ComplaintsforChampion Chevrolet GMC, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I took my 2006 GMC Canyon to Champion Chevrolet on 5/12/22 to have the PCM reprogrammed after rebuilding the motor and transmission due to the vehicle randomly cutting off while driving. Technician informed that I needed a new PCM due to crankshaft position sensor unable to communicate any further. I was charged $87.80 on this day. PCM purchased and returned the vehicle on 5/26/22 in order for the PCM to be installed and diagnosed, I received a call on 5/27/22 informing me that the BCM was also not working so I purchased a BCM and took it to the dealership.Over the course of the week I received calls from ***** letting me know that they had master technicians working on my truck and that they couldn't figure the problem out so they were calling in chevy engineers to look at and diagnose my truck. They had my truck from 5/26 - 6/8 and failed to diagnose the real issue. They came to the conclusion that the radio was causing the issue due to it being wired into the theft system so they removed the radio and part of the dash and installed a jumper wire into the system and reprogramed the PCM and BCM then removed the jumper wire. I received a call that my truck was ready for pickup. on 6/8 and paid an additional $439.00 only to get the truck home with the same problem that it went there with. Nothing had been fixed. My mother spoke to **** ****, the owner of the dealership and explained the situation and ask if they could help with the situation due to the technician telling that it needed a new PCM & BCM which was not bad. Mr. **** informed my mother that the truck had to many cooks in the kitchen and the truck has monkey pox, but if I would buy a new radio they would be more than happy to install it. I took it to another mechanic due to the fact that the dealership cost me $1080.53 parts and labor with no resolution. He scanned it and found that the cam phaser was not working properly so he replaced and was an additional $800.00. More info not enough space to type

  

  Business response

  08/15/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2022/08/04) */ Our customer had a different garage rebuild the engine and the transmission on his 2006 GMC Canyon. The customer told us the vehicle would randomly cut off and he thought it needed to be reprogrammed. Customer was requesting program only. We could not reprogram as our GM diagnostic tools would not communicate with the PCM or BCM. Our diagnostic tool received no communication from PCM (power control module) through BCM (body control module). We recommended our customer purchase a GM PCM. Customer declined the GM part and brought in a PCM power control module from a parts house. The PCM would not program because there was no communication through BCM body control module. Customer was offered GM BCM, and declined and again supplied aftermarket part. We contacted and worked with GM technical assistance (Case Number X-XXXXXXXXXX) for guidance and direction. Worked with GM TAC (technical assistance center) engineering. Customer was contacted and approved all work and time to get PCM, BCM and throttle body back online. Our technician worked with engineering to trace the communication errors to aftermarket radio. Customer was contacted for permission to remove radio due to interference of BCM (body control module). The communication lines terminated at the radio. When the aftermarket radio had been installed it had been tied into the theft deterrent system and we had to manually bypass *** radio with a jumper wire to get the pcm to program. Customer spoke with Service Manager and agreed to removal. Customer was aware of other concerns of possible timing and or sensor concern and told Service Manager he was taking it back to the people that overhauled the engine. Attached you will find all documents relating to repairs. We accomplished original request of getting PCM programmed, and throttle body calibrated. As a measure of goodwill, we discounted the labor charges and we offered to install a factory radio for our customer at no charge. This is a 16-year-old vehicle with XXXXXX miles which has multiple aftermarket parts and alterations. It has had lots of different people working on it (too many cooks in the kitchen). We never said the truck has monkey pox. We performed the work requested with customer supplied parts and we accomplished original request of getting PCM programmed, and throttle body calibrated. Consumer Response /* (3000, 11, 2022/08/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The original complaint was that the truck would randomly die and thought that it needed to be reprogrammed after rebuilding the engine in order for all parts to work together. The dealership told us that it needed the new PCM and BCM which it did not and if they had performed further diagnostic testing which my son had approved to be done through ***** then they would have found the real problem with the truck being the cam phaser. The radio that was supposedly the problem had been installed almost 2 years ago with no problems at all. Mr. **** himself told myself ****** ***** that they sent out a email to other dealerships trying to find out if they had seen a problem like this before and waited for responses back with possible resolutions to the problem because I questioned the engineers coming to the dealership to look at the truck, because when ***** would speak with my son ****** about his truck and the technicians not being able to find the problem she would say that the engineers are coming. ***** did not inform ****** of any concerns about timing or sensors instead she told him that it was the radio causing all the problems. In fact ******, the technician told us that the truck ran to good for it to have timing issues. Mr. **** told me that if ****** would purchase a factory radio that they would install it free of charge, but my question to him was if it would definitely fix the problem and he told me that it could possibly but not positive it would fix it, so why would ****** want ot purchase yet another part that he did not need? The whole issue here is that the truck was not diagnosed properly per ****** giving ***** permission to diagnose the problem and fix it, so therefore they told him that it needed a PCM and BCM and he incurred additional parts costs for something that the truck did not need. ******, the technician that worked on the truck informed us that he didn't really know what to do with the truck and had never saw anything like it. When I , ****** ***** sat down in the office with Mr. **** he was informing me about to many cooks in the kitchen and that the truck had monkey pox. If he is being dishonest about his statement about monkey pox then how can he be trusted with other information? We understand that the truck is a 16 year old truck but it was rebuilt to stock and it does not have alterations that would affect the truck being diagnosed appropriately. ****** took his truck to the dealership with the intention of getting the issue resolved not with the intention of getting parts thrown at it in hopes of one of them fixing it, or having to take it to someone else to incur more charges in order to get the truck to running. He took it to a dealership because they are suppose to be trained to diagnose and have the equipment to diagnose it with and to fix the problem which he had authorized through ***** to do so. You would think that after keeping a vehicle for 13 days that it would be running correctly when you pick it up. It is a shame that someone trusts a dealership to fix a problem through proper diagnosis with trained technicians but instead you get technicians that don't have a clue what to do and you get parts thrown at it in hopes that something works. If ****** was looking for a parts changer then he would not have taken it to a dealership, instead he was looking for someone that he could trust to diagnosis and fix his truck . He thought he had found that, but instead he incurred labor charges and additional parts cost that he did not need and yes he did purchase his own parts and took them to the dealership which Mr. **** did not like to well, but I, ****** ***** questioned him as to if they used only GM parts and he said no that they order parts from the part stores also. When ****** authorized the diagnosis and repair of his truck through ***** he thought that he could trust them to repair the truck, but that is not what he got. Unfortunately it cost him $1080 in parts and labor for nothing plus he had to pay and additional $800 to get the truck diagnosed and fixed properly. The dealership should make it right with ****** and refund his money. Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2022/08/09) */ The dispute over the term monkey pox seems trivial. Our conversation was 2 months ago in early to mid-June. The Monkey Pox outbreak had barely begun. I don't recall referring to the vehicle or any vehicle as having monkey pox or even considering using that term, but I also can't say that it is totally impossible that I didn't. It seems more likely that I could have used the term Gremlins or some other expression to indicate how laborious running down an electrical problem can be. I do recall the "Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen" comment. When chasing down electrical problems our technician followed standard diagnostic procedure which is a step-by-step process following lines of communication. Our technician followed GM technical assistance guidance. Our customer authorized the technician to work on his vehicle and paid for the technician's time. The PCM is discontinued but we found one in stock in another dealer's inventory, so it was available through the dealership. On customer pay tickets clock time punches are not required. The technician clocked on the ticket during diagnostic in case there may have been some warrantable items. When he determined there was not any warrantable items he was not required to clock back on the ticket. We had multiple technicians spend time on this project as well as GM support which lead to the conclusion that the customer's communication problems were caused by the radio that he had installed incorrectly. This is a 16-year-old, high mileage vehicle that has been worked on by multiple people. Unfortunately, our technician can't start at the solution to an electrical problem but must follow a step-by-step process. We must start at the beginning, spend the time to eliminate possibilities and isolate the ultimate cause. He was charged for the labor, and we did complete the programming. The total amount we charged Mr. ***** was $527 which was a deeply discounted rate. As a good will gesture, we offered to install a customer supplied factory radio at no charge. In addition, in an attempt to retain Mr. ***** as a customer, we would like to offer a $100 shop credit toward any future repair or service. Consumer Response /* (3000, 19, 2022/08/11) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I do not accept the 100 dollars store credit. I want my parts and labor paid for. First reason I have is because the technician that worked on my truck guessed at the repair with a