Complaint Review: AUTONATION / WESTGATE CHEVROLET CADILLAC

Friday, February 11, 2010

Re: 1G6DN57U860157912

2006 Cadillac CTS V

(Purchased Aug 22, 2009 - $28,495.00)

Less than 3 weeks ago, I'd had nothing but good things to say about Westgate's Service Dept. and the treatment and care I'd received by Wade Taylor. I can no longer say this. I feel betrayed and disrespected.

Around the end of November 2009, while my CTS V was still under warranty, I mentioned to a friend (a mechanic from Borger) that something didn't feel quite right when I was shifting. He agreed to take it for a drive with me & when he began to accelerate & shifted, there was a thud we both could hear & feel. He looked concerned and said he suspected that one or more motor mounts were possibly broken or damaged but would have to wait until daylight to be sure. He also told me when I got back to Amarillo, to have Westgate check the motor mounts & to check the harmonic balancer. The following morning he took a look in the daylight. Then, with the hood lifted, he asked me to keep my eyes on the engine while he began to reverse the vehicle. I was SHOCKED by what I saw. The entire right side of the motor dropped sharply, then popped back up. It looked like it was going to fly from inside the hood onto the driveway. I took the car directly to Westgate & later that day told there was a broken motor mount. It was replaced and that was that. Or so I thought. I was unaware of many things at that time that I'm no longer unaware or ignorant about. What I learned recently was that if one motor mount is damaged, cracked, or broken, it's standard and recommended that ALL the motor mounts should be replaced at the same time. This wasn't done. A few weeks after the replacement of the first motor mount I began to hear the high pitch chirping sound coming from the belt tensioner/pully. Same noise I heard when I first took delivery of this car in Aug. 2009. So back to Westgate I went. I believe this is when it was discovered that the harmonic balancer used when the first broken motor mount was discovered, didnt fit my vehicle. and had cracked/broke/damagrd another motor mount. Wade Taylor took responsibility for this error made by the service tech and stated all of this would be repaired/replaced at Westgate's expense and the parts had been ordered. He told me the individual responsible had been fired. Two of the parts ordered came right away and Wade told me that it was OK to drive the vehicle until motor mount came in. (OK to drive with a cracked motor mount?) Well, a week turned into two, three turned into a month, etc... I began to feel anxious and concerned about what the possible effects could be upon the vehicle by leaving this serious issue ignored for so long. I decided that regardless of my lack of knowledge regarding anything mechanial, especially cars, it could NOT possibly be OK to continue driving my vehicle with a cracked motor mount. I trusted Wade. But every week I was told the part wasn't in, I became very upset and frustrated. While my alternator was being replaced, I decided to educate myself quickly about the parts of my car that were in question. Focusing on the engine, motor mounts, harmonic balancers, the belt tensioner, & pulley, etc...

The most important question I needed answers to was what type of damage could a cracked/broken motor mount do to my car, left unreplaced/unrepaired? I spoke to many people and read extensively about this. It was actually worse than what I had feared. More upsetting, was what I learned was in direct conflict with what I was led to believe by Wade Taylor. Is your service advisor, parts manager, & service technician aware of the specific problems this can cause to my car? I'm gonna say YES. They know.

A month passes & Wade Taylor continued to maintain the part(s) had been ordered & should arrive each Monday. Now almost 2 months later, no part(s) still. At no time was I told the part(s) were on BACKORDER. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the parts manager this. Terry Smith announces this to me last week. BackOrder. On BACKORDER? For almost two months, my service advisor has been telling me the part has been ordered and pretended to expect it every Monday. The motor mount has not been ordered nor is it on backorder. GM has none for them to order. OK? And they know this. And what do they do? Continue to lie. I don't like to be lied to. Nor do I like being hung up on. So far, your parts manager has done as well as a service advisor named, Jason. Jason is the same one who rudely HONKED the horn when he & Wade came to pick up my car with the engine light on & sunroof inoperable after they replaced my alternator.

It took a little effort on my part, but eventually I got the information that began to explain many unanswered questions. I spoke to a parts manager with a GM dealership in St Louis & was told that GM Certified has no inventory of part #25759899. And as I've made clear, Wade Taylor, maintained that it had been ordered almost 2 months ago and then three days ago, a man I've never set eyes upon, informs me the motor mount is on BACKORDER. For two months? What the parts manager in St. Louis said next blew me AWAY. He said:

There's no stock available nationwide through GM. 4 or 5 dealers in FL have one in stock, but to get that we'd need to open a case with GM, and if after 24 hours there were still none found, GM would try and get us one from a willing dealer with stock.

