[dkmcclelland]

So, I'd like to start this thread out by saying that my sister bought her 2012 Cruze 2LT RS 1.4T Auto almost three years ago with 26,000 miles. It now has 85,000 miles and has had more problems with overheating than I'd like to count.

This car has stranded her on the side of the road not once, not twice, or three times. This past Friday was the fourth time that she's been on the side of the road. The third time resulted in blowing off all of the coolant hoses leaving her stranded on the interstate with no coolant or water. This, of course, was not covered under the power train warranty and had to be fixed out of pocket.

Not even three months later she calls me Saturday morning telling me she had to have the car towed yet again to the dealer and this time it won't turn over. I told her the last time that it overheated she needed to check the coolant each and every morning before she leaves. So she's been doing that and Friday morning the coolant was full and she was off to work as usual. Well, on the way home the car gave her the overheat warning and to turn off the A/C and turn off engine. As it has done for the last six months.

Let's just say that this is completely unacceptable for a car that is only three (well now four) years old.

But to make ALL of this worse, the dealership that she has to go to is completely inept and treats her like shes a 16 year old girl that has no clue about anything. Mind you she is 22, but my dad and I have always maintained our vehicles and taught her how to do the same. She can change a tire and knows what transmission and oil dipsticks are. I'd like for a representative to reach out to me so that I can have some help getting this dealer rolling with finding out what the problem is and getting the car fixed under the warranty so that we can just trust it won't leave her stranded. At this point we have lost all faith in Chevrolet and General Motors to get her somewhere safe and in one piece. She was stranded on the side of a busy interstate for over two hours waiting for a tow from GM Roadside Assist and ended up having to call a tow truck herself.

I have seen the quick responses from the GM Social Media Customer Assistance Representatives and hope that you guys can help us get this fixed. Speaking with the dealership service secretary gets us nowhere and every time she has to bring the car back in it's the same thing every time with the woman. She treats my sister like she has no clue and dismisses her opinion. I live over four hours from her so it's not like I can pop in the dealership and speak to the shop manager or lead technician and get to the root of the problem.

What do I need to do to get some relief from this overly frustrating situation?

 

[Robby]

Based on minimal information I really think you should abandon the current dealer.

Example: I will guess a stuck thermostat caused the hoses to blow off......If I'm right, the thermostat was supposed to be covered under powertrain......any failures that resulted from that part failure are called 'consequential'.
Consequential damage that is a result of a powertrain component failure are also covered.

So, if this is what happened, the current dealer has no problem taking advantage of his service customers.....end the relationship.

As you read the various posts here you will note that a failure as you described is, at best, uncommon.....so I wonder what is really happening here.

The vehicle is not notorious for this type of extreme failure.

Kind of wonder if the dealer is not fully verifying the car is correctly repaired.

Rob

 

[chevrasaki]

So, I'd like to start this thread out by saying that my sister bought her 2012 Cruze 2LT RS 1.4T Auto almost three years ago with 26,000 miles. It now has 85,000 miles and has had more problems with overheating than I'd like to count.

This car has stranded her on the side of the road not once, not twice, or three times. This past Friday was the fourth time that she's been on the side of the road. The third time resulted in blowing off all of the coolant hoses leaving her stranded on the interstate with no coolant or water. This, of course, was not covered under the power train warranty and had to be fixed out of pocket.

Not even three months later she calls me Saturday morning telling me she had to have the car towed yet again to the dealer and this time it won't turn over. I told her the last time that it overheated she needed to check the coolant each and every morning before she leaves. So she's been doing that and Friday morning the coolant was full and she was off to work as usual. Well, on the way home the car gave her the overheat warning and to turn off the A/C and turn off engine. As it has done for the last six months.

Let's just say that this is completely unacceptable for a car that is only three (well now four) years old.