BCM and PCM . The service manager told me the truck needed a PCM to start off with. Well after checking with Champion' parts department found the pcm was discontinued I could only get an aftermarket one, I talked to *** in parts who looked for the part PCM for me and told me it was not able to be ordered. Saying another Chevy dealership could get a GM PCM is wrong I called both ******* ******* Chevy in Winchester, and **** ****** in Tullahoma and they both said it was discontinued. Which is the same thing your dealership said. If you found a dealership that has a Gm PCM I would love to know the name of it because no Chevy dealership can get one they are DISCONTINUED meaning that Chevy or GMC doesn't make them anymore. The first problem was misdiagnosis on the PCM, so after that I was told the BCM was bad so same thing went to *** at champion Chevrolet in parts and asked to get one I was told by the service manager that was bad. Same thing Chevy has discontinued the BCM I again check at two other dealerships for the part same thing they cant get it either. By the way I work for a dealership and I know if its discontinued at one dealership its discontinued at all dealerships considering each dealer can have parts shipped from any other dealership in the United States not to mention the parts departments can see if any other dealership has one in stock. SO we replaced the PCM nothing was fixed. Next we replace the BCM nothing is fixed, SO there was a guess at two different parts both modules that cost a good amount of money to replace along with 5 hours labor. Now I also mentioned I work at a dealership and you know how many times I see two major modules go down never. For a PCM and BCM to go down at the same time is almost impossible. So the last thing that there was to guess at was the radio which yes is after market but I had a certified shop install it and it was working for two years the way it was wired up. The shop that installed it was **** in Manchester if your want to call they specialize in car stereos so I would think they know what they are doing, So now we have a new PCM, BCM and we're blaming the problem on the pats system and the radio. I was told by **** the technician and ***** that the pats system was messing up which it was messing up because of my radio. Also just so you know if the pats system was messing up then the truck wouldn't start and my fuel pressure would be dropping while driving which it wasn't. It would run and just die and fuel pressure would be fine. You know as well as I do the PATS system is the security system Chevy's and GMC's us to identify keys if it had been that system messing up then the truck would have never ran and the theft light would have been flashing. Which guess what it wasn't, SO now after replacing the PCM, BCM and being told my radio was the problem I pick my truck up still broken. Well when I get it the radio is in the floor my trim is removed and the screws for my radio are gone not to mention the truck is still messing up. So next thing I do is check codes at a mechanic shop. I find a code that has been stored saying cam crank correlation. Well that could cause a stalling issue. So we investigate more we watch the timing on each bank and the cam phasers well would you look at that, after about an hour of watching the timing and driving around we find the problem its the cam phaser. When coming to a stop the cam phaser is advanced 20 degrees. Which at idle timing should be at 0 degrees. So based off the code and about an hour of diagnosing find the cam phaser is bad replace the phaser and the truck runs fine with the aftermarket radio I had installed by a certified shop. So after your technician diagnosed it for 5 hours and the truck set a code he still thought it was a module concern . I mean it is a Chevy dealership I took my truck to I expect that the Chevy scanners you use there to read basic codes at least and if I had that code then I would for sure looked at my cam and crank sensor and the phaser and saw something wasn't right. Not to mention when the trucks timing was acting up the short term fuel trims would have been messing up as well which should also throw a red flag that its not a module, and something maybe wrong with the timing which it was. Its called the cam phaser which can advance or ****** your timing. SO after replacing the cam phaser the truck runs great. SO Champion Chevrolet told me I need a PCM,BCM, and my after market radio was the problem which none of that fixed it. After over 1000 dollars nothing was fixed on my truck instead I had a bunch of parts I didn't need I don't know about your dealership but at mine we have to eat the cost of the parts and labor if we miss diagnose a vehicle, which why if you guess and don't fix the problem is it right to charge the customer. Its your lack of knowledge and skill of diagnosing that cost the customer that money so why is it right for the customer to pay for that because you didn't diagnose it right the first time. So no I won't accept 100 dollars store credit. I want either cash or a check for the PCM , BCM, and labor Champion Chevrolet charged me for that didn't fix a single problem on my truck. Unfortunately I trusted ***** to have **** and ****** diagnose and supposedly fix the issue of my truck randomly shutting off when being driven. Hopefully you will make things right and come to a agreement and stop wasting time. Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2022/08/11) */ Our previous offer of goodwill is our final offer. We now consider this matter closed.

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