Wednesday, September 30, 2009

GM Calls back


At 10:40AM today I got a call from Larry Beckham at GM. He apologized for not calling me at the time we had set up. He then told me that the case was considered closed as my seats were now working as per the bulletin that Chevrolet put out. I told him that I felt like that bulletin was created because they can't figure out how to get the seats working right. He assured me that was the way all Chevrolet vehicles were working and that was the design they were using. I disagreed with him but then told him this case was far from closed as I still had problems that had not been fixed, such as the random NAV unit reboots as well as the power-point issues with the cell phone charger. He asked me if the OnStar was working properly I told him that it was but that I had not really used it. I then asked him to what end do we stop repairing this vehicle. He stated we stop when its fixed, I then told him that I have no confidence that this vehicle will ever get fixed and that it was time to discuss replacing this one with another one like it. I told him that under Missouri's lemon law that this vehicle had been in the shop 4 times all for electrical problems which the state AG considers the same problem. I then said that we are just days away from meeting the other qualification for lemon of 30 days or more in the shop for repairs. I told him I felt at some point customer satisfaction needed to come into play and that if we needed to get someone higher up than him to make that decision that's what we should do. He then told me he was the District Specialist for customer service and it was his decision to make. Mr. Beckham then asked me to hold on while he called the dealership. After a few minutes Mr. Beckham got back on the line and that he had just talked to my service adviser Justin who had confirmed to him that my vehicle had indeed been in the shop 4 times as I had said and he wasn't sure how many days but estimated it too be 2 weeks I told him 18 days to be exact. He told me that there were indeed problems with the vehicle that needed to be addressed as well as some shortcomings with the dealership. I told him that "ANYTHING" he could do would be appreciated. I also told him that I felt that buying a new car was supposed to be exciting and what I would consider a happy time but this experience has left me severely wanting for that. He then set up an appointment to call me back on 10/2/09 between 11AM-1PM so he would have time to call the dealership up to discuss options. I told him to make sure he didn't forget about the appointment and he stated he would put a sticky note on his monitor to make sure I was called back. I thanked him and we hung up.

Called GM

This morning I called GM and I couldn't find Mr. Beckham's extension number so I let it go to the GM customer service operator. I told the person I was talking to that I had a case number and I had been working with Larry Beckham ond just needed to be put through to his extension to leave a message. He asked me for the case number and told me to please hold for 3 to 5 minutes while he reviewed my case. He then comes back and tells me that "Mr. Larry" would be calling me back tomorrow. I asked to be put through to his voice mail to leave a message and he told me "Mr. Larry" would be calling me back on 10/01/09 between the hours of 12PM and 2PM. I asked him if he knew why "Mr. Beckham" did not call me when he was scheduled to on 9/28/09 he said he would transfer me to "Mr. Larry's" voicemail. I then left Mr. Beckham a message asking him to call me back and asking why he didn't on Monday.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

No Call from GM

Well the GM rep Mr. Beckham was supposed to call me yesterday 9/28/09 and didn't I thought I would give him another day in case he was busy and he didn't call today either. I suppose I will call him and leave a message tomorrow.

Here is the seat bulletin


This is the seat bulletin that I got from the dealer. The problem with the power seats is sometimes they don't move, sometimes they move to the right position, and sometimes the move to a position that makes you say WTF!!!!!!! I have had power seats with memory features in 2 other cars besides this one and they both would marry up to the key fob and no matter what position you would move the seats or mirrors to when you pushed the unlock button the seats and mirrors went back to the position associated with that key fob. That is how the salesman told me the memory seats worked and that is how the dealers own service department thought they worked too until they got this bulletin. Chevrolet's own tech told me that is the way the memory seat function was intended to work but they are working as designed.

OnStar Reset problem

Here is a video I took of the OnStar reset the message you hear is what you might expect when you use OnStar for the 1st time not after you have had the car for a month. This message was different than the one it had given my wife the night before when it told her that "OnStar was only available for emergency use only in this vehicle" I also had another message for the hands free calling that wouldn't work either but my phone number is in that video so I'm not going to post it.

Radio Video

Here is a video I shot with my phone that demonstrates the radio issue. I was later told by the service tech that my wife's cell phone charger was what was causing the problem. When I asked why the radio would work if I remote start the vehicle with the charger plugged in there was no problem, or if I plugged the charger in after the vehicle was turned on there was no problem. I was told the solution was just don't use the charger.