But to make ALL of this worse, the dealership that she has to go to is completely inept and treats her like shes a 16 year old girl that has no clue about anything. Mind you she is 22, but my dad and I have always maintained our vehicles and taught her how to do the same. She can change a tire and knows what transmission and oil dipsticks are. I'd like for a representative to reach out to me so that I can have some help getting this dealer rolling with finding out what the problem is and getting the car fixed under the warranty so that we can just trust it won't leave her stranded. At this point we have lost all faith in Chevrolet and General Motors to get her somewhere safe and in one piece. She was stranded on the side of a busy interstate for over two hours waiting for a tow from GM Roadside Assist and ended up having to call a tow truck herself.

I have seen the quick responses from the GM Social Media Customer Assistance Representatives and hope that you guys can help us get this fixed. Speaking with the dealership service secretary gets us nowhere and every time she has to bring the car back in it's the same thing every time with the woman. She treats my sister like she has no clue and dismisses her opinion. I live over four hours from her so it's not like I can pop in the dealership and speak to the shop manager or lead technician and get to the root of the problem.

What do I need to do to get some relief from this overly frustrating situation?

Very sorry to hear about all of this. I can empathize with how your sister is being treated. It was very hard to get a dealer to take my brand new purchase seriously when I went to ask about cars. I was 23 at the time of purchase. And no one wanted to help me with anything. Even when I started doing paperwork, I was treated like garbage. I had to raise a complaint when my dealer transfer came in due to it having massive cobweb build up and leaves under turbo. After bringing it back to have it detailed, I waited at the dealer for 4 hours, and after all that time, they bring my car back with all the dust soaked in puddles of armor all. They hadn't even opened the hood. I was FURIOUS. After just spending more of my time cleaning the car myself I finally calmed down and accepted that I have the car I love and I've transferred over to a different dealer with positive results.

 

[ChevyGuy]

But to make ALL of this worse, the dealership that she has to go to is completely inept and treats her like shes a 16 year old girl that has no clue about anything.

Why does she "have" to go there? Especially if they treat her like that? Your warranty is with GM, not the dealer. You owe no loyalty to them.

I'm with Robby. Find another dealer. I realize they may be out of your way, but that's probably what it's going to take to get this fixed right.

 

[Eddy Cruze]

Very sorry to hear about all of this. I can empathize with how your sister is being treated. It was very hard to get a dealer to take my brand new purchase seriously when I went to ask about cars. I was 23 at the time of purchase. And no one wanted to help me with anything. Even when I started doing paperwork, I was treated like garbage. I had to raise a complaint when my dealer transfer came in due to it having massive cobweb build up and leaves under turbo.

I've never heard of that, why wouldn't a dealer take your purchase seriously at age 23. Do you have that Webster disease or not take showers on a regular basis, what was up that day? If you are over 18 and don't appear to have any visible mental conditions the FIRST thing the dealer wants to do is bring you into a tiny little room and play 4 square with you, where they divide a blank paper into 4 sections and do their thing. In special circumstances they do the 'Spot Delivery' thing and let you just sign some forms and drive away, worrying how you will pay another day. Generally most Car Dealers will push you out the door only if your credit score is too low or your income is not acceptable.

 

[chevrasaki]

I've never heard of that, why wouldn't a dealer take your purchase seriously at age 23. Do you have that Webster disease or not take showers on a regular basis, what was up that day? If you are over 18 and don't appear to have any visible mental conditions the FIRST thing the dealer wants to do is bring you into a tiny little room and play 4 square with you, where they divide a blank paper into 4 sections and do their thing. In special circumstances they do the 'Spot Delivery' thing and let you just sign some forms and drive away, worrying how you will pay another day. Generally most Car Dealers will push you out the door only if your credit score is too low or your income is not acceptable.

