Chevrolet Dealer Funny Business

[donnacha]

My girlfriend's parents bought a Chevrolet Captiva a couple of years ago for around 1.7m from Charoen Motor Chiangmai Co., Ltd., an official Chevrolet dealer on Mahidol Rd, Chiang Mai. It developed some leaks, so, as it is still under warranty, they took it into Charoen Motor to have the seals checked. The staff there said they would need to keep it there for 4 days.

A couple of days later, another member of the family was surprised to come across the car parked on the street right outside a second-hand dealer. This alarmed them because, of course, rumors are rampant that unscrupulous folks in the auto industry will sometimes strip parts from relatively new vehicles, replacing them with substandard parts that leave the vehicle with long-term problems.

My girlfriend phoned Charoen Motor to ask why the vehicle was not safely sitting at the dealership. The receptionist didn't know but seemed nervous. My girlfriend asked to speak to the manager but was told he was not there. She demanded his mobile number, got straight through to him and explained the situation. He replied: "Yes, I needed to test drive it, I am sitting in it now". She asked why it had been parked right outside a second-hand dealer and he explained: "It was lunchtime, my friend owns that place, I dropped by to have lunch with him".

Well, everyone in the family is pretty sure this is grade A horseshit, and that they are going to get back their Captiva with swapped out parts. It strikes them as highly irregular that an official dealership would authorize any employee, even the manager, to take client vehicles out on personal business, it obviously opens up the opportunity for unsupervised visits to "friends" in the second-hand parts racket. I am probably naive, but it strikes me as exactly the sort of thing that Chevrolet should have rules against.

Can anyone here suggest some course of action they might take?

Are they worrying unnecessarily or is this, indeed, a common scam?

Is there anything they should check when they get the vehicle back?

Should I contact Chevrolet in Detroit directly? Or perhaps their parent company, General Motors?

[BEVUP]

4 days 

I watched one of them shows where they buy cheap cars, spruce them up & hopefully make a profit.

 

& this is one problem they had - Leaking door seals

 

To detect this it took 30 minutes with some sort of smoke ? blower filling the car, & watch where it comes out of the door

The Fix

Was to cut the existing Seal & insert some expandable material

[lovelomsak]

If you are serious about following through with a complaint. I would search online for Chev or GM  and look to see if they have complaint line you can contact.

   I had problems with my bank in Canada 2 years ago. I found their complaint line and contacted them. They fixed it but if I was not happy they advised me to contact the ombudsman and offered the website and email for the ombudsman.

  So I think a little online search for Gm Chev complaint centers will produce something.

[jackdd]

There is no reason why they would have to keep the car for 4 days (if they have to order parts you can just come back after they arrived), so i would never do this.

Next time don't leave the car with other people and when they are fixing anything observe what they are doing.

[patrick1968]

cant trust them no way ,,?

[kannot]

Popularly  known as the "Craptiva" in Australia famous for its problems. I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. and the people who  will say this  most??? The  Thais themselves!!

[malt25]

6 hours ago, kannot said:

Popularly  known as the "Craptiva" in Australia famous for its problems. I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. and the people who  will say this  most??? The  Thais themselves!!

" I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. "  What an absolute load of BS.

[robblok]

18 minutes ago, malt25 said:

" I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. "  What an absolute load of BS.

He must have a great relationship with his wife.

[mogandave]

I would be surprised if a new car dealer were taking customer cars and swapping parts with other cars.

First it’s a Captiva, how many are there? How many need swapped parts?

Second, the Chevy will reimburse them fully for warranty repairs.

Third, depending on what was leaking, it could well take a good bit of time to fix it.

Forth, it is relatively easy to tell if parts have been removed and replaced, and it is real easy to tell nice new parts from crappy old parts. The chance of them getting caught is significant, and the results could be devastating to them.

Finally, it could just be that they have no one at the dealer capable of doing the repair and farmed it out to the used car dealer. Good help is hard to find.

[sammieuk1]

You may find the further action finds you in the defamation court?

[cleverman]

On 22 August 2018 at 6:50 PM, BEVUP said:

4 days 

I watched one of them shows where they buy cheap cars, spruce them up & hopefully make a profit.

 

& this is one problem they had - Leaking door seals

 

To detect this it took 30 minutes with some sort of smoke ? blower filling the car, & watch where it comes out of the door

The Fix

Was to cut the existing Seal & insert some expandable material

Amazing.

[metisdead]

Moving to the Motor forum. 

[BEVUP]

24 minutes ago, cleverman said:

Amazing.

