Complaint Review: Saturn

In 1997 I purchased my first Saturn, a new SL1. They offered more for my trade than other dealerships and service was amazing. Our salesperson was energetic, TRUTHFUL, helpful and went out of his way to get exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, with one payment left, I was rear-ended in traffic on the interstate.

The only problems I had ever had with that car were (1) increased oil consumption. 3mo/3000 miles would require an additional quart or 2 between oil changes, (2) the stero completely died 2 months after I purchased it, but it was replaced for free; and (3) a bolt came loose somewhere in the engine and caused it to lose all power; but it was fixed with no charge from Saturn.

After my car was totalled I purchased my mom's 1999 SL2 from her and she purchased a new (2002) L100 Special Edition from Saturn of Manassas. Within a few months, my 3 year old SL2 started showing signs of increased oil consumption similar to my old SL1.

Having had this problem before, it was something that I was still in the habit of checking regularly. I asked our mechanic (Olde Town Auto Repair - a WONDERFUL, family business who we have been doing business with since they owned the local Shell station) if he was aware of this increased oil consumption issue. He checked a website and found that there were pages and pages of such reports.. but that Saturn Corporation was not "acknowledging" this problem and therefore took no responsibility for repair costs, etc. He suggested that I keep a close eye on the oil.

I contacted Saturn of Manassas and was told pretty much the same thing. "it's not a widespread problem and so there is no recall being done. You should just keep a few extra quarts of oil in the trunk". I thought wow, for a 3 year old car??

Well, a year later, I had stopped to buy a few quarts of oil (I guess it was a trade off for me. no car payment = buy a few quarts of oil each month instead) and I put a quart in. Immediately afterward, the engine knocked like I hadn't heard since my 1980 stripped down 4-speed Mustang, that visibly burned that white cloud of smoke!

I was terrified to drive it, so I called my friends at Olde Town Auto Repair (The nice thing about them is that between The Johnson family and John - THEY are always there unlike Saturn who changes staff weekly!). I brought the car to them and told them to take a look at it.

I got THE call a day later. The engine is damaged and the least expensive option is a rebuilt engine for $4000. I said "No, let me pick it up and I'll take it to Saturn tomorrow. I'll also need the printout of all the regular maintenance and oil changes done on this car from the time it was purchased."

They provided me with all the information (since it was serviced there from day 1). He noted an increased decline in the residual oil amount during each oil change, showing that it appeared to be consuming oil at an excessive rate, for a vehicle this new, etc. I took this information promptly to Saturn and received a call from them the following day. They had the same opinion, only they weren't offering me a rebuilt engine... but a new one for $6000.

I came in later to discuss that with the Service Manager (Jurgen). He informed me that he'd "forget to tell the sales manager" about it have a seized-up engine and have it appraised and have them give me $4000 toward the purchase of a new car. I told him that I thought Saturn Corporation needed to do something first. He supposedly called the General Manager and was told not to bother because it wasn't a "recognized problem" just like he'd told me before.

So, in a HUGE lapse of judgement, I agreed to consider purchasing another vehicle from them. After all I had wonderful experiences with the purchase before, as did my mother. now that it was 2003. I figured that they had likely worked out all the bugs with the oil consumption problem that they didn't "recognize or acknowledge". (I wonder if I don't acknowledge that I have a car payment - will they not make me pay for it?").

I was introduced to a sales person named Ken B. He immediately tried to sell me on a new L200 with DVD package and fully loaded. I said it was just not practical for me and I would rather go with the payment and size of the SL. He said, "let me show you the new ION".

I immediately told him I didn't want a new model because of the problems with a first-year new model, all the bugs, recalls, etc. Well, he told me that it was the same as the SL, but that Saturn was changing their product line to be more identifiable, so they were now the ION and soon, the L series would be Aura, and the SUV would be a Vue. you know, product identification! So, I drove an ION, liked it's styling, pickup, etc.

I decided to talk about payments, financing, etc. I was told I had 0% financing and payments would be around $270. I was shocked, because I didn't think that I would personally qualify for that, but we were on our way now to printing paperwork and so forth. So, he comes back with paperwork saying the payment is $300, with 2.9% interest, etc.

I questioned him about that and was told that I then did NOT qualify and he started backtracking VERY quickly. I was then told that I would not get $4000 for my car, but $1000, because if they gave me that trade-in value, I would not be able to qualify for 0% because the sales price had to be $14000 or above to qualify for it, and if they gave me that much for the trade, it would prevent me from qualifying for 0%.

So then I was told that the value was still not enough to qualify an asked if I wanted an extended warranty. Well, having the problems I did in the past, I purchased the "Ultimate coverage" warranty and Gap insurance. My warranty was 6 years/100K miles and covered EVERYTHING! I was also told that if I brought in the survey from Saturn Corp about my purchase, the salesperson would give me a free tank of gas.

When the survey arrived, I filled it out truthfully.. about the ignorant salesperson, horrible lies he told about financing, attempts to get me to purchase other policies, etc., to get the 0% financing... and took it back to the dealership. He reviewed it with me standing there and said, OK - thanks. I said, "what about my free tank of gas?" He said, we only give that if it's all positive responses, and this one isn't.

I said well, you can't pay me off with a tank of gas to lie to your corporate headquarters. where is the sales manager? He rushed to his office and the sales manager returned with a gas voucher for the gas station across the street. I also informed him that I'd be letting Saturn Corp. know that their salesperson was trying to bribe me for lying on the survey, and left.