This is pretty explosive. For two months I've been lied to about parts being ordered that weren't or told they were on backorder about 5 days ago. The truth was simple. And raises more questions than answers for me. I learn that all Westgate had to do was open a case with GM and they would locate one for me. The parts manager in St. Louis said usually 2 weeks or less for GM to do this. I'm desperate to have this explained to me by Gary Morganflash, With Wade & Terry present. Of course.

It's possible that there is already damage to my vehicle that I'm not yet aware of. Another certified Cadillac dealership will be doing an inspection. If there is additional damage to my vehicle as a direct result of the negligence by the service/parts department, due to this cracked motor mount, Westgate/Autonation, will be held accountable.

Wade Taylor when he came to pick up my vehicle (engine light & sunroof not working), that I didn't want the vehicle returned until they repaired EVERYTHING. That included the MOTOR MOUNT. Of course that was ignored. So I called Terry Smith January 27th. The subject was the replacement/repair of the cracked motor mount & why they couldn't produce the part(s). Each time I tried to speak, he interupted, & spoke over me. Before he hung up on me, he stated that the service technician, who no longer works at Westgate, had NOT installed the wrong harmonic balancer (I was told this was the cause of the cracked/damaged motor mount by Wade 2 months before!) Here again, we have two conflicting stories by two of your employees. Wade, told me face to face, while standing in the service department, about the cracked motor mount and how it got cracked. He told me the service tech. had been fired for this error. Wade told my Mother this also. I was not charged for the two other parts that showed up within a few days of learning this or the labor. Wade said I was not going to be charged for the motor mount or it's installation when it showed up either. (Except it hasn't shown up for 2 months!!). Number 1. Why would Westgate absorb this cost if they were not at fault? Number 2. If the technician didn't install the wrong harmonic balancer, why was it replaced? And if the wrong harmonic balancer wasn't installed or (replaced?), then WHAT cracked the motor mount?

Terry Smith isn't qualified to manage a fish camp much less the parts department at Westgate. He orders & does business with distributors that he KNOWS cannot deliver promised overnight freight. My "overnighted" alternator showed up 3 days later. But I was charged for an overnight delivery? When I complained about this $36 freight charge, your parts manager stated blankly, "That's what it cost us". So WHAT? That's HIS problem. That's Westgate's problem. That's AUTONATIONS problem. NOT MINE. The alternator could've been mailed from the post office and probably arrived at about the same time. There is no way to justify this. It's just completely wrong. Who pays for an overnite freight shipment that doesn't show up OVERNITE & then charges the customer for this as well? Your parts manager. That's who.

The "overnited" alternator that showed up 3 days after the fact, was "ready" to be picked up Monday, the 25th of Jan. The $1083 was paid in full & I collected my vehicle around 6:30pm. The first thing that struck me was how incredibly filthy my car was. Bird poop all over. Just a mess. I thought for what they charged and as long as they had it, they might've gave a quick rinse & shook the mats out. But no. Asking too much. I got in my car and started it. First thing I noticed was my trunk was open. So I got out and closed it. When I sat back in the driver's seat, I noticed a symbol on the instrument panel. It was bright yellow & I'd never seen it before. This angered me beyond words. Why was this light on & what did it signify? I had no idea but knew that something was wrong or it wouldn't be lit up. This meant I would have to waste more time at Westgate, due to incompetence. This is something that should've been caught by the technician or service advisor before the car was released to me. Westgate had my car for 5 days and now it had to go right back. $1083 and I've got a warning light lit up on my panel? The more I stared at it, I began to suspect the symbol I was squinting at was an ENGINE. This made my blood run cold. As I'm looking at the service ticket, noting the charges & what was written by Wade about test driving the vehicle, I realized that again, someone was lying. I suspect NO ONE bothered to test drive my car after the alternator was replaced. I began studying the service ticket left on my floorboard & saw that Wade wrote that he, "TEST DROVE" my car & was "unable to duplicate the rattling sound" my mechanic & I heard coming "from the engine upon acceleration", as I had reported when the car was towed in Jan 20th. Well, of course he wasn't able to duplicate a rattling sound from my engine because he didn't test drive it, only wrote that he did or the technician did. I find it hard to believe that the technician test drove the car, because he would've seen the warning light. I KNEW Wade didn't bother to test drive the car because when he picked up my car the next morning, I asked him if he test drove it and he looked me in the eye, and said, "no". As soon as I got home Monday night, I looked in the owner's manual and discovered, to my horror, that it was the ENGINE LIGHT. THE ENGINE LIGHT!!!! I also discovered halfway home that my sunroof was inoperable. They have my car for a week, charge $1083 to install a $200 alternator, charge $36 for overnite freight that showed up 3 days later & then without test driving or checking my vehicle out thoroughly, park it in the lot out front and slink off. A few hours later, Wade calls and states that some sensors were not connected properly which caused the engine light to be illuminated. The sunroof wasn't working because the cadillac needed to be reset. I would think the technician would've known to reset the car. I know very little about cars mechanically but I noticed the light on the panel before I left Westgate's parking lot. Right now, that's the least of my worries. It looks as though you might need to hire qualified, dedicated, cadillac certified technicians that take some pride in their work.

