My obsession with GM cars.

Or, "I really am insane."

I've had almost all GM cars since I was in college - most of them new.

1978 Chevy Monte Carlo (purchased new)
1979 Chevy Camaro Berlinetta (purchased new)
1990 Pontiac Grand Am SE HO 2.4 (purchased new)
1995 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP 3.4 HO (purchased new)
1998 Buick Riviera 3.8 (purchased one year old)
2005 Pontiac Bonneville GXP (purchased one year old)

Now, let's let my letter to PMD and the dealer speak (partially) for me:

Last week, I had my 2005 Pontiac Bonneville into David Taylor for warranty repair work, VIN 1G2HZ54Y85U*******.

The car was delivered for service on Thursday, September 6 2007 and returned to me on Friday, September 7, 2007. Upon return, the vehicle had suffered damage while at David Taylor, specifically:

• Windshield is broken
• Interior lights and trunk light no longer operable

In addition, the warranty work performed was improperly done. The replaced moonroof leaks air and water, and rattles when the shade is opened. The car was returned with the dash, the rear package tray and rear seat soiled and dirty.

This is the car’s fourth warranty visit for the moonroof issue. In my experience, David Taylor’s service personnel have been reluctant to address noise complaints in the absence of clear physical evidence that a problem exists. I am reluctant to bring the car back to David Taylor for the moonroof if it will again be returned to me with a notation that no problem was found.

Your service advisor reports that David Taylor was not responsible for the windshield damage, and that the interior lights have to be inspected to determine whether David Taylor is responsible or Pontiac is responsible. The windshield damage bears a cost of $586.95 plus tax.

I request that this matter be reviewed by management, as the service drive staff have already denied David Taylor’s responsibility for any of these matters, and that a specific, reliable promise as to the level of care that will be delivered in reviewing these complaints and in performing any adjustments or repairs be given before I again take a partial day away from work to deliver the car for additional service.

Now, at this same dealer is this very nice and helpful saleslady who's trying to get me to buy this 2008 Cadillac STS.

Lovely. Lovely lovely lovely. She and I have been exchanging emails and she's been trying to be helpful with the service department.

The service manager (who has a different name that the "service manager" that the sales manager told me I should speak to) was not friendly, not even really businesslike. He was terse, cold, angry and basically told me that they'd let me bring the car back to give them a FIFTH shot at fixing the sunroof.

About twenty minutes later, I had an email from the nice saleslady, who had emailed to see if I'd heard from the service manager. I wrote her back saying this:

I did. I have to replace my windshield at my own expense; they're not willing to at all entertain that something happened to the car while they had it. They're taking the car in for the interior lights on Wednesday. I was very put off by the service managers tone. He was barely polite, but he clearly thinks that I'm the one with the problem.

I don't know about you, but if I had to take a $40,000 car to a luxury dealer to have the sunroof repaired four times and got it back leaking water and air AND damaged, there'd be a little genuflecting and apologies going on. Not the utter indifference and unwillingness to do anything but let me bring the car back in a FIFTH time to do the repair shop dance with them again.

So, Brian, whom I adore and cherish, says that only an idiot would buy an American car from a US manufacturer for exactly these reasons. He suggests a Hyundai Genesis or a nice Honda. Or something from Nippon, Infiniti, Lexus...

Of course, these cars leave me c-o-l-d.

When I bought the Buick, a deciding factor was that I could take the car to this same dealer and have it worked on under the supervision of my good friend who was a service writer there. He left, unfortunately, shortly before I bought this car.

So, I can take the car to the same dealer to have the same issue worked on the FIFTH time (along with the damage they did to the inside lighting) with no promise of how long it's going to take, and whether they'll even give it a half-assed shot to treat me with the decency that a buyer of a Kia Rondo should reasonably expect.

Ah - funny. I'm sitting here blogging, and I get the automated email from the dealer asking me to report my experiences with them:

I half expect later this week to have the car returned to me, with the interior lights that you damaged still not working and a notation that you can't find the problem since it's daylight or something.

Finally, when I do voice my complaints about having my car returned to me like this, I'm spoken to in a hostile and unfriendly tone - clearly the only motivation for the call from your store was because you HAD TO talk to me.

Anyone buying a car from your store and taking it there for service is insane.

I'd click this little box asking the service manager to contact me, but he's already called me to share his disdain with my complaints. I'll skip that in the future.

Today, I was finalizing the work I did last Thursday (remember - creativity?) and ... yes, indeed .. it was shared with everyone in the office again. I blew my cork for the first of four times today. Only three more episodes to go.

In the last few days, and due to a configuration error with Trillian, I have re-connected with "Timmy" from Frankfurt and James from Albuquerque - and I'm very very very very very happy to have done so.