Another Holden servicing related moment

[tomtom]

Not a big deal just annoying.

I had my service. I just noticed they rotated my tyres.

While thats fine and all, I already had my tyres rotated for me.

While that's also fine, the porblem lies in teh fact that the reason i rotated was because the fronts were nearing the limit marker.

Holden have gone about rotating my tyres blindly (incorrectly mind you l) without checking whether it was required to do so.

I'll be dropping my car off for the 8th time since ownership to have my seat disassembled and fixed as the entire insides of it have failed.

Should i:

Spend an hour or 2 rotating the wheels myself - I lack a car lift..

or

Tell them that they rotated my already rotated tyres without checking... and risk them doing it wrong and then having to do it myself in the end anyway?

Don't forget that they are sending my car off to another shop to pull the seat apart. Adding another level of complication to that (require a rotation before or after sending the car off) MIGHT **** things up for them.

This is no way to run a business "we have to service lots of cars a day balbalha". I dont give two shits. You run a business that deals with cars. I expect you to do what you say you will do CORRECLTY regardless of the demand for your services.

I'm infuriated.

I have gone to holden 5 times in the last 2 weeks. I'm not even making that up. Problems with the CDX + my SRI service and now even more cascading piles of shit trailing down forth from the mouth of poor work by intern mechanics.

Before any of you say "you shoudlnt go to holden for services", I have a warranty with them that i wish to retain.

Thankyou for your time, its been a pleasure.

[Manda88]

Get them to.. its worth the risk that they MIGHT get it right i mean odds arent good 25% chance really per wheel.. :p


On same note boyfriend got his tyres rotated by a service department, he had directional tyres and yeh it specifically says on the tyre don't rotate... so its not just a holden thing :p

[MatsHolden]

", I have a warranty with them that i wish to retain.



You can still retain your factory warranty if you get it serviced elsewhere...

If you've got a dealership extended warranty... waste of money.

[tomtom]

Get them to.. its worth the risk that they MIGHT get it right i mean odds arent good 25% chance really per wheel.. :p


On same note boyfriend got his tyres rotated by a service department, he had directional tyres and yeh it specifically says on the tyre don't rotate... so its not just a holden thing :p

I'm still sitting here in awe that they rotated them.

Like fair nuf it might be just routine part of the service but..

2 of my tyres are like 5% and 2 of them are 80%.

WHY WOULD YOU PUT THE 5% ON THE FRONT LIK REALLY?????????????????

THey really idnt check.

[ChrisMaz]

After 3 months of Debating with North City holden and the national HQ. All they've acknowladged is that they need to fill in the log book and actually do a diagnostic. :mad:

Holden Customer service is practically non-existant.

[Manda88]

used to commonwhores and RWD?

[MatsHolden]

On same note boyfriend got his tyres rotated by a service department, he had directional tyres and yeh it specifically says on the tyre don't rotate... so its not just a holden thing :p

You can rotate directional tyres... ie. putting fronts to back/backs to front. Just can't rotate left to right.

[Vectracious]

try another dealership.

[tomtom]

You can rotate directional tyres... ie. putting fronts to back/backs to front. Just can't rotate left to right.

yer my mate rotated his directional tyres left and right lol...such a ricer.

Swapped ends in the wet.

[Manda88]

You can rotate directional tyres... ie. putting fronts to back/backs to front. Just can't rotate left to right.


yeh im mean the tyres were on backwards to rotation.. lol


should crash and sue!

[tomtom]

try another dealership.

my other dealership option is Parramatta... but we all know what they do @ parramatta.

[MatsHolden]

yeh im mean the tyres were on backwards to rotation.. lol


should crash and sue!

That's a shocker.

I think tomtom, don't go nuts just yet. Ok, it's an annoying mistake they made, but it's fairly harmless (as long as they weren't directionals swapped left to right). I suggest just being calm about it when you inform them of their mistake. State that you're dissapointed, but don't carry on about it. You'll get further.

[tomtom]

That's a shocker.

I think tomtom, don't go nuts just yet. Ok, it's an annoying mistake they made, but it's fairly harmless. I suggest just being calm about it when you inform them of their mistake. State that you're dissapointed, but don't carry on about it. You'll get further.

yer mate that was my plan. its like people who yell at the person..serving their food :p

[ChrisMaz]

my other dealership option is Parramatta... but we all know what they do @ parramatta.

