Adventures with the Holden service dept

[PaulTheBall]

ok ok its a bit of a rant... and I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with delays in parts. First things first, I enjoy dealing with my dealer's service department. They have always been very honest about everything and apart from the inflated prices, I have no gripe with them.

About a month or two ago I had the problem of getting into first gear. Left the car at the dealer service centre for a day, problem is with linkages, parts put on order (quoted 1 week delivery). 3 weeks later the parts arrive and I lose another day getting them fitted. It could have been an obscure part so I didn't think much of it.

Now my 60,000km service. Timing belt needs replacing, and you thought they would have had the part in stock? Of course not! So lose a day doing 1/2 a service, and have to go back next week to put the belt in. You would have thought that something important, and regularly replaced like a timing belt.

As I say they are usually very good at what they do... but they had over one week's notice before I bought my car in, AND the person who booked it in made special mention of the timing belt being replaced. So how hard is it to make sure the part is there when I arrive?


And as an aside note: Why does Holden charge $220+ for a replacement Michelin Energy tire? Is it gold plated or something?? :roll:

[Anonymous]

When I've had Problems or Parts replaced, I book it in a week or so in advance.
Coz the Parts only have to come from Dandenong.
So then theres no Problems. I'm biased toward Patterson Cheney, They always deliver good service and Price. :)

[PaulTheBall]

Yeah next time I'm not going to leave my car with them unless they can assure me all the parts are in stock.

And as for the tire: I'm going to go hunt for a better tire. I reckon I can do much better then those Michelins for a lot less money.

[Anonymous]

There are better Tyres out there for less money.
To replace a OEM Michelin MXM for my Astra SRi its $250 a Tyre, I only paid $205 for my Falken Azenis RT215 and they're 10x better Gripping Tyres than the Michelins.

[aussievectra]

I've had problems with parts taking along time to get to the dealer. Took the car to Summit Holden in Kings St, Ordered a new interior light unit for my vectra, took over a week when I told them I was going to NSW at the end of the week arrived at Summit Holden when I was up in NSW.

[OPC]

ah dont worry bout it.. i had a problem with the carbon fibre look alike sticker on the side of both doors just like everyone else who owns the astra t..
and so i order them in right...

4 weeks later they call me to tell me the stickers are in

so i take a day off work and take it to my local holden dealer and go home...
anyway they call me at about 3.00pm tell me to come down, so i do..

when i get there they tell me they ordered the wrong sticker :?: :evil:

how many stickers are on the side of the astra t? 1....
so i hafta wait 4 more weeks till they get the right one :bang:

so eventually i got it fixed :lol:

[InsaneAsylum]

what's that big holden parts warehouse on arden st. nth melb... when i went to summit, they didn't have the part in stock but told me to go to the warehouse instead as it was a few minutes drive away.

[dan_kind]

Ha!
an earlier rant of mine started on about the seat materials!

to recap... somehow i received the passengers seat from the factory with a stain, so they decide to replace it.. only, that particular trim isnt used anymore because the manufacturer in germany ran out! SIX MONTHS later i get the material, they put it on the seat rip it so bad its a safety problem, so i have to wait a further 3 weeks without the car for them to replace it

end rant.

[GOZOFF]

Ha!
an earlier rant of mine started on about the seat materials!

to recap... somehow i received the passengers seat from the factory with a stain, so they decide to replace it.. only, that particular trim isnt used anymore because the manufacturer in germany ran out! SIX MONTHS later i get the material, they put it on the seat rip it so bad its a safety problem, so i have to wait a further 3 weeks without the car for them to replace it

end rant.

Oh thats bad man I'd be fumin :evil: hope they gave you a loner :?:

[Nem]

Man I could give you half a dozen stories about how Kery Holden in Darwin give me the shits. But when I was in perth I have to say the boys at the Holden at Ozzie Park bent over backwards for me.

