I have some questions about the seat belt recall:

Scenario:

Seat belt will at random times and speeds, suddenly release the seat belt from the latch/buckle/whatever.

Seeing as this was definitely not a safe thing, I went to look for info here on the board and its archives.

I noticed then that people were talking about a "seat belt recall."

I did a search on the NHTSB's web site, and voila, I see 1.5 million F-Bodies potentially affected with defective seat belt buckles.

I purchase a report from Carfax.com to see if the fix to this problem was done.

Carfax said there was no record of whether or not recall work was done, or if the recall applied to my car.

I was not convinced.

I call a dealership to see if my car is qualified for the recall fix.

They say "your car is not in our database, therefore you do not need it." They do not offer information to verify if recall work was done. They say they'll check again and call me back.

...but they never call back.

I am still not convinced, and am getting a bit annoyed at this point.

I call Pontiac's customer service line to see if the recall work was ever done to my car.

It took a while, since pre-1996 Pontiacs aren't in GM's database, but the guy on the phone said that there was, in fact, a campaign open for my car, and he had me check for a label or sticker on top of my radiator core that says anything about safety recall work being done.

There is no such thing, only a label describing what kind of oil and gas to put in the car.

So he says then, that your car is qualified to have the recall fix done for free. I ask if they "expire." He said that, contrary to popular opinion, legally, a safety campaign cannot expire, regardless of the number of owners, age of the car, etc.

I ask him if I can be sent a letter from GM that states that recall work can be done on this car with respect to the defective seat belt buckles, because the same dealer that I had called earlier said that unless you received a letter from GM stating that you were eligible to receive a recall fix, you didn't need the work done.

The guy tells me on the phone that the above assumption is that the tech doesn't know what the **** he's talking about.

The guy on the phone gives me a reference number, his name, the GM campaign number, etc. for me to use when I take the car in to the dealership for a transmission fluid + filter change, transmission mount replacement, and fuel filter replacement.

They did fine work on the stuff I paid them for, and they had told me when I had dropped off the car for service is that the parts were not available, and they would mail GM with the part number for replacement using some kind of green postcard. They added it would take 5-7 days for the parts to arrive, and when the green postcard came back to them, they would call me to say that the parts had arrived, and that when I brought the car in, the time to replace the buckles with the new buckles would be less than an hour, give or take a few minutes.

3 weeks pass...


...I call the dealership 3 weeks later to ask what the status of the parts is, and the same guy that helped me before answered the phone, and sharply and adamantly denied any such conversation taking place, despite how I emphasized that the recall work was more of a priority than the work I was paying them to do. I brought up GM's campaign number, and he is still denying that this was ever discussed. I then said that I guess I would have to call Pontiac's customer service dept. again to get this resolved. The dealer then said in a sneering tone to "go ahead, they'll just send you back to us anyway."

Which brings us up to today...I left a message at Pontiac's customer service dept. to have the guy that helped me out before give me a call back to see if we can get this issue resolved.

The point of this post:

Has anyone ever been treated like this with regards to a safety recall? And if so, how did you try to resolve it?

Does this validate my dad's theory that dealerships won't do crap for your car unless there's something in it for them?

Are all dealerships a bunch of ****ing crooks?

Thanks!

Jason

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The only good is knowledge; the only evil is ignorance.

[This message has been edited by GTA-Force (edited July 30, 2001).]

 

I've found that there is always at least one moron behind the counter of any service department... too bad you got him.

I went through the same bs with my car. Eventually they replaced three of the buckles with the proper grey and gave me a black one in my hand because they couldn't get another grey one. Apparently I got the last 3 in Canada... called the dealership for weeks after and they just ignored me... guess who will be sued if anything ever happens to my passenger...

The recall is mandatory. Call another dealership nearby and politely tell them that you are having a problem with another dealership and could you please get the phone number for the Regional Service Manager. If he doesn't help you then call the NHTSA directly. They don't mess around and have the power to make any dealership cry like babies.

The dealership only gets 1/2 the shop rate from GM when doing warranty work. If they are busy they don't want to see anything but full price work.


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1986 Trans Am
carbed 350 - .30 over with 9.75:1 comp.
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96 5 stars
SFC's, braces, arms, and a bunch more expensive stuff
no timeslips yet

 

i might be able to help but not sure. what year is your vehicle. about 2 or 3 times a year some idiot brings his f body to my work and want's the recall done and whines about the fact this his seat belts don't work. well, it's a good thing they waited 10 years to see if they can get it done. it's not gm's fault it's not done. it's the person's fault that ignored the letter gm sent in the first place. hell, there's recalls on 81 caprices and other old stuff, should they fix them too without proof of the recall not already being performed??? no. if you want to complain to someone, find the owner that got the card and ignored that. i do work for a dealer and can help depending on the year of the car. otherwise, it's your problem to fix the seat belts that are in the car that you own. remember, gm don't own your car. if it's broke, you fix it or provide your own proof that the recall hasn't been completed already. if your car is 89 or newer, leave your vin and i can run it. if it's older than that, your s.o.l.

 

Hey! I'd be glad to help!

OK, nevermind. If Zippy doesn't want to help you either, I guess you better get back on the phone w/ your "good friend" at the Pontiac Customer Service.



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Now YOU guys are starting to give him the same attitude that most dealerships are trying to convince people that they don't have.

Yea there is a business etiquette that you have to take into consideration. Any business is going to go for the BIG money first, but being rude like that dealership (not you guys) was to him, that's just dumb business. They can't just hope that he goes away. They should solve the problem, then he'll be back for more money making problems later. They should have the "you and me against GM" attitude instead of the "us and GM against you" attitude.

That's why he has a "good friend" at Pontiac Customer Service. Because that guy treated him like he's important. It's nice to see that some people still see the importance of treating customers respectfully.

And to answer that question, NO. Not all dealers are f--king crooks. Actually most of them aren't. They just have a bad rep that started 60 years ago which they're still trying to overcome. A lot of them just have days that they're tired of trying to overcome it all the time.

Just think about a Service Writer's job for a second. All they do, all day long, is listen to people complain about there cars not running right, or not at all, or something's broke, etc. Then if the techs have trouble finding the problem, the Service Writer is the one that gets to hear the mad customer -bitch- about that. Then the Service Manager is mad because the cutomer's mad. Then the Service Writer gets -bitched- at by the manager after the customer leaves. That's the life of a Service Writer.

Just try a different dealer. If you tell them your experience with the first dealer, then (if they're smart) they will kiss your A$$ . It's an easy way for them to steal your business away from the first dealer.

[This message has been edited by AJ_92RS (edited July 30, 2001).]

 

This was back in '94... but I found out about the recall by accident when I bought my '86. The day took it home, I couldn't latch the driver's side belt... talk about weird timing.

I called the dealer up, preferring a new latch to a junkyard latch, he asked me for my VIN, ran it, and told me about the recall. He asked me to come in, I did, the job was done in a few hours- same day. I say find another dealer...


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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I just had mine done a couple of weeks ago. I told them when they refused to do it because the computer didn't show my car on it to give it to me in writng on thier letterhead. When the manager asked why I told him if I or one of my relations get hurt in an accident GM is the first one my lawyer will contact. They ordered the parts and fixed it withn a week