Has anyone with a 2008 GMC Acadia had any compensation or help at all from GM?

wcstephens

Let me just start by saying anytime I drive this piece of junk...I am putting my life and others with me in danger. I have so much money tied up in this thing and after paying 270.00 this week for the second CV axle on the drivers side to be replaced (the passenger side was also replaced last year), I now need to spend 500.00 to have the motor mounts replaced. I'm not sure that I can even list all the issue and yes, I contacted GM about some of the issues and guess what...no help. One was with the emissions issue (purge valve) and we were leaving for vacation and had to get it fixed before leaving. It took so long for the GM rep to call me back and then to say they could not reimburse me and that I should have contacted her before getting it fixed and they possibly could have paid for it. Needless to say, she was not a very courteous person and rather hateful. Thankfully, some of these issues were under warranty, but it was in the shop more than driven or in my garage! When our son turned 16, we bought him a used vehicle...it was not a GM product and has been almost 3 years and has not had any trouble out of it at all!

6/13/08...bought 2008 GMC Acadia SLE...First mistake!
9/2008...fuse box caught fire and the car filled with smoke with me and my son in it. The fuse box was replaced
3/6/09...air bag light comes on constantly...re-routed the harness
11/17/10...left headlight blows...found to be inop d/t socket being shorted out on headlamp assembly
8/25/10...No AC...replaced front blower motor
1/19/11...air bag light comes on constantly again..replaced the connectors & re-routed
7/15/11...leaking coolant...water pump was replaced
12/1/11...drivers headlight inop & has moisture in it...dealership drilled holes in the light
6/29/12...low beam headlight inop...replaced both low beam headlights and connectors per recall
7/20/12...Car would not move...replaced wave plate, sun gear, stator shaft, and right front boot (due to leaking from the right front of the engine)
7/30/12...right back tail light full of water...drilled holes in it myself to avoid charge
3/8/13...master cylinder, brake booster and water pump replaced (for second time)
4/11/13...air bag light constantly on again...per dealer...685.00 to repair and charged me 35.00 to tell me that...needless to say I did not have it done and to date the air bag light is still on and off
6/30/13...would not start...purge valve leaking fuel...replaced
7/22/13...first call to GM for some type of help
7/24/13...no return call...left message
7/26/13...no return call...left message
7/31...no return call...left message...call finally returned and will get a call back August 2nd
6/17/14...2 CV axles replaced
8/19/15...1 CV axle replaced...informed motor mounts needed to be repaired soon for $500.00
6/2008 to date...constant squeaking in the steering wheel and air bag light on and off!
I'm sure there is more, I just didn't document it!

wcstephens

8/24/15...I spoke to Ray at GM Customer Service and he was the most helpful I have yet to speak to. He put me in touch with a GM Customer Service Experience person (who was also helpful) at a dealership/service department near me and is waiving the diagnostic charge and see if they can help me with the repair charge if it is needed. We will see...it never hurts to call!

thecardoc3

wcstephens said:

8/24/15... He put me in touch with a GM Customer Service Experience person (who was also helpful) at a dealership/service department near me and is waiving the diagnostic charge and see if they can help me with the repair charge if it is needed. We will see...it never hurts to call!

How many times have you seen stories that are all about the secrets that someone doesn't want you to know?
It's great of them to help you out, but in doing so do you know that now the techs pay is going to be reduced for doing the work? It would really be great if they still paid the technician the same rate for the job, but that isn't what is going to happen. The technician's labor will now be reduced for the entire job as if this was a brand new car. The labors that the technician will be paid for the job will be cut by a third to as much as a half of what it would have paid him/her otherwise. There are a lot of people who don't think that is a consumers problem and that's because they don't associate how the techs labor getting shorted like this ultimately chases good people from the trade.

cmhj2000

mileage?

socal_eric

One could also look at the dealership charging $100-120 an hour for labor for non-warranty work and make a case that the technician only gets a small amount. If part of your job duties involve doing warranty work, which means the dealer gets reimbursed at a lower amount from the manufacturer than they would otherwise make from charging a customer, and if you don't want to deal with that as part of the job then maybe they should move to a different trade or industry. Many techs with specializations and extensive training make decent money. If you're entry level and get assigned lots of warranty work then they do have a choice to improve their skills, find another repair facility to work, or move on to a difference career choice.