This particular dealer was a Cadillac GMC Buick Chevy dealer. They were really not interested in my purchase because 90% of the people who go there are buying 60K+ Cadillacs and GMC/Chevy trucks. 90% of their customers are over 60 years old. They did not care about me because I was getting the cheapest car I could find, with a GMS discount. The car I was interested in was on another dealer lot so they had to transfer it, and it had sat on the other dealer lot for 381 days and was already offering $3,500 cash back. They would not have batted an eye to me walking next door to the ford dealer. But I really liked the car, and it was very reasonably priced.

 

[jsusanka]

Everything should of still been covered under the power train warranty. Open a case with GM and find a new dealer.

 

[Tomko]

Let me reiterate what others have said about finding another dealer.

I was once 21 years old and dealing with dealers while driving Pontiac's top of the line vehicle. So I know what it's like to be brushed off. But very quickly I drove the 30 minutes to another dealer (receipient of the time Quality Dealer award) and was treated with the respect I deserved.

A friend of mine, of the female persuasion, who drives Subaru, gets unbelievable BS from Otto's her Subaru dealer. Complete film-flam BS and stories to drive her anxiety through the roof. She now won't go in there unless escorted by a man - and can't wait until she's off warranty and never has to deal with them again. Her Forrester is a good car, but Otto's has made the ownership experience wholly unpleasant. Because of them she'll likely never buy Subaru again.

 

[dkmcclelland]

The problem is that now the car will not start. The engine will not turn over. When the car was towed it was taken to the closest Chevy dealer, which was this dealer. The next closest dealer that's GM is a Cadillac dealer, and I actually just remembered that it was there.

They called her this morning and stated, "Your battery is dead. You need to buy a new battery before we can even turn the car on to find out what's wrong." I'm a little helpless being four hours away from her and I can't go there myself.

Who can I call to open a case with GM with this? That was my reason for creating this thread.

 

[obermd]

How old is the car and how many miles? If under 3 years/36,000 miles the battery is covered as part of the B2B warranty. Otherwise, get a battery installed and take the car to a different dealership.

 

[chevrasaki]

How old is the car and how many miles? If under 3 years/36,000 miles the battery is covered as part of the B2B warranty. Otherwise, get a battery installed and take the car to a different dealership.

Doesn't sound like it's going to be that easy to install a battery for him, if he is 4 hours away. And also, doesn't sound like he can just drive it to another dealer sounds like it'll have to be towed. What a major hassle/inconvenience. I'd be pretty heated.

Note: It mentioned on the first post the car is a 2012 model with 86K miles so it's out of the bumper to bumper warranty.

 

[Chevy Customer Care]

So, I'd like to start this thread out by saying that my sister bought her 2012 Cruze 2LT RS 1.4T Auto almost three years ago with 26,000 miles. It now has 85,000 miles and has had more problems with overheating than I'd like to count.

This car has stranded her on the side of the road not once, not twice, or three times. This past Friday was the fourth time that she's been on the side of the road. The third time resulted in blowing off all of the coolant hoses leaving her stranded on the interstate with no coolant or water. This, of course, was not covered under the power train warranty and had to be fixed out of pocket.

Not even three months later she calls me Saturday morning telling me she had to have the car towed yet again to the dealer and this time it won't turn over. I told her the last time that it overheated she needed to check the coolant each and every morning before she leaves. So she's been doing that and Friday morning the coolant was full and she was off to work as usual. Well, on the way home the car gave her the overheat warning and to turn off the A/C and turn off engine. As it has done for the last six months.

Let's just say that this is completely unacceptable for a car that is only three (well now four) years old.

But to make ALL of this worse, the dealership that she has to go to is completely inept and treats her like shes a 16 year old girl that has no clue about anything. Mind you she is 22, but my dad and I have always maintained our vehicles and taught her how to do the same. She can change a tire and knows what transmission and oil dipsticks are. I'd like for a representative to reach out to me so that I can have some help getting this dealer rolling with finding out what the problem is and getting the car fixed under the warranty so that we can just trust it won't leave her stranded. At this point we have lost all faith in Chevrolet and General Motors to get her somewhere safe and in one piece. She was stranded on the side of a busy interstate for over two hours waiting for a tow from GM Roadside Assist and ended up having to call a tow truck herself.

