Chevy is losing a very loyal customer (lots of issues and long explanation)

I have a 2011 Cruze LTZ RS purchased back in May of 2011. I purchased the car after trading in a 2000 Mercury Cougar that I paid $1,000 for, but I grew tired of needing to repair something every few months, and at one point was left stranded by the vehicle. I had no car payment on that car and I was only trading it in so I could get a more reliable car that was safer and had better fuel economy. My cruze currently has 31k miles on it, 80% of those miles are easy 65mph highway driving. I have a 70 mile round trip commute to work. This car has been an absolute nightmare. After only owning the vehicle a few months I noticed a grinding noise from inside the cabin that only presented itself while idling. I scheduled a service appointment and they couldn't diagnose it. A few weeks later it got worse so I scheduled another service appointment and again they still couldn't figure out what it was. After a few months of the problem worsening I made yet another service appointment in March of this year. I got a call saying the vehicle was fixed, they thought it was the way an a/c line was routed that was touching the firewall causing the noise. When I picked the vehicle up as soon as I went to leave the lot it made the same grinding noise again. I immediately went and grabbed the Service Manager and had him listen to it. He said to leave the vehicle with them to figure out what was still causing it. I was called again after a few days saying the AC Compressor went bad and it was replaced in the vehicle, so the vehicle was ready for pickup. So my brand new car that wasn't even a year old with 19k miles on it had an AC Compressor fail. That should have been my first sign of the nightmare to come.

Four months later my wife and I were on our way home during a severe thunderstorm. We were a few blocks from home sitting at an intersection when the car alarmed us saying "AC Off Due to High Engine Temp". We made a left hand turned over a set of rail road tracks and as we were doing so the temp gauge went to red and the cabin filled with steam. We could not see outside the vehicle and had to immediately pull over. As we pulled over we hit a curb damaging a wheel and scaring us quite a bit. Luckily we did not hit anything else, or worse a vehicle or pedestrian. I called Onstar and asked what was happening. At this point we still couldn't see outside the vehicle, and I couldn't even stick my head out the window to see because it was during a sever thunderstorm with heavy rain. Onstar stated the car had basically overheated and needed to be turned off and towed. The rain had slowed down, and the Onstar rep stated if we were very close to home he would stay on the phone with us to make sure nothing else happened if we wanted to continue home as opposed to being stranded waiting for a tow. We opted to drive home. My wife just continuously kept wiping the windshield with a cloth so I could see to get home. We made it home and I asked the Onstar rep to document what happened so when I get it towed to the dealer the next day they can see it. The rep told me he had no way of doing so. I called the dealer the next day and had it towed in. The vehicle had about 26k miles on it and was only a year and two months old at this point. I was informed by the dealer a week later that the water pump had failed, the gasket physically shot out of the pump and thats what caused all the issues. They fixed the damaged wheel at this time as well being that it was caused by this. So at only a little over a year old the car has had two failed components, with this one putting my wife and I in a seriously unsafe situation. Had it happened just a few minutes earlier we would have been on the highway doing 65mph. Luckily it happened when we were in town and there was no traffic. At this point, my confidence in the vehicle was just about gone.

After getting the car back from the last failure, it only took two weeks for another problem to present itself. The car began to have intermittent shifting issues. Sometimes when the vehicle first starts up when you go from "P" to "D" it slams into "D" and shakes the entire care. Also, while driving the vehicle it randomly feels like it's stutter shifting as if it's not sure what gear it wants to go in. While driving in town it occasionally shifts hard while up or down shifting. I made and appointment with the dealer for these problems. They flashed an update to the cars computer, and this helped for a day or two before the problems came up again. At this point my wedding was coming up along with my honeymoon so I wasn't able to take the car in again until we got back.