Yes amazing for an British show

[canthai55]

On 8/22/2018 at 6:29 PM, malt25 said:

" I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. "  What an absolute load of BS.

He must know some real winners, if he can not trust them.

If I held this opinion I would question my sanity, and the reason I live where I do.

On 8/22/2018 at 6:48 PM, robblok said:

He must have a great relationship with his wife.

555 - 100% !!!

[transam]

What was the "leak"....?

 

If the ride was parked outside a breakers yard I would be concerned, other than that l wouldn't..

If they want the car for 4 days it tells me a rough guide to investigate ploblem, then order and wait for part delivery, then fix it..

Seems the guy used the car as it was sitting doing nothing at the time..

[scorecard]

That dealership is 10 minutes drive from my house, a few years back my son and I looked at several smaller versions of the SUV, many brands.

 

We stopped at the chev Mahidol showroom, only staff in site was 3 'pretty girls', who insisted on taking our questions.

 

Son asked a question about the engine. Answer, 'yes it's a very beautiful car'

 

Same response for one or two more questions.

 

Then a young guy appeared, son asked him 'what gasoline mileage can I expect'. Son had to explain his question several different ways. Answer; don't know, nobody has ever asked that before, just not important.

 

Another guy appeared, son asked same question, got a vague answer about that's the specifications for inside the company only and anyway not important.

 

A friend suggested to call Chev in Indonesia, I did that and got an immediate answer.

 

All at the same time my son called Chev in Bkk and asked the same question. Response 'We don't know, but if you call Chev in Indonesia maybe they can tell you, and if you do get any answer can you please call back to the Bkk office and share the answer.

 

 

[malt25]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

That dealership is 10 minutes drive from my house, a few years back my son and I looked at several smaller versions of the SUV, many brands.

 

We stopped at the chev Mahidol showroom, only staff in site was 3 'pretty girls', who insisted on taking our questions.

 

Son asked a question about the engine. Answer, 'yes it's a very beautiful car'

 

Same response for one or two more questions.

 

Then a young guy appeared, son asked him 'what gasoline mileage can I expect'. Son had to explain his question several different ways. Answer; don't know, nobody has ever asked that before, just not important.

 

Another guy appeared, son asked same question, got a vague answer about that's the specifications for inside the company only and anyway not important.

 

A friend suggested to call Chev in Indonesia, I did that and got an immediate answer.

 

All at the same time my son called Chev in Bkk and asked the same question. Response 'We don't know, but if you call Chev in Indonesia maybe they can tell you, and if you do get any answer can you please call back to the Bkk office and share the answer.

 

 

"Another guy appeared, son asked same question, got a vague answer about that's the specifications for inside the company only and anyway not important."  "All at the same time my son called Chev in Bkk and asked the same question. Response 'We don't know, but if you call Chev in Indonesia maybe they can tell you, and if you do get any answer can you please call back to the Bkk office and share the answer."  Do you really think anyone believes this ? even as sarcasm it's pretty poor.

[eezergood]

3 hours ago, malt25 said:

"Another guy appeared, son asked same question, got a vague answer about that's the specifications for inside the company only and anyway not important."  "All at the same time my son called Chev in Bkk and asked the same question. Response 'We don't know, but if you call Chev in Indonesia maybe they can tell you, and if you do get any answer can you please call back to the Bkk office and share the answer."  Do you really think anyone believes this ? even as sarcasm it's pretty poor.

never let the truth get in the way of a good (or bad) story........

[watcharacters]

16 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

You may find the further action finds you in the defamation court?

 

No it won't.

 

[watcharacters]

3 hours ago, malt25 said:

"Another guy appeared, son asked same question, got a vague answer about that's the specifications for inside the company only and anyway not important."  "All at the same time my son called Chev in Bkk and asked the same question. Response 'We don't know, but if you call Chev in Indonesia maybe they can tell you, and if you do get any answer can you please call back to the Bkk office and share the answer."  Do you really think anyone believes this ? even as sarcasm it's pretty poor.

 

Please don't be naive,   malt.   Maybe you haven't asked many questions of auto sales staff in Thailand.

 

The post is  100% plausible.      Try it sometime yourself.

 

[malt25]

15 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

Please don't be naive,   malt.   Maybe you haven't asked many questions of auto sales staff in Thailand.

 

The post is  100% plausible.      Try it sometime yourself.