I have seen the quick responses from the GM Social Media Customer Assistance Representatives and hope that you guys can help us get this fixed. Speaking with the dealership service secretary gets us nowhere and every time she has to bring the car back in it's the same thing every time with the woman. She treats my sister like she has no clue and dismisses her opinion. I live over four hours from her so it's not like I can pop in the dealership and speak to the shop manager or lead technician and get to the root of the problem.

What do I need to do to get some relief from this overly frustrating situation?

Hi there,

I am truly sorry for the negative experience and we can understand how frustrating this may seem for not only you, but your sister. This is certainly not the kind of impression we wanted to provide your family as valued customers.

I would be more than happy to look into this situation more, and bring this to the attention of the Customer Experience Manager at the dealer. Please have your sister send us an e-mail at [email][email protected][/email] ATTN: Patsy. We will need to work directly with her to resolve this situation in the best way possible. We look forward to her message!

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[obermd]

Doesn't sound like it's going to be that easy to install a battery for him, if he is 4 hours away. And also, doesn't sound like he can just drive it to another dealer sounds like it'll have to be towed. What a major hassle/inconvenience. I'd be pretty heated.

Note: It mentioned on the first post the car is a 2012 model with 86K miles so it's out of the bumper to bumper warranty.

Missed that. In this case I would recommend a new battery be installed and the car then driven to the nearest different dealership for other repairs as needed. Depending on where the car is located it is very possible the battery has died of old age.

Also, take Patsy up on her offer.

 

[Eddy Cruze]

Let me reiterate what others have said about finding another dealer.

I was once 21 years old and dealing with dealers while driving Pontiac's top of the line vehicle. So I know what it's like to be brushed off. But very quickly I drove the 30 minutes to another dealer (receipient of the time Quality Dealer award) and was treated with the respect I deserved.

A friend of mine, of the female persuasion, who drives Subaru, gets unbelievable BS from Otto's her Subaru dealer. Complete film-flam BS and stories to drive her anxiety through the roof. She now won't go in there unless escorted by a man - and can't wait until she's off warranty and never has to deal with them again. Her Forrester is a good car, but Otto's has made the ownership experience wholly unpleasant. Because of them she'll likely never buy Subaru again.

I had a brand new Turbo Colt and after my first Oil Change the Turbo blew. The really old service man (around 50) told me I used the wrong oil, not Turbo Oil and my Warranty was void. He didn't even look at the oil, just blurted out that statement. Fast forward 20 years later I bought a Subaru Forrester Turbo in Miami. The Car was a death trap but the Daewoo Dealer who was now selling Subaru's wasn't set up to service them. The Service manager used that same line, I voided the Subaru warranty because I used Rain-X on the windshield. I do think it needs to be noted that the G.M. Powertrain warranty is very limited in coverage. If I had a CRUZE that wouldn't start I'm not sure I would be towing my Car to the dealer especially if they are abusive.

 

[brian v]

By all means ask to speak to the service manager and remain calm ..
Write down the words that are necessary to elaborate your concerns when you obtain the all important meeting with the manager ...watch the service advisor squirm ..this usually takes a few minutes and the outcome is as usual you get the required service ......

I love IT when they tell ya to take the survey ...yeah . Then I get to delete another E Mailed Survey ......

Guy asks me if I want to trade in me cruzen ..I say yeah for a Ford Mustang EcoBoost .......I did .....the TPMS monitors would'nt pare and Now I have what I like !

 

[dkmcclelland]

Just to reiterate, I would love to be able to hop over to the dealership and take the car somewhere else, but I am four hours away from my sister and the car will not turn over. She attemtped to jump the car off and the engine will attempt to turn over but the starter is unable to make a full cycle leading me to believe that the crank will not turn and/or the block or head is warped.