[Jackson]

guys thanks to the great work of one of the guys on cali site, (thanks rossco) we have recently discovered that well in my case the V6 cali is 90% the same as the ugly SAAB 900s.

so i took mine to a saab dealer and the parts are cheaper the work is 100 times better.

you know i had a holden tech tell me that my car is crap and i should sell it,

they have NOOOOOOO idea what they are doing,

being GM <opel,saab,holden,and many others>

still holden manage to charge more for there parts than saab, why, because they are a rip !!!

[mr_sikma]

Jackson: what is a cali? please post sum pics. thanks

[Jackson]

sorry mate calibra :)

look at my avitar, obviously i am not a cartoon but it gives the idea :)

[mr_sikma]

yeah should have guessed :oops:

[aussievectra]

My car is in the Dealer once again. If they can't fix the problem I will take it to a Mercedes Benz as they have the same engine of the vectra the 2.6V6 in the C240, same capacity and same output of power of 125KW. Dissapointing holden doesn't know much about the vectra's.

[RK]

Holden in St Leonards

- period of service spanned over over month according to their computer.
- Went back and forth 7 times.
- Left the car there the first day and they didnt TOUCH IT and told me they had a look at it (car was parked in same place, same angle, NO problems were diagnosed).
- They decided to order parts 1 by 1. Not check the whole car and order all the parts needed.
- First service rep didnt want to talk to me anymore, so he gave me the cold shoulder whenever i went, and i ended up getting a new service rep.
- Fixed 1 dash bulb, but broke another (i didnt take it back because i had enough of their shat)
- STOLE MY SCREW DRIVER!

I wanna go back and tell em to fix my steering (its loose again), but i dunno. Dont wanna run around for another month. :bang:

[Jackson]

do it mate, take it to Merc for sure,

holden would be ok if they didn't let unqualified people work on cars,

Hmmm i wonder if they are expensive at Merc ?

[LiamAstra]

My Astra SRI arrived with a dodgy stereo.
The radio works fine, but when selecting CD the screen says TOO CD
Booran Holden took an hour to tell me they couldn't fix it and would order a replacement. Two weeks later I'm still waiting !!!

Update: Got the replacement - was a dodgy unit, displaying T00 (track 00)

[mr_sikma]

if its going to be free then get it fixed. better than having to pay for it :roll:

[rjastra]

If they can't fix the problem I will take it to a Mercedes Benz as they have the same engine of the vectra the 2.6V6 in the C240, same capacity and same output of power of 125KW

Where do people get told this crap .... :roll:

[mr_sikma]

i thought that was a bit strange :roll:

[QuakeDude]

Wow.. And here I was thinking I was in a minority!!

I bought my Vectra back in 98 from the Frankston Holden dealership.. They wern't too bad at the time, but then, the car *was* brand new.

As soon as the sucker got out of warranty, the problems started. I'd take the car in for something, and it would come back with something else wrong. I'd take it back again, and they'd say that they couldn't find anything wrong with it.

This went on for quite some time.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I had some sort of gear at the front of the engine break. I took it to the Berwick dealership, and the guy said to me that one of the belts should have been replaced by now (had something to do with the problem). I rang the Frankston shop, told them what the Berwick dealership had told me, and he palmed me off with a "well, no, its OPTIONAL to replace that Belt". Right.

Then the car was in for a service again, and they neglected to mention to me that I had NO brakepads left. A month later, I had to replace my rotors after suddently getting a really *bad* scraping noise in the front. $1000 that could have been saved if they had done their job.

I rang Holden head office, spoke to their complaints area, and got palmed off with the comment of "Well, they're not HOLDEN, they're a workshop which licenses the name. You'll have to complain to them."

What a joke.

So now I'm on the lookout for someone that can a) service the vehicle competantly and b) someone who KNOWS about the car and can spot problems BEFORE they occur.

I love the car, and in all fairness, its not Holden's fault that these guys service levels are way below average.. I now go to the Mornington Dealership, and they are much better. Still expensive, but they *look* like they care.