 

Absolute CRAP. Just think about it. The guy's son calls a dealer in Indonesia at basically the same time the BKK dealer suggests he call Indonesia. About 100 million to one odds. Secondly, I very much doubt there's a  new car dealership in Bangkok that doesn't have an English speaking representative. Next, to suggest a dealer sales person doesn't or can't provide fuel consumption figures is nonsense. Go to any showroom or Mall display of new vehicles & one of the most obvious specs displayed on either the windscreen or window, is fuel consumption.

I've dealt with new & used dealers in Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Sakon Nakhon.... only recently purchased a new Yamaha. So yes, have tried it many times. The sales rep at the Yamaha dealer had only very basic English ability... Sakon Nakhon. When it came time for monetary negotiations, the sales rep went next door to the Honda dealer & immediately came back with a young salesman who spoke sufficient English to seal the deal.

No, not naive at all. To consider this post is 100% plausible is as crazy as the post itself.

[poohy]

On 8/23/2018 at 8:29 AM, malt25 said:

" I too would not trust any Thai an inch, they often simply  cannot help themselves but try and  pull one over on you. "  What an absolute load of BS.

Do you really live here?

Pure and simple No Thai trusts another Thai!

[malt25]

2 minutes ago, poohy said:

Do you really live here?

Pure and simple No Thai trusts another Thai!

Your name & post are a good match.  Yes, been living here for some years. Maybe you & such others.... personality, outlook & approach to Thais are the reason for your distrust & poor choice in friends. Sure, there are some scum, but that is the case world wide.  I find it's how you treat others, in the main, is how they treat you in return.

Never ceases to amaze me why all the Thai & Thailand haters remain living here. But I guess you have your reasons.

 

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

Please don't be naive,   malt.   Maybe you haven't asked many questions of auto sales staff in Thailand.

 

The post is  100% plausible.      Try it sometime yourself.

 

Asked about mileage on my new civic I got years ago. 10 km/l the dealer replied. That's pretty much spot on to what I got over a long time period. The dealers should know this information from giving test drives in various driving conditions. And these were real.life stats - not official dealer stats that are not realistic.

[watcharacters]

On 8/25/2018 at 5:37 PM, DavisH said:

Asked about mileage on my new civic I got years ago. 10 km/l the dealer replied. That's pretty much spot on to what I got over a long time period. The dealers should know this information from giving test drives in various driving conditions. And these were real.life stats - not official dealer stats that are not realistic.

 

I wholeheartedly agree that the dealers should know this information.   It should be available to the dealer from the manufacturer who makes the car.

It's all part of customer service or lack thereof.

 

 

[BEVUP]

My mate had a good relationship with Chev 

 

Always not a problem

 

Until one day they serviced car or whatever, & only to find out the Turbo STuffed up& wouldn't pay up 

 

Cost him a bit 

[ChesneyHawkes]

Chevy Captiva AKA Chevrolet Craptiva

[mogandave]

Chevy Captiva AKA Chevrolet Craptiva

What do you drive?

[scorecard]

On 8/25/2018 at 3:38 PM, malt25 said:

Absolute CRAP. Just think about it. The guy's son calls a dealer in Indonesia at basically the same time the BKK dealer suggests he call Indonesia. About 100 million to one odds. Secondly, I very much doubt there's a  new car dealership in Bangkok that doesn't have an English speaking representative. Next, to suggest a dealer sales person doesn't or can't provide fuel consumption figures is nonsense. Go to any showroom or Mall display of new vehicles & one of the most obvious specs displayed on either the windscreen or window, is fuel consumption.

I've dealt with new & used dealers in Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Sakon Nakhon.... only recently purchased a new Yamaha. So yes, have tried it many times. The sales rep at the Yamaha dealer had only very basic English ability... Sakon Nakhon. When it came time for monetary negotiations, the sales rep went next door to the Honda dealer & immediately came back with a young salesman who spoke sufficient English to seal the deal.

No, not naive at all. To consider this post is 100% plausible is as crazy as the post itself.

 

And your assuming that what I wrote meant exactly the same minute.

 

Perhaps my words are misleading on this point but it's not what I meant. 

 

 

 

[ChesneyHawkes]

29 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

What do you drive?

 

BMW 218i Coupe F22, BMW X1 18d F48, Ford Everest T+ 3.2l, BMW 740Le G11.

 

Work car is a Accord Hybrid

 

Also in the household we have a Jazz, Vios, Lexus RX, Mitsubishi Pajero (import), 2x Fortuner previous and current gen, previous gen civic.

 

You’ll always get a lemon here and there, but the two people I know who own a Captiva are constantly complaining about them.