Recall Out Already on LaCrosse

[BNaylor]

For anyone interested. Recall announcement on Buick LaCrosse.

Quote:
"GM also recalled 69,037 of its 2005 model year Buick Lacrosse and Buick Allure sedans, which went on sale last year, for a potential problem with a brake part that could lead to brake loss. GM said it was aware of a low-speed crash, which did not result in any injuries, as a consequence of the potentially faulty brakes".

[Flatrater]

Yup and the recall sucks to do. It takes about 30 miutes to do and we get 18 minutes of pay for each one.

What you did say was the problem is with the retaining clip that holds the brake booster rod to the brake pedal. The clip can fall off and the rod would come off which would cause a loss in brakes.

[BNaylor]

Thanks for the additional info Flatrater. Doesn't sound that bad unless you happen to be the unfortunate person that had the accident.

[Gdubya]

I haven't received anything in the mail yet from GM. I wonder if it is too soon to take my car in? Are all of the early production models being recalled. Doesn't sound like something I'd like to have happen to my brakes when I needed them!

[Gdubya]

Received the recall notice in the mail today (4/29/05),

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by Gdubya

Received the recall notice in the mail today (4/29/05),

Thanks for keeping us posted. I'd get it into the dealer ASAP.

[Gdubya]

Originally Posted by bnaylor3400

Thanks for keeping us posted. I'd get it into the dealer ASAP.

Here's my lengthy recall update: I called the local Buick dealer Tuesday, told the service advisor that I had received a recall notice and wanted to bring my LaCrosse in this week to have it taken care of. He scheduled an appointment for Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. Said it would be no problem and I should be on my way in a half hour or so. This morning I was there on time and spoke to the same service advisor. They got right on it and I went to the customer lounge to wait. About 20 minutes later the advisor came in and informed me that they had taken a look and indeed my car needed to be repaired per the recall but unfortunately they had none of the necessary parts to do the job!! Can you imagine that?? I asked why, if they didn't have any parts to fix the recalls, he would have me bring the car in? "Well, we needed to look at it first to see if it needed fixing, then we can order the parts" he said. Well, needless to say, that lit my fuze!! I won't go into the details of what transpired after that, but in a nutshell I told him that common sense would tell you that before you start scheduling recall apointments you need to be prepared to be able to complete them. I asked to speak to the service manager but was told that he hadn't come in yet, that he worked "various" hours, but would be in later. I then asked for the Buick Customer Service number, which he gave me, and headed home (MAD)! When home I called Buick and a very nice young lady helped me. I explained what had happened so far, and advised her that I was planning a long trip this weekend and was concerned about the safety issue of driving the car now that I knew there was a problem. She offered to call the dealer back, find out exactly what the parts problem was and if it could not be remedied there she would make some calls and see if I could get it done somewhere else nearby. She promised to call me back it a half hour. Just over 30 minutes later she called back and said that she had found another dealer that had all the parts to do the repair and that they could take care of me right away! Great! So off I went. This dealer was about 25 miles from my home however. The people there were very friendly and went to work on the car immediately. The technician, set to do the work, came over to the service writers desk, with about 4 or 5 pages of instructions on doing the recall repair in hand, and said to anyone listening (which included me!) "Well this is the first one of these I've done! This will be a first"! I kinda wished he hadn't said that - at least not in front of me! And again, as I walked passed him as I went to the customer lounge, "doesn't look like it will be too hard to fix, as long as you're a contortionist"! Oh well, at that point what could I do? After about a half hour the advisor came out and said my car was all done and I could be on my way! I thanked him very much for taking care of everything so quickly and headed home (HAPPIER)! Unfortuantely, the story doesn't end here. When just about all the way back home I happened to glance up and discovered a big,brown, greasy, hand print on the headliner! Oh no! It wasn't something I wanted to try to take care of myself. I figured if someone is going to mess up the inside of my car they can take care of it. So, back I went, another 25 mile drive back to the dealer. They took care of it right away so I didn't have to wait and they were able to get all of the stains out to my satisfaction. So, I finally got the recall done after putting about 150 miles on my car and killing the whole damn day doing it. And manufacturers wonder why customers hate recalls! I did learn two things today: Unless it involves an immediate safety issue like this one did, don't bother with the recall until it breaks! Too much time and effort wasted trying to take care of it; 2nd, make SURE the dealer has the parts for the recall before taking the car in - don't assume anything with these guys! I will be calling the service manager back tomorrow at the first dealer to vent a little and to tell him he needs to train his advisors a little better regarding recalls. Then I will call Buick back and explain to them what I had to go through to get their mistake fixed to keep them out of a lawsuit for faulty brake system. I'll keep you posted if anything else develops from all of this!

[BNaylor]

: That is quite an ordeal you went through. The worse part of the whole story is the greasy handprint. I would have gone ballistic.

At least you got it done and are safe.

