awesome vehicle to cart the kids around in and navigate up our mountain in the worst of weather. It is our trip car, travel car, grocery car, etc... It's the car that we drove from New Hampshire to make it to the DC Meetup as well.
What some of you know and the rest of you will in about two seconds is that Alison and I are relocating to Texas and I drove down to get some of the stuff started down here, find a job, house, and get everything ready for the big move. The 'burb did a really good job getting my mom and I down here and was doing great getting me around town on the job searches and familiarization of the area....until one day. I was driving across town when it started sputtering like the spark plugs had gotten fouled. This was okay for me because it was getting to be right at 94,000 miles on it and most spark plugs are rated to be changed at 100k, so I changed them, nothing did some more work, all for nothing... so I had it towed. Fast forward two service departments and two tows across town and we come to discover that the engine needs to be replaced. There is something so wrong with the engine that it would cost more to repair it than replace it, so we have a price tag of somewhere near $5000 to do that.... to a 1999 engine with less than 100k miles on it. :hertz: Um... okay, let me call GM and see if they have any programs to help with this since it wouldn't look good for thier company if their motors only last this long.
*Sign*
I call up General Motors Customer support and ask them what they can do. I spend about an hour with bad customer service and a manager on a power trip being rude to me to see that "There is a recall on your vehicle for your seat neck extender, so there is nothing that GM can do for your engine." I say, "So GM doesn't think that their engine failing at less than 100,000 miles is odd enough to try and do something for us?" He says, "I didn't say we wouldn't do anything for you!" Me: "Um... you just did say that." "NO I DID NOT!" me: "Why don't you play back the recording, because you did. Better yet, ask me... I was there." Long silence and he comes back with "Let me see if there is something we can do". Ok, fine, let's see what they can do. I get a call back yesterday with some lady saying, "We've elevated your problem to a higher office in GM to see if they can help in any way." She asks a bunch of questions about car care, which we took care of it very well, mileage, various other stuff and says they can get back to me in a few days, probably on Thursday at 5pm. Today I get the call.
"There is nothing that GM will do to help you with the cost of repairing your engine."
me: "So, I, as a customer of GM, am not worth even getting a 1% discount on the cost of an engine to maybe keep me as a customer?"
"GM has made it's decision and will not help you in any way"
me: "Why won't they help me?"
"Because you have such high mileage on your vehicle, you don't have a warranty on the vehicle, It's such an old vehicle, and other factors lead to GM's decision"
me: "100k miles is a lot for the motor? Does that mean that the $60k replacement suburban wouldn't last that long either? Why should I replace this motor when the track record thus far isn't great?"
"GM has made it's decision and will not help you"
me: "So I am not significant enough of a person, as a GM owner, to be worthy as saving as a customer at any cost whatsoever? Is there anyone I can call to address this further or to have it reevaluated?"
"No, GM has given you an answer and any person you speak to will see it in your file and give you the same answer I am giving you now."
me: "Okay, then. At least now I know where General Motors stands"
"I am sorry for your inconvenience, have a GREAT (that's right, great) day."
Moral for those that didn't want to read more is that their complete disregard for their own customers or current owners has baked my cookies. I can not believe that a company as large as GM would rather lose a customer for life than give even $100 bucks in support of their own product that failed early. I think my mission from here forward will be to let every person know how insignificant we are to GM and how they would rather lose thier future customers to save .00000000000000001% of their bottom line. Kinda makes you feel all warm and tingly inside, huh? There will definitely be more to come from this one.
PS, this isn't a soapbox vent to get people started on the US cars vs. Foreign vs. gas guzzlers vs. global warming stuff, it's just a vent because I am still in shock about how little GM cares about thier customers.
As many of you may remember, Alison and I bought a 1999 Chevy Suburban last August. We were the second owners, following an elderly lady that only used it every once and a while to get around town. Needless to say, it was in very good shape and had somewhere around 80,000 miles on it. It is an awesome vehicle to cart the kids around in and navigate up our mountain in the worst of weather. It is our trip car, travel car, grocery car, etc... It's the car that we drove from New Hampshire to make it to the DC Meetup as well.
What some of you know and the rest of you will in about two seconds is that Alison and I are relocating to Texas and I drove down to get some of the stuff started down here, find a job, house, and get everything ready for the big move. The 'burb did a really good job getting my mom and I down here and was doing great getting me around town on the job searches and familiarization of the area....until one day. I was driving across town when it started sputtering like the spark plugs had gotten fouled. This was okay for me because it was getting to be right at 94,000 miles on it and most spark plugs are rated to be changed at 100k, so I changed them, nothing did some more work, all for nothing... so I had it towed. Fast forward two service departments and two tows across town and we come to discover that the engine needs to be replaced. There is something so wrong with the engine that it would cost more to repair it than replace it, so we have a price tag of somewhere near $5000 to do that.... to a 1999 engine with less than 100k miles on it. :hertz: Um... okay, let me call GM and see if they have any programs to help with this since it wouldn't look good for thier company if their motors only last this long.
*Sign*
I call up General Motors Customer support and ask them what they can do. I spend about an hour with bad customer service and a manager on a power trip being rude to me to see that "There is a recall on your vehicle for your seat neck extender, so there is nothing that GM can do for your engine." I say, "So GM doesn't think that their engine failing at less than 100,000 miles is odd enough to try and do something for us?" He says, "I didn't say we wouldn't do anything for you!" Me: "Um... you just did say that." "NO I DID NOT!" me: "Why don't you play back the recording, because you did. Better yet, ask me... I was there." Long silence and he comes back with "Let me see if there is something we can do". Ok, fine, let's see what they can do. I get a call back yesterday with some lady saying, "We've elevated your problem to a higher office in GM to see if they can help in any way." She asks a bunch of questions about car care, which we took care of it very well, mileage, various other stuff and says they can get back to me in a few days, probably on Thursday at 5pm. Today I get the call.
"There is nothing that GM will do to help you with the cost of repairing your engine."
me: "So, I, as a customer of GM, am not worth even getting a 1% discount on the cost of an engine to maybe keep me as a customer?"
"GM has made it's decision and will not help you in any way"
me: "Why won't they help me?"
"Because you have such high mileage on your vehicle, you don't have a warranty on the vehicle, It's such an old vehicle, and other factors lead to GM's decision"
me: "100k miles is a lot for the motor? Does that mean that the $60k replacement suburban wouldn't last that long either? Why should I replace this motor when the track record thus far isn't great?"
"GM has made it's decision and will not help you"
me: "So I am not significant enough of a person, as a GM owner, to be worthy as saving as a customer at any cost whatsoever? Is there anyone I can call to address this further or to have it reevaluated?"
"No, GM has given you an answer and any person you speak to will see it in your file and give you the same answer I am giving you now."
me: "Okay, then. At least now I know where General Motors stands"
"I am sorry for your inconvenience, have a GREAT (that's right, great) day."
Moral for those that didn't want to read more is that their complete disregard for their own customers or current owners has baked my cookies. I can not believe that a company as large as GM would rather lose a customer for life than give even $100 bucks in support of their own product that failed early. I think my mission from here forward will be to let every person know how insignificant we are to GM and how they would rather lose thier future customers to save .00000000000000001% of their bottom line. Kinda makes you feel all warm and tingly inside, huh? There will definitely be more to come from this one.
PS, this isn't a soapbox vent to get people started on the US cars vs. Foreign vs. gas guzzlers vs. global warming stuff, it's just a vent because I am still in shock about how little GM cares about thier customers.
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