Residual Forces

This post will be filled in soon unless the place figures out how to add customer service to their game plan for servicing vehicles. 

It is almost like this place sat down and thunk up how to run the worst service department in the auto biz, then decided it seemed like a good idea. 

Stay tuned. 

Update:

Walser Pontiac Buick & GMC in Roseville. 

I had to bring my truck in for a recall today. There was an update to the PCM (powertrain control module) that would prevent my truck from possibly just plain not starting. No problem I thought. 

So I made an appointment for 8:30 AM this morning. I dropped it off about 8:15 AM and got it checked in. The guy behind the counter asked me when I needed it back. I said by 3:30. He wrote down 2:30 on the paper in huge red letters with a marker. Then we went over what numbers I could be reached at to let me know when it was down. My cell and work numbers were correct. 

So then I went about my hot, sticky, and sweaty day at work. I figured sometime around 3PM I should get a call saying she’s all done and ready to go, based on my years of experience with service departments from scores of different dealers.

Well, about 4PM, I started to wonder if they were going to do it again. It being not call, and them being Walser Pontiac Buick & GMC. You see, Walser offers a free oil change for life on new cars bought from them. So I had some experience with their service department. 

First, everybody should realize there is a catch the the “free”. You have to pay for all the meaningless interval services. Yes, those ones where they perform the factory recommended 32 point check of the rotate the wipers, lube the door hinges, and change the washer fluid filter. (Note: if any of my readers have paid for the previously mentioned services, call a lawyer, I made them up in order to explain the basic uselessness of those interval services.) 

Most of those things are a joke, but the dealer service department gets to charge you a few hundred bucks to do it, and when it is all over, you have no proof they did one single thing. They can’t (and won’t) hand you a box of bad parts they replaced. Sure there is some merit to do these the more miles you get on, because then they do something, but at 7500 miles, I better not have anything wrong with it yet. 

Anyways, so yeah, I did the first few oil changes there, but it cost me a couple hundred bucks. You see, while the oil changes were free, the interval service fees were not. Regardless, each and every time, I had dropped the truck off rather than wait. 

I’m not a jerk who demands that they get it done with in 30 minutes. I know mechanics and understand that sometimes things come up with new car deals and such and it is nice to have some slack. I work nearby and can usually beg an fellow employee to drop me off and pick me up. 

But each and every time I have taken my truck to Walser Pontiac Buick and GMC in Roseville, they have been terrible on the customer service. 

One time when I took it in for an oil change, I got it back leaking oil. Other times when I asked questions about the factory remote starter, I got some very “interesting” answers and points about glow plugs from the service manager/write up dude, that I am sure General Motors would not agree with. Defying the laws of physics and design of the motor in my truck. 

Anyways, I am a guy who has been wrenching on my own trucks for years. I grew up around people working on cars, trucks, and machinery so I really hated paying people to do stuff I could. And on those one out of every other one, free trips, I hated having to take the time off and bugging someone to go drop me off when i could have just done the same thing myself in less time then it took to get the truck and me there and back. 

Oh and then there was the time I tried to change the fuel filter. I called the Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC and they wanted $120 to change the fuel filter. I decided to do it myself. The one for my truck is a bit weird. It has an o-ring rather than a regular gasket you’d see on the canister style filters. I went and popped the $30 bucks for one at Rosedale Chev. (Why Chev and not GMC? Same parts, but for some reason I get a discount at Rosedale Chev. It is more than that retail, or if I got it at Walser GMC.)

Anyways, I couldn’t get the first filter not to leak and tried to wrench it on thinking I had weak hands. Well, I pierced the side  and had to get a second one. No luck and she still leaked and I had a heck of a time keeping pressure in the line so she would start up. That’s $60 down the drain so far. So, I broke down and called Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC’s service department thinking that since I bought the truck there, maybe they’d be the best place to go for some advice.

All I got was a bring it in and we’ll take a look. $300 or so later, I got a truck with a new fuel filter that ran great and didn’t leak. Unfortunately, the yackoff decided he needed to charge me a diagnotic fee on top of the filter change.

Now I am sorry, I know they did have to look and see why, but once they realized I didn’t know what ever the secret tip to the o-ring was, they could have just said, hey we need to throw a new filter on there, and call it a day. Service one of “their” customers, and keep everybody happy.

They didn’t. Oh sure. My fault. I know I could have just brought it in, but they didn’t need to make $118 dollars for having someone go and look at my truck, then another $100 to have him change the filter. At some point someone needs to say, if we charge for this and at these rates, these people won’t come back.

And I will be one who won’t. Tonight was the last time I brought my truck to Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC in Roseville for service.

I even emailed the guy I bought it from asking him to go down and see if my truck was ready cause they wouldn’t answer my phone. It also included a little commentary on their service department, much briefer than in this post. 

It just so happened that today they were being auditted by the Walser corporate for their service. I found that out because after trying to call to find out WTF?! was up with my truck at 4PM, and getting caught up in the phone maze of pressing the correct combination of numbers to leave a messages, “because they’re too busy to get to me” ……

Anyways, I had to call back a few times trying to get to the right voicemail option and left a message. It was a general number for all of Walser. It went to corporate, and said their average return time was 10 minutes.

Around that many minutes later, maybe a few more, I did get a call from someone. It was the auditor who just happened to be at Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC today. I was pretty nice on the phone and just wanted my stinking truck back.  

Well, when I got there finally tonight, I saw my sales guy and told him the email I sent was not a shot at him and to pass it along to the proper channels. He asked what was wrong, I told him. And he tried to talk to me but the more I went over how terrible I felt things were, the madder I got. I said that maybe I was spoiled from dealing with Polar Chev and the guy I knew there, but if I had sat down and thunk up how to come up with the worst Service Department ever, it would be this one here at Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC. 

Eventually the corporate guy who called me came over and I was pretty worked up. I gave him a real brief rundown and finished by saying that I didn’t spend a shitload of money on a truck to be treated like shit and thaty I would never be coming here again. 

Walser Roseville Buick Pontiac & GMC’s service department is a place you shall and must avoid unless they completely clean house and restaff. I strongly urge every single person to avoid going there at any and all costs. Do not take your vehicle to Walser Buick Pontiac & GMC in Roseville for service!!!!!!!  

I give them a big fat F on any and all scales for their service department. 

(Note: My girlfriend bought her FJ Cruiser from Walser’s Toyota in Bloomington and likes the people down there. Seems to me to be just a Roseville branch problem, not a corporate wide one. )