Author: Face Book asks what’s on my mind….WARNING NOTICE Attempted Felony theft by Marty’s GMC dealership in Kingston. Failed attempt……
My 2014 GMC Sierra, (that I bought from Marty’s GMC) inexplicably lost power, I had it towed to Marty’s on the same day, Saturday Jan 27th.
They were able to get to it on Tuesday Jan 30th. At 1:00 PM Tuesday I was called at home by the Service Department, this person explained that they had located the issue under the Sill plate of my drivers side door. He explained that moisture had corroded the wiring and that they would need to replace a section of that wiring.
He explained that their policy was to ask for the customer’s permission prior to doing any work. I asked if it was hard to get to? He said that they remove the outer cover and under that was another cover they would unscrew to expose the wiring.
I asked how much, he said between $500 and $600 hundred dollars with parts and 5 hours labor. (I thought 5 hours labor sounded odd after I hung up), but I gave permission to do the work. This transpired at 1:00 PM remember.
At 2:30 PM only 1 1/2 hours later, I went to pick up some things from Lowes in my sons truck, as I went by Marty’s I see my truck out in their lot. So I stop and take a picture of it on my phone. Now I am curious. I go to Lowes and buy my items, on the way back past Marty’s at 3:00 PM I still see my truck in their lot……
I take another picture on my phone.
At 3:04 Marty’s calls me, the Service Department tells me the truck is all apart and they are working on it in the bay and that should be able to come get it between 4:30 and 5 PM….I just looked at it outside in their lot 4 minutes ago…..I say, “so its in the bay and they are working on it?” to make him repeat the statement, he said ‘yes’.
I go pick up my wife and go straight back to Marty’s, my truck is STILL sitting outside in the same spot in the lot at 3:23 PM….
We go inside and we ask to see the General Manager in his office. I outline this story to him and tell him that Marty’s has now lost all credibility with me. That the problem that had been outlined to me on the phone was probably not the real issue at all. The truck was in the lot, and they wanted to charge me for 5 hours labor for time that they obviously did not spend, that is Felony THEFT! (Theft of $250 or more is a felony)
The General Manager went to talk to the shop and service department. When he came back he claimed it was a communications problem, the head of the shop had the mechanic fix the problem without telling the service department…..
I said that I know your policy is to call the customer BEFORE any work is done, so the shop manager violated that policy?? And I pointed out that this did not explain why the Service Department called me at 3:04 and told me the truck was apart and would be ready by 5 PM? As if he was actually looking at it in the bay himself?
The General Manager said that he would “eat the bill” and that there would be No Charge, he put N/C on the bill. The Bill states a $550 labor charge, and the Part was only $4.00?, a Misc. charge of $27.50?, (must have been for their lunch), tax of $1.97? with a total of $583.47………It costs $550.00 to put in a $4.00 part?? What cost only $4.00 on a truck???
The General Manager said that this was an “isolated incident”, I said the only thing ‘isolated’ about it was that I came by and caught the fraud, something that I suppose never happens, that is why it was ‘isolated’!! I would have been the one to ‘eat the bill’ if I had not been off from work that day….
This is a heads up to anyone that has or will have dealings with Marty’s GMC in Kingston.
I can never trust them again, and will never go back there. This is how they treat a customer who has bought two trucks from them? Beware.
Honesty and integrity are things that SHOULD happen when no one is looking.
Mark Shean
Posted in Blog