[tjfronk1LE]

Good afternoon everyone, I’ve been putting this off for a little while because honestly, I am hating having to write this sort of negative review, but I do want to warn everyone about a recent experience I’ve had with John Heister Chevrolet in Fuquay Varina NC.



Recently I brought my 2018 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE to John Heister because it had an air conditioning that was not blowing cold, coming off the winter I wasn’t sure how long it had been going on. I bought the car in September, so I haven’t really used the AC much. I brought it in and explained to the service writer that there is an AC issue and that the car does NOT need to be test driven because it can only be one of a few things; I said either the compressor is faulty, or there is low refrigerant or a refrigerant leak.



For my background, I’m a Mechanical Engineer and I work for Caterpillar as a Manufacturing Engineering Manager over one of our skid steer lines and we fill the machines with R-134a. I told him this and I told him that I’ve service machines that fill refrigerant on a production level and know what sort of failures they experience.



So they took my car and I proceeded to wait, I can’t sit still so I walked around, I noticed technicians smoking, playing on their phones and just flat out not working while there were cars waiting and bays empty…all in I waited 2.5 hours for the car to get done for a problem I had already explained what was wrong. That’s not the part that’s bothering me. What’s bothering me is while I was walking around I watched the mechanic drive up to the dealer exit and then spin tires turning onto the highway. I asked the service writer why he was taking my car for a ride when I told him that it didn’t need to be taken, he “explained” to me that the mechanic needed to listen to the fans, I told him that was bull and doesn’t make sense because there is nothing wrong with the fans it’s the AC that had issues.



When the mechanic came back the service writer came and found me and said that the mechanic thinks my “racing parts” are the problem, I asked “what parts explicitly because the only part on the car is the Chevrolet Performance Air Intake, and that’s a part from Chevrolet that doesn’t void anything on the warranty?” He replied with “I don’t know he assumed that because there are numbers on the side of the car that it’s some sort of racing part you put on the car.” Let’s be clear, there were numbers on the car because I do track the car, but I run it stock because I want the factory warranty on the car.



A little while later the car was charged with refrigerant and I got in to go home and noticed that the mechanic has listened to the XM radio (since the station was not one I listen to) while he was supposed to be “listening to the fans” and then I went home. Within the next couple of days I checked my OnStar report and noticed that the technician went for a crazy joy ride at over 80 mph and had hard acceleration and hard braking. This was on a colder wet/rainy day in March and honestly those Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar 3 tires do not like cold or rain and they especially don’t like that together. Additionally, from the hard acceleration I know he wasn’t testing the AC because the computer turns the compressor off under hard acceleration.



I got in touch with the dealer and had a little back and forth with them but they ultimately told me that they disciplined their employee and wanted to pay me a $100 visa gift card for my trouble. Honestly, I feel like this is bad business, because I’ve had to contact them repeatedly and there was a good possibility for them wrapping my car around the tree. I agree with them disciplining their employee but that’s their problem not mine, my problem was they treated my $45,000 car like it was their personal toy. I also told them that this isn’t the first time this problem has happened, it also happened with my wife’s 2018 Chevrolet Traverse Redline when she went in for an oil change. They took it for a joy ride, she waited over 2 hours for an oil change, and after she left the check engine light came on because they didn’t tighten the oil cap down.



I’ve attached the OnStar screenshots so everyone can see what I’m saying and not just think I’m being a crazy person on a rant about a dealer, like I said, I’ve put this off because I’ve tried to work with them and now I’m just irritated. I know not everyone on here lives local to Fuquay Varina, but I wanted to warn you about this dealer, because it seems like if you have a high performance or fun car they like to run it like a scalded dog.



I also wanted to let you know if you have it run valet mode and definitely check your OnStar reports. You’ve worked hard to have a nice Camaro or a Corvette or whatever you’re driving, and nobody deserves this. You’ve been warned, thank you for listening.

[SPARTAN sui]

Wow, that's terrible. Make sure you leave them a glowing review on Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Anywhere you can find they have an account, leave your review. This is unacceptable.

[cbr1100xx]

Gold medal to anyone who reads that wall of text.

[RideWithDanger]

I would edit your main post and break it up into paragraphs, BUT I did read it all.

Anyway, thats not cool at all. I messaged my dealer since my car isnt in yet and already requested it not be washed, have the plastic removed, or be filled up with gas. I know during the break in period especially or before the engine is warm enough, its important that somebody doesnt get in your car and just thrash it around like a toy.

At LEAST they offered you something, but I would still be really upset about the fact it happened in the first place. You cant spend that much money on a car and have somebody take it out for no reason and abuse it. Thats theft/damage to property.

Side note: I definitely need to get that app. Will that work on any new camaro?

[VinnAY]

Most of the reason that I buy them and when I meet the service manager I tell em you'll never see it again unless its catastrophic and on a flat bed. I had to start doing the oil changes on my girls Challenger when she would watch the oil monkey's F'in around with her car and taking pics and given the cartridge oil filter she couldn't tell if they changed it.

[Grimfrost769]

I don't know what the hell is going on with dealerships in NC, bro. But, you have some really hard evidence that this was a blatant joy ride.

Look at all those events. None of that can be justified.

[headgamez]

Wow, that sucks!!!

[BlackKnight2SS18]

Trash dealers. It’s getting worse and worse no matter where you live. Post this review on yelp.com too. Slime balls.

[Grimfrost769]

Post on yelp, google, their facebook, cargurus, cars.com

Any media and everything you can.

[PoorMansCamaro]

Originally Posted by Grimfrost769

Post on yelp, google, their facebook, cargurus, cars.com

Any media and everything you can.

Yup, i'd post it up on twitter and @ the dealership, gm, etc. the guy doing the joy ride shouldn't just get disciplined. Should be fired.

[karmatourer]

Originally Posted by cbr1100xx

Gold medal to anyone who reads that wall of text.

If it's too challenging,maybe you should stick to riding your Honda bike. Kudos to the OP for providing pertinent info to this forum,despite your complaining about the text. Do you have a complaint about the remainder of the post also? Maybe too many attached images?

[PoorMansCamaro]

And the person giving the excuses for the mechanic should be disciplined.

[RideWithDanger]

Originally Posted by karmatourer

If it's too challenging,maybe you should stick to riding your Honda bike. Kudos to the OP for providing pertinent info to this forum,despite your complaining about the text. Do you have a complaint about the remainder of the post also? Maybe too many attached images?

Lol calm down. Im sure it was just a joke, and theres no need to insult somebody on their choice of vehicle. I have a Japanese bike as well.

Also I can't speak for anybody specifically here, but there are people who have trouble reading small text when its too close together, thats a real problem, so its best not to insult people that can't control that.

[Vtor_ZL1]

Yeah, happens everywhere, mechanic who think they have carte blanche to abuse other people's cars. Once sat at dealer n heard someone car being rev'd fo the LOL'z i'm sure.. waiting area wasn't exactly near service area either.


"Why are they doing that "
"Oh, it's not your car"
"Yeah, but it's someone else's car!"



The shit attitude - took my car and left, never went back. Typically, the bigger the dealer, the shittier the service department, due to shit pay and HIGH turnover!