Having said that, let me address the real reason for this letter, & what MY MAIN CONCERN truly is: The damaged motor mount that has not been repaired, for almost 2 months.

2 weeks ago, I was completely ignorant as to what a broken/cracked motor mount could do, if left unreplaced/repaired. Wade Taylor led me to believe that it would be OK to drive the vehicle until the part came in. A week? 2 weeks? OK. But 2 months later? Is it still OK? No, it's not OK. NONE of this is OK. And it is certainly NOT OK to drive this expensive vehicle for 2 months with a cracked motor mount. The truth about my "cracked" motor mount, however it was done, whomever did it, is a serious issue that CAN AND WILL DAMAGE MY CAR IN A VERY EXPENSIVE WAY LEFT UNREPAIRED as it has been. I'm quite convinced the car is driving differently and said this to Wade the last time I saw him. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away. This is completely unacceptable in every concievable way.

The bottom line is, as soon as the parts dept. became aware that GM had no inventory for what my car required, a parts case should've been filed immediately with GM.

Now let me share with you all I learned about what can and will happen,(if it hasn't already) when motor mount (s) are left unreplaced/repaired:

Bad motor mounts allow excessive engine movement to occur, movement that is pronounced when excessive engine power is created. This movement causes vehicle chassis vibrations that can travel into the passenger compartment of a vehicle, where the vibrations can often times be both felt and heard. (This has been reported to Wade Taylor. Rattling coming from engine. Vibrations are now felt & heard inside the vehicle that weren't there before.)

Motor mounts serve to keep an engine aligned and positioned properly to allow for adequate engine operation, and adequate operation of all of the supporting mechanical devices underneath a car's hood.

Bad motor mounts can allow an engine to sag or tilt, a situation that is easily spotted by a diligent individual. Damaged motor mounts can cause damage to various engine parts, such as to the exhaust manifold or the valve cover gaskets, both of which are located on the lateral aspect of a vehicle engine. Severely broken motor mounts can allow a vehicle's engine to shift and turn violently, especially during rapid engine acceleration, and/or during high speed driving. This can cause physical damage if the engine turns far enough to one side to allow contact between the engine and the sides of the vehicle engine compartment. Engine parts can become cracked, broken or dented as the result of broken motor mounts.

It can foreshadow an expensive fix if not corrected before serious damage is done. Replacing them as soon as possible will limit damage to other components. In many cases, a fresh set of motor mounts will outlast the rest of the car.

Damaged motor mounts can cause interference problems with the throttle, transmission, and clutch linkages. Excessive engine rocking can create exhaust leaks where the head pipe joins the exhaust manifold. The exhaust joint can be crushed or broken by the motions of the engine, the head pipe, or pipe flange may crack.

A broken or separated mount may allow an engine-driven fan to scrape the fan shroud or contact the radiator. If the rubber separates or delaminates from the steel, the mount can break. While the design of the mount may prevent the engine from literally falling out of the car, it won't keep the engine from twisting or hopping on its mounts every time the vehicle accelerates or is under load. This can overstress components such as radiator and heater hoses, wiring connectors and the exhaust system. Drive belts or pulleys may also be forced to rub against other components if clearances are tight. Excessive rocking can also lead to exhaust leaks where the head pipe joins the manifold or cause the head pipe itself to fail. If the bad mount is an end mount, it may also contribute to a torque steer condition and cause accelerated wear or separation of the inner CV joints on one or both driveshafts.

IN OTHER WORDS: The risk of not replacing/repairing all cracked motor mounts asap, if all or one is damaged is that several Very Bad Things can & will happen.

The first and sometimes most alarming thing that can occur is that the engine can drop out the bottom of the car. It's funny until you realize that the only thing currently holding your car's engine in the vehicle may be the transmission shaft, which can bend. That means you'd need a new engine and transmission if you let it go too long. The engine casing could crack under the strain of being held in by the remaining mount. The last thing that's kinda fun too is that you could bend the frame members that the remaining engine mounts that are working are connected to.

