My Journey with GM is a long and bad one...Vehicle: 2010 Chevrolet Malibu 2LT Fully Loaded
Purchased: June 2011 BRAND NEW
Dealership: Chuck Fairbanks Chevrolet Desoto Tx (purchased and Serviced), Carlisle Chevrolet Waxahachie Tx (serviced)
As of 6/18/2012 this is the most current story of the events that have transpired.

Vehicle was bought brand new, last 2010 left on the lot in June 2011 from Jody at Chuck Fairbanks Chevrolet. Shortly after purchasing the vehicle I noticed there was a manufacture defect of the front bumper being out of alignment where it meets driver fender, and the drivers door was misaligned. I understand these things happen, and had no issues wanting to take it back to the dealership to be repaired. I have a very busy work schedule, and with Chuck Fairbanks not offering rental vehicles, I was not able to take the car in to have this repaired performed for apprx 6 months. During this time period while driving down the road in a rain storm the factory windshield wiper on the passenger side flew off! In the moments following the metal wiper continuously gouged the windshield causing numerous scratches. I notified service advisor of Chuck Fairbanks of the problem, he invited me by the dealership to have a replacement wiper put on until windshield could be repaired. When I took my vehicle in to have the oil changed at Chuck Fairbanks the service advisor David Yates was able to visualize the manufacture defects of the bumper and door, along with the windshield problem. He requested I return soon to drop the vehicle off for minimum of 2 days. He stated “we will repair the bumper, door and try to buff the scratches out of the windshield, and replace the Air Bag connector that is on recall”. On March 26,2012 my vehicle entered the service shop at Chuck Fairbanks. This is where the nightmare and vandalism begins. The dealership had my vehicle for 2 days, when the advisor called to tell me it was ready for delivery. My wife and I were sitting in the lobby of the service shop when my vehicle was parked right in front of where I was sitting, and I immediately noticed a horrible problem. I went outside to inspect the repairs, and I was shocked to find the body shop had not only vandalized my car, they failed to repair the said items. Before I could conclude my inspection, the service advisor walked up and asked me “How’* it look?, oh by the way we have to order you a new windshield, yours cant be repaired.” I replied “What do you mean how does it look? Did you not bother to inspect my vehicle before it was delivered to me? I take it you didn’t judging by all of this damage I see!” I could tell the advisor had a puzzled look on his face, and he responded with “Oh well if that’* not fixed and there is damage that’* the body shops problem, not mine! BUT when you get your service survey in the mail, im going to need you to give me 5 stars ok buddy?” At this very moment, my wife and I believed it would be more appropriate for us to leave the facility and call GM customer service. The vandalism and non repaired issues were: Instead of adjusting the front bumper, like the GM paperwork states to do, the body shop personnel evidently hit my fender MULTIPLE times with some type of hammer. This in turn caused damage to the front of my fender that was very obvious from just about any distance. It flattened the fender corner and caused a flare out of the inner lip. They also caused multiple scratches to the inside of the fender along with the front bumper where it meets the fender. In attempt of repairing the drivers door that would not shut properly, they actually caused the problem to be worse. There was more misalignment and more wind noise.
At this point, I was able to contact GM customer service. They issued me a case number and put me in contact with a district representative by the name of Ivan. After multiple phone calls with him, and he contacting Chuck Fairbanks about their vandalism and poor workmanship, it was decided that the vehicle should be taken to Carlisle Chevrolet to have the problems repaired. At this point, Ivan passed me on to the district representative for Carlisle Chevy, by the name of Chrissy. Chrissy was very apologetic of the service and guaranteed it will be fixed going to Carlisle Chevy. She spoke with Kenny Mead who is the Service Director of Carlisle Chevy, who contacted me in the following days. He guaranteed me that the vehicle would be fixed, and that I would be placed in a comparable rental car during the process.
