Dealer Tech Didnt Realize I have PDR

[caddydadee]

I had an incident with the PDR at my local dealership and I want to get y’alls thoughts. This forum was super helpful for me as I tried to order a ‘25 and eventually bought a ‘26 off the lot at another dealer after 7 months without an allocation.

Short version is a tech took my ‘26 BW 6speed on a 30 min drive and deleted the PDR recording. The car is still under 500 miles and I took it in because it was having an issue with the A/C (the compressor was really loud, like louder than the V8).

I have my PDR set to auto record, and I could see when it left the dealership and where it went because I got a notification through the Cadillac app. I was surprised when I picked up my car later that day that there was no recording for that drive - but there were recordings for all the other times it had been started moved tested etc. obviously I assumed the worst that it had been put through the ringer.

I removed the SD card and recovered the missing footage. Honestly the worst part is what the tech says - in the first minute he says he couldn’t care less about “driving one of these pieces of shit” and then proceeds to bash me for complaining about the AC in a black car (fair enough, but like I said earlier, my issue wasn’t with the temp, it was with how loud the compressor was). He lugs the engine (lots of 1-3 and 2-4 shifts at too low speed while accelerating) and grinds second a couple times. But he isn’t trying to race it or do anything crazy so I was actually glad to see how he drove it based on what I was expecting.

So the main issue is the fact that he deleted the recording (him calling it a piece of shit would make Cadillac more upset than me I bet). This dealer actually had the best reputation in my area and at the end of the day he drove the car OK so I am leaning against complaining - I care most about the car so I don’t want a bunch of pissed-off techs working on it everytime I take it in. I’m hoping a conversation with the service advisor next time about expectations can manage the issue.

Curious if folks agree or would do something else.

 

[shbox]

What did you use to recover the file?

 

[1Evil55]

IMO, if the worst part of the video is a tech talking smack, I'd consider it a win. Mama taught me about sticks and stones as a kid.

 

[DCV]

The tech should be fired. He's probably done this before and damaged other cars. I'd show the manager and the owner the footage of it. Some people need to be taught lessons, even ifs it costs him his job.

 

[CT4-Venom]

Which dealership was it?

 

[jbawden]

So much cancel culture in this thread...I get it in the context of the OP starting it in 2022, but not so much now. A personal opinion and not being proficient at a manual is cause for firing? Maybe he is a fantastic tech that does factory level service work.

 

[techdude99]

@caddydadee I had a similar situation where a new Service Director didn't know I was in earshot and talked sh*t about me to a Service Advisor. That was two years ago and we ended up having a great rapport. He's helped me out on several occasions with a couple Cadillacs . I never told him I heard his comment until the other day. We had a laugh about it.

If a Tech deleted a video, report it to the Service Director or the General Manager. It was unprofessional and unethical.

 

[caddydadee]

What did you use to recover the file?

It was still in the “archive” folder on my SD card

 

[caddydadee]

Thanks everyone. Like I said the only thing that seemed possibly worth mentioning is the fact that he deleted the video, but this hasn’t changed my mind that it’s not worth it.

 

[CaddyTrack]

It was still in the “archive” folder on my SD card

Did you see the archive folder viewing in the car, or did you pull the card out and view contents on a PC?

 

[bloominguez]

... not being proficient at a manual is cause for firing?

Only if he drives the car.

 

[caddydadee]

PC

Did you see the archive folder viewing in the car, or did you pull the card out and view contents on a PC?

 

[shbox]

What about if a tech turns off the PDR and then reenables it after whatever transpired? I have this situation, but he did not take into account that the SVR showed me where he went. I don't have any telematics or PDR file to recover, but have a good idea from the SVR video of what occurred. The PDR was turned off while on a drive and sitting in traffic, then reenabled when back on the dealer lot. This causes even more suspicion on what occurred. I'm gathering data to back up my claims when I ask the dealer about it.

 

[techdude99]

Thanks everyone. Like I said the only thing that seemed possibly worth mentioning is the fact that he deleted the video, but this hasn’t changed my mind that it’s not worth it.

I hope everything works out. Please let us know the Cadillac dealership. I'm sure there are a lot of owners that would thank you for the heads up.

 

[FLYARMY]

I have a similar story , but about my security cameras at my summer home. This home is in the Hamptons/Montauk area and is worth a pretty penny. My dad had it built back in the early 90's and it had state of the art heating and A/C systems installed by the HVAC company that pretty much controls the entire area out there. We kept having problems with the system and I was reviewing video and caught one of the prim donna techs talking smack about how we have a " multi-million dollar home and a POS HVAC system" that he is always having to fix. We confronted the owner of the company about how HE sold us the expensive "state of the art HVAC" system on HIS recommendation and any issues fall back on him , his company and his idiot techs. The tech was promptly fired. Then I later caught one tech warning the other techs that the house is wired for sound and video everywhere and to make sure they do all the work correctly and no shortcuts or unprofessional comments or else they would lose the contract for service.