Camaro owner records mechanics abusing car

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:49 pm

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/ ... 07580.html

When you own a sports car, you inevitably get a little paranoid about how it's treated when in the care of strangers. One South Carolina man was worried enough that when he took his 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS in for service at a Chevy dealer, he hid a voice recorder in the car. He was right to be worried: The recorder caught mechanics doing burnouts and discussing how to make the owner pay for a ruined clutch the car didn't have before coming in. Now the Internet Justice League has taken the wheel.William Clark says he took his Camaro to Best Chevrolet-Kia in Easley, S.C. for a clunking noise in the car's six-speed manual transmission. After a previous visit to a different dealer, his Camaro had died shortly after Clark retrieved it; while he suspected the staff at that dealership of joyriding, he had no proof at the time.

This time, the voice recorder hidden in the door pocket catches employees doing several burnouts and hard launches in the Camaro; Clark later says the techs drove it harder in 20 minutes than he had in three years. Once back in the shop, the mechanics realize the Camaro's clutch has been fried, and come up with a plan to blame the damage on Clark, saying to "write it up as him buying a (expletive) clutch," while saying another part failed under warranty so that General Motors would pay for its replacement.

Clark says he's taken his evidence to the dealer and Chevrolet customer service; the dealer offered to reassess the damage or take the Camaro as a trade-in on another car, but refused Clark's demand to buy the car back. Clark says Chevrolet customer service washed it hands of the problem, saying it was an issue between him and the dealer. As of the last update, the car's smoked clutch remains untouched.

Unfortunately for Clark, there's few other steps he can take that don't end in court. Dealers are regulated by states; Clark can file a complaint with South Carolina officials, but even with an audio recording the assessment of damage isn't so clear-cut as if the mechanics had wrecked it on a test drive. Instead, other Camaro owners have taken up the cause, posting Clark's video to the dealership's Facebook page and otherwise making noise about the problem.

You can hear the entire exchange, including the profanity, here. A lawyer for Best Chevrolet, in a request to Yahoo Autos to take down this story, told us in an email that the audio was "misleadingly edited." Clark has said the dealership has threatened to sue him over the audio, but has also spoken with him about buying the Camaro back. The dealership may soon learn that in the Internet era, one burnt clutch can create quite the stink.

UPDATE: General Motors says in a statement that if the recording is valid it does not condone the behavior described, and that it is "actively working closely with the dealer to resolve this situation to the customer's satisfaction."

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:36 pm

I've considered doing the same a few times. It's amazing what auto repair places try to get away with. There have been a few times where I just plain didn't have the time/energy to do my own work & took my car to the shop. I've regretted it every time. They either overcharged for simple crap or straight up lied. Fortunately, I've finally found an honest place, but I went through a good 6 that weren't.

GuardianAsher · Post by **GuardianAsher** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:29 pm

The last time my car got taken in for service, it was for a simple oil change that I was sure a dealer could handle. First, they didn't know how much oil the engine took, so they guessed, and put 5 quarts in a 4 quart engine. Unfortunately, I wasn't the one who took the car in and wasn't aware of this until I got home after work to find the damage done. I had taken my own oil and filter in, and when I went to drain the extra quart of oil out, it was dirty as it had been before. They stole my oil and added an extra quart for the hell of it. Never, never again will I take my car in for anything, ever. I'll do all the work from now on.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:45 pm

Well, I'm sure bad things happen to some but having been in the business for 35 yrs now, to me it's very strange as to why any techs would want to intentionally harm any customers car. As a tech, you're livelihood depends on your customers being happy and wanting to return thus you wouldn't ever want to piss anyone off as you'll be cutting your own throat in the end.
I've never once seen any tech intentionally try to harm a customers car. It can easily be proven and that customer will not only never return but will also tell at least 10 other people how they were screwed. I can't imagine why any sane person would do that.
Now as for some places having incompetent workers, sure......they're everywhere and in every walk of life, even so called "professional" types who have been to a lot of school and make big $$$.
Most decent places try to weed out the "Herman's"

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:50 am

that's pretty much my worst fear. i've never had something like that happen (that i know of), but am always worried dropping my cars off for standard maintenance. mainly because i'm OCD about the condition of my cars...

i can honestly say 99% of the scratches and nicks on the interior of my lexus have come from the dealership during oil changes or recall work. the driver door especially...i don't know what they do, but the black trim near the interior window is scratched up more each time. it's like they roll the window down and lean into the car (to turn it on/off maybe?) over and over...while having pens and nametags or something on their shirts that scuff it up.

the other thing i don't care for is the "we took it for a road test", even if it's in for something that wouldn't seem to require one. i knew several people that worked in a service department and they would constantly take customer cars for "road tests"...but those tests were out to lunch or a weekend road trip for "advanced diagnostics". yikes.

well, i can't compare scuffs to a fried clutch, but i still hate leaving things with people i don't know.

(i know EH runs a good ship at his dealership...if only i was closer i'd go there instead!)

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:04 pm

i can honestly say 99% of the scratches and nicks on the interior of my lexus have come from the dealership during oil changes or recall work. the driver door especially...i don't know what they do, but the black trim near the interior window is scratched up more each time. it's like they roll the window down and lean into the car (to turn it on/off maybe?) over and over...while having pens and nametags or something on their shirts that scuff it up.

At our dealership, the service writers have to do an initial walk around and note on the repair order every dent, nick, scratch, etc (including wheels) and point them out to the customers BEFORE it leaves the write up area. We also note anything else that we spot if they missed something. That way, it illuminates people claiming that the car was damaged at the dealership.

Honestly, most people trash their own cars and must not care. For decades, I've seen many high line cars scratched, biffed, dented, etc within short time of the cars being new. My 3 18+ yr old cars look better than most of what I see daily.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:48 pm

yeah, my dealer does an exterior walk-around. i'm just as much to blame, as i don't bring it up with them, but it's just not worth the hassle in the end. if they do say they'll fix something, they'll just scratch something else up replacing a panel or whatever. hehe. so, i guess that just makes me a complainer.