Here are the contents of my personal log so far.

Below are the contents of my log so far I plan on posting some videos that I have taken documenting the problems too very soon.


8/4/09 - Purchased new 2010 Equinox from Cable-Dahmer Chevrolet from salesman Steve Elliot.


8/13/09 - Called Steve Elliot and informed him about problems we were having such as the Nav system rebooting, the seat memory system not working properly, the info button on the radio not working, and no sound on the radio when starting the vehicle but the sound would work when the vehicle was started via the remote start. He told me that he would make a service appointment for me.


8/17/09 - Took vehicle in for service met with Justin told him everything I had told Steve Elliot about. (No appointment had been made.)


8/20/09 - Picked vehicle up was told that the problem with the radio was my wife's cell phone charger and was told not to use it in the power point in the center console. When I asked if that was the problem then why does the radio work when the vehicle was remote started with the adapter plugged in I was given no explanation and told the solution was just to not use the charger. I was also told that the memory seat part was ordered from GM and would be called when it arrived for installation. Traffic and weather info still was not working on the vehicle.


8/28/09 - Noticed OnStar status light turning red.


8/31/09 - OnStar light turned red, I then notified OnStar that the light was intermittently going from green to red they indicated that there could be a problem with the vehicle and given a case number 1358551005. I was told to take it to the dealer for service.


9/1/09 - Brought vehicle in for service for OnStar light, I told Justin that OnStar had told me what part was malfunctioning but that I couldn’t remember what it was but the OnStar rep told me all they needed to do was call OnStar for the trouble ticket and they could tell them what was wrong. I also told them that the weather and traffic info buttons were not working properly. I was told by Justin that the seat module had come in and it would be installed as well.


9/2/09 - Picked vehicle up and upon reading what was done I noticed it said there was no problem detected with the OnStar. I expressed doubt about this diagnosis however the weather info and traffic info were now working.


9/3/09 - OnStar light once again turned red called OnStar and was given another case number. I then called Justin at Cable/Dahmer and asked him why the OnStar issue wasn't fixed the day before and was told that the technician called OnStar the day before and found the system to be functioning. He then told me that OnStar had no record of any trouble with the system. I then called OnStar and got the case numbers as well as the dates I had called and immediately called Justin back and gave them to him. It was then that I expressed my confidence level in the vehicle was very low. He suggested I call the GM customer service line which I did.

Upon calling I talked to Jimmie Gomez and explained the problems that I was having with the vehicle. I informed of my low satisfaction in the vehicle as well as a few reservations I was having about the dealer and their knowledge about my vehicle. Mr. Gomez assured me GM would do everything they could to make sure my vehicle was fixed or replaced to my satisfaction. he asked me to take the vehicle back to Cable/Dahmer Chevrolet the next day. I was then given a case number 71755586852. I then called Justin to make an appointment. The appointment was made for 9/8/09 I asked Justin what loaners were available and he told me that Malibu's, HHR's, Impala's, Cobalt's, and some trucks were the loaner vehicles they had. I told Justin that I wanted a Malibu or HHR for a loaner and not an Impala like I had had the previous times. He told me that would be no problem and he would take care of it.


9/8/09 - Took vehicle in for service when I asked about the loaner that was requested I was told that the only loaners available were Impala’s, a Cobalt and a Colorado Pickup. I was told no request was made for a specific loaner so I chose an Impala. After the keys were given to me and the loaner papers signed I then went in to talk to my salesman Steve Elliot about the problems I was having and about my dissatisfaction with the loaner situation, as well as the problems we were having with the vehicle. I tell him at that time that in the month that I had had the vehicle that it had been in the shop for 7 days for repairs or basically about 25% of the time I have owned it He then got his sales managers permission to place me into a 2009 Malibu off the lot.


9/10/09 - Called Justin to find out how things were going with the vehicle and was told that it should be done tomorrow 9/11/09 I told him that if it were done after 2:00PM that I would have to pick it up on Saturday 9/12/09 because I had plans for the evening and I wouldn't have time to pick it up.


9/11/09 - Justin called around 10:20AM and told me my vehicle would not be ready until after 2:00PM. I told him I would just plan on coming Saturday morning 9/12/09 then to pick it up.


