My recent dealings with Bob Howard Buick GMC in Oklahoma City, OK
 

Just a little background before I start my rambling.

I bought a BRAND NEW GM crate engine more my 2001 GMC sonoma from the parts store at Bob Howard Buick GMC. It's a 2.2l 4 cylinder. My reason for buying from them instead of a salvage yard was because of the 3 year/100,000mile warranty that the engine was supposed to be covered under. I paid to have a qualified service center install the engine, which was acceptable per the warranty rules. The motor made noise, had a bad misfire, and had significant blow-by on the very first start up.

I then had the truck towed to Bob Howard Buick GMC for them to diagnose. The truck was there for a couple days before the service adviser called to say they had performed a crankshaft relearn and the misfires had went away. I went to pick the truck up and as soon as I started it, I could tell the truck was still missing. As I sat there to let the truck come up to operating temp, the service engine light came back on. I pulled around to the service bay to tell them the light had come back on. The service adviser then drove the truck back into the shop and had a technician scan it. They cleared the code and advised me at that time that the misfire was being caused by spark plug, spark plug wire, or fuel injector on cylinder #4 but it was ok to take home. Unfortunately for me, it was not and it failed. I then had to take it to my local dealership where it was tore down. The warranty was denied by that dealership and eventually by GM stating the issue was caused by workmanship during the install. Saying FOD(foreign object debris) was dropped in the motor. Even though, the vehicle HAD JUST LEFT another dealership where it was said to be fine after doing the crankshaft relearn...

Now comes the lengthy posts. I posted these on Bob Howard Buick GMC's Facebook timeline. They are long and drawn out but I felt it was important to include every detail I could. Please take the time to read. Thank you very much

To Whom it may concern,

The customer service I have received from your dealership this past month is unheard of to myself. I've never been treated so rude by a group of individuals. I purchased a new crate motor from the service department at that dealership and upon installation it was clear the engine was bad. I had the pickup towed to your dealership where it was deemed "fixed". Unfortunately on my trip home the truck broke down and was towed to the nearest dealership in my hometown. The engine has been torn down and warranty has been denied because of a claimed "workmanship issue" during the install.

Since then I've tried to contact various people to try and get a better understanding of why the warranty is being denied. A couple of individuals who stick out in my mind are Derrek Gorrell, who was my initial service advisor and who in our most recent conversation actually hung up on me while I was inquiring more information.

Also, a young lady named Nicole, who apparently thought this situation was somewhat humurous and of no importance who put me on an extended hold and then eventually transferred me to a number which received no answer. After listening to a ring for 3-4 minutes I hung up and redialed only to get in touch with Nicole again who was obviously very perturbed to hear my voice and the dissatisfaction I expressed to her by not being transferred to an individual.

The individual I was supposed to be put in touch with was a Mr. Bobby Lubbers who I believe is the GM of that store who is apparently above Steve Wilson who is the Service Department manager, which is on vacation this week. I eventually reached Mr. Lubbers voicemail where I left a message to please call me back. Three voicemails later and I have yet to receive a return call from Mr. Lubbers.

I'm know Bob Howard has thousands of very satisfied customers. My family could be included in the statistic until recently. The treatment I have received from your dealership is unacceptable and won't soon be forgotten. Facebook isn't my favorite place to discuss matters like this, but hopefully THIS concern won't fall on deaf ears as it has by trying to discuss the matter over the phone.

Your former customer,
Danny Parker
(405) 538-7390

...Continued...

I posted that post last tuesday, November 20. I didn't expect a response, I just hoped maybe the way I had been treated would be noted by someone, since I couldn't reach anyone who seemed to particularly care about the matter, over the phone. The post couldn't have been there 5 minutes before my phone rang. It was Mr. Bobby Lubbers. The phone call suprised me but it was decent conversation where Mr. Lubbers said he would "see what he could do", but he couldn't do it until I removed my post from Facebook which didn't exactly shine a good light on his dealership. I obliged because he seemed genuinely concerned with this whole process of my warranty being denied and promised he'd look into it and contact me the next day.

To my suprise, I received a phone call the next morning. Not from Mr. Lubbers, but instead from Gary Williams, who I'm told is THE BOSS. I spoke with Gary the day before about the issues I've been having with another dealership and them not honoring the warranty of my brand new crate engine that I bought from one of his dealerships. The first phone call went well in that Mr. Williams seemed receptive of what I had to say about my case. The phone call ended with Gary saying he would make some calls and see what he could find out. A couple phone calls later from various individuals and I was right back where I started with no answers except, warranty denied. I then called Gary Williams again to see what I needed to do next but the tone of the conversation was very different. This phone call quickly became about me accepting the responsibility for the brand new engine being in the shape it was in, even though the service advisor, Derrek Gorrell, at his dealership said it was ok to drive after a crankshaft relearn was performed when I initially went to pick the truck up from being looked at the first time. It was a very discouraging phone call in which I was made to be the blame over the techinicians with diagnostic equipment who said it was good to go. The phone call ended with Mr. Williams reluctantly saying he would "see what he could do"(notice a pattern?). Fast forward to the next morning and the phone call from Gary. He expressed his displeasure with my previous facebook post and didn't know if he should continue his efforts to "help me out" if I was going to "bash his company". The phone call was brief, he said what he wanted and wish me a happy holiday. Thanks Gary. I later received a text message from Bobby Lubbers saying he was unable to get any information that day (Wednesday November 21) because everyone was gone for the holidays. That's very understanable.

Monday November 26, no phone calls, no kind of contact. Figured it was just a busy day the first day back after a long 4 day weekend.