I'm also not able to make an appointment with the service manager until the end of this week. I have reached out to Patsy, or rather I reached out to my sister and helped her get in touch with Patsy. She's an educated young woman, but when it comes to things such as this she's over her head. I hope that Patsy gets her e-mail and responds promptly.

 

[ChevyGuy]

When I hear "overheating" followed by "engine won't turn over" I'm thinking hydrolocking. If the battery can power the headlights, it may not be the battery.

All the hoses blown off? Either they weren't tightened, or this is a case of blown headgasket. I'd just about bet money on a headgasket. The question is how badly damaged the engine is.

 

[dkmcclelland]

Sorry to be confusing, ChevyGuy, three months ago the coolant hoses "blew off" or rather became disconnected and the car ran hot and had to be towed. They "fixed" the hoses and she's been okay. She checks the coolant level and oil level each morning before she leaves for school or work and Friday morning she was good to go on coolant and oil. Friday afternoon she's driving home and the car overheats and she pulls off the road shuts the car down and checks the coolant once it cooled. Empty. Oil level is fine. No obvious signs of draining in her parking space she says, but I can't speak to that as I'm so far away.

She has the car towed, and had she called me I would have told her to take it to the Cadillac dealer in town, but she didnt. The closest Chevy dealer is 60+ miles away from her so she had it towed to the same dealer.

The problem that I am concerned with is the coolant hoses were not covered under this shitty powertrain warranty and I am worried that now we will be paying for a head gasket, block, or whatever else may be gone to **** on this piece of **** car.

I'm a nurse and work 12 hour shifts 7A-7P so yesterday and today I have been unable to call the dealership and figure out what is wrong. I am boiling at this point because the service secretary treats my sister like she's an idiot. They told her this morning "You need to pay for a new battery before we can even figure out why it won't start"

Mind you, the headlights and interior electronics all work. I'm sure the battery could be bad I mean the car is 4 years old. I just am at my wits end because I'm so far away and can't do much up here.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I'm not sure what to suggest in this situation. Your sister might need to find an advocate that's closer to where she is. You could also look into the cost of the tow to another dealer.

 

[Eddy Cruze]

Sorry to be confusing, ChevyGuy, three months ago the coolant hoses "blew off" or rather became disconnected and the car ran hot and had to be towed. They "fixed" the hoses and she's been okay. She checks the coolant level and oil level each morning before she leaves for school or work and Friday morning she was good to go on coolant and oil. Friday afternoon she's driving home and the car overheats and she pulls off the road shuts the car down and checks the coolant once it cooled. Empty. Oil level is fine. No obvious signs of draining in her parking space she says, but I can't speak to that as I'm so far away.

She has the car towed, and had she called me I would have told her to take it to the Cadillac dealer in town, but she didnt. The closest Chevy dealer is 60+ miles away from her so she had it towed to the same dealer.

The problem that I am concerned with is the coolant hoses were not covered under this shitty powertrain warranty and I am worried that now we will be paying for a head gasket, block, or whatever else may be gone to **** on this piece of **** car.

I'm a nurse and work 12 hour shifts 7A-7P so yesterday and today I have been unable to call the dealership and figure out what is wrong. I am boiling at this point because the service secretary treats my sister like she's an idiot. They told her this morning "You need to pay for a new battery before we can even figure out why it won't start"

Mind you, the headlights and interior electronics all work. I'm sure the battery could be bad I mean the car is 4 years old. I just am at my wits end because I'm so far away and can't do much up here.

Why is it we can say Shitty but we can't say $hit or c rap? Listen you are a Nurse, not a Mechanic. The Car is a 2012 and has almost 100,000 miles on it. Things are going to continue to break. I suggest your sister go to a lower cost local in town trusted mechanic. If its a powertrain issue her mechanic will notify her and at that point the car can be towed to a G.M. Dealer while the 5 year/100K is still in force.