9/11/09 - Jimmy Gomez from GM called at 4:59PM to see if the repairs had worked on my vehicle and if I was satisfied with the vehicle. I told Mr. Gomez he would have to call the dealership to see how the repairs were going because I still had not gotten my vehicle back yet. Mr. Gomez said the dealer had told him it was done. He then said he would call back in a couple of days to check back with me about the vehicle.


9/11/09 - Justin called at 5:11PM to tell me that the repairs were not complete and they were having some problem with the parts GM sent but my vehicle should be ready on Monday 9/14/09.


9/14/09 - At around 6:30PM I received a call from Steve Elliot asking me to bring the loaner vehicle that he had given me because they had sold it. I informed him that the reason I still had it was that my vehicle was still in their shop being fixed. He then told me again that he needed the vehicle to be brought back. I complained and told him that I live over 70 miles away from the dealership and the 2 1/2 hours that it would take to do this would be an inconvenience. He then apologized and told me that I would get another loaner. I told him that the loaner wasn't the issue the time that I would have to take from work to get him the vehicle was the problem. He once again apologized and told me they needed the car sometime tomorrow morning. I told him I would get it there very begrudgingly I then hung up the phone.


At 6:45PM I called Steve Elliot back I left him a message that I was on my way to bring the loaner back he then called me back and told me the new loaner would be ready. Upon arrival at the dealership I spoke with Brent Wartell and expressed my dissatisfaction about not only my vehicle but the way that the loaner situation was handled. I told him the way the loaner situation should have been handled was to apologize for the situation and affer to pick up the vehicle I had and drop off a new loaner vehicle. He told me he would pass a message onto Marty Dahmer and that he would be in contact with me the next day.


09/15/09 - At 11:20AM I received a call from Marty Dahmer. I explained the entire timeline of the problems with my vehicle, I also told Mr. Dahmer of the shortcomings of his dealership that I had experienced and how I felt some of the situations should have been handled. Mr. Dahmer assured me that the problems with my vehicle would be taken care of and told me that the lines of communication would be discussed and any problems there would be fixed. Mr. Dahmer told me that if he had another Equinox on the lot that he would rescind the sale of mine and place me in a new one. He also told me that when my vehicle was done it would be brought to me.


09/15/09 - At 12:35PM I received a call from Justin telling me my car should be available to pick up and they were test driving my vehicle to make sure all the problems had been fixed. He said he would call me back later to let me know if my vehicle was done and when I could pick it up. I explained to him that Marty Dahmer had told me that they were bringing it to me, Justin was unaware of this and said he would have to find out from someone what was going on.


9/15/09 - At 3:02PM Justin called to tell me that my car was ready for me to pick it up and they would in fact be bringing it to me. He was unsure if it would be today or tomorrow morning. He told me he would call me back to let me know.


9/15/09 - At 3:25PM Jimmie Gomez from General Motors calls I explain to him that I still have not got my vehicle back yet, but that it is done and I am waiting for them to call and let me know when it will be brought to me. I explain to Mr. Gomez that my confidence in the dealership as well as the vehicle has been shattered. Mr. Gomez asks me to please be patient and take delivery of the vehicle to ensure that everything has been repaired. Mr. Gomez then said that if everything was not repaired that he would escalate my ticket to the next level.


9/16/09 - At 8:27AM Justin from Cable/Dahmer calls to tell me that my vehicle is on the way to me. He apologizes for all the inconveniences and tells me that hopefully everything is fixed now.


9/16/09 - At 9:30AM the vehicle arrives.


9/16/09 - At 4:57PM Jimmie Gomez from General Motors calls and verified that I have my vehicle back. He then asks me if everything is working ok, I tell him that I am still having problems with the memory seat function. I also tell him that I purchased a new charger for my wife’s cell phone and that the radio still malfunctions if it is plugged in when the vehicle is started however if you start the vehicle and then plug the adapter in there is no problem. He asks me if I wish to escalate the matter because he has reached the limit of his ability to get the problem resolved. He told me that another GM representative would call me the next day.


9/17/09 - At 11:35AM Larry Beckham from GM leaves me a message introducing himself and tells me my new case number is 71-755586852. He then says he will call back between 5PM to 7PM later on in the evening.