[Gdubya]

Regarding the greasy handprint....I forgot to mention this: As I was leaving the dealer that ended up doing the repair, the service advisor said "You will probably be receiving a questionaire from Buick asking about how we did our job. That questionaire is very important to us and to me - it's how I get paid. If you bring it in and fill it out here, and indicate that everything was satisfactory, we'll give you a free oil change"! That was said to me before I took the car back the second time. Now I have a dilemma....do I take the questionaire back and fill it out the way he wants in return for a free oil change, or do I fill it out honestly and let the chips fall where they may?? I wonder if the manufacturers know what a joke these questionaires are anyway. I guess they're between a rock and a hard place, they want their dealers to do a good job and for their customers to be satisfied, but its difficult to have any leverage over their dealers to make them do a good job. I think one of the problems is that there is such a hign turn over rate at car dealers, from salespeople, to service, to parts, it's often very difficult to find someone who's been on the job long enough to have any real product knowledge or even an understanding of their own job. Part of the problem of keeping people are the long hours and low pay - dealer charges $76.00 hour labor. How much of that does the tech get? $50.00 and $100.00 salesman commissions on a $25,000.00 vehicle. Another example of what this means to a customer: Today I went to the local Chrysler Jeep dealer (owned by the same owner as the first Buick dealer I went to by the way) I needed a tube of touch up paint for my PT Cruiser - Black. Went to Parts and told them what I needed but forgot to have my paint code with me. The clerk couldn't help me without that code ("I'm kinda new here" he said.) so I had to walk back to my car and get the code off the door. Back I went. Now, this guy needed help looking up the parts number in the book so went for help. Back he came with the boss. Between the two of them they found out the bin number the paint was in. Off he went. A good five minutes later back he came. "It's not there" he said. "Couldn't find it or don't have it" I asked. "Don't have it" he replied. "It's special order". Now this is Black paint remember! Not some low volume color. "Do you want me to order it for you"? he asked, as I was walking out. I kinda gave him a disgusted smile and said "no"! Why should I patronize a store that can't/won't carry a decent inventory of things people need - such as touch up paint? Why should I drive all the way across town for a $6.00 item just to be a good loyal customer to my dealer? I won't! Next time I buy a car I'll be looking just as hard at the service and parts departments as I do at the product!

[Flatrater]

Originally Posted by Gdubya

Regarding the greasy handprint....I forgot to mention this: As I was leaving the dealer that ended up doing the repair, the service advisor said "You will probably be receiving a questionaire from Buick asking about how we did our job. That questionaire is very important to us and to me - it's how I get paid. If you bring it in and fill it out here, and indicate that everything was satisfactory, we'll give you a free oil change"!

First of all I want to say I understand your anger.

The free oil change deal they told you about will get the dealer in trouble if GM finds out. Dealers are not allowed to buy good surveys. I check my customers surveys online daily. We get a copy of every survey with your name right on it. I do make a mental note of people who give me bad surveys and I take action against them in my own ways. I will not go above and beyond to fix there car problems. My paycheck isn't changed because of surveys. I do get a monthly bonus for the surveys but one bad one will not affect my scores enought to change the bonus.

I have worked for the same dealership for 14 years now. I am 100% trained by GM and am a master ASE tech. Our shop labor rate is 69 dollars a hour and I make 16 dollars for every hour of work I do, so you can do the math.

Concerning this recall, it is a pain in the ass and you do have to be a contortionist. The directions in the recall have mistakes in it. Also when it comes to recalls someone has to be the first.

The problems you encountered are GM's as well as the dealers fault. At one time when a recall came out GM would send a list of cars and owners names along with enough parts to do enough cars to begin with. But now GM doesn't send the parts. It takes a good parts manager to order the parts ahead of time so they have them in stock. We have done most of our Lacrosse recalls and the parts were stocked never had to order one. The parts manager has to see a new recall come out and read the recall to see what parts are needed. We have a web site that shows GM memo's including new recalls. If managers don't read the memos they have no way of knowing until its too late.

[BNaylor]

Being a consumer is one thing but if you're a tech then its better IMO not to take these matters too personal. GM and its dealers have a proven track record and can defend themselves. However, consumer input and satisfaction is what will make or break GM and other US car manufacturers over the next several years. So I believe that it is the dealer's perogative as to what they offer to either buy or maintain customer loyalty. Just remember the Japanese automakers don't fight fairly. GM and its dealers are fighting for survival.

[popeye1]

Originally Posted by Flatrater

First of all I want to say I understand your anger.

The free oil change deal they told you about will get the dealer in trouble if GM finds out. Dealers are not allowed to buy good surveys. I check my customers surveys online daily. We get a copy of every survey with your name right on it. I do make a mental note of people who give me bad surveys and I take action against them in my own ways. I will not go above and beyond to fix there car problems. My paycheck isn't changed because of surveys. I do get a monthly bonus for the surveys but one bad one will not affect my scores enought to change the bonus.

