EMAIL OF 5/20/2016 to service manager of Davidson of Rome.
I have a few complaints about the
service recently done to my 2011 Traverse and the customer service given to my
husband and I at Davidson's of Rome. I know that my husband has written about some
of them in a recent email and that he talked with Mr. B this morning. By
the way, congratulations to Mr. B on his promotion, since it says on his
card that he is the assistant service manager. You might want to get the
website updated because on that he is a service advisor. But we will get back
to Mr. B role in this fiasco in a few paragraphs.
Forgive me if I reiterate what was
in my husband's email. I do not want the insinuation made again (it was made
twice by LC) that my husband and I do not talk to each other.
During the week of the 25th of
April we took our Traverse into Davidson Automotive Rome, New York, because the
air conditioner did not work. At that time it was understandable that the
service technician, unable to find a problem, would fill the air conditioner
and add dye in order to see where the problem was occurring. When I picked up
the vehicle I was asked to make another appointment. I wanted one later in May
because the first two weeks were going to be hectic, I needed my vehicle, and I
despised the loaner I had used during a different service appointment a month
earlier. LC fairly well insisted that I make the appointment for May 9th. I
did inform her that I needed the Traverse later that week to pick up my
daughter from college.
On Mother's Day evening my husband
and I left the Traverse at Davidson's in order to make sure it was there at
7:30 am the next day. I do not understand why, if the Traverse appointment was at
7:30 AND it was known at the prior appointment that the problem was NOT visible
nor apparent, my vehicle was not seen until 10:56am. If the Traverse had been
seen earlier, and the phone call made to GM earlier, then the
warranty company would have been contacted earlier and it is probable
that the vehicle could have been ready sooner. LC had told me that there were other
cars that needed servicing. I get that, I do.
So be honest, say that it might not get worked on when I need to be, but
when it suits your dealership.
LC then called my husband and got
us a loaner (ugh, I despise the Impala- the rear window is too small). We were
told that the Traverse would not be ready Tuesday, but that she would call us
Wednesday. Wednesday we got the call that the job would take about 10 hours and
my husband reminded her that we
needed the Traverse back before we left the area on Friday morning. My husband
called LC Thursday after 1pm and reiterated that I get out of work at 2:30. I
arrived about 2:50 and was told that the Traverse was not done and that I could come back in an hour. I explained that
I lived in Westmoreland and was not going to drive there to just turn around
and come back. I also said I was absolutely not happy and wanted to see the
date and time stamps on the work that had been done. Lisa did show them to me,
but when I began to ask questions, well, answers were not what I got.
LC was being a great service
advisor, but not a great customer service representative. I heard her explain
that she had seen pieces all over the place just an hour earlier and that
things happen and it was a major job and I just needed to understand. Well, I
am an extremely well educated human being and have a tremendous lexicon, but it
is hard to understand why my vehicle was not done when I was asking questions
and the person who could give the answers was too busy spewing the party line
to hear the questions, much less give concrete answers. I also heard quite well
the two times she made the inquiry about whether or not my husband and I talk.
For a dealership that states that they are "Nice People to Do Business
With' snarky comments like that belie your slogan.
While Lisa was pontificating and I
was attempting to get her to give me details (to be fair, she did hear what I
said once in a while and give an answer) in comes Mr. B. Davidson chose a
great assistant service manager because without my request (but perhaps hers) he
came to the assistance of LC. The problem was, now I had not one, but
two people talking- AT THE SAME TIME- and neither of them listening nor
responding to what I was asking. Having
worked customer service, having taught middle school and recalcitrant students
I knew that mollifying them was probably the only way to stop them. So I said I
wasn't mad at Davidson's, I knew they did a great job, it was a design flaw
that made getting to the problem so difficult. I even told that I hated the
other major design flaw - the buffeting noise when one or more windows are
down. LC understood immediately, but Mr B. said that you just had to open more
than one window. Not nice, patronizing and dead wrong (really, I am bright
enough to try everything), but 'nice person' to work with. Uh. no.
Stan was also not really a nice
person when I was going to leave. When my Traverse was ready I went out and got
in; and could not find the female end of the seatbelt. I re-entered the office
area and told LC. Mr.B jumped to help; and pulled out the male end and saying
"Here it is." I replied "Not that one." Mr. B reached in,
between the driver's seat and middle console, and told me "It is right
here, it moves back and forth." Unless the female end of the seatbelt is
left in the wrong place, it is quite difficult to push. I know. I have since
tried. To say that I felt patronized and insulted is an understatement. To say
that I thought that Mr. B was not a nice person and was perhaps a throwback to
the era of chauvinist males who do not believe that women have a brain in their
heads- well that is also an understatement.
As I pulled out of the bay, I
noticed a rattling noise, but thought it might be something we left in the
console or somewhere. I checked the air conditioning and it did work. When I
got home I noticed the numerous grease/oil marks. The next day before leaving,
my husband left a voicemail about the rattle and marks. He called again late
that afternoon because no one called us back. (Just so you know, nice people to
do business with promptly call back customers.) He was told to stop by that
afternoon. Uh, yeah, because we hadn't made it abundantly clear to multiple
people that we were going out of town.
Today my husband spoke with Mr. B for about 45 minutes. Mr. B was astonished that the comment had been made about
Bob and I not talking (that doesn't surprise me since, even though he was
standing next to LC one of the times, Mr B was too fond of the sound of his
own voice and never was quiet long enough to hear anyone else say anything.) My
husband was told that the warranty company sometimes takes a day to decide what
to do, which I understand. Bob brought up the fact that two people had been
talking at me and not listening. Never once in the forty-five minutes did Mr. B identify himself as one of those people, nor tell my husband that he
(Mr. B) had had any interaction with me whatsoever on May 12th. Nice people to
do business with don't prevaricate or commit sins of omission.
By the way, the air conditioner no
longer works as of 7:18 this evening 20 May 2016.