9/17/09 - At 4:54PM I receive a phone call from 866-790-5700 which I recognize as a GM number. When I answer nobody is on the other line so I call back and Mr. Beckham answers. I explain who I am and that I was returning a call, Mr. Beckham then tells me to give him a second to get my case pulled up on his computer. After a couple minutes he then asks me what the problem with the vehicle is, I basically tell him everything I had told Mr. Gomez the day before and I add to it by telling him that when the heated seats are turned on they make a click sound and that my wife and I had never noticed that before. He asked me which seat and I told him both. He told me at that time I needed to make an appointment with the dealer to get the problems re-checked and I asked him at what point do we stop fixing and take my satisfaction into account and just provide me with another vehicle like mine. He told me that GM would do everything they could to make sure my vehicle works and that he would call the dealership for me so we could make the appointment. (He did this while talking over me)

It was at that time I told him that I was to the point that I felt that there were serious electrical problems with my vehicle and I felt it would never be fixed and that eventually the warranty would run out and I would be stuck with a non working vehicle. He then told me GM would fix my vehicle.(He did this while talking over me) I was then that he placed a call to Cable/Dahmer and asked for Justin my service advisor. I explained to Justin what was happening again and Justin then said that he would Have Marty Dahmer call me back immediately to decide the next step. I thanked him and he hung up. Mr. Beckham then told me that he would call me tomorrow and get an update as to the solution. (He stressed the fact that we should hang up so I would be available to receive the call from Marty Dahmer.)


9/18/09 - No calls from either Cable/Dahmer or Mr. Beckham from GM.


9/19/09 - At 8:30PM I get a call from my wife who tells me she can't find the Chuck E. Cheese that she was going to in KC on the GPS. I told her to use OnStar and the vehicle stated OnStar was only available for emergency use. She asked me if we subscribed to the directions package and I told her yes. I then called OnStar and they verified that we had the full Directions and Connections package. I have my wife try again and the car tells her OnStar is for emergency use only. I tell her I will check the vehicle when she gets home.


9/20/09 - At 10:00AM I try the OnStar button welcoming me to OnStar as though the system has never been used which is not the case. I also decide to try the built in OnStar Phone and I am told I do not have enough minutes to make the call. I know this to not be true, however I called OnStar to have them check the minutes on the built in phone and I am told I have 125 minutes that are good until 8/3/10. I go out to try the phone again only to hear the same message that I have no minutes.


9/21/09 - At 8:45AM I call Cable/Dahmer and ask for Justin my service advisor. He answers and I explain to him the problems with the OnStar system, the built in phone, and that the memory seats still aren’t working properly. I also ask him why I never received a phone call on 9/17/09 or 9/18/09 as promised by him. I then asked him do I need to drop an F-bomb to convey how important it to me that that my car gets fixed he then told me he would make sure Marty Dahmer got back with me to address my vehicle problems.


9/21/09 - At 10:30AM Marty Dahmer calls me and tells me “I understand you are still having problems with your vehicle?” I explain to him that yes I am and that I called about the problems the day after the vehicle was brought back to me and that I was told he was going to call me back, which he never did. He then apologized and asked me specifically what the problems were I explained the memory seat issue in detail to him and also the OnStar situation as well as the phone. He felt as though they might be able to fix the OnStar issue without bringing the vehicle in, he said that basically the computer was swapped out the last time it was in for service and that they may need to call OnStar to get everything working right for me again. I told him this should have been done before it even left the dealer the last time and he agreed. He then told me that if the vehicle needed to be brought back down to be serviced that he would pick my vehicle up and bring me a loaner. He then said he would look into getting my car fixed and would call me back to let me know what was going on.


9/21/09 At 1:52PM I receive a call from Larry Beckham from GM he told me that he had just talked to the dealer and they told him that I should have my car back tomorrow and hopefully everything should be fixed. I asked Mr. Beckham that it was news to me and that I had not even heard from the dealer as to when they were picking my vehicle up. He then called Cable/Dahmer and Justin my service advisor was on the the line he verified to me that he overheard the service manager talking about it and that he thought that they would send a car to me tomorrow and pick mine up to get it worked on. I thanked him and he hung up. Mr. Beckham made an appointment with me for 9/23/09 for a call from him sometime between the hours of 4-6PM. I asked him why I never received a call back as promised by him last time. He told me that's what this was, I then told him that the last time I had talked to him he said he would call me back on 9/18/09. He told me I must be mistaken because he had it set up to call me today. He then told me that once the vehicle was fixed and that was the top priority then we needed to discuss compensation. I told him since he brought it up at the very least the warranty should be extended. I also told him that I still had no confidence in the vehicle and that I have almost developed a sense of loathing against the vehicle because it has been a major source of frustration. He told me that once the vehicle was fixed we would discuss that matter and that he would call back in a couple of days.


