Who's responsible?

[Jugernot]

Here is a hypothetical situation, who do you think is responsible?

I buy a new vehicle and have a remote car starter put on vehicle a week later. 2 Weeks after getting it installed, vehicle starts sputtering and stalls out. Vehicle is towed to dealership and they say the PCM (Powertrain Control Module) needs to be reprogrammed. They reprogram and say "Ok, it's fixed! If you have any more problems, it's most likely the PCM itself because the programming is good. " I asked "Could it be the autostart?" to which they replied "Doesn't look like it, it's the PCM." I call the installer and he says he'll remove it for free to eliminate it out of the mix if I have more issues.

Later that day, problem reoccurs. I take it back in and they say "Ok, after further inspection, it looks like BCM is bad, not the PCM. We'll order a new one and let you know when it's in. We'll get you a rental car in the mean time."

A week and a half later they call and say "Ok, replaced and it looks fine." Yet again, after driving the vehicle, it has the same issue and sputters and stalls out. Vehicle is taken back, yet again. This time they say "Ok, looks like it wasn't the BCM afterall. We took off the wiring for the remote start out and it looks like it fixed the issue. So, you're going to have to pay for us removing the autostart and maybe more depending on what my manager says."

Keep in mind, they flat out told me it wasn't the remote start and I never told them to remove it. If I had known they suspected the remote start, I could have had it removed for free.

Fast forward 1 week, I tell them I never authorized them to take it out and don't want to pay for it. They say "Well, you either pay for this or we could possibly charge you for the whole process, rental car and all!" To which I reply "Well, I even asked you guys early on if it was the auto start and you said NO. I could have had it taken out for free. You guys removed it without telling me and didn't get authorization from me either. If you had said early on, it could be auto start, I could have taken care of all of this and you wouldn't havehad the vehicle in here 3 times and 1.5 of rental car."

So, who do you think is responsible for the fees?

Update 04-09-08:

Yesterday the same issue reared it head again. Apparently the remote starter was not the problem.

I talked to my local dealer about lemon lawing the vehicle and they told me to call GM corp. Which I did, only to find out that this vehicle had it's MAF sensor replaced before we bought it because of a idle problem! BINGO! It had the issue before they sold it to us!

So, I'm proceeding with the lemon exchange for another vehicle.

Jugs

 

[woodie1]

You don't say if removing the remote start fixed your problem.
But ...

If you bought a new vehicle and installed anything that caused a problem you are responsible for the repair and any associated costs. You should have had the dealer install any after market items and then he would have to stand behind the product. The only recourse I can think of is to get a refund from the people who installed the remote start device. Read your new car warranty.

 

[dud]

Here is a hypothetical situation ...

Really?

Consider how much they charge you to remove the autostart versus how much they could charge you for everything they did plus the auto rental. Which is the harder to swallow? If you decide not to pay and fight this ... how will you do it and how much are you willing to lose in the process?

 

[Jugernot]

Hypothetical was the wrong word. I meant, hypothetical in the "if this happened to you" meaning.

At this point, I am willing to pay for removal of the remote start. My point is that they ignored me when I suggested it may be the remote start and did their own thing with replacing and reprogramming modules. They decided to work on the effects of the problem, rather than the source. They could have looked at it and said, "You know what, why don't you take this to your autostart dealer and have them take it off and we'll figure out if that is causing the problem." They didn't, they made it difficult.

 

[DivideBYZero]

They did a load of work trying to diagnose an issue that was caused by a modification added by you (or an agent working on your behalf).

Why should they pay?

 

[Pacfanweb]

They can't charge you. Most you could be responsible for is whatever their stated minimum diagnostic fee is. They shot themselves in the foot by guessing at the repair under warranty already....they can't come back and say you are going to have to pay for all their guess work now.

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
They can't charge you. Most you could be responsible for is whatever their stated minimum diagnostic fee is. They shot themselves in the foot by guessing at the repair under warranty already....they can't come back and say you are going to have to pay for all their guess work now.

That was my point. I'll pay for removal of the remote start, but I'm not going to pay for all the poking around under the dash esepecially when they told me "It's not the remote starter." very early on...

 

[Jugernot]

Update:

Yesterday the same issue reared it head again. Apparently the remote starter was not the problem.

I talked to my local dealer about lemon lawing the vehicle and they told me to call GM corp. Which I did, only to find out that this vehicle had it's MAF sensor replaced before we bought it because of a idle problem! BINGO! It had the issue before they sold it to us!

So, I'm proceeding with the lemon exchange for another vehicle.

Jugs

 

[Mursilis]

What kind of car was this?

 

[Jugernot]

2007 Chevy Silverado

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Jugernot
2007 Chevy Silverado

Yep, them GMs am good cars. Teh intarweb said so so it must be true.

BTW-It's obvious that GM is responsible. If there's one thing that's put me off American cars more than anything it's their dealership service departments.

I have a friend who bought a brand new Vette, he had it in the shop a number of times the first year he owned it and ended up having GM buy it back under lemon law. So, he bought another Vette and he had oil consumption problems with that one from day one, about a quart every 1000 miles. At first they told him that it was just breaking in and it would be fine after break-in, then after it was broken in it continued to consume oil at the same rate so he took it in again and was told that it was the way he drives it. He was furious, then they told him that all Vettes do this and that it's normal. :roll:

Toyota wasn't all that great either but at least if you called them out on something they usually caved in on their untenable position fairly quickly (I could give you a few examples of them trying to screw customers out of money for exactly zero work done). Lexus has been excellent though and I have to say that Nissan has actually been pretty good too.