If anyone thinks my letter was too harsh, just ask anyone who has had a blowout and crashed because GM won't fess up to their mistake. All I got was two handfulls of rusty steel belts in my fingers when I went to do my tire rotation.
The issue is safety and responsibility and in this case GM doesn't seem to take either seriously.
I've tried to do the right thing like going to my dealer who seems to know nothing. I called Pontiac's complaint hotline and after pushing 1 for someone to speak English, I connected to someone on the other side of the planet who didn't understand or care about "our" problem. I left information and no one ever wrote or called.
My personal experience is that "nice" letters don't work and angry ones do. I am fed up with generic form letters. Asking the Director or Vehicle Safety to take a paper enema was mild compared to the original draft suggestion. I challenged this well-paid executive to pay attention to "us." "we" paid a lot of money for these cars and "we" deserve better. As an aircraft mechanic I understand how important safety is. If I make a mistake, people can die. I take my work seriously and expect nothing less from GM. I will post the results as they happen. In the mean time, please inspect your front suspension regularly.
I would really feel much more gratified if you took this letter, rolled it up in a tight little ball and shoved it up your ass where it belongs. If you have half a pair, you will call me personally and we can discuss this issue.
I understand you have alot of built up anger but this part of the letter was over the top. Now on the flip side what if I wrote a letter to you and said the same thing, how would you react and how would you feel. Personally if you did that to me I would resist, not help you and will not give a crap. You probably don't car about the coments but it was just my feelings about that part of your letter. Also just like someone said above most cars are built the same, Toyota and Nissan had their share of recalls maybe more than GM, Ford and DCX this year and last.
If I was Mr. Lange I wouldn't wad that letter up and shove it up my butt but I would delete it or wipe my butt with it and flush it down the toilet. Regardless of how pissed off you are about any situation with GM cars you have to remember that kindness begets kindness when you want a problem taken care of. When you voice your opinion in a negative fashion you will get a negative response if any at all no matter how right you think you are.
We have a guy here now at the dealership i work at. Came in with a tire with blisters all over it. GM Rep was here, and I called a tire place and described to him what the tire looked like inside and out. Customer thinks the tire has a defect but what he did was run the tire low. The tire guy didnt even have to see it. Knew right away what happened. So now well see if he wants to spend $242 on a tire. No defects to the tire, rubbing, wear, anything. so well see what happens.
The letter was OK until the end. Fortunately, I don't have the strut rub issue.
That said, I don't think think I'd just wait around and cry victim. I'd have the alignment checked, etc. until it was fixed -- and then I'd go after GM and/or the dealer in small claims court to recover the expenses.
I sympathize with your frustration. I've had very similar experiences with Ford as well as GM. Poor quality, usually right after warranty, and no one standing behind the product.
I swore years ago I would never buy another GM. Then along came the GTO, and the fact it was built in Australia, I said "OK, one more time". Although I haven't had big issues with my car, I suspect it's because I rarely drive it. 9K miles on an 05.
I bought the extended 7 year bumper to bumper warranty, just in case. One thing I know for sure is these cars will be expensive to work on.
I think some people are missing the point. Above all else, this is a safety problem! Many accidents have happened due to this. I was simply lucky enough to find the defect shortly before I would have had a blow out.
The first thing I did when I discovered the problem at 20K was approach my local dealer dealer, in a friendly manner I might ad. They did what they could and even visited this website with me to show this is a common problem. The pictures in this forum are identical to what my tires looked like. I brought my car in with aftermarket wheels and we set the alignment. One front wheel was in limits and had minor rub, the other was slightly out by .3 degrees, and was rubbed raw. My own experience confirms this problem exists, especially with 17s. I t ried the complaint hotline, but it's a joke.
I am not arguing foreign vs. domestic either. I wanted to buy an American car and was willing to give Pontiac a second chance after my first miserable experience. I was disappointed that the same thing happened again, this time more expensive than the first. All I really want is for GM to be responsible to it's customers.
Lastly, I don't regret getting nasty toward the GM executive. He is paid very well and I trusted my money and safety to him. He disappointed me. All manufactures make mistakes, but the unwillingness to admit it and fix the problem and take care of it's customers is why I can't trust GM. They would rather let the NHSTA take care of it instead of being pro-active and doing the right thing. How about issuing a service bulletin to it's customers to simply have their tires checked before the accidents?
I've written nice letters to complain and I've written nasty ones. Nasty ones get responded to far more often. As said before, I will post the results of my inquiry when it happens. Meantime, check your front end and submit a complaint to the NHSTA if you have had this problem. About 80 accidents have alreay happened. No telling how many have not been reported.
I think your letter was good. The part about him shoving the letter up his ass was a bit over the top and it will assure you of not getting a response you'll be satisfied with. However I doubt you'd get a response anyway.
As far as I'm concerned, if this happened to your car and it had aftermarket wheels on it that you specified and bought -- you're the cause of the problem.
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