When I returned from my honeymoon in September of this year I called the dealer to make an appointment a few days later for the continuing transmission issues. Before I was able to take the car into the dealer another problem presented itself. One morning when I left for work very early I was coming out of my development approaching a stop sign to an intersecting 45mph state road. As I approached the stop sign at about 25mph I applied the brakes and didn't feel the car begin to slow down. I pressed the brake pedal all the way to the floor, heard a whoosh noise, and with a second or two delay the car slowly stopped as I rolled through the stop sign partially on the the intersecting road. Luckily, there were no cars coming or this could have been a very bad accident. The pedal was very spongy, and did stop the care immediately like pushing the pedal to the floor should. I pumped the pedal a few times until it built up pressure then continued my drive to work cautiously. When I left work that afternoon I tested the pedal before pulling out of the lot, sure enough the same thing happened. Once the pedal was pumped a few times and the care warmed up, the firm pedal returned and the car would stop like normal. I informed the dealer of this when I dropped the vehicle off the following day. They had the car for about two weeks and stated they couldn't duplicate any of my issues. I went into the dealer and drove it with the sale manager because the service manage was not there that day. When I drove it with him the brake pedal was spongy and it had delayed braking as soon as we went to leave the lot. He heard the whoosh as well when this happened. We continued to drive it to try to bring up the transmission issues but unfortunately they didn't present themselves. Once we got back to the shop they took the car back to look at the brake issue. After a few days they called and said it was fixed by resurfacing the rotors and replacing the pads. I went in to pick the vehicle up and as soon as I left the parking space the brake pedal was spongy and went to the floor not stopping the car for a second or two. I went right back in and told them. They kept the vehicle for another few days then called me and said they replaced the Brake Boosted Pump and Vacuum Pipe. This seems to have fixed the brake problem, but the transmission problem still exist. This was the third failed component on the vehicle with about 30k miles on it. This was the second safety issue the car had. At this point, the sales manager and service manager said they were working with corporate to get me out of the vehicle because it's had so many problems and the transmission issue has not been resolved. I told them I was very disappointed in everything, after all I traded in a vehicle that had no car payments that required maintenance every few months to now have a car with a car payment that needs maintenance every few months and had put me in unsafe situations not once but twice.

About two weeks ago I went into the dealer because they said they had received assistance from corporate to take my vehicle back and get me into a vehicle that would have the safety and reliability I originally purchased the car for. When we sat down to discuss the details they told me I would receive $4,000 in trade assistance and they would give me $15,500 for my car. The pay off on the car at the time was roughly $20,000. The salesman showed me a 2012 Cruze and a 2013 that was the same car as mine and said with the tax savings of trading my car in I wouldn't owe anything else on my current loan. The problem comes in when the price for the Cruze has gone up since I purchased mine and would be expected to pay an additional $40/month more in car payment. This is a slap in the face. Not only am I out over $5,000 in car payments I've made over the last year and a half due to buying an obviously faulty vehicle, I am expected to pay more to replace it with the exact same vehicle only a year or two newer. I told the dealer my feelings on this and they agreed, but said there was nothing else they could do. They looked into ordering me a different vehicle.

I contacted corporate GM last Wednesday 10/24/12. I spoke with a lady by the name of Luisa and explained my feelings to her. I explained all the issues I've had, and that I continued to have a transmission issue. I told her everything the dealer said. I also explained to her that I have a Saturn Ion Redline along with a Chevy Equinox, I am a loyal GM customer. I have planned to always be one because I have never had an issued with the way GM took care of their customers. I explained to her that I feel GM is adding insult to injury when they expect a customer to lose out on the money they paid for a vehicle that is shown to be faulty and then expect the customer to pay more on top of that to replace the vehicle. She said she would open a claim and try to call the dealer and then have a district person contact me. I called the next day on Thursday 10/25/12 and asked for an update. I spoke to Tamara who said the notes stated when Luisa called the dealer that they were closed. I asked her if it said what time Luisa called, and she stated around 7pm. The dealer doesn't close until 8pm. I informed Tamara of this and she said she wasn't sure why Luisa said that, but she would notify Luisa to contact me. Luisa never contacted me. I called a few hours later and spoke to Bob. Bob said the case still stated Luisa was working on getting a hold of the dealer, but was unsuccessful so he would try when we got off the phone. I did not hear anything back so I called again in the evening and spoke to Norman. Norman said Luisa noted the case that she called the dealer again but no one supposedly answered. I asked him to call the dealer with me on the phone, and he did. He had no issues getting a hold of the dealer. He told me it could now be escalated so a district person could contact me and he sympathized with me and how I felt about being asked to eat over $5,000 and still pay more for another car that was the same vehicle. I told him I needed someone to call me back as soon as possible because the dealer was trying to order a car the following day. He said he expedited it as much as he could.

