GM Customer Drives 450 Miles For Ren-Cen Refund
What do you do when a company you own (through your trusty Treasury Department) won’t help you out over the phone? Out of luck with his dealer and pissed off at the “condescending” attitude of GM’s phone support staff, one former Marine and “lifelong GM customer” drove from Virginia to Detroit in order to get The General to take responsibility for chronic power steering pump failures in his wife’s Chevy HHR. His initial reward: more condescension, and the privilege of getting escorted from the premises of GM’s Headquarters. But Marines don’t quit that easily…
The aggrieved customer, David Derringer, knew that the HHR’s steering pump was essentially the same unit as the recalled pump in Chevrolet Cobalts, and demanded a refund for the replacement unit he bought. GM insists that the HHR’s unit is “tuned differently” than the recalled Cobalt pump and has had half as many warranty claims. But after being booted from the Ren Cen, Derringer took to Detroit’s local media, and GM soon gave the tenacious ex-Marine the refund he was looking for. Though he admits to having lost money by taking the fight to Detroit, Derringer insists that the principle is what’s most important. He tells Detroit’s WDIV
I’ve had some satisfaction knowing I’ve done all I can do
See WDIV’s interview with Derringer here.
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First of all, good for him on standing up for what he believed in. I'd say that a lot of that could have been prevented if his dealer had been better to him. When I took my HHR in last year to have the steering looked at (at the time I didn't know about the recalls or defective parts) the dealer did everything they could to have the car fixed without question, and gave me a loaner car. This is also the same dealer that when I had my Oldsmobile and GM said that I couldn't have it serviced there because it wasn't an Olds dealer (Chevy-Cad) went straight to the top for me and got that nonsense eliminated for me. So my point to all this is that if the dealer is worth a darn, things like this don't have to happen.
I knew GM BK v. 2.0 was coming as soon as the ink dried on BK v.1.0 NOTHING. OF. CONSEQUENCE. HAS. CHANGED. NOTHING.
Meet the new boss, same as tho old boss.......