Was I close to some warranty fraud by the service dept?

[956Vette]

TweetI was steamed earlier, let me outline a quick story.

Own a fairly new corvette...still under warranty, etc

The damn internal 6 disc changer crapped out. Will not eject or play cds. Displays: CD MECH ERROR
So, basically I do my due diligence and research for a few minutes. I have found the corvette forums, etc to be very resourceful and offer a wealth of perspective..blah

So folks seem to report it is a common problem...think it is the same head unit in lots of GM vehicles

Take it in, $100 deductible = 2 hrs...new unit

This was my what I expected right? Not that I am a complete like the cliche porsche owner :p But I expect the best...nothing less

I call up two dealerships to talk to incompetent people. I call up corvettes of dallas (as they have always treated me well) to get a referral to a dealership...they kindly gave a strong referall to a dealer which happens to be right near them.

So I am sick this week, canceled my appt tues morning and drove up at 7am today to see if I could get my car in

Service guy (who has been extraordinarily kind/helpful) says he cannot help today as some bs reason...his audio shop isnt working today.

So bullshit...wtf...I am not getting anything fixed here...I demand a new/refurb unit as 200 others on the vette forums report (vague recollection at this point...under the weather here still)

On my way home I go to the dealership more convenient to me (which earlier the help was so incompetent on the phone they lost my trust to even handle this small task).

This dealer met my expectations. Scanned the car, got the part #, ordered the part and told me to come monday for 1 hour to install the new unit so that I can have a working cd/mp3 player. Painless.

So this leads me to believe the troubled service dept was after my (assuming the GM head unit costs upwards of $1200 give or take a few hundo) warrantied unit from GM or wherever...and was going to repair it by a worker for a small fee giving the guy the opportunity to keep my new unit in his basement to sell on ebay for a nice profit.

Am I off base here? Is this what happens? After all these dealerships have closed down...the bailouts...shit like this just

[jipped genes]

Tweeti think i have the same unit in my car (made by blaupunkt sp?). it broke OUT of warranty.

i bought one off ebay for $50 out of a totalled vette. it wouldnt work in my car due to the BCM in my car didnt match the stereo's #. so i had a guy at a local shop pull the guts out of it and put them in my broke one.

working for a year with no probs.............so far.

if it happens again its a good aftermarket unit.

[MOUNTAIN-MAN]

Tweetreplace it with an ipod less hassel

[956Vette]

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replace it with an ipod less hassel

Like jipped said, the unit is very tied into all the computer...heads up display, etc. Looked into upgrading to the 2010 nav unit or whatever the best is, but gets complicated. Gotta keep it stock I am a dork anyways...talk radio and audio books on 70% of the time



jipped- do anything fun to the GTO lately?

[MOUNTAIN-MAN]

Tweetthats cool bro i use to be a car stero nerd

[956Vette]

Tweet

thats cool bro i use to be a car stero nerd

I bet there is a cool setup for the ipod...if it was hidden somewhere it could be a great idea

[MOUNTAIN-MAN]

Tweeti got one for the harley ele glid classic i love it with my hk head unit and speakers

[trip]

Tweetnahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

guys in service dept who answer phones get 100's of calls, there priority is folks who bought from them, and folks in front of them, like what happened when you drove up to the one you were suspicious of

what you gotta watch for is these guys are on commision, monthly bonus

so you get 3 types

A. guys who do the best job possible, go extra mile, honest as day keep cost down

B. guys who just want to write up tickets, and don't care about costs, heck, the higher the better

C. the average joe, goes with the flow, does okay all around, has good days and bad days, can be great one week, and trouble the next, overall average joe

So, it was the law of probabilities............the probability of criminal actions is pretty low

[daved150]

Tweeti agree with trip,,,

[956Vette]

TweetYeah, there is more than one way to skin a cat...but not in this case, not imo

New car, under warranty deserves a GM part. Not a denial of service and run around. Absolutely not a repair issue, this is a replacement. A highly competent service worker referred by corvettes of dallas who is keen to this issue should be able to help...like every other experience I have read from warranty/corvette owners.

This was not about keeping cost down or integrity high. He evaded me purchasing a new unit, ordering a unit..paying whatever the ****..as money is no issue with me when it comes to this car (not to come across as being that terrible, but you know me trip ). Could post a dozen additional experiences from a dozen other corvette boards...but figured I would just keep it on the dl and vent here
All CD MECH ERROR issues receive a new unit:
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1571094698-post3.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1571094946-post4.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1570248019-post2.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1567419855-post2.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1566390877-post6.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1566201092-post4.html
https://forums.corvetteforum.com/1566204226-post8.html


Never in 30 min of researching the issue did I come across an owner who had their head unit disassembled and put back together. Still, you guys could be right, but as a betting man I believe I am all in on this scam

[trip]

Tweetwarranty work get's re-imbursed from the factory, at reduced rates, so unless you bought the car from them, this is not a high priority for them profit wise

thus, different dealers handle this stuff differently, it's very possible the service writers get zero credit on warranties, so zero incentive unless you bought the car from them

it's more likely the guy was incompetent

that's a hell of alot of risk and work for a scam on someone who has money, scammers scam the weak

[daved150]

Tweetwell...i'm not gonna say i KNOW it wasnt a scam. i was of the thaught that, for a couple grand, i couldnt see them loosiong all future work. dude...your talking hundreds of thousands a year!!! (probobly HIGH 6figures!!) why would someome fuk with that? thats why i figure new employee? incompatent? something....service writers DO get paid on all warranty issues, from my experience, they just get paid better for services they talk you into getting done while there. (bumpin you). it could have been like you said, but again...i doubt it. now....maybe, without management or the owners knowledge, employee's are pulling some kind of scam...thats possible!!! some under paid wrench, an adviser, and a parts guy...thats all you need!!! typically one rats the otherts out though...tufff to loose your job nowdays

[956Vette]

Tweet

it's more likely the guy was incompetent

Appreciate you guys perspective, cooled me off and I thank you

The bottom line common sense from my pov (which I am being selfish not thinking about his work/angle) was that if I am going to spend my $100 deductible and I am aware everyone else gets a new unit...while I get a locally repaired job...I feel as though I would be getting the short end of the stick.

Why I would want to have them keep my car for 1-2 days to repair my head unit at a local unknown shop, i still do not know. Just glad I left that dealer to have the better folks order the brand new part and only request 1 hour of my time when the part comes in. Seems a hell of a lot more effective and efficient with more respect for my time and my warrantied vehicle.

[956Vette]

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thats why i figure new employee?

It truly seemed he was senior there...and the referral to him I received adds to the confusion.

Oh well though, not worth reflecting on it anymore

[956Vette]

Tweet

Oh well though, not worth reflecting on it anymore

however I am happy in the end it all worked out. the competent dealer put a brand new unit in less than one hour. for the dallas folks, thumbs up for bankston chevrolet off LBJ