During the few weeks of me being too busy to take the car to Carlisle, I noticed there was a large amount of water on my door, dash and floorboard being soaking wet after any rain. I was finally able to get the car to Carlisle Chevy on April 9 2012. Upon arriving I was greeted by Kenny, and he took down my info, stating it would be 3-5days to repair and rental car was ready. He stated “we will repair the fender damage, realign the drivers door, fix the water leak, and install new windshield” I agreed and went to pick up what I thought was going to be a comparable rental car. When I arrived at the onsite Hertz rental site, I was placed in a Chevy Aveo that appeared to be heavily abused and had trouble starting. I asked for something comparable, they denied me stating “This is all we have for now”. Beings though I needed a car, I signed the agreement and left with a very bad feeling. Few days later I received a call from Kenny stating my vehicle was ready for delivery, but he stated “we couldn’t repair the fender, our paint guy is out sick right now, you will have to bring it back later to be repaired.” I obliged, and went to pick up my vehicle. Upon arriving, Kenny went over with me everything that was done. Kenny stated he spent a great detail of time himself fixing my door, along with replacing the weather stripping around the door to fix the leak. The windshield had been replaced. Also, they replaced the recent AIR BAG connector that was done by Chuck Fairbanks. Kenny asked if I would practice a safe shutting of the door for a number of days to give it time to seat the weather stripping. In the following days, I began to notice my drivers door still was out of alignment and still not shutting properly. This time it would shake when opened, and when closing you would have to push with decent amount of force for it to close all the way. I called Kenny to inform him of this problem, and he stated “when you bring it in for the fender, we will fix the door again I promise!” During this time I had MULTIPLE conversations over the phone with Chrissy about the product GM has produced that I bought, and what GM could do for me due to the Vandalism, diminished value and numerous repairs. I asked if she could speak with the Sales department regarding diminished value of my vehicle due to numerous repairs, and she said that the Sales department stated since “it was all repaired under warranty there wouldn’t be any diminished value at all” I find this hard to believe, due to the vehicle being repaired numerous times. As a consumer if you disclosed to me this info, I would turn down purchasing said vehicle. Chrissy was very apologetic about the problems and assured me they would be resolved, and when they are done, we could speak about a compensation package related to free service for 2 years. I promptly denied it, and requested if my vehicle was not fixed properly on the next trip, I want my vehicle to be bought back by GM. She asked if that would make my situation satisfactory in the event the vehicle isn’t repaired properly again, and I stated that it would. She noted that beings though the Vandalism of my fender was done by Chuck Fairbanks, that it should be returned to them for repair, but for customer satisfaction she was allowing Carlisle chevy to repair it.
Short time passes, and I was able to take the vehicle back to have the drivers door repaired for the THIRD time, and to finish up on the fender work at Carlisle Chevy. Kenny greeted my Wife and I in the service bay, and said I would have a rental waiting on me. Stated it would take apprx 3-5 days to repair everything. I asked how the repair of the fender was going to be done, Body filler or Replacement Fender? Kenny replied with “I can almost guarantee body filler, since that’* what GM wants me to do, but I’ll try working on replacing the fender”. Hertz had a Chevy Malibu waiting for my Wife and I. We signed papers and were gone. This began another nightmare!

