So I get out of class this afternoon. Walk out to my car, its raining, and I forgot my umbrella. Get in the car, back out, drive down the row of parked cars, go to turn at the end of the row, and the wheel doesnt move!!! Crank really hard on it and it grudgingly gives in. Horray, I have no power steering. I try another turn or two to see if its something I could handle long enough to get to the dealer and determine that I should probably just park it and call AAA. Just as I'm pulling into a new parking spot, the power steering comes back to life! Hmm... So I pop the hood and look around, nothing out of place so I assume it was just a belt got wet and decided to slip so probably no big deal. Anyways, I'd already planned on calling the local caddy dealers up to see if anyone had an 06 CTS 18" sport appearance package on the lot and figured if either of them say yes, I'll drop by and while I'm looking at that, I'll have the service folks take a look at my car just to make sure everythings cool. Call up my regular dealer and the guy says, "yeah we've got one, come on by." Well I get there and theres a line out the door of the service bay. Some dumb old broad had her car parked right in the doorway, and was yelling at the service techs about god-knows-what and refusing to move her car. Eventually I get in and recount my experience to my regular service manager, and he tells me that it must have been a wet belt slipping, no need to worry, and he never even looked at it before sending me on my way. (no wonder this lady was mad at him!!!)
New paragraph for a new experience. So...where was I...ok, so I back out of the service bay, park my car, and stroll into the showroom looking for the guy I'd just talked to over the phone. He spots me and says step this way and I'll show you the DTS. I say "whoa, DTS? I wanted to see a CTS." Hes like "oh, that makes more sense. I was wondering why you wanted to see a DTS grill with 18" wheels since its the same as the regular one". I just kind of shook my head and explained my situation. (Looking for the CTS 18" appearance package as a possibility to mod my own car, and I've given up on asking about the strut brace, even after showing them a picture these guys had no idea what I was talking about last time I asked). Anyways, he goes on to tell me they had one in but they delivered it to a customer a couple of days earlier (damn, thats the second time I've been to the lot less than 48 hrs behind this car). He then goes on to tell me that the grill on the 18" appearance package is exactly like the v-grill and since they have the "vogue" shop, they can get one for me. I carefully explain using very small words that no, the grills are not exactly the same, but they are similar in that they both have mesh... He's responds, "oh yeah, thats what I meant." But yeah, so at this point were over at the Vogue shop and he's busted out the catalogues and is showing me different grills. Theyve got the E&G "v-grill" knock-off as I call em, with the cheezy black plastic behind the cadillac crest. I acknowlege that the v-grill is one option I've been looking at, but I'd want a real v-grill because I didnt like the cheap black plastic piece on the E&G. He tells me "oh yeah, our parts guy can get you one of those" to which I respond, "yeah, for over $300, but theres a genuine GM v-grill on e-bay for $150 as we speak." He didnt respond. Then as he turns the page I see that the idea I thought was unique, blacking out the mesh part of a v-grill, is actually offered that way through E&G. I said, "hey, thats something I've thought of doing, how much is that grill?" His response, "twelve hundred bucks." I though he was joking and asked again and got the same answer. He then told me that this was a better deal than going through e-bay because an E&G grill comes with a waranty while the e-bay grills do not...yeah, pay 10 times the amount, get a waranty, great deal right there buddy. I decided at that point I had been completely dissapointed by my visit and it was time to leave because it was obvious these guys werent going to get any better. The salesman seemed to be under the impression that I might still buy something from him so he gave me his card. I then asked him to give me a call if they got in the 18" sport appearance package for the CTS and went on my way. Before heading home I tried calling the other local caddy dealer where the slimy-sounding salesman didnt listen to anything I said the first time and told me to "come on by because he was sure he had something I'd be interested in because he had 20 or 30 CTS's on the lot. I explained why I was interested in the sport appearance package specifically and his response was, "oh, you should just call the parts dept then" and he hung up on me.
I cant figure out why after my very first experience with the caddy dealer was so positive (rear bezzel replaced under waranty, free rental for two days no questions asked), these guys have turned out to be such idiots every single time I've been back since. Well, sorry about the rant :rant2: , and if anyone knows of a dealer within I'd say about 45 minutes of Indianapolis that staffs actually intelligent human beings, or at least ones capable of faking it, let me know. I've frightened myself twice in the past two weeks as I realized I've recieved much better service from much smarter techs and salesmen at a FORD dealership than I'm getting right now through Cadillac.
BTW - the two dealerships involved here were Lockhart Cadillac (thