[MariaT]

Hi to all lucky Malibu owners. I have a 2009 Malibu, black granite is the color. It has a 3.6 engine, automatic 6 speed transmission. Cashmere and cocoa I think that is the two colors interior. I love this car.
My love affair with the car is about to come to an end. I've had this car in the service department of the dealership that I purchased it from 5 times for the same problem. Cruise control not working all of the time. They have replaced a crankshaft positioning sensor, brake module sensor with some brake fluid, a brake pedal sensor and now I am waiting to see what they will replace. And in between the visits for parts to be added, they were checking for codes that they couldn't find. One time during all of the trouble that I have had with the cruise, the traction control light came on, a warning buzzer went off and a message appeared saying service traction and service ecs I think..really can't remember this one. Also had a leak in the sun roof drain tube that caused a leak inside the car by the drivers side up by the top of the door window.
With this all being said about the attempts to fix the problem my biggest complaint is that the Service department never kept me informed..the salesman was the only one in the entire building that seem to care that I knew anything at all.

 

[Starship]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. Intermittent electrical problems are hard to track down. Even with all the diagnostic equipment and training, it takes certain amount of creative reasoning and pure luck. I have a colleague who ruined a 5-series BMW due to water intrusion (was never the same, neither him nor the vehicle). I'm wondering if they've checked out probable corrosion on electrical contacts. See the article "Fretting Corrosion" http://www.sandyblogs.com/techlink/2009/08/. Would you care to share what they've done so far (should be on the repair orders you had to sign for)?

 

[Silver LTZ]

Welcome to CMF. Hope they get it fixed right this time.

 

[elcompaLalo]

Welcome aboard.

Sorry to hear about the issues, always sad to hear about people going through stuff like that with these cars.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Welcome to CMF. Also sorry to hear about your troubles. Notice the similarity between your vehicle and mine?

 

[MariaT]

Thank you all so much for all of your input here. Starship as soon as I get to where I can I will share with you the service reports that I have accumulated, thank you for your post. Silver LTZ thank you for your welcome and I sure hope they do get it fixed this time also. Elcompalalo thank you, it is sad to have such issues with a new car and not have a service dept that will act interested in your problems.
DriveDaily I sure do notice the similarities, only where you have lights in the front bumper I have a name plate there black background with gold lettering..LOL..

 

[Chevrolet Cust Svc]

MariaT-

I hate to read you’re having a difficult time with your Malibu. I see that you have a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu 2LT. I’m sending you a direct message to get more details so that I may perform additional research on your situation.

Michelle Phillips-Chevrolet Customer Service

 

[DrivenDaily]

Thank you all so much for all of your input here. Starship as soon as I get to where I can I will share with you the service reports that I have accumulated, thank you for your post. Silver LTZ thank you for your welcome and I sure hope they do get it fixed this time also. Elcompalalo thank you, it is sad to have such issues with a new car and not have a service dept that will act interested in your problems.
DriveDaily I sure do notice the similarities, only where you have lights in the front bumper I have a name plate there black background with gold lettering..LOL..

OK, cool! Lemme take a wild guess: Your name plate says Maria T?

No, I am NOT psychic, but I have been called a little (ahem) psycho.

 

[Answer069]

Welcome to the site Maria!! Sorry to hear you're having so many problems with your car

 

[MariaT]

DrivenDaily...sorry but your physic abilities are not quite right..Nez would be the name on the plate.

 

[MariaT]

Thank you Answer069..and Michelle I will certainly be happy to share all the details you may need. Thank you all so much.

 

[MariaT]

DrivenDaily, I have a question to ask you about your lights on the bumper. Did you need those to be able to see where you were going while driving at night? I know this question may sound silly to you, but I had to have my headlights adjusted on the dim position of the headlights. I couldn't see well enough to feel good about driving at night. Used my brights and didn't get bright lighted back too many times, although I hated to use my bright lights, I had to see where I was going. The dealership did manage to get the dim lights raised some for me.

 

[DrivenDaily]

DrivenDaily...sorry but your physic abilities are not quite right..Nez would be the name on the plate.

...

DrivenDaily, I have a question to ask you about your lights on the bumper. Did you need those to be able to see where you were going while driving at night? I know this question may sound silly to you, but I had to have my headlights adjusted on the dim position of the headlights. I couldn't see well enough to feel good about driving at night. Used my brights and didn't get bright lighted back too many times, although I hated to use my bright lights, I had to see where I was going. The dealership did manage to get the dim lights raised some for me.

Hey, I've never been told so nicely that I'm not right! Hmmm, Nez, eh? Guess I'd better shine my chrome dome, er, crystal ball.

Those lights are PIAA that I've had for 9 years now. I bought them for my '91 F150 when I lived in California. Mounted up high like that was great. The fog lights have a shield inside that cuts off any light above the horizontal plane, keeping glare to nil. When I turned on my brights (only 2 headlights on the truck) I could see so far into the night that you'd be amazed. As a matter of fact, when the brights were on and I was approaching one of those blue signs (Hospital, etc.) I had to turn them down to low beams due to so much reflection in the dark!