I have worked for the same dealership for 14 years now. I am 100% trained by GM and am a master ASE tech. Our shop labor rate is 69 dollars a hour and I make 16 dollars for every hour of work I do, so you can do the math.

Concerning this recall, it is a pain in the ass and you do have to be a contortionist. The directions in the recall have mistakes in it. Also when it comes to recalls someone has to be the first.

The problems you encountered are GM's as well as the dealers fault. At one time when a recall came out GM would send a list of cars and owners names along with enough parts to do enough cars to begin with. But now GM doesn't send the parts. It takes a good parts manager to order the parts ahead of time so they have them in stock. We have done most of our Lacrosse recalls and the parts were stocked never had to order one. The parts manager has to see a new recall come out and read the recall to see what parts are needed. We have a web site that shows GM memo's including new recalls. If managers don't read the memos they have no way of knowing until its too late.

Flatliner: Please dont be too hard on people who give you a bad survey. I realize some people are real a$$ols sometimes, but look at the reason they gave a bad survey. Your the shop foreman find out who is not doing there job. I have had some real problems with dealers of several makes of cars over the years. I have had 14 new cars and trucks and 12 new lease cars before I retired. Most of the dealers were were real jerks. Even then I never sent in a real bad survey. I think back now and know why i didn't. I was a Area Service manager in the marine business for more than 23 years. I had to deal with irate customers all the time because of incompetent dealers sevice. Even today I get upset when I have to bring one of my two Buicks in for service at the local dealership. He is the only game in town. The nearest other Buick dealer is 50 miles away.

Popeye

[Flatrater]

Originally Posted by popeye1

Flatliner: Please dont be too hard on people who give you a bad survey. I realize some people are real a$$ols sometimes, but look at the reason they gave a bad survey. Your the shop foreman find out who is not doing there job. I have had some real problems with dealers of several makes of cars over the years. I have had 14 new cars and trucks and 12 new lease cars before I retired. Most of the dealers were were real jerks. Even then I never sent in a real bad survey. I think back now and know why i didn't. I was a Area Service manager in the marine business for more than 23 years. I had to deal with irate customers all the time because of incompetent dealers sevice. Even today I get upset when I have to bring one of my two Buicks in for service at the local dealership. He is the only game in town. The nearest other Buick dealer is 50 miles away.

Popeye

BTW it's FLATRATER. If the owner has a decent reason for giving a bad survey I have no problem with that. I wish I could do something before they left the dealer to fix the problem. But I do have a problem with owners who give a bad survey because it took more than a minute to get the car into the shop. Or the owners with buyer's remorse that complain about problems we cannot fix due to them not being a problem. Or the owners who feel a need to modify there cars and then complain because their add on is at fault and not covered under warranty. I can keep on giving a list of issues that are not caused by GM or the dealer that result in a bad survey.

Another thing that gets me is if the car owner has a bad experience with the service writer they feel the need to kill me on the part of the survey that deals with my job. I have gone thru 4 service writers this years and just because they didn't know their job the car owners lkilled me on my surveys.

As a shop foreman I am just as hard on the idiots I work with. I have no tolerance for shoddy repairs. I am not shy when it comes to dealing with my techs, they know when I am after them, they know where I stand. The repair must be done right the first time and it must be done per GM no second chances. I wisgh I could sit here and defend dealer techs but frankly some of the techs I have met make it hard for me to call them techs. I perfer to call them parts swappers who need to be removed from the gene pool because they have sulled the water to no end.

[popeye1]

I wish you were in my area. I find too many S/M's who don't seem to care about your car or weather it is fixed or not. You sound like a good guy. Dont change because of a few jerks. Popeye

Originally Posted by Flatrater

BTW it's FLATRATER. If the owner has a decent reason for giving a bad survey I have no problem with that. I wish I could do something before they left the dealer to fix the problem. But I do have a problem with owners who give a bad survey because it took more than a minute to get the car into the shop. Or the owners with buyer's remorse that complain about problems we cannot fix due to them not being a problem. Or the owners who feel a need to modify there cars and then complain because their add on is at fault and not covered under warranty. I can keep on giving a list of issues that are not caused by GM or the dealer that result in a bad survey.

Another thing that gets me is if the car owner has a bad experience with the service writer they feel the need to kill me on the part of the survey that deals with my job. I have gone thru 4 service writers this years and just because they didn't know their job the car owners lkilled me on my surveys.

As a shop foreman I am just as hard on the idiots I work with. I have no tolerance for shoddy repairs. I am not shy when it comes to dealing with my techs, they know when I am after them, they know where I stand. The repair must be done right the first time and it must be done per GM no second chances. I wisgh I could sit here and defend dealer techs but frankly some of the techs I have met make it hard for me to call them techs. I perfer to call them parts swappers who need to be removed from the gene pool because they have sulled the water to no end.