Oh god. I don't even live in your state and I hate Parramatta with a passion.

[tomtom]

Oh god. I don't even live in your state and I hate Parramatta with a passion.

Ahh heartland parramatta's reputations preceeds it.

[ChrisMaz]

Lets not even talk about Richmond. :p

[CDXIJET]

Our AH astra has now ran out of warranty and it's the best thing that ever happened as I just do everything myself ,ohhh by the way I am not a back yard mechanic but properly qualified so stuff Holden and most of their apprentice filled workshops .

I have had cases where I was told that they could not get the wheels off with the rattle gun as the nuts were on to tight ,such crap as I soon got them off myself in the workshop in front of the numb skulls ,had another case where they had forgot to re-attach an earth and therefore it made the car completely cut out whilst my missus was driving , lucky it was a straight stretch of road as the steering was stiff as buggery obviously ...

Seriously not all dealership workshops are full of idiots that would be generalising but a big majority of them have not got a clue about what they are doing or the correct proceadure to put in place when a problem arises ...

[Shay]

i think half the problem is or "un-common" euro cars as well, especially to holden, its a lil different to what they are used to dealin with day to day, so they are like a fish outa water.

[Vectracious]

i think half the problem is or "un-common" euro cars as well, especially to holden, its a lil different to what they are used to dealin with day to day, so they are like a fish outa water.

Astra was the best selling small car for years. The "uncommon" excuse is unacceptable from a Holden service deparment. There are a LOT of Astra's out there

[Snotty]

had my car serviced at suttons homebush for 5 years, never had a single problem.

[GreyRex]

As i've mentioned before, i take my car to Holden only for warranty work

If you find a decent mechanic, who services as per the log book, and you know it will get done... then 9 times out of 10 you won't have an issue

My mechanic incorrectly placed one of the hoists arms under the side skirt of my car, and it flexed the plastic and split the paint. He called me up that day before i picked it up and said, Look this has happened blah blah... bring it back in whenever you can and i'll get it resprayed for you. Not an issue

There are always waaaaaaay too many examples of Dealer Servicing troubles with most manufactures (let alone the excessive price you pay quite often for the lack of work done). Of course there are exceptions though...

Cool and calm is the way to approach them, if you have an issue

As Pete said, using the excuse that they don't know the car (after it has been out for many years in different models), is a poor excuse. It's more lack of care/interest/motivation etc

Good luck with it :)

[lithium]

the parts department at suttons homebush is pretty good, i get my parts from there

an hour or two, are you serious. just take it back to them and be polite - they shouldn't charge you for it and it'll take them ten minutes to fix it up.

as mentioned above if Holden service is causing you grief, get any licensed mechanic to service your car with genuine parts and you will keep your factory warranty

[SIMid]

Regarding tyre rotations, they list it on the job list but they actually dont do it.

How do I know? ...the wheels are covered with brake dust and I cleaned a letter F on the front rims before I drop the Astra off (failed to swap them at 2 services).

But in yr case, I wouldnt bother rotating them, get new tyres instead. If not, make sure the best tyres are fitted at the back, not the front as most people say.

[Jerram]

But in yr case, I wouldnt bother rotating them, get new tyres instead. If not, make sure the best tyres are fitted at the back, not the front as most people say.

Why fit them on the back?

Also, just know that as the customer, you have the right for them to do their services properly. In fact, if you don't, couldn't you get your money back? (trade practices act?)

[SIMid]

Why fit them on the back?


Ha! I thought I better be prepared! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxY8C1V8eFE&feature=related

[Jerram]

Ha! I thought I better be prepared! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxY8C1V8eFE&feature=related

I can see a big debate out of this - perhaps you might like to create a new thread instead of everyone hijacking tomtoms service based one.

[lithium]

that's an interesting video...so having baldies on the back can cause the rear to aquaplane and your car to oversteer?

i imagine your rears need to have tread well below the legal limit, and you'd have to go through a really really deep puddle pretty quickly to have that occur! you'd also need a FWD that is really stiffly set up in the back...its pretty hard to get most factory setups to step out the tail like that

more tread goes on front in my opinion :)

[SIMid]

Probably best to have good tyres on the front if your car is RWD, because you can "steer" with the throttle.