Sorry about the rant - its been a frustrating few years, especially since I love the car so much.

Also, someone mentioned tyres - I've got Yokahama's on mine .. A610's I think.. About $160 a tyre, but they're fantastic - best gripping tyre I've ever had.

Thanks Guys!

Q.

[PaulTheBall]

Thanks for the tip on tyres... :D

I got the timing belt done today. $210 which isn't too bad. I was expecting to pay a lot more - since my 60k service was quoted at almost $900, and last week the service (not timing belt) cost me $300.

[QuakeDude]

Thanks for the tip on tyres... :D

Cool - Just don't make the same mistake I did while I was living up in QLD for a stint - Went to a Bridgestone type centre and told them I wanted new Yokahamas. The guy looked puzzled and said "no, we don't stock them, and I'm not sure what the price is anyway'. As i was ready to head back to down melbourne the following week, I said to him "ok, what have you got which is a similar type perfoming tyre?" I got sold Bridgestone eagle F1's. Same price, half the grip. Never again 8-)

Q.

[frankie9fingers]

My car was in holden for a total 4 days to get the instument cluster replaced. After waiting 3 weeks for the part to come in i dropped it off and turns out it had the black dials. Drop of the car again after the weekend the got the right "looking" part but the plug on the rear was different and couldn't fit. I had an updated cluster, so that's 2 days. Next day get a call saying they got the right part with the right plug but they asked if i painted the silver surrounding the dials coz theirs was black. No i say. 2 days later get the call to bring it in, the part would be there by 10am and as cosolation i get a car to drive for the day. What car do i get? THE TINT PROFFESSOR MOBILE!! A yellow Hyundai Accent! Auto! So here i am looking like Mr Metrosexual for not 1 day but 2 coz they part still haden't arrived. Still i gave it heaps and the handbrake worked really well!! So we're up to 3 drop offs and 4 days there. Get the call, cars fixed and the digital odometer works once again. Except i noticed they reversed my car into a blue car obviously coz i had blue paint on the rear where i had already damaged it.

But why don't i care you ask? Coz I broke the digi display by ripping the cluster open and they scamed it for me to get replaced under warranty, saving me $550! to top it off, all this cost me was a slab of.................Coke!! (the drinking type) :lol:

oh, and my gear linkages got replaced in 1 day. Although i needed at tow truck to get my car to holden.

[kirssn]

Hunter Holden @ St Leonards....

walk in - guys this doesn't sound, feel, look, work right...

give them the car for a lil bit, they come and and tell me what the prob is... i can leave it then and there and have it back the same day (no prob with parts... they'll get them in for me that day) or i can leave it til saturday morning and i'll have the car back before i even have to get out of bed...

the guys are Hunter Holden @ St Leonards have always done great work for me...

as for the guys @ Heartland @ Penrith - NEVER GOING THERE FOR ANYTHING.

[frankie9fingers]

Prob coz your a lady. Not being "typical male" here but a friend of mine, well she's a bit of a "how you doin? :wink: " and she was actually asked to wait for her car in the showroom as she was distracting the employees :lol: everytime she goes there her car is detailed free of charge! should start giving her my car to take in for a service.

[kirssn]

actually, if the truth be known... my other half worked there up until 5 or 6 weeks ago.... and since he's left, the other boys have taken over his role of looking after my car..... :oops:

[Bob]

Hmmm i wonder if they are expensive at Merc ?
You don't even want to know! An 'A' service used to set me back about $300 to $400 while a 'B' was $400 to $500. But I must admit they are incredibly professional in what they do! Only quibble is that you take in a $90,000 Benz for service and are given a $20,000 Camry to drive around in and you have to pay $50 for that 'luxury' :roll:

As for my Holden/HSV dealership, they treat me very well and they often try to save me $ wherever they can :) Only quibble, same as with MB actually!

[aussievectra]

Problem still not fixed, Blue Mountains Holden put a Coolant Heat sensor instead of a level sensor. :( Not happy.