I wrote a 4 page complaint to Saturn Corp. about my experience (after I realized what a huge mistake it was purchasing this car, as well as the problems with the oil consumption with the previous cars, and the fact that my 2003 Ion was not just a different body-style and name for the SL, it's a brand new model with all the first-year model problems I was trying to avoid; the SL being scrapped altogether to introduce their new model, Ion. ) and received no response. not even a "thanks for writing".

Fast forward 18 months. I start to smell a heavy gasoline smell around the car. I take my car to the dealership and am told that it wasn't my car smelling like that and that there were no problems. 2 weeks later, I get a recall notice that the fuel filter has a leaky seal and may cause gas to leak and catch fire or cause a heavy gasoline odor around the vehicle (strange. I thought it wasn't my car??). Then we got another recall that the soldering for the daytime running lamps was coming loose and may cause them to be disconnected. these are also the turn signals, so you may become stranded without turn signals because it just came loose. I took that in and had it fixed.

A few months later, I had to have all new brake pads put on it due to "an iodized footprint on your brakes" and was told that it wasn't covered by my super duper warranty. So at 25,000 miles, it had new brake pads. I took it in a few months later for a tire rotation due to the car shaking all over. I asked for a rotation and balance. I drove it away with a much worse shake than ever before and no courtesy car wash that they used to give!So I took it back and was told that this vehicle requires that you rotate tires every other oil change, at minimum, because of the suspension design. So, now I had to get 4 new tires, because they forgot to bring that up anytime I had taken it in for recalls, etc.

Fast forward to last December. Driving down the road, my radio just goes silent. I assumed that, due to a snow storm, perhaps the radio tower went out of service, so I changed channels and still got nothing and it wouldn't take my CD. So I called and asked to bring it in for service.

The next day, I got in my car and the radio worked. So I called and cancelled the appointment. That afternoon, the radio did not work, so I called and rescheduled the service appointment. I brought it in and got a call later in the day saying the radio was faulty and would cost $300 or I could buy an aftermarket one for about $100 at BestBuy. I said, well, my first radio did the exact same thing in my 1997 Saturn, why won't you replace it like you did the '97? The RUDE service manager (Abby) told me that it was out of warranty. I said, well, then what about the extended warranty? She said, I called them and you don't have an extended warranty!

I immediately went home to get my paperwork and called them. I was told by the warranty company that they had no warranty paperwork for my car, only a Gap Insurance policy. I provided her with all the information and faxed her a copy and was told that she'd go to off-site storage to verify that they didn't miss it. I then asked what else could have happened. She said, either Saturn didn't send it, or our data entry person missed it. I then called the Finance Manager at the dealership and asked for his assistance. I was then told that he'd look into it (he was not the finance person when I purchased it).

I had since taken my car back to get a state inspection and was called saying that my tail light was out. I told Abby that it wasn't out when I brought it there.. but she said that they could do a diagnostic to find out where the problem was, but it was $26. I asked her if they checked the fuse and she reported that they had not because that was part of the diagnostic. I asked her if they'd check that first and she said no. So, since they would have charged me REJECT my inspection, I told her to do it... and sure enough, it was the fuse! So it cost me $50 between the diagnostic, fuse cost and inspection cost (normally $15).

A week later, I took it back to get the radio checked again because it was working intermittently, conveniently when I hit a bump or pothole, it would go on and off. As the RUDE service manager Abby was driving my car into the bay, I approached MY car, motioning for her to put the window down so I could tell her that if you bumped the console with your knee, the radio would go on and off, and SHE rolled her EYES at me.

I was amazed. This is MY car not hers. How dare she roll her eyes! So, she called me later and in her rude, snotty voice informed me that it was NOT a short and then charged me for the diagnostic. I asked her to remove the dashboard and she said they did and there were no problems.

Oddly, the radio then worked continuously but for only the next 3 months. Now (5 months later) it works intermittently and eats my CDs. I received a call from the warranty company informing me that they did not get the paperwork from Saturn and that I'd need to call them.

So I contacted the current finance manager who researched it and called me a week later to tell me that they could either send in the paperwork now (4 years later) or just send me the money back. I asked for my money back and was told they'd have to pay it to GMAC because I still had an existing finance account.

I agreed that it would be acceptable (this was the 7th of February). I was also told it would be 6-8 weeks to get the check to GMAC. I called in late March & was informed that no one knew anything about my check, a refund or an extended warranty problem, so I demanded to talk to the General Manager. After a bit of phone tag, I finally reached him and he also knew nothing about it, but promised to research.

I heard back from him a week later telling me that "it was on someone elses desk and I have no idea why because they didn't do anything with it and couldn't have done anything to resolve this, but I am handling that situation internally. A check will be cut immediately for $1281 to GMAC on your account." In Mid April it was received by GMAC.

With the problems with this most recent purchase, I can only hope that someone hits and totals this and the other Saturn I currently own.. because I don't want either of them! Saturn doesn't "recognize" that their "different kind of car company" is no different than the other scheisters out there (aka. car dealerships/salespeople). My mother traded her Saturn L200 SE in because it was intermittently refusing to start - again Saturn didn't "recognize the problem" and refused to do anything to correct it or make any attempt to look into it.

It's a horrible shame that they have resorted to hiring salespeople and a service manager with no experience and an utter lack of customer service. Save yourself from a $15,000+ ripoff. They just aren't worth it!

Laura
Port Royal, South Carolina
U.S.A.

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