PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Had an appointment to carry my car to the local dealer today to get the intermediate steering shaft installed. Dropped it off in the morning and picked it up around 4 this afternoon. They brought my car out and the service guy got out and left the door open for me to get in. I got in and took off. Got home and shut the door and noticed when it closed it didnt sound right. Like it didnt fully close so I turned around and opened it and shut it again and noticed a slight drag. Thats when I really saw it all. Looks like somebody was backing it up with the door open and hit something and peeled the door skin back about a quarter of an inch. I am so pissed!!!

Called the dealer's service department and of course they denied it. Told them I would be back there in the morning and somebody in charge had better be there. The metal is still fresh torn and I know they are going to try and put it off on me as I didnt note it when I picked it up but I will burn the place down before I back down on this. I searched for 6 months nationwide to find a low mileage GXP, find one and now this. And to think I was so happy on the way home because the steering wasnt clunking anymore!

Wow, that really hurts, although I am admittedly surprised that was wasn't noticed before the car left the lot.

If this looks like it will turn in to a big crap slinging fest, I would turn it in to your insurance company. It's fun watching them set fire to the dealership

EDIT: Says the guy that usually gets out after a car wash and does a walk around, you know, just to make sure I am leaving with just as much car as I pulled up with.

I guarantee that's why they left the door open, so you wouldn't notice it. That sucks bro. I'd be fit to kill someone. That's nearly as bad as the guy whose Camaro's clutch got fried from dealer "techs" taking joyrides in it, then conspiring to charge him $1,000+ to have it fixed....

The good news is that I have two witnesses, the guys who picked me up this morning when I dropped the car off. While we were waiting on them to open they were walking around the car looking at it because its the first time they had seen a GXP. Will post back tomorrow and let y'all know how it went.

That really blows. I would be irate. I'm glad the dealership, where I got my car, offered me discounted body work for my car. The guy is really nice, and did a rust job just below the gas fill up cover for 100 bucks total. And it looks spotless. As far as the clunking sound, what did it do? I have a small clunk/pop on my steering wheel and have come to believe its the shaft thats going.

I was really happy when I left, only charged me a hundred bucks to install the shaft and program a new key fob. It was nice driving without the clunk! Until I got home and shut the door at least....

I am pretty good at body work, but I hate having to fix something I didnt do for free. I can fix this in a few hours, but it still pisses me off. Tomorrow will tell I guess. If nothing else I will call the insurance co and see what they say as I havent claimed anything but a windshield in 25 years. I also have the damage inspection from where I bought the car in Atlanta a month or so ago. No damage listed....

Was planning on seeing if I can install the new reservoir sensor this weekend and installing some new ceramic brake pads, may have to add another case of beer if I gotta fix this too.

Maybe you could find out which mechanic worked on the vehicle and then inspect the rack and/or garage door where the car was worked on. It looks like they had the door open slightly when backing up which means it was a short backup. Probably had his foot out the door on the ground. I've seen mechanics do it more than once on lifting racks and garage bay doors. I bet there is a nice scratch/dent somewhere in that dealership, and the employee who did it is trying to cover it up so he doesn't get in trouble.

ok, went back this morning and it went south fast. I got into it with the service manager, he kept saying I was trying to rip them off in a nice way and that there was no way to tell they had done the damage. Even though there was fresh metal and paint peeled from the inside. I told him I didnt like being called a liar and to go get the owner. I had told him if it was previous damage and I was trying to rip them off I would have yelled about the "damage" when I picked it up yesterday. The woman they had sent back there yesterday and brought my car out (the one who had left the door open) had taken off to the shop the minute I pulled in this morning and very noticeably avoided us during the discussion, even though everyone else in the dealership came by and looked at the car. Turns out the owner wasnt there so he finally said to leave the car and he would call me once the owner had looked at it.
A couple of hours later the service manager called me and apologized and said they were going to pay for it as they had found blue paint from the lift inside the cut and matched it up to their lift. I went back down there and he had my car back on the same lift it was on yesterday. He showed me on the lift where it had gotten hit and scratched the lift. (Skregal you had it right) The new scratches on the lift matched up perfectly with the height on my car door. They made me an appointment in the body shop to drop it off after the 1st so it looks like its going to work out if they dont have memory loss. I was relieved as this is the only GM dealer left in this area for miles and I have been doing business with them off and on for the last 30 years but it just about came to an end this morning, I tried to stay cool but I finally had had all I could take. Door now sticks and drags a little when you open or close it, and it separated the window frame from the door as you can see in the first pic. You can also see blue paint in that one also. I am just relieved they are standing behind it.

You are finding out why I only use dealers for warranty and even then they screw-up your car. I hate paying to have the car fixed and then have to go behind them to fix all the stuff they broke fixing your original problem. - BC

^^^^^
THIS x 1000!!!


This is why no one touches my car, not even to wash it except me. Because they'll fix one problem and cause 5 more.

At least they owned up to it and will be repairing it. Might even be able to get a paint job out of this(!)

sandrock wrote:At least they owned up to it and will be repairing it. Might even be able to get a paint job out of this(!)

That is what I would say...I would wait until they are done, then instantly complain the paint is not a perfect match, and that now your prized limited edition classic Pontiac # ..... is no longer going to hold the value it was worth on the market in the future.

Glad to see you found the evidence at the scene of the crime.
Although not a "mechanic" myself, I owned a repair shop for 5 years,
and I saw a lot of stupid stuff that mechanics do.
Lack of professionalism, not lack of knowledge, was always my biggest
complaint with my mechanic employees.
Hope it works out satisfactory in the end.

One of my friends had his rear bumper replaced at a shop after he got rear-ended. When he got the truck home, he noticed a big paint chip missing where the bumper meets close to the tailgate. And of course, the shop said it wasn't them and he really couldn't prove it. Funny thing is, they had the gate down when he came to pick it up, and he just put the gate up and looked at it as a whole instead of in detail, so he wouldn't have noticed it to begin with. So to autozone he went and got some primer and a small brush on touch-up bottle and "fixed" it himself. It's amazing what a shop will do to try and avoid problems they cause. (By the way, it was a car that hit him and it smashed his receiver and that pulled his bumper down.)

That metal on the door is torn. I wouldn't accept anything less than a new door. It's a shame, but people just don't give a shizz anymore.