To the original poster, it does look like you've had quite a few issues but I'm assuming most were covered under the 5/100 powertrain. The air bag issue on the other hand isn't acceptable. If you're working with a new dealership I'd stress that this issue originally started and repair was attempted while under the bumper-to-bumper warranty (if you were still in mileage at the time) and see if the district/regional GM rep will assist due to a safety issue that was never resolved. For safety equipment they usually have a little leeway to authorize courtesy repairs, especially if you can show a history back to when it was still under warranty.

thecardoc3

socal_eric said:

If part of your job duties involve doing warranty work, which means the dealer gets reimbursed at a lower amount from the manufacturer than they would otherwise make from charging a customer, and if you don't want to deal with that as part of the job then maybe they should move to a different trade or industry. Many techs with specializations and extensive training make decent money. If you're entry level and get assigned lots of warranty work then they do have a choice to improve their skills, find another repair facility to work, or move on to a difference career choice.

Just remember all of this the next time you see a poster who is frustrated by the fact that a given issue with their car isn't solved in spite of multiple visits while they also attempted to sell other simple services. Leaving the trade is exactly what many of the most talented people have been choosing to do and it will take decades to reverse the trend. Anyone who thinks that it is fair for the techs to now be paid less for the work when something turns back into warranty needs to become that tech doing the work for warranty pay while the person next to you gets paid more for the same job.

stever

Consumers don't care about that stuff even if they are educated about it. People still bought Kathie's Lee's clothes or iPads or whatever, even when they had an inkling about the working conditions behind the product.

Good luck with your dealer visit, @wcstephens. Please keep us posted.

socal_eric

What you're describing isn't new. Finding a good tech can be challenging and it is a cutthroat industry like many others. You seem to be placing the blame on the automaker, but how about the dealership? They're the ones that directly profit from the consumer and along with used car sales profit most from their service department. While automakers reimburse less than the gouging a dealer might charge a consumer paying out-of-pocket for repairs, how about shift some (or most) of the blame on them?

If the dealer couldn't get technicians to work for the rates they're willing to pay they'd have to offer more money. That would take an increased share of the profits or result in higher labor rates charged for out of warranty work. Which one do you think they'd choose?

Since entry level techs are a dime a dozen and profit is so important we haven't reached a point where there's a reason for dealerships to pay more. Instead of complaining it would be better to offer advice to someone thinking of a career in auto tech so they fully understand it's going to be tough. Unless you get really good and develop specialized skills you'll likely be doing a lot of low pay work. This would be much better advice than to chastise a consumer about why their vehicle might not have been repaired adequately the first time (and speaks nothing of the design and original manufacture that plays a part in reliability).

Lower skill techs often get a lot of the warranty work and some might not have the training or experience to do it properly. That can be why a consumer can't get their vehicle repaired properly. The tech will get faster and better, accept the lower pay or move on. The consumer doesn't care.

Other times you have an experienced tech that doesn't want to put in the effort to troubleshoot. That's why there should be metrics and performance goals the dealership has to meet to keep their franchise along with public perception and having to keep consumers satisfied in order to keep the doors open, but unfortunately that isn't the case and bad dealers still manage to stay in business.

Now back on topic…

wcstephens

All I know is I paid $32,000.00 for something that is not worth a dime to me now! I expected way more than what I got and bought this car in a bind and thought it would be a good one for what we needed. Mind you, after much trouble started...the dealership did offer to find me something comparable to what I had and guess what...they did and I would have to pay a difference on all of them! Typical car dealership! All I know is that if I pay that kind of hard earned money for something...it should have been better than what I have. I have also told all my family and friends if I should have a wreck in that car and my air bags don't work and could have saved a life...sue GM! That is one of the reason I got the car was the safety. It's all so ridiculous! I can't count the times I have been by there for that problem months after I bought it. On the repairman issue some seem so fired up about. My dad worked at a dealership repair shop for a long time when I was young and things are certainly different now. If your not happy with the way you are being paid or the work...move on to a better place. I hate the techs are getting paid less for my car, but that's not my fault. They need to weed out the ones that don't do their job and cause the consumer to have to go back over and over again. I like my little Dad and Son shops that do an awesome job and are not in the whole politics of it all. Which is who just fixed my CV axle and if nothing good comes out of this dealership fixing my current problem...I will take it right back to him and not be worried about it all. Yes, a lot of my work was covered under warranty, but I have tied about about $1,200.00 that wasn't, not counting this 500.00 to come. The money is a big deal, but it was being without a car and the inconvenience of it all too.As far as mileage...it has around 94,000 miles on it...the trouble started at less than 5,000!

socal_eric

Years ago I bought a lemon and was lucky to get Ford to buy it back after arbitration and know the pain of frequent service department visits. Luckily it sounds like you're not out too much given that any used vehicle will start having repair costs, but unless you really like the car it might be wise to do the math and consider cutting potential losses and moving on to something else, especially if you don't trust driving it anymore.

Also not sure if you've already done so, but since you have a safety related item that hasn't been repaired correctly you might want to head over to the NHTSA's web site at the following link and file a complaint so it can be documented.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/