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General Manager
Saturn Saab Isuzu of Halifax
It is with some concern that I am writing this letter in regards to my fathers Saab that at this point is now approaching two weeks in your repair shop. This is the second new Saab that my father has purchased from the Forbes Group, and until approximately six months ago he had neither a problem with his car or the treatment received by SSI Halifax. As a matter of fact, he has referred several people to your dealership who have subsequently purchased Saab automobiles.
This summer the car became not only hard to start at times, but began to randomly stall without any warning. The car was brought to your dealership on several occasions for diagnoses, for which he paid for, with out any concrete explanations or conclusions being offered for its behavior. These matters should all be documented in his service history file. Finally in mid November I received a call from my father in which he stated to me that he no longer felt that he could continue to drive his car as it repeatedly was stalling and sometimes unwilling to start.
At this point I would like to add that I currently work for Mercedes Benz Canada as a Technical Annalist, have been in the automotive industry for over 20 years, worked for Saab Canada for six years between 1983 and 1989 and am currently driving my 6th Saab automobile.
I immediately instructed my father to return the car to your service department for proper diagnoses, feeling quite sure that now the check engine light had finally become illuminated, any competent shop with a tech 2 scanner should be able to determine the cause of the problem. Imagine my surprise when my father told me that he was charged for diagnosing the problem, at which time code P1500 was pulled out of the system (high/low voltage over a specific time period), and that it might be the alternator (at about $800.00) but they were unsure if this would really solve the problem, and once again the car was released to him unrepaired.
At this point I became very upset and frustrated with the aggravation that my 81-year-old father was being put through. I briefly contemplated driving to Halifax from here in Toronto, leaving my father my Saab, and returning to Toronto with his Saab in order to have it properly repaired, as I was returning to Halifax for Christmas anyway. However, after doing a weekends worth of research and some testing in our shop on my own car, and as well with information readily available on the internet (http://www.saabnet.com) I concluded that the only sensible thing to do was to replace any component that could in any way be related to this situation. We resigned ourselves to spending upwards of $2000.00 dollars to do so, and was also aware that the safety neutral switch on the transmission may also be a problem, ($650.00) and require replacement at some time. My father spoke with your service manager and instructed him to order an alternator, battery, ignition switch, updated idler pulley kit, serpentine drive belt and fuel filter and to have them installed on his car. I would like to add at this point that I am extremely familiar with the Chilton Flat Rate manual and it was with great expectations that I awaited to review the final invoice amount to see how may father was charged after this repair.
Unfortunately, I am still waiting to review this invoice, as my father has yet to see his automobile. His appointment was booked for December 2, and there is no way that even doing all of this, the car should have been in the shop more that a day. I knew that in the past I have booked appointments only to have my car sit there for 3 days with out even moving from where I left it, and know this for a fact, as at the time I only worked down the road from your shop, however to a point I understood this as I did not purchase the car from you. At least Glen always treated me fairly and honestly.
Anyway, that is getting off track, back to the tale, Mid week of Dec 2-6 my father had to call your service department to find out the status of his car. It is my understanding that he was told that they now felt the problem was the ignition switch all along and they did not feel the rest of the repairs were needed. I still don’t have a clue as to what was done or not done to the car.
Fine, as long as the bloody thing was fixed, the days pass……still no car, at this point I would like make an issue of thanking you very much for providing a loaner car for my dad to drive, very much appreciated. However I am sure that you would like to have your own car back as much as we would like to have ours. At this point I called the dealership long distance from Toronto and spoke with Lewis, he told me that he was driving the car that evening in order to evaluate its performance. I was pleased with this, however could not believe that no one called my father to authorize the car being driven overnight. Again at the end of the week, my father had to call your service department to inquire about the status of his car, only to be told that further problem were being experienced and that more parts have been ordered (neutral safety switch). Not a surprise to me!!!, However it is now Wednesday of the second week and still no car. To be more than frank with you sir I am beginning to suspect that the car may have become damaged while in your possession. I truly hope this is not the situation, and assure you that I will be completely inspecting this car from top to bottom upon my return to Halifax at Christmas time. I have only mentioned the possibility of the car becoming damaged because I cannot think of any other reason why you still have my dad’s car coupled with the fact that no one has ever called him to let him actually know what was going on with his car.
Any assistance that you could offer in regards to this matter will greatly be appreciated
Bob Aucoin
cc: Service Manager
posted by 64.231.180...
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