Upon arriving, My wife and I were greeted by Kenny in the service bay where my vehicle was pulled into. Kenny was on the ground with a can of Paint thinner trying to remove some road tar from my inner drivers fender. Kenny proceeded to tell me about everything that was done. He stated “ We took your front bumper off, fixed fender and put your front bumper back on, and I made your door fit perfect! I went over your car with a fine tooth comb! Made sure it was all good!” At this moment I began inspecting everything. I asked Kenny what they did to repair my fender because I noticed it still had a bend in it front the previous damage. Kenny stated “I couldn’t replace the fender, so we used body filler” I was in shock! They put BONDO on my 10 month old car! I immediately replied to Kenny with great disappointment in how GM has handled this and continued my inspection. During the process I popped my hood open to view the inner Fender. At this time I noticed a horrible paint line running the length of the fender and multiple scratches on my inner lip of the fender. I pointed this out to Kenny and he responded “ Oh wow, I guess I missed this! This is pretty bad, just bring it back and ill I have them buff it out!” the inspection of the fender concluded at this time due to time constraints and the shop had closed. We moved to the drivers door. When I opened it, the door still was shaking and not aligned properly! Kenny stated he adjusted the striker to fit perfect, and was working perfect. Obviously not! When asked why they removed my front bumper to repair my fender, Kenny never gave me a clear explanation as to why. The inspection concluded, and I expressed my great displeasure in the workmanship of everything and the poor customer service. Upon leaving, I called Chrissy to advise her that my problems were not only NOT FIXED but they were WORSE!!. She remained very apologetic and stated she would call Kenny on his cell phone immediately. While I was fueling my vehicle up post leaving the dealership I continued my inspection to which I found more problems. I called Kenny immediately, and he Declined my phone calls to his cell. Upon arriving home I was able to do a very detailed inspection. In which my wife and I found several more problems than we originally were able to point out at the prompt inspection with Kenny a hour earlier. All of which we took pictures for photographic evidence.The fender had the tape line run the length of the fender on the inside lip, new scratches on the inside of the fender lip, orange peel rough paint throughout the fender where it was sprayed to color match, multiple pieces of dirt/trash in the paint, couple of areas missing specs of paint, and a paint bubble that dried under my left front headlight. The driver’* door still shook and was out of alignment. The front bumper is more out of alignment than before, and fits very poorly at all connections on the car. Upon sitting inside my vehicle it was noticed there was a fingerprint of WHITE PAINT on my LEATHER steering wheel, and a drop of WHITE PAINT on my SUEDE LEATHER seat! I immediately called Chrissy to inform her of the extensive damage. She stated “this situation is horrible and only getting worse. I’m going to call the GM of the dealership and talk about possibly buying your vehicle back” She returned my call stating that the GM refused to buy my vehicle back, and that I would have to bring it back to be fixed! I promptly called the General Manager of Chuck Fairbanks to discuss this issue with him. I was greeted on the phone by a General Manager with the name of Butch. I gave Butch a brief rundown of what has happened, and he became very Rude and condescending. Butch stated “Our body shop is one of the best in the business, in my years of the car business this is the best one I’ve been a part of, and as far as your car goes I ain’t going to buy it back period. You should have brought the car back the first time you had an issue. I might consider trading you out of it for a blue book trade in, but I ain’t buying that damn thing back period.” When I explained to him, it was GM’* product, GM’* manufacture defect and that it was HIS dealership that started these issues, he did not care one bit. I ended the conversation, and called Chrissy back and left her a message entailing the details of my phone conversation with Butch. Chrissy called me back the next day to catch up on the details, and when I explained to her what happened, she seemed very annoyed and put out. When I noticed this, I asked for her to have her supervisor contact me. In the meantime, Kenny was evading my phone calls and Chrissy’*. When I was able to get him on the phone I told him I was bringing the car down for him to see all of this damage. Upon arriving to the dealership, I was not greeted with a pleasant greeting. Kenny saw me, and said “Show me what’* wrong now…..” in a very annoyed voice. I showed him all of the issues, and not once did I receive an apology, but simply pushing the blame on the body shop. Kenny seemed very nervous the entire time. He was able to get the body shop manager to look at my vehicle, and not once did I receive an apology. The body shop manager didn’t say but maybe a few words. When Kenny went to find him in the back parking lot, they talked for a few minutes, which I can only assume was to warn him what was about to happen. I showed Kenny the problem with the paint on the Steering wheel and seat. Kenny proceeded to get out his Paint Thinner and a Rag and rubbed my LEATHER steering wheel with Paint thinner for apprx 30 seconds. When he realized it wasn’t coming off, he reluctantly stopped. He told my Wife and I to bring the car back when we could to be REPAIRED AGAIN! We left the dealership with a horrible feeling!