[Vectracious]

makes sense because these days people can't drive and its easier for them to get out of an understeering situation than an oversteering situation.

And with more and more cars having ESC on them as standard, its pretty much irrelevant one which end the new tyres go.

[sadavidsriturbo]

TomTom i feel your pain big or small you expect the job done properly, I think its just a prerequisite at holdens service department to stuff people around and rip them off.

Like you said you want to retain your warranty, people say that you can go else where as long as they are licensed and use genuine parts which is true.

But when you do and a problem arises and you take it back to holdens it turns into a great debate of you should have used us, we know what we are doing, ect ect when its clear that they just rush everything that comes thru and dont really give a shit, like i have said before they do bare minimum work at the lowest quality for the highest price if its not enough that they are charging top $$ for labour they even have to excessivley mark up the parts.

I have also heard stories of when a car is close to running out of warranty they tinker with it so things stuff up, but that's just stories i have no proof of this but i would not put it past them.

With my car i did everything right in trying to rectify the problem with them from start to finish, when really i should have taken it somewhere else. But why would i ??

At the end of the day they are there to make money, so they are always going to skimp out, rush things, get the apprentice to do most of the work, charge you $80 an hour and pay him $8 its what they do.

Google holdens service department complaints and you will be there for days.

I guess its a gamble with them, i know i will never take my car back their and also will never buy a holden again, in hearing your complaint there incompetence never ceases to amaze me. Sad thing is its only going to get worse with this giant debt they have over there heads they are cost cutting from every angle and i assume after sales service is going to be hit hard.

[ChrisMaz]

Why fit them on the back?

Also, just know that as the customer, you have the right for them to do their services properly. In fact, if you don't, couldn't you get your money back? (trade practices act?)

Yes you do have the right but whether anything gets done about it is a different matter. I contacted the RAC and spoke to them about my disgust about North Cities over servicing and all I got was a "We'll look into it". Sure they probably will but I can't see them being able to do much. Consumer protection came back with the same statement which two weeks later ended up with GM Holden sending us a "Thanks for choosing to have your car serviced with us" letter.
:mad:

[mzsammi]

curious u said ur seats being pulled apart is that because ur heated seats dont work or dont switch off???


im having issues with my seats not heating up to their max temp n switching off :(

[tomtom]

curious u said ur seats being pulled apart is that because ur heated seats dont work or dont switch off???


im having issues with my seats not heating up to their max temp n switching off :(

Nah the lumbar support mechanism is broken.

I've used my heated seats twice. Once to check it worked and another to show someone that it worked. lol

[PrincessPeachey]

I am not surprised by the lack of "service" that a Holden dealer gives. Alright, so they didn't make the Corsa/Astra/Vectra/Calibra etc, but they imported it, and with that should come the responsibility of servicing them properly.

We've had quite a few dramas with one Holden dealer in particular, and another dealership literally did NOT want to even come near my car with a diagnostic tool. My car's in getting fixed at a smaller workshop, correcting the "work" that a Holden dealership has done but were keen to charge me well over a thousand dollars for the privilege of doing so.

Unfortunately for you, because your car is still under a warranty there isn't a lot you can do, except for kick up a fuss. Kick up a fuss, and you'll get "free" things out of it (we got a "free" service/safety report). Doesn't mean they'll do the job properly though.

[tomtom]

Update:

Well they re-rotated my tyres for me from what i checked before i picked up the car, it was done as i had specified.

Regarding to my broken seat, they said:

"We pulled apart the seat. found no faults. put it back togethor".

Its funny though because the problem is still there and the seat is 100% not functioning as it should compared with my driver side.

Even more interestingly is that my passenger seat was never pulled apart. How do i know? *taps nose*.

Nice one holden, another 2 days of my time wasted.

While i could go on complaining, I am well and truly fed up and the corporates have won - waste enough of a consumer's time and they'll choose to just accept the problem and move on from it.

They also for some reason, cleaned the shit out of my RIGHT REAR caliper. And only that one. Its like glistening.