9/22/09 - At 9:32AM Justin from Cable/Dahmer and told me they were on the way to pick up my vehicle. I told Justin that the NAV unit had re-booted while driving again as well.


9/22/09 - At 10:40AM the driver picked up my vehicle and dropped off a 2010 Malibu loaner.

9/23/09 - At 4:36PM I received a phone call from Larry Beckham asking me if I had received my vehicle yet, I told him no and he asked me if I minded holding while he called the dealer to check the status. After about 3 minutes Justin from Cable/Dahmer was on the line and told me that my vehicle’s OnStar system had been fixed and everything was working fine with it now. He also told me that OnStar had issued a new phone number and that when I got my vehicle back I could call OnStar and they would be able to give me my new number. Justin then stated that they had received a TSB on my vehicles memory seat function and the bulletin explained the operation of the memory seats and also stated that the seats were not working the way they were intended however they were working as designed. I asked him so basically the way it explains the operation in the manual and how they work are 2 different things? He stated yes and then he told me that basically what happens is that if the positions of the seat are moved then the seats will go back to that position instead of the memory position that has been saved into the seat. He said this is not the way Chevrolet had intended the memory seat function to work but that was how the memory seat functions and how the memory seat controller was designed. He then told me they were arranging to bring my vehicle to me and he would include a copy of the TSB with the driver who brought my vehicle to me. I thanked him and he hung up. Mr. Beckham then told me he was unaware of the TSB and would have to look into the matter more. I told him that the memory seat function was one of the reasons we considered the Equinox over the Honda CRV and it was actually one of the determining factors because my wife and I had had that function in the past 3 vehicles we had owned. He apologized that the functions may had been mis-represented by GM. I told Mr. Beckham that I had contacted the Missouri Attorney Generals office for clarifications Missouri’s lemon law and that they had informed me that by having 4 problems with electrical components on the vehicle in a 12 month period that this vehicle would qualify as a lemon. Mr. Beckham stated he needed to do more research and then requested to make a call-back appointment for 9/28/09 between 2-4PM I told him that was fine and we hung up.


9/24/09 - At 8:23AM I received a call from Justin at Cable/Dahmer stating that my vehicle would be on its way to me after they washed it and filled the gas tank up. I thanked him and hung up.


9/24/09 - At 10:05AM I received a call from Justin at Cable/Dahmer telling me that while the driver was bringing the vehicle back to me the NAV system completely re-booted on him while driving (Like it had done to me previously on 3 other occasions) and that he was in the process of bringing it back to the shop. He told me he would call me as soon as he found out something on the vehicle. I asked him to keep me informed and then we hung up.


9/24/09 - At 11:15AM I received my car back, when I questioned the driver as to what happened he told me that a tech checked my vehicle and it appeared to be working right so they brought it back to me.


9/28/09 - No call back from Mr. Beckham.


9/29/09 - At 8:18 I received a call from Justin at Cable/Dahmer he asked me how things were going with my car I told him that other than the seats still not working as they should I hadn’t noticed any problems so far. He then told me the Chevrolet had issued a bulletin in my radio/nav unit rebooting and they had a solution in place to fix it now. I asked him to fax me a copy of the bulletin and gave him my fax number. He said he would fax it to me and to call them if it messes up again.

Sick of the "New" Chevrolet

If the "New" Chevrolet is better than the old Chevrolet it no wonder it went bankrupt. I have decided to start this blog to document the problems that I have been having with my new 2010 Chevy Equinox. I have been keeping a private log up until now and have decided to start sharing my troubles with this vehicle and the troubles with Chevrolet in dealing with the problems. Basically so far our NEW car has been in the shop for repairs 4 times for a total of 18 days and we haven't even had it for 2 months.