Dealer Vent

[blvckwing]

Figured I’d pop in and get some laughs.

Brought my car in 2 weeks ago to the dealer, which I hate doing, because my 4BW refused to recognize the presence of both key fobs; even when placed in the cupholder. So the car left me stranded in a parking lot on a date. She was nice about it, lol.

I figured this was something simple - Maybe reprogram a key, etc, as I’d already disconnected the battery and let it sit in the lot for a bit before reconnecting and trying again. Of course it worked fine in the morning when I went back for it.

Nope. My car has been there for two weeks and for whatever reason a new antenna / receiver was ordered, which comes with a wiring harness, so they’ve stripped the roof to rewire and redo it.

Today my service advisor texted me that the techs were unable to reprogram the required modules “because the tune is interfering”. I asked for more information and patiently listened as my warranty was discussed in terms of how manipulating the ECM to tune the vehicle was creating problems they might void me for and not cover.

I asked specifically again to be educated about this, and it was repeated that when I unlocked the ECM to tune the vehicle, it made programming impossible.

I politely informed the advisor that the vehicle is actually not tuned, has never been tuned, and the ECM has never been touched by myself or any other party. And that the techs would know immediately if it was.

I don’t know if these guys just assumed it was tuned because I slapped a Tapout sticker on that bad boy after installing my downpipes, or if they just broke something and thought they could cop out like this, but I’m trying my best to laugh about the situation.

I’ll be there tomorrow to talk to the managers and whatnot. Last time I went there my car was pretty much gutted inside and oddly enough at 15k miles the “locked” RPM’s were back as if though the car had sub-500 miles on it.

Stay away from the dealers if you can.

 

[Badillac]

Yikes! I can relate. My service advisor was an absolute douche who talked tons of crap out of his ass. Not sure if he actually knew nothing or if I thought I knew nothing.

I would def escalate to the service manager &/or the GM. Being nice & patient gets you nowhere at the dealer.

 

[Ty88]

Where in Florida is this dealer? I’m in Sarasota.

 

[dinkman]

are all cadillac dealer experiences like this? seems kind of annoying having to worry if your car is going to be returned in worse shape than when you dropped it off every time you need to take it in for something.

 

[BimmerFan]

are all cadillac dealer experiences like this? seems kind of annoying having to worry if your car is going to be returned in worse shape than when you dropped it off every time you need to take it in for something.

I dunno. For me here, locally, there is a family that owns most of the European (and half of the Japanese) car dealerships, and even though it's run by the same group, the quality of service varies between marques. The local Audi dealer, who I dealt with, unsatisfactorily, is crap. The BMW dealer that I deal with frequently (because: BMW) is totally hit & miss depending on the tech that gets the car. Usually it's a miss, but they're very nice about it. LOL

I've only experienced the Caddy dealer from bringing in my FIL's XT5 in for scheduled maintenance, and they didn't screw that up. I'm not sure that I trust them to put the correct oil in my BW though, so I'll just spend the $100 on parts and do it myself to save me the worry.

It's too late for you to switch dealers, just hope that they eventually find someone that can read an instruction manual and/or get a GM regional tech to help them out.

So, I guess "fob not detected" is the 21st century equivalent of "car ran out of gas" for you single folks?

 

[Finally-a-V]

Dumb question, but did anyone change the batteries in the clickers? On occasion, I would get "key fob not present" on my Expedition. Changed out my batteries in both remotes, haven't seen it since. Even "newer" batteries can go bad or weak.

 

[rubberduck]

are all cadillac dealer experiences like this? seems kind of annoying having to worry if your car is going to be returned in worse shape than when you dropped it off every time you need to take it in for something.

I have to check the work after going to the dealer. On delivery I had some scratches and cracks on two interior CF trim pieces and it took 3 or 4 trips to fix it. On the final try I still had to take the center console trim off and bend the clips out to get the panel to secure properly.

 

[ernsteeng]

I had multiple issues at delivery. All 4 wheels were scratched by the car carrier. For various reasons it took almost 3 weeks with my car at the dealer for them to get fixed.

I had to go back to the dealer 3 days after delivery because their temp finance guy didn't fill out some of the paperwork correctly. A very good dealer, I just wound up with a few issues.

