If this was my car, heads would roll

[Tin]

I know some dealership service guys drive like jackasses, but this is outright insane. Id be down there with a lantern and pitch fork. Kinda makes you wanna put an audio recorder in your car next time you take it for dealer service.

[tewkes28]

Had a similar issue at sterling mazda dealership back in 2003. I bought a brand new mazdaspeed protege fresh out of college. They wouldn't even let me test drive it because of the turbo break in period, blah,blah, blah. I had it for about 6-7 months and added a cold air intake to it. I took it in for a routine oil change. I went outside awhile later to take a phone call, when all of a sudden I hear chirpping tires and high revs, then i hear my intake(it made the blowoff sound like a bird). They were flying down the sidestreets. I was pissed! They drove it back in the parking lot and a few douchebag salespeople and a manager were looking at the engine bay. I went over and expressed my displeasure for them taking my car on a joyride during an oil change. They got all defensive and tried telling me I voided my warranty because of the intake(which in fact they called an exhaust, because they didnt know their ass from fat meat). I asked for my keys and drove to suburban mazda in troy. The dealership there said they had a lot of unhappy customers come from sterling mazda.

[Zarken]

oh damn. Fuck that shit.

[kovacs32]

aint that some shit!

[sardeanie]

That's what class envy gets you. They are taking out their feelings of inadequacy on a CUSTOMERS belongings. And they are getting PAID for that? Fire them and teach them a real world lesson. Shameful.

[moneypit]

Iirc a tech at a ford dealer in farmington hills got busted beating on a lightning

[91trunk]

We would be placing an ad for "Tech Wanted" after finding out. Not saying it's never happened nor won't happen because we can't control stupidity. Just like customers that take "extended" test drives to see if the truck fits in the garage when they are really picking something up from Lowes/Home Depot. If a customer ever asks "do you have one with a bedliner I can test drive?" that's a tip off

[TopElimn8r]

I would be furious. I also wonder who would essentially be responsible for the abuse, the dealer or the technician. I know in some cases the technician is responsible for the vehicles he repairs and his license to repair vehicles can be revoked. Would a court rule this gross neglagence and require the vehicle to be replaced etc?

[Tin]

Just like customers that take "extended" test drives to see if the truck fits in the garage when they are really picking something up from Lowes/Home Depot.

Hilarious, I cant believe people actually do that. Id let them drive 10 miles, anything over is a $100 fee

[mrvids]

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoram...152707580.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."

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