And on and on it goes. I've made my point. I don't believe I need or want to beat this dead horse any further. It almost appears that the employees in the parts/service department at Westgate/Amarillo, want my engine to fall out or anticipate the revenue from the known damage this unrepaired/replaced motor mount can cause. In other words, more serious, expensive, damage to my car will generate more revenue for them as my CTS V is no longer under warranty.

Although I'm aware that the parts dept. uses GM for most all their inventory/parts, I feel in this particular case, making an exception, would've been tolerated and understandable. Tolerated since Westgate was negligent and caused the damage to my vehicle. Understandable? For two reasons: (1) GM has no inventory for this part. (2) The implications & dangers of leaving this damaged motor mount unrepaired while continuing to drive said vehicle, are enourmous, wide ranging, & will be MUCH more expensive than replacing my cars motor mounts. ALL OF THEM. Which is what I want now. Not just the damaged one. All. Something I now know should've been done when the first motor mount was replaced while vehicle was still under warranty. Only your employees in parts & service know the answer as to why this was not done.

Although it's true I am but one voice, it's a voice and whether Wade or Terry realizes it, I do matter in the grand scheme of things. What these individuals have done, specifically, is lost any/all future revenue I would've generated. That includes my friends & family. I trusted Wade Taylor completely & believed that he cared about my vehicle & tried to make sure I was always satisfied. I will share this experience with the world wide web and anyone who asks about my experiences with Westgate. Anyone who knows me personally, is aware of the present battle I'm suffering with Westgate. They know my motor mount was damaged by an unqualified service technician, who no longer works there. They know about the outrageous amount I was charged to replace an alernator as well as the fact that when the car was finally picked up, it had to be returned to them the next morning since the ENGINE light was on and the sunroof inoperable. After paying $1083, that's how I received my car. Filthy, with bird sh*t & dirt all over it. The inside was also a mess. A quick vacuum & rinse after what I was charged & the inconvenience wouldn't seem unreasonable.

You may not be aware that in the past, I've purchased two vehicles from Plains Chevrolet/Autonation. A 2002 Trailblazer in 2005 and a 2000 Pontiac Trans Am in 2002. That will not happen again. I will not purchase another vehicle from any affiliate of AUTONATION ever. Nor will I allow any affiliate of AUTONATION to service/repair any vehicle I own or ever own in the future. That would include the remaining repairs desperately needed for my Cadillac now. The expense will be absorbed by those responsible including the labor. I do not feel Westgate Chevrolet/Cadillac currently employs a qualified, certified, technician to complete this task. I no longer trust these people.

I called Gary Morganflash, last week, around 2:30pm. I was told that he was on a "conference call", and continued to be given this excuse until I stopped calling around 4:30pm. He has not bothered to return my call. I then called Eddie Huntley, at Plains Chevrolet around 3pm on the same day. After a brief hold, I was told that he was gone for the day. He has not returned my call either.

I know both Gary Morganflash & Eddie Huntley personally. This is why I've hesitated to contact Gary Morganflash because I felt there was a conflict of interest. As the situation with my car escalated, I felt I had no choice. After being ignored by Gary Morganflash, I called Eddie Huntley hoping that he might intercede on my behalf as I was once very close to his family, particularly his wife, Deena. Apparently, that's not going to happen.

On our Attorney General's website, under consumer protection, there is a subheading regarding car repair. It's called The Deceptive Trade Practices - Consumer Protection Act. Under this law, it is illegal to:

1. Knowingly make a false or misleading statement about the need for parts, replacement or repair service. (Wade Taylor & Terry Smith certainly meet the criteria under this specific category, as they both have made false, misleading statements regarding the parts, replacement/repair regarding my car.)

At the bottom of all service tickets, it reads: IF YOU ARE NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED PLEASE CALL TERRY SMITH @ 806 356 5656. ANYTHING LESS THAN COMPLETELY SATISFIED AND WE FAIL!!! ALL REPAIRS GUARANTEED 12 MO'S OR 12K MILES ENGINES AND AUTO TRANSMISSIONS 3YRS OR 100 K.

I am not satisfied, completely or otherwise. What I am, is mortified, horrified, & heartbroken at what I learned about the ramifications of leaving a cracked, broken, or damaged motor mount unrepaired. Knowing also that the service technician & parts manager are also aware of the dangers of allowing me to drive this vehicle, is incredibly upsetting to me. I'm very angry as well. With good reason.