I called Chrissy multiple times with no response. While waiting on her to respond, her supervisor called, but I was not able to answer phone due to work, but I returned his call few minutes later. He did not answer, nor did he answer the multiple attempts after. The following day, I was able to reach her supervisor, his name is Isaiah. I asked him what he knew about my case, and he responded with what sounded to me like ¼ of the story. He was very misinformed on all details. He let me explain everything that was going on. He simply stated that as a manufacture he wasn’t going to buy my car back even though it was the manufacture, and it was the dealerships that caused every single problem that is wrong with my vehicle. I asked him “so you are telling me, I, as a consumer, have to live with the vandalism, the lost work and wages, the lost time on my days off, the diminished value, the BONDO on my 10 month old car, the poor workmanship and the now taken apart few times vehicle because of your poor product and workmanship as a company? I have to live with problems that GM and it’* dealerships created?” he simply stated “I know I can’t put myself in your shoes, but yes you will have to because we aren’t going to buy your car back” at this moment I ended the conversation because I knew it was going anywhere.

The week of 6/3 begins. On 6/4 the vehicle arrived at Carlisle Chevy service department to correct the current issues. Once again, I was not greeted very nicely. Once the car was in the possession of Kenny the service manager, I left in my rental car. Kenny stated “I will call you tomorrow, 6/5, to let you know an update, and will keep you informed on whats going on” During the follow few days, I never received a call from Kenny at all. During this time I did receive a call from Rainy, who identified herself as a representative from the GM Business office, and that my case had been given to her due to my filing with the BBB Autoline and sending them a CERTIFIED Letter of FINAL REPAIR. She assured me things would be taken care of, and I would be satisfied. She stated a John Metcalf, whom she said is the district specialist would give me a call about my case, and would be viewing my car to make sure the repairs had been made. I failed to hear from Kenny until Friday 6/8 at 530pm when the service department closes. Kenny Stated “your car is not ready. I was not happy with the repair of the fender, so I sent it back into the body shop to be repaired again. Will not be ready until middle of next week” This same time I had been passed from Rainy to Becky in the business office stating since my case is a BBB case it needed to be upgraded to Becky for her to handle. When I received the call from Kenny that my vehicle was ready, during this almost two weeks I had never heard from John. Neither Becky or Rainy had an explanation as to why. When I went to pick up my vehicle, Kenny stated “John has viewed your car, and he said it is repaired” When I asked Kenny why my vehicle had to go back into the body shop twice in one visit to fix the fender he stated “During a previous attempt, we painted over a very large chip in the paint, and in order to correct it we had to sand down the paint and repaint. This left a very large circle in the paint/clearcoat. I was not happy with the result, so I sent it back in to be fixed. I had them sand the fender down to the metal, reapply the bondo body filler, repaint and clearcoat” Upon inspection of repairs to be done, I noticed multiple problems, and once again the body shop manager decided it was in his best interest he leave us to finish the inspection by ourselves citing “I have other customers to see” During my inspection I noticed : Front Bumper still misaligned, the paint job to repair a chip in the paint on the bumper is very rough with orange peel and they have painted over other rock chips, the drivers fender has trash in the paint, orange peel and rough throughout, paint line is still on inside of fender, bondo rough finish and tape line still visible, drivers door still not latching and aligning properly, excess rough paint on passenger fender where repair attempt made from previous damage. I noticed new damage to my large radiator cover, where in they broke two mounting locations during the repair. The paint on the Drivers Leather seat is still as visible from previous visit. When pointing out damage in the paint, Kenny agreed and tried to polish the imperfections out with some polishing compound and a rag. He was unsuccessful.

When all of these issues were brought up to Kenny, he stated “John says its repaired, and I believe its repaired, so its done!” in a very standoffish attitude. I asked him if he did a full check of all the functions of my steering wheel, he responded “ I checked most of the buttons, but I didn’t check the TapShift” The Tapshift is a shifting function that is connected to the transmission. At this point I was disgusted with the results, so I asked for my repair papers so I could leave, and call my contacts at the business office to let them know the poor results. Kenny handed me the papers that did not include the 2nd repair attempt of the fender in the same visit. When asked why it did not include it, he stated “since I didn’t deliver the car to you im not putting it on there” At this moment I got my papers and left. I called Becky at the business office and left her a message. She returned my call the next day to inform me that John said the car was repaired, and that they decided that GM would not repurchase the vehicle. Keep in mind, I have not heard from John, nor was I there for the inspection of my vehicle when he inspected it. I expressed my great displeasure with her, and she said my case was being passed back to Rainy to finish. After a couple days of calling, I was able to speak with Rainy about the poor repairs. She too, reiterated that John said the car was repaired, in which it isn’t. After a lengthy conversation to state my fact the car is not repaired, she said that John would call us within two days. My next conversation was with Kenny to obtain John’* last name and what day he inspected my car. Kenny informed me my car was inspected on 6/8, which was the initial delivery date promised by Kenny. I was available that day for delivery, and Kenny knew this. Kenny failed to call me to let me be there for the inspection, and I believe it was on purpose.