On Friday morning 10/26/12 Elizabeth called me at 9:30am. I unfortunately missed the call and returned her call within two minutes. I was not able to get a hold of her for the rest of the day. I spoke to the dealer that day as well and they stated they were able to get an additional $500 in trade assistance but could not do anything further. I worked with them on placing an order for a vehicle and told them I'm still not satisfied about the money I've lost out on and will continue to lose out on. On Monday 10/29/12 afternoon Elizabeth called me back and said she was aware that an order was being placed by the dealer for a vehicle and that they had achieved trade assistance of $4,000. She asked me if there was anything further she could do. I explained to her that I felt GM was not showing care for a customer that purchased a brand new vehicle that is obviously faulty by expecting them to eat their car payment for the last year and a half along with pay more for an equivalent vehicle. I informed her that I have been a loyal GM customer, but discovering that this is how GM treats its customer when they receive a faulty vehicle is a slap in the face to their customers. She stated she agreed and asked what more I was seeking. I told her I would like GM to meet me somewhere in the money I've lost paying on the faulty and unsafe vehicle for the past year and a half. I told her I understand that I'm not required to pay anything further on the vehicle, but if it wasn't for these issues I wouldn't even be considering trading the vehicle in and would have happily kept paying on the vehicle and driving it until who knows when. So if I wouldn't have had all the issues, I would be in vehicle that was worth what I paid for. Therefore I would like GM to show that they care about customers who go through these situations and lose out on money and their vehicle by helping to at least meet halfway with the money that was lost. She said she didn't see that as being unfair would look into what else she could do for me and would let me know on Thursday 11/1/12. I received a call this morning 11/1/12 from a rep named Supa who stated GM would do nothing further than the trade assistance that was already offered and that while she sympathized with me there was nothing else that would be done. I told her that I am very disappointed that GM would treat its customers this way.

I am in disbelief that GM handles customers this way. I bought what I trusted to be a safe, reliable, and fuel efficient vehicle. It's accomplished fuel efficiency, but not safety or reliability. It's had a total of three failed components, two of them caused safety issues. Also, the transmission issues still hasn't been resolved. If I wanted a car that I would have to worry about, I would have kept my 2000 cougar that I had zero car payment on. Now I feel as though GM doesn't care, and while they've offered trade assistance so i owe nothing further on the vehicle I am forced to eat over $5,000 to get out of the vehicle that has proven it's faulty. I feel I'm trapped into another GM vehicle because of the trade assistance, because if I don't use it then I will lose out on even more money. This is the worst feeling I have ever had with a GM vehicle, and I'm severely disappointed. My grandpa is a retired GM employee, and my step-dad works for Ford. So I have my choice of employee pricing for either domestic car company. I have usually purchased GM vehicles when it's come to new vehicles because I've had good experiences in the past. This experience has ruined my confidence that GM builds quality vehicles, and that they care about their customers. There is hardly a worse feeling than having to choose between losing money and being forced to pay for a new vehicle, losing more money by going to another car company, or continuing to drive an unreliable and at times unsafe vehicle to prevent losing money. No matter what, I am losing money because I trusted this car to be what GM promised it to be and now that it's turned out to be the opposite they won't stand completely behind it and take care of it.