It's time for Cadillac, along with the entire GM brand portfolio, to get tough with the dealer network and cull the herd. No more laser welding-40GB-Sapele wood sales training seminars, no more Trailblazer or Aveo loaners - Ack.
Y'know, to some extent I agree with your take on what's required, though the last new GM product purchased in my family was my parents' 1978 Caprice. And yeah, the dealer service sucked almost as badly as the build quality.
But...when it comes to the after-purchase customer service, my baseline expectation is competence. Things get fixed right the first time, other things don't get broken (and they especially don't get broken and not fixed), and expectations get set properly up front. That's rare enough that I have to regard the rest as gravy.
The five or so Ford dealers I've dealt with have all been utterly incompetent, can't-find-a-loose-steering-column-U-joint-pinch-bolt bad, my wife would likely drain the blood out of my body before she'd let me go near a Ford dealer.
I've dealt with one competent Saab dealer and one fraudulent one. The former was competent but not a lot of frills, no loaners or rides or fancy facilities etc (this was ten-plus years ago) and the latter (part of a multi-brand megadealership now long gone) was the past master of what Pat Bedard calls the wall job - park it over there by the wall, bill Saab for the warranty work, do nothing and tell the customer it's done. When customer comes back, bill Saab again, tell the customer more fibs and hope they never recognize that they're the ball in a crooked tennis match.
The dealer from whom we bought our '92 Q45 was so good that I had to check the restrooms for a staff of wipers. Things always fixed right the first time, and when it came to warranty service they were not remotely shy about spending Nissan's money, they always found and fixed the stuff I'd spotted but didn't think was worth complaining about. Car was always clean and shiny and vacuumed as thoroughly as Eliot Spitzer's dork. Always an Infiniti-branded loaner, though a slushbox G20 ain't got much on an Aveo (a 5-speed G20 briefly snuck into their loaner fleet, presumably off their trade-in lot, and that was a honey - for all three of us who'd ever take it.) So even though the car itself wasn't a whole lot more reliable than, say, a Ford, the ownership experience was not an active deterrent to future Infiniti ownership. The fact that we don't own an Infiniti or a Lexus now emphasizes that for me at least a great service experience can't overcome a distasteful product.
The local BMW dealer has been good. Things get done right, they've gotten the hard stuff done (like the intermittent AC whistle in my M5 detectable only at freeway speeds that took a week and a half of progressive dismantling of the dash and AC ducting to locate) without grumbling, but it's not a kid-glove-and-red-carpet experience. They've usually coughed up a loaner or rental when needed, everything from the usual 3-series to a Prius to a Chevy S-10 to a horrid Buick to a Dodge minivan, and they've got a good shuttle service. It also helps that the Bimmer dealer happens to be about the closest car dealer to my house.
Now, as for Audi, our used '02 S6 Avant just exited its certified preowned coverage, but the local dealer it went to for a number of matters while under 'warranty' didn't smell Ford-bad but didn't give me much warm-and-fuzzy either. Too much "we can't do anything about that", too much screwing up B while fixing A, too much downtime while ordering parts, nothing ever comes out cleaner than it goes in. Only A8 customers get loaners, though their shuttle service wasn't bad.
So, yeah, it'd be nice to see Cadillac dealers who saw serious levels of customer support as important, but baseline is things need to get fixed and stay fixed, in a reasonable timeframe and without a lot of service-writer excuses, not three comebacks and a visit from the local field guy to approve a $250 part as was the Ford norm.
In my nearly four years of V ownership and working with five Cadillac dealers over that period, they all sucked. 0 for 5 with Cadillac, 2 for 2 with BMW.
I hear good and bad from other folks I know who drive Cadis, MB, BMUU, Lexus, and Lincoln. Two different people have had two different experiences from the same dealerships. So I've learned to filter through individuals and listen to what the majority of comments are about a particular brand and local dealership. My guess would be if the only Cadillac dealership you ever dealt with was Lindsay, you would have a more favorable opinion. But again we understand Lindsay is an exception in the world of Cadi dealerships and not the standard. Unless we want to count it as the standard others should be judged by and follow in the area of Service.
I do not argue that there are several dealerships out there that need to be dealt with by GM and made to either step up or have their car shipments halted and put out of business. But that's up to the dissatisfied customer to report to Cadillac/GM to keep them aware, and in truth most people don't. They take the surveys and toss them in the trash and/or cool off in a day or two after the fact and simply find another dealership or end up purchasing a different brand.
Around here the brand and dealerships that get the most repeat good reports isn't Cadillac, BMUU, or MB. It's the Lexus dealerships.
Around here the brand and dealerships that get the most repeat good reports isn't Cadillac, BMUU, or MB. It's the Lexus dealerships.[/quote]
I all of a sudden feel much luckier to have the dealership I do. I have bought two Cadillac's in the last 4 years from them adn recieved excellent service and customer service from them from the get go. If ever in the Chicagoland area I would recommend Naperville Cadillac.
Around here the brand and dealerships that get the most repeat good reports isn't Cadillac, BMUU, or MB. It's the Lexus dealerships.
Oh yeah. You put two Lexus owners together and do they talk about the car? Oh, hell no. They could give a rat's ass about that. They're comparing the quality of the coffee at their dealers' service departments, or which one has the shinier granite on the floor, or whose loaner had better seat warmers.
Oh yeah. You put two Lexus owners together and do they talk about the car? Oh, hell no. They could give a rat's ass about that. They're comparing the quality of the coffee at their dealers' service departments, or which one has the shinier granite on the floor, or whose loaner had better seat warmers.
I've observed that conversation more than once.
Maybe where you are. We have two Lexus owners here at work, both take their cars down the street to Sewell Lexus and what they talk about when referencing their service visits are how they are treated, that they are given a Lexus loaner (usually an IS) each time and their satisfaction with the visit.
Interestingly these seem to be similar items that I tend to note when I take my V in. How I am treated, that they have a Cadi loaner for me each time, and how satisfied I am with the service visit.
The problem here is not all dealerships, of any make of car, are the same in all parts of the country. It varies, some are great, some are good, and some down right suck. The local MB dealership right next door to the Lexus has a bad reputation for running out of loaner cars very quickly and then if you need service you're SOL unless you can find someone to give you a ride.
Maybe where you are. We have two Lexus owners here at work, both take their cars down the street to Sewell Lexus and what they talk about when referencing their service visits are how they are treated, that they are given a Lexus loaner (usually an IS) each time and their satisfaction with the visit.
Interestingly these seem to be similar items that I tend to note when I take my V in. How I am treated, that they have a Cadi loaner for me each time, and how satisfied I am with the service visit.
The problem here is not all dealerships, of any make of car, are the same in all parts of the country. It varies, some are great, some are good, and some down right suck. The local MB dealership right next door to the Lexus has a bad reputation for running out of loaner cars very quickly and then if you need service you're SOL unless you can find someone to give you a ride.
Wonder if the MB dealer has a problem because of the number of loaners they keep on hand or the number of cars they have in for service at any given time??
Maybe where you are. We have two Lexus owners here at work, both take their cars down the street to Sewell Lexus and what they talk about when referencing their service visits are how they are treated, that they are given a Lexus loaner (usually an IS) each time and their satisfaction with the visit.
What is it you feel they should be considering from their service visits ?
The point is that when you put two BMW owners together, the odds are at least fair that you'll get a conversation about whether PS2s are really enough better than GS-D3s or RE050s to justify the money, or something like that.
You put two Lexus owners together, they'll talk dealer service, because there's nothing about the car that matters that much.
