speedybuckeye

I have recently posted this thread to a previous reply. I didn't think all would see the reply so I made it to it's own little thread. I know it is sorta long but I needed to tell the whole story. Here it is.

This is what happened when I went to pickup/pay for my car on the 15th of September this year. All of my wants where checked. The car was black with red interior, 18" rims, and no hood scopes. Before I even had the chance to look at my car up close, the salesman sound "Oh, before you start looking the car over, there is a problem with the hood." Besides the chip I saw in the corner of the hood, he goes on to tell me that the color is wrong. The hood evidently was a different shade of black then the rest of the car. This response was..."The reason the hood is a different color is because all of the cars that were shipped with the deleted hood option were hoods taken from the '04 models and the color was a bit different." So, 3 days after taking my car home it had to go back to the dealership, the hood taken off, sent to Cleveland for a paint job and then finally delivered back to me in about 9 days. When the car finally did come back, there was a drastic color difference. Salesman said it would take sometime for the paint to fade and don't wax for at least 90 days. I also notice that chip that was there before was still in the hood. It was just painted over. This leads me to believe that the body shop did not strip the paint down to the bare metal. What I have know is a hood that still doesn't exactly match the body and this blemish looking thing at the corner. Needless to say, it has been a real pain in my a**. I still think that there was something fishy going on and I didn't get the whole story. As of right know, I really don't know what I can do about the hood. I mean it really isn't that noticable, the color difference that is.

Does anybody have some info/similar story with the delete option??

 

dealernut

I have never had a customer ask for that. Sorry man. That does suck.

From my experience with paint.

When a car is sprayed at the factory. It is sprayed hot. Meaning the body panels were ferried into a heat room and sprayed in temperatures ranging from 150 to 400. Then they are cured in similar temperatures.

This is not done when a car has Body damage OR a problem like the one that you are having. When they did their work they painted the car at room temp and cured it uinder a heat lamp(hopefully). I am not even getting into the angle and pressure of the painting. But needless to say it is almost 100% impossible to perfectly match a factory job. But unless you have a very good eye, 90% of the people out there would never see the variance. I have had some cars with lot damage sell and the people did not even see the dings.

Also, I do not know why they would send your hood somewhere. Keep in mind the dealership is going to do the cheapest possible thing to repair the car. That more than likely meant a wet sand and a spray over.


It does sound fishy and I personally would of had them send me a new hood from Australia. I know for sure they have them over there in 05 version. yeah it would have taken a month or two. But it would have been right.

b_a_betterperson

dealernut's right. All kinds of factors can affect how a paint job turns out. Even the air temperature, humidity -- factors nobody can control. That's why having someone digitally match the shade of your paint is so important. Just matching paint codes will get you in the ballpark -- but it's not the right way to do the job.

Unless you specifically asked for media blasting, I'm positive the dealer thought they could get away with a wet sand and respray. Geez, sounding by the performance of these knuckleheads, I wouldn't be surprised if they skipped the wet sand -- so a quarter sized chip will fly off every time a stone hits your hood.

If you haven't gotten your Customer Satisfaction Survey in from Pontiac yet, be sure to use it against the dealer. When I got my car, the back bumper was screwed up. The dealer hemmed and hawed for weeks -- then I got my survey. I made a photocopy of it -- gave them a really crappy review -- then mailed it to the owner. Needless to say, they snapped to attention right away.

Even if you have already sent your survey in -- there's no harm in demanding a complete media blasting of both sides of your hood -- and a proper priming and painting. Your dealer specified the vendor -- so it's their problem to clean up. Big picture? It's just the hood. At least it's not the roof or quarter panel. That would be a big mess. Good luck.

Of course, if the dealer continues to be a jerk, try doing this:

http://www.jahozafat.com/cgi-bin/wav...yhelloshot.wav

dealernut

That is definetely going to get the attention of any dealership. Bad CSI scores can cost dealerships hundreds of thousands of dollars.

GTODEALER

Absolutely! I can't believe the service these guys are giving you! If they need an 05 hood or try to b.s. you, pm me, I'll give you the part number, all of the warehouses and dealerships that stock them and cost so you can call their b.s.!

dealernut

. If he's bust see me. The problem these types of service dept's is that they will try to get away with as much as they can. They assume that everyone that walks into their shop does not know what a torque wrench is. They will do everything they can to cheat you out of work.

speedybuckeye

I have received my Survey but have not filled it out. I will try to use that as leverage. The only problem I forsee happening (besides them doing nothing) would be the fact that my brother just last weekend waxed the whole car including the hood. The dealer told me nothing should be applied for 90 days. Well, it had only been around 60. They might try to get out of it because of that. But if I don't tell them, how would they know??

b_a_betterperson

1. Go to Kinko's, make an exact duplicate of the survey, photocopy on both side of 11 x 17 paper or whatever -- and give the dealer your honest opinion about how you feel about them. Don't go ballistic and check off "strongly unsatisfied" or whatever the lowest ranking is across the board because you'll get written off as a crack pot. If Pontiac puts a deadline on returning the Customer Satisfaction Survey -- send a letter to the address where the survey came from and explain that you can not return it at this time because of an outstanding issue that has not been resolved. You might also want to call Pontiac customer service as a backup.

2. Find out who the owner of the dealership is by calling them. If it's owned by a corporation like AutoNation, find out who the General Manager is.

3. Draft a cover letter -- pretty much using the text from your post -- except for three things:

a. State that the enclosed Customer Satisfaction Survey is a copy -- and that the original one has not been filled out yet.

b. Spell out exactly what the dealer needs to do in order to earn perfect scores from you (media blasting and a complete repaint from bare metal up).

c. If the issues are not resolved -- then this is the evaluation that they'll get.

4. If the owner or GM of the dealer invites you to come down so they can "take a look" -- be prepared. Talk to a body shop that works on high-end cars. Not an Earl Scheib. Ask them to take a look at your hood and mention the 90 day color change thing -- and how they would go about fixing it. Chances are they'll tell you that auto paint doesn't change within 90 days of spraying, etc. See if the person is willing to go with you to the dealership for a meeting. You might have to pay a consultation fee -- but it will be worth it.

5. Go to the dealer. Don't bother mentioning the wax because, again, the color changing in 90 days is a crock of crap. Point out the color difference -- and how could they possibly paint a body panel without the rest of the car present so they could do a proper color match? If they while about that or find out about the wax -- point out the chip as evidence of just how bad a job they did.

The key to this is to take your time, build your case in WRITING and keep after these guys. 99% of people with car problems are too lazy to do this. They'll go to a dealer, yell and scream, the dealer scratches themselves, then watches them leave. The folks go home -- put on the tube -- and that's it. When the Customer Satisfaction Survey shows up -- they'll "show that dealer" by throwing it away.

Anyway, getting your new car the way you want should be a piece of cake -- if you go about handing this problem the right way.

HTRDLNCN

I agree it should be taken care of but i wouldnt chage to the scoop hood though.. If you have the original invoice that shows the hood delete+18" wheels you probably have one of the rarest GTOs around. very few 05s came with the hood delete option and even less with the 18s.
I personally dont like the 05 hood and would have done the same.

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big_mike

you dont like it? Jeez, I LOVE that hood!! Makes the car look more aggressive!