6/28/12 I received a phone call from Mr.Metcalf. He called me from a blocked number the first time, second time he called from a open line and upon receiving a voicemail with his current number I called him back. This is very deceptive in my belief. Upon speaking with Mr.Metcalf, I was able to find out about the inspection lie. Mr.Metcalf said he inspected my vehicle on 6/4 or 6/6 he couldn’t remember exactly when, but he inspected it before it went into the body shop. He never inspected it POST body shop. Kenny told me, in which I placed on a LEGAL DOCUMENT, the vehicle was inspected by Mr.Metcalf on 6/8. Mr.Metcalf also told me he had just came back into the country on vacation, which I was lied to also about. Rainy told me the week 6/3 John had just came back from vacation, had received my file and would contact me by Thursday of that week. From what John told me, he was on vacation. So when was my car inspected? Mr.Metcalf became very frustrated with me, so after a few more minutes on the phone discussing my displeasure in him, and GM as a company, the phone call ended. No contact since then.

7/17/12 At the arbitration hearing my wife and I got snookered by General Motors and the BBB Autoline. When we arrived we were greeted by an extra person. We were told by the BBB only Kenny and John Metcalf would be representing GM. On the phone was an Arbitration specialist from GM by the name of Dave McWhorter. At this point i knew we were at a disadvantage, but the BBB arbitrator requested the arbitration continue. He stated in his 30 years, my evidence, and case was the best prepared one he has ever seen. During the arbitration the two knuckleheads there didnt say anything unless i prompted them to do so, since the arbitration specialist was giving testimony for them. I caught them in their lie about my inspection of the vehicle, and Kenny Meador tried to get John Metcalf to lie saying he was there on the day of June 8 but John didnt catch him hinting at it. Few days after the arbitration i received my letter in email stating the arbitrator sided with GM. BBB Auto Line you failed me, which im sure you have done to many before me, and many after me. Dont think im going to let this go, you will be next on my radar!

General Motors I warned you, you didnt listen! I hope someone high up at GM sees this and contacts me. I am and will continue to fight you in every way i can. I have contacted all the local Dallas/Fort Worth Media outlets, Attorney General of Texas, Setup a Facebook page with multiple evidence pictures along with passing the word throughout my Fire/EMS community i work in, and in the hospital i work for also. Videos will be posted to youtube and facebook within the next few days. Happy viewing!

Facebook Site:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Journe...68288143272096

Upon review of all of the Repair Orders from the Dealership, majority of the repair orders and comments look very doctored to prevent the dealership and its service department from any responsibility.

List of Repairs:
Door-4 times
Front Bumper alignment-3
Fender-4 times
Replaced Windshield- 1 time
Factory windshield wiper- 1 time
Air Bag Connector- 2 times
Front Bumper Removed- 3 times
Repair of Cowl Trim-1 time
Damage to Leather Steering wheel with paint
Damage to Leather seat with paint
Damage to headliner caused by GM mechanics
Replaced Steering Wheel
Water Damage to Drivers Door/Bose Premium Speaker Assembly/Drivers Seat/Drivers floorboard, Carpet
Damage to Large Radiator Cover piece during repairs of bumper/Fender

I have Multiple photos of damage.

The Facebook link seems to be broken?

Hopefully, with all this media exploitation, you will come out the winner in the end.

Appreciate the support Mike. I'll check on that link, in the mean time just search on Facebook "Journey against General Motors" go visit Like the site and share it with your friends...I want everyone to stop in and share your bad experiences on the wall!

Wow! Sorry to hear about your nightmare, hopefully some big wig at GM sees this or the dealer(*) realize how many people are going to see this in the area and come up with some sort of settlement to take the car back.

Shaun, you are right hopefully a big wig see'* it!

I work at a GM dealer and almost feel embarrassed when I hear stories like this. This crap wouldn't fly at the dealer I work at, they are very strict when it comes to customer satisfaction. Stuff happens, yes, but when a unsatisfied customer returns it is top priority to get the mistake fixed and the customer down the road happy. But this is quite obvious this is not the case. Just blows my mind how people can let they're customers go away not happy and lose business, not just that one customer, word of mouth goes a long way as well.

Too many of these ---> "$$$$" floating around in their heads. Can't find an edit button to modify my last post, sorry.

Shaun if there were more guys like you around things would get done right! Do you know any big wigs emails? You should see the craziness happening under my personal Facebook account between me and GM...

No I do not have access to that, I'm just a mechanic. All the best to you, hope you get some sort of justice out of the deal.