Now on this car they don't work so well. They're just too low and the light spreads out way too much to light up the road where I'm looking. The fogs are nearly worthless unless I want to burn up ants. And the driving lights are too low to do much good, either, but when I hit the brights I could swear the road starts to melt! I intend to move them to one of the grill openings higher up for two reasons: 1. for improved performance from both lights (fog and driving), 2. better appearance.

Before I installed those lights I was always able to see quite well. Way better than any car I've ever owned for sure! Adjusting your lights is quite easy, too. Lift the hood and look for the little hole or slot. When you look down it you'll see an adjusting screw head. Turn it one way to raise, the other to lower. A rule of thumb is to have the left side (driver's) just slightly lower than the other to minimize blinding any oncoming traffic, and you'll be able see just fine, too.

 

[MariaT]

I try to be polite when talking to and with others. Yep Nez is a short form of my middle name. I really had a hard time seeing with my dim lights..seemed as though they were right on the ground directly in front of the bumper and didn't extend far enough out for me to see as well as I wanted. The adjustment worked well for me..Now if I could just have my car long enough to drive at night would be fantastic. I really like my Malibu. Although when I got it I was looking at and wanting the camero, but the price range was too far out of reach for me. Such is life..

 

[MariaT]

I have news. I can only hope that this news will be good. Michelle did turn my complaints over to GM, and now I have a case number and I did receive a call just today about my car and the complaints against this dealership. According to this rep another rep will be contacting me about the troubles that I've had. I found out through this rep today that a part was ordered for my car. I have no idea what part and when it was ordered. This information about a part being ordered is the second time I found out that this dealership had ordered a part for my car by someone other than the service department. Such a sad thing. With all of the communication devices we have at our finger tips and these devices not being used just to offer common courtesy to the buyers of cars from any dealership. I'm sure that this dealership I have had the misfortune to deal with isn't the only one that has put customers through what I've gone through. Yep I a woman and yeah I am blonde...LOL...but I am by no means a dumb****

 

[DrivenDaily]

Good for you, MariaT! I've have dismal "service" from the selling dealer. When I continued to complain after just about every service visit they asked me to go elsewhere. Not the correct reaction to them continually breaking my car or leaving it filthy. I wonder - should I call GM CC as well? I'm fed up with the dealer and would like GM to know just what they're doing with their customers. What would doing this do for me?

 

[MariaT]

Wow Driven, I can't believe any dealership would tell you to take your car elsewhere because they can't seem fix whatever it is or that they would rather not even try. Especially since the car is I assume under warranty. I am as it seems and so far one of the lucky ones..I didn't call GM. When I joined this forum, and posted my first post, Michelle of the Customer Service Group with GM contacted me. From this point on I've been or should say that GM's customer service people have been in contact with me. My method of dealing with the dealership that I bought my car from is just being courteous to them and not coming unwound and giving them a piece of my mind. I've been patient throughout this entire ordeal with them. I've not gone over the service manager's head myself. I did talk to the sales person about the way things were being done and some of the comments that I received from their Service Advisor. I just politely told him that he should be looking for a car to replace my car at no extra expense to me in any way at all, because it appeared that this service department couldn't take care of the smallest of things and that what they knew about common courtesy and respect for the customers that bought expensive cars was nil and void. This statement to him apparently did no good at all. I can say that since Michelle took my info and turned it all that I had to say to GM's customer service department things have started to do a turn around so far. I did receive a phone call a 3 days ago from another Customer Service person, who apologized for the treatment and let me know that he understood that a part had been ordered for the car. I told him that this was the second time that I learned that any part had been ordered for my car from a source other than the service manager. He seemed shocked. I also told him that the small problems and the service that I have received has greatly diminished my faith in this car that I dearly love, that I'm afraid to drive it because I feel what else will happen and where will I be when it does. I told Michelle in my first response to GM's customer service that I wanted her and GM to know that I had no intentions to keep paying for a car that I could only drive every other week and be treated with out any common courtesy on the dealerships part..that GM would replace my car with one of the same value and equipped like the one I have. But Driven all through this ordeal I've kept my cool and have matter of fact attitude with them telling them what I will and won't tolerate. I understand that electronic problems and other problems with a vehicle are sometimes like searching for a needle in a hay stack..but at the same time I would appreciate knowing that they are searching and if they find anything that resembles a needle that I have the right and the need to be informed on this and know what their intentions are to fix the problem and so on.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Wow Driven, I can't believe any dealership would tell you to take your car elsewhere because they can't seem fix whatever it is or that they would rather not even try. Especially since the car is I assume under warranty. I am as it seems and so far one of the lucky ones..I didn't call GM. When I joined this forum, and posted my first post, Michelle of the Customer Service Group with GM contacted me. From this point on I've been or should say that GM's customer service people have been in contact with me. My method of dealing with the dealership that I bought my car from is just being courteous to them and not coming unwound and giving them a piece of my mind. I've been patient throughout this entire ordeal with them. I've not gone over the service manager's head myself. I did talk to the sales person about the way things were being done and some of the comments that I received from their Service Advisor. I just politely told him that he should be looking for a car to replace my car at no extra expense to me in any way at all, because it appeared that this service department couldn't take care of the smallest of things and that what they knew about common courtesy and respect for the customers that bought expensive cars was nil and void. This statement to him apparently did no good at all. I can say that since Michelle took my info and turned it all that I had to say to GM's customer service department things have started to do a turn around so far. I did receive a phone call a 3 days ago from another Customer Service person, who apologized for the treatment and let me know that he understood that a part had been ordered for the car. I told him that this was the second time that I learned that any part had been ordered for my car from a source other than the service manager. He seemed shocked. I also told him that the small problems and the service that I have received has greatly diminished my faith in this car that I dearly love, that I'm afraid to drive it because I feel what else will happen and where will I be when it does. I told Michelle in my first response to GM's customer service that I wanted her and GM to know that I had no intentions to keep paying for a car that I could only drive every other week and be treated with out any common courtesy on the dealerships part..that GM would replace my car with one of the same value and equipped like the one I have. But Driven all through this ordeal I've kept my cool and have matter of fact attitude with them telling them what I will and won't tolerate. I understand that electronic problems and other problems with a vehicle are sometimes like searching for a needle in a hay stack..but at the same time I would appreciate knowing that they are searching and if they find anything that resembles a needle that I have the right and the need to be informed on this and know what their intentions are to fix the problem and so on.

Maria "Nez" T
I've been using the same approach with the dealership as you. It lets me walk away with a clear conscience, knowing that I didn't stoop to a lower level.

What I got from the service manager when I showed incontrovertible proof that they had damaged my car was this: He said he can't believe that his techs would ever do that. So I told him about the time that Garlin (tech's name) had replaced my center console. When he snapped the cover on the rear of it (in the back seat area) he not only broke the part but left it improperly assembled! I discovered it only when I was vacuuming it when I got home. The service manager then started to make excuses for him, saying that he's grumpy. Hmmm, does that give him the right to damage my car and not tell me, and then not to even have a part on order to fix it? This was just one visit; there are others, and the most recent visit was the worst. That was when I provided all the proof to the general manager and another day stopped by to speak to the service manager. That day he informed me that I had to take it elsewhere. This was two months ago. I just got back from there to get my money back on the maintenance contract I had purchased - LOF and rotations for 3/36. Still don't know if the parts they promised to order have been ordered or what their status is. I'm expecting a call tomorrow (Thursday).

I'd like GM to know about these incredibly terrible, unsuccessful attempts at service. Once I get my car fixed by these cretans I'll feel much better about pressing forward with any action.

Maria, I sincerely hope that you're able to get your situation corrected to the point that you end up with a great car, one that you feel you can trust. I trust my car but I'll never trust Bob Hook Chevy to touch my car ever again!

Thank you again for your support. It means a lot to know that I'm not acting ridiculously!

 

[MariaT]

Hi,
Well I would say that you have done all you can do and in a polite way and have given them all the benefit of the doubt and was patient while they worked/or tore up what they tried to fix. I'm so so sorry that you are experiencing all the problems that you have.
I don't understand why a GM Customer Service person that scan these forms hasn't picked up on your problem and turned your problems over to GM Customer service. I myself have not personally contacted GM in anyway at all. I think or would advise that you contact Michelle here on the forms. And let her know what has gone on. I'm not sure that GM contacting the dealership or service dept there will do a bit of good, but one can hope. I know that after this trip and after this attempt to fix my car and hopefully this will fix it, I plan on contacting GMAC financing and telling them exactly what I've been through and that if this continues they GMAC can expect no more money from me, and that I will contact an attorney that is familiar with the Oklahoma Lemon Laws. From this point on I will either have a car that I can drive and not be concerned whether or not I will make it where ever it is I may be going, or I will have a replacement car or the cash price that they charged me for it. I'm thinking it may be a good idea to take the cash and buy another name brand car, but in my heart I want to keep my car.
Anyways I wish you luck with your ordeal and hope for the best for you. Thanks for being my sounding board of sorts..LOL.
Nez

 

[DrivenDaily]

I got a call this morning that my parts were in so I stopped by to get them after work. Parts guy couldn't believe that the service dept. was paying for them so he hiked it on out and asked someone, then came back and carried them to my car for me.

Last item is to get the full detail I was promised. I'll call tomorrow.

I hope after it's all over for you that you're properly taken care of. Making a mistake isn't the issue - it's how they react once it's uncovered. If they show reasonableness and treat you well then you'll both gain from the experience. If they don't then you're the only one who'll gain, because you'll have learned a lot more while taking the high road.

Glad I was any help at all.