 

[668LT4]

All 4 wheels were scratched by the car carrier.

Wow... that actually takes some effort to do!

 

[jbawden]

Your date was like, "yeah OK, brand new car with a bad "fob"....riiiiight"

 

[blvckwing]

Lol. Update.

Sat at the dealer today for 3 hours waiting to speak to the service manager. He essentially avoided me and had an advisor tell me that he was going into a meeting, and that I should come back tomorrow. What a joke.

Went to look at my vehicle and saw that someone had actually gone through the contents of my trunk entirely (keep in mind I thought this was a fob issue that would leave the car out of commission for a week at most so I didn't think to clean out the entire car...) and that my white seats are now essentially black because nobody took care to put seat covers on.

They are essentially treating the car like it's in a junkyard. I was told that there was a case opened with GM to get a regional tech out to diagnose and fix. I won't be seeing the car until next year. And nobody had any answers for me as far as why they think the vehicle was tuned... Nobody can actually tell me anything.

I pulled a few strings and have some folks high up at Cadillac looking into it from their end. Going up the dealership ladder as well. What a headache.

 

[Ergoc5]

Oh man sorry to hear this....this seems par for the course at these dealers....terrible experience at mine as well (service not sales) and I am not taking my car back to them.

 

[Speed Racer 007]

That entire ordeal sucks balls. Hope it all gets sorted out ASAP for you.

Amazing how some dealers can be completely trash and others top notch.

 

[DCV]

They can plug their shop computer into the OBD port and access the ECU to see if it’s been altered or not. Even with tuners that say, it’s “not detectable”…. If you flash back, well it is. I’m not saying you did it, just saying that a tuner with a few programmers using an emulator is not going to beat a whole dept of GM programmers with access to the ECU microcode and structure.

 

[division]

If it's in the shop for two weeks, notify Cadillac, and they have to complete the repair within 30 days or it's a Lemon, simple as that. Florida has one of the strongest Lemon Laws in the country.

I'd waste no time getting it done, especially since you're saying that it's not going to be completed until the beginning of the year. Everything you need is here...

How The Florida Lemon Law Works | My Florida Legal

www.myfloridalegal.com

And you can find the Defect Notification Form here (all you need to do is fill it out, nothing more)...

How To Use The Motor Vehicle Defect Notification Form | My Florida Legal

www.myfloridalegal.com

You don't need an attorney or anything. It's the easiest thing to do, and if they're treating your car like you say they are, 'eff them.

 

[blvckwing]

They can plug their shop computer into the OBD port and access the ECU to see if it’s been altered or not. Even with tuners that say, it’s “not detectable”…. If you flash back, well it is. I’m not saying you did it, just saying that a tuner with a few programmers using an emulator is not going to beat a whole dept of GM programmers with access to the ECU microcode and structure.

Absolutely agreed.

If it's in the shop for two weeks, notify Cadillac, and they have to complete the repair within 30 days or it's a Lemon, simple as that. Florida has one of the strongest Lemon Laws in the country.

I'd waste no time getting it done, especially since you're saying that it's not going to be completed until the beginning of the year.

Is this actually the case?

 

[division]

Absolutely agreed.


Is this actually the case?

I'm on my second Lemon Law'd car (not the Cadillac, though). It's that easy in the State of Florida. Feel free to PM me.

Quick edit: The car has to have been purchased in the State of Florida.

 

[1Evil55]

Anybody asked if there was a second date?

 

[FLYARMY]

I bought a 2022 Kia Telluride in late 2021. They banged me 7k over sticker and I just bent over a took it. It was near impossible to find a car on the lots of dealers back then. A day later , I was reviewing my transaction paperwork more closely and discovered that there was an aftermarket maintenance contract snuck into the paperwork. I went back and complained that I never agreed to it. Long story short, the contract was cancelled and they refunded me $750 for FREE oil changes that were now not going to happen. I complained to Kia Corporate and their reply was .....dealerships are independently owned and Kia does not get involved with the sales process." The corporations just supply the product for the dealers to sell. It's always hit or miss if you find a reputable dealership who will do the right thing for their customers. I especially hate that you really need an IBM or Microsoft engineer to work on these modern cars.

 

[blvckwing]

Anybody asked if there was a second date?

That was the second date