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!