Finding Silver Linings

I am an absolute primal optimist… read my tweets, its true. I believe there is good in everything, even in those crappy moments that you might not see it, feel it or trust it. Somehow, something will eventually happen & you’ll realise that there was some good in whatever happened… a silver lining.

My business has grown over the past 3 years & with it… my needs too. I had been looking at buying a delivery vehicle for a couple of months now & after researching, thought that a Chevrolet Utility was the right vehicle for my company.

I found a dealership in Fourways (as its near to my home & business) & made contact with them. They put me in touch with a woman we’ll call “Useless”… she offered me the bare minimum in assistance & up-sold me on nothing. I, proactively made contact & basically suggested what I needed. “Useless” did the paperwork.

I took ownership of the new Chevrolet Utility on Wednesday 24 July – immediately noticing that the car had no alarm or radio? In what day & age do people in South Africa purchase cars without alarms? As a consumer, living in a country where cars go missing every minute… I never realized that an alarm was more of an option than a necessity.

I didn’t think much of it & after mentioning it, “Useless” said she could arrange a 3^rd party to put them in – if she had done half her job in the first place, my car could have been fitted with a GM alarm.

My ops guru used the car that weekend to go down to Durban on an event & on arriving back on Monday informed me, that not only was the car making a funny noise in 3rd gear & battling to go into 5th gear, but the engine also had a big fat block of rust on it – awesome, for a brand new car!

I called “Useless” immediately, who told me to bring the car in the next day. I followed up with an email to reiterate my concern, to which she responded that it was “very strange” that there was rust in the engine but they would look at it the next day.

We took the car back to the Fourways dealership on Wednesday – 31 July, “Useless” had changed her tune & the Dealership Principle both tried to laugh it off. They told me it was absolutely “normal” to have rust in the engine manifold… something I had never heard of & neither had everyone I phoned. They continued to laugh & try to make matters “light” & told me that the gears making a noise was also “normal” & all it needed was a little adjustment. They took the car away, for a quick check-up, fiddled with gears & handed the car back to us.

I still felt quite unsettled the next day, I felt they had offered me no reassurance or any sort of solution. They hadn’t even admitted to there being a problem so I called “Useless” & asked her to get something in writing saying that the rust is “normal”.

She assured me that this would be done immediately – 3 weeks later, and still nothing.

My ops guru also informed me on that day that the car was now making a noise in both 3rd & 4th gears. He went to fill up the car around midday & when asked by the petrol attendant to check oil, water & tyres, did so.

The petrol attendant then informed him that there was almost no oil in the car… sorry, let me repeat that…

I had a brand new car… with noisy gears… rust on the engine… and almost no oil in the engine… after it had already been taken back to the dealership for a second check-up after taking ownership. Sounds like a joke, right?

I called “Useless” for the last time to let her know about the oil & she said she would find out what was going on immediately. She called me back, not to apologise, but to rather tell me that there was no way that the car could have left the floor without oil so I must be wrong???? In essence she called me a liar.

That’s when I decided I was done with her & her dealership. I told her that I was incredibly unhappy with the process, the service (or lack there of) & the ability she & the dealership had to laugh off facts that I was incredibly concerned with. I asked her to escalate this to someone with authority & for them to get back to me as I didn’t want to deal with her anymore.

A day or so later a GM representative called me, to set up a meeting with another GM representative, as the problem had been escalated & they wanted to desperately help me, as my original GM representative from the dealership hadn’t.

The meeting was set up at the Fourways dealership with a guy we’ll call “Lobbyist”.

Miraculously, “Useless” & her boss were no where to be found the day of the meeting. “Lobbyist” spoke to me in his soft understanding condescending tone, he processed the car with all its faults & proceeded to tell me… exactly the same nonsense.

The gears sometimes make a noise because they haven’t been fitted properly & they just need to be adjusted a little but this is “normal”.

The engine sometimes do rust because the material used is cheap & not coated but this is “normal”.

The oil sometimes needs to be re-filled because it hasn’t properly circulated through the whole engine but this is “normal”.

The service received from the dealership is sometimes not the way that he would like it to be, but this is “normal”.

He even did a follow-up check the next week to remind me that its all “normal”.

Here’s the thing GM… maybe your “normal”, is very different to my “normal”.

In all my dealings with GM & its affiliated representatives, the only “normal” thing is the fact that no one has apologised, no one has taken responsibility & no one has offered me a solution.

I still haven’t received anything in writing that rust on a brand new vehicle is “normal” – even after both “Useless” & the “Lobbyist” have promised to send me something… guess empty promises & rust issues are just GM’s “normal”.

My “normal” is seeing silver linings in everything. I haven’t quite found the silver lining with this yet… but I have a funny feeling, that it might just be sitting, right behind that big fat block of “normal” rust on my engine.

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