Date: Sun, 03 Oct 1999 20:40:25 +1000 From: Peter Wilkins <wilkinspnopsamnet.au> Subject: Re: Saab Customer Service is Arrogant
On 02 Oct 1999 03:47:43 GMT, iamhifinopsamcom (IamHIFI) wrote : >>fpmr96anopsameja.com wrote: >>I own a NEW Saab 9-5, and am in a situation where >>warranty coverage is questionable, in their minds. >>After dealing with Saab Customer Service, I vow >>to NEVER buy another Saab, and in fact will be >>selling mine as quickly as possible. >I am sorry, but I find this type of posting without a statement of what >occurred, why it occurred, what the complaintant was doing...if anything, and >what were the responses by the manufacturer..as total rubbish. > >More often than not, I find that people who post this sort of trash are self >righteous screwballs who created the problem and started out talking to service >with some sort of mission to crucify any poor soul in their way. > >Please keep this stuff off the boards. If you can not talk intelligently, >leave the hecking at the ball game. Don't be too hasty to criticise. I don't know his problem or country, and he may not have quoted any specific examples, but I can assure you that as far as my experiences with Saab Australia are concerned, his remarks are not rubbish. So if he is a screwball, I guess I must be too. You want examples? Here are my recollections. I've had my 1998 9-5 SE for just 15 months, and I've only just got it to the stage of being a reasonably reliable and satisfying car. I had innumerable minor quality control defects (such as parts falling off the car) after delivery, which the dealer fixed without quibbling, but I lost the car for half a dozen days in the first six months just to get all these quality control items fixed. One time I booked the car in, turned up at 8.30 as requested and was told the car would be ready at 12 noon, but to ring first to check. I rang at 12.30, spoke to the guy who had booked it in, but he denied all knowledge of my car! Kept me hanging on for 15 minutes, then came back and said I must be mistaken, they didn't have the car, and who was supposed to have booked it in? A few choice words - stay calm Peter - telling him it was he himself, and he said to ring back in half an hour. I did so, but still no joy (I'm getting a bit bloody worried by now) and he wants me to call back again in another half hour. He was quite put out when I asked him why didn't he call me?? They finally found the car, with nothing done, about 3.30 pm, and I eventually got it back about 6, with no explanation of how it got lost, no apology, and with only half the items fixed. That was bad enough, but what happened when I found three really annoying design defects? 1. A defective brake/gear interlock solenoid. When this fails, the car is frozen in park and you can't go anywhere. There is an interlock release button, which is not mentioned in the 1998 Oz model handbook, and was not mentioned in the car briefing given by the dealer on delivery. Saab knew they had a faulty batch of solenoids, but (so the dealer tells me) had instructed the dealers not to replace them until they actually failed, and not to bring the possibility of the failure to the attention of the customers. As a result, I was stranded miles from anywhere, with a long walk to a phone, when I could have just pressed the button. At least I was in the city and able to walk to a phone in half an hour or so: a few days earlier I had been out in the bush with the nearest phone probably 100 km away. That would have been a serious inconvenience, and could have been life-threatening if it had happened in the outback. I consider that sort of behaviour totally irresponsible, although I believe they have now partly redeemed themselves - I have been told that the interlock button is now mentioned in the 1999 handbook. 2. A defective front suspension fitting caused juddering and jumping on some uphill left hand turns. Again, Saab knew about this defect and had a replacement part available, but told the dealer not to replace it unless the customer complained! It took me some time and a scary moment to realise there was something wrong with the car and that it was not just rough roads or potholes. As soon as I complained, I was told they knew about it, and the part was replaced. Problem fixed, but leaving a nasty taste in the mouth: the handling problem could have had dangerous consequences. 3. The electric seat adjustment control intermittently kept forgetting all its memorised positions. Not serious, but bloody annoying, as the car has two regular drivers with very different seat positioning. Firstly I was told I wasn't setting it correctly, then they took the car for two days but didn't fix it. Then when I personally discovered the cause and wrote to Saab with the details, complaining about the two lost days, I got a quite rude letter with no thanks for pointing out the defect but a reluctant acknowledgement that they knew about it and were designing a replacement switch which would be available from Sweden in a couple of weeks. It seems they hadn't bothered to tell the dealers about it, although many other SE customers had the same problem. The tone of the letter was that they were doing me a great favour and I shouldn't complain. So that gave me precious little confidence in Saab management. They were prepared to conceal known defects not just from customers, but also from dealers. Why would they deliberately antagonise their customers in that way? I also had ongoing problems with an intermittently faulty engine management system, with three fault modes - a). on cold starting, sometimes it would fire up OK, but stall as soon as the car was put into gear, doing this up to six times before it would keep running. Most times, it would start normally. b). Fuel consumption readings would jump intermittently. Eg, reset the SID, drive 200km, see 7.2litres/100km showing on the SID, stop for a cup of coffee, get back in the car, switch on and see 35 l/100km showing on the SID. Obviously an impossible reading in the situation. This problem happened three or four times over about 6 months. c). On smooth roads, low throttle, the car would suddenly start vibrating and juddering madly for 5 to 10 secs then revert to normal. Problem was intermittent and could not be demonstrated to the dealer. they firstly blamed out of balance tyres or corrugated roads, but I was easily able to show it was not that. Because the faults could not be demonstrated when I took the car in to the dealer, I could get nothing done for about 12 months. Then I found dealer documentation mislaid in the car (it had slipped down behind the windscreen and was devilishly hard to retrieve) which showed that the dealer had removed the computer from my new car while it was supposedly in secure storage awaiting delivery while I was away overseas, and had replaced it with another (presumably used) one. This despite categorical assurances given before I went overseas that if the car came in before I got back, it could not be touched or used as a source of spares. I presented the documentation, demanding answers, then wrote a letter, but I never got an apology or explanation of how or why the computer was removed when the car was in supposedly secure storage. I then went to another dealer, explained the situation, quickly got a new computer fitted (it had to be ordered from Sweden), with a new software load to fix the starting problem, and all the problems disappeared. So to be sure, my experience was better than the other blokes, if only because I eventually got all the faults I found fixed under warranty. But I have little confidence in Saab management, customer support, quality control, or ethics. Much as I like the cars, unless Saab management in Oz can demonstrate a real commitment to customer support in future, I will think very seriously before buying another Saab. I'm too old for all that hassle. Sorry for the long post, but you asked for detail! And I would suggest that, rather than jumping in with abuse, a polite request for detail from the original poster may have served you better. Or are you just a troll? -- Regards, Peter Wilkins (wilkinspnopsamnet.au)
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