Tuesday November 27. I waited until around 3pm with no kind of contact. I then called Bobby Lubbers to get a status update. The information I was given at that time is that the warranty was denied by GM(yes, I know this and already gave this information to them) and that they were not going to do anything about it. I had already come to the realization that that was the case. As wrong as it is, that's the way it is and there is nothing I can do about it. What came next I'm still in shock of(for lack of better term). Mr. Lubbers offered to give me $500 to "help me out" but not to mention anything about that to Gary Williams because he's under strict orders from Gary not to do anything for me because of the Facebook post I made last week. "He's not pleased with the facebook post." Well to begin with, that $500 is just a slap in the face. The original purchase price was over $1000 plus the cost to have a service shop install it, miscellaneous gaskets, fluids, ect ect...$500 won't even buy a rebuild kit for the engine IF it was rebuildable which the service techs at GM say it is not. I wanted to discuss that matter on the phone, but again, an unanswered phone call where I left a voicemail is not being returned by Mr. Lubbers.

I've accepted the FACT that GM nor any dealership want to honor the 3 year 100,000 mile warranty associated with this new crate engine because I didn't pay to have one of their dealerships to install the engine. Even though the warranty paper says any qualified service center can perform the task and I was assured of that by many people at Bob Howard Buick GMC.

What my complaint with Bob Howard Buick GM is, is still the way I've been treated by the employees that work there. I've still yet to receive an apology for being hung up on by Derrek Gorrell and being laughed at and spoken to rudely by the young lady named Nicole. Derrek was also the original Service advisor who assured me there were no compression issues with the motor and that the misfires were being caused by a bad spark plug, spark plug wire, or fuel injector. Come to find out #4 cylinder has a chewed up piston and cylinder wall which was resulting in less than 50psi of compression. The original invoice states the service tech did a crankshaft relearn and the missfires went away. It also says that I declined a compression and leak down test, which is untrue. But again, I was assured it wasn't a compression issue. Guess they covered their butts on that deal, huh?

The shady employees and tactics I've dealt with throughout this process are unacceptable to me. Between being hung up on, laughed at, talked rude to, the unanswered and unreturned phone calls, and having fingers pointed at me for something out of my control by the people in charge, it will be hard for me to bring my business back to your dealership and even tougher for me to recommend anyone else go there for fear of going through the same troubles.

I wish your thousands of very satisfied customers the best of luck.

Your former customer,
Danny Parker
(405) 538-7390

Here is the conversation that WAS on Bob Howard Buick GMC's Facebook timeline before they deleted and blocked people that had commented on it. Yes, blocked potential customers from their social network!

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The general manager's response
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Then it was deleted

DO you remember my recent crap dealings with geico?

Boils down like this.

1. - contact the BBB
2. - create a website through godaddy ($14.99 would be expensive) something similar to the dealerships name, include the words SUCK in the name. Spell out everything clearly on the website. Leave the website up until problem resolved.
3. - contact local media outlets, ask them about being ripped off and treated poorly.

My dealings with gieco ended with geicosucks.com. $12.99 ended in me getting a call from the CEO of geico, apologies, and getting a check cut within 2 weeks for my car.

Thank you very much for that bit of advice. I didn't see your thread, but I can only imagine after going through what I am for this.

I've posted the conversation on Newsok Facebook timeline which is I believe The Daily Oklahoman people. It, like on Bob Howard Buick GMC's, was up for awhile and just recently deleted. I've tried to contact a local news station, KFOR, who has a segment called "In your corner" where they try to get to the bottom of situations like this for people. I haven't heard back from them on the matter.

They need to step up and do the right thing which is standing behind the product they sell and taking care of the customer.

I also have this posted on General Motors Facebook timeline and have yet to receive a response from them either. It's as if no one cares about the issue at all. It's very disheartening.

Sounds like its time to parallel park between two corvetts and make it fit

Basically, I had a 97 Lincoln Towncar with a new cloth top. It was cherry, but a cheap car. I had, had it for sale on craigslist for $4500 and my phone had been going crazy with people wanting to look at it.

My wife took it out, guy on the interstate in front of my wife lost a load of scrap metal. She was more concerned with survival then his license number. Metal bounced all over the car, struck just above the windshield and tore the cloth top off. Damaged the fiberglass hull under the factory cloth top. 2 inches lowered would have likely killed my wife.

I contact geico. Took it to a rep. The rep said the cloth top wasn't covered because it wasn't factory to the car, and that it was a wearable item. He said the car had previous hail storm damage. Accused me of fraud, and told me to leave.

The phone calls after all went much like yours. I put up the website, the CEO called me. He promised to have the top guy in the state contact me. The next day, there was someone at my house. They cut me a check for $1500, and I sold the car for $1500 with the roof damaged.

What exactly was found to be in the cylinder? If there were something in the cylinder that messed up the piston and bore it should have made one hell of a racket. Did it make the skipping sound as soon as the engine was replaced?

I would do as I had suggested for cttandy back when he had his problem, and file a civil suit. It is fairly cheap to file, and you can voice yourself to a judge that will have a verdict on the outcome. If you decided to go that route, get everything lined up before you go. Get an estimate from another dealership for a new replacement engine. Bring up the fact that they said the truck was OK, and had you leave the dealership in it when it was running, and it broke down. Obviously you didn't put anything in it and they were the last ones to do mechanical work to it before it broke down. It should not be hard for you to win.

They didn't find anything. Nothing except the broke piston in cylinder #4 with a scarred cylinder wall, chewed up piston in cylinder #3 and the mangled combustion chamber for those two cylinders.

It's a very shady deal. GM not the dealerships want to step up and do what is right and take care of the customer by honoring the warranty

That's some crappy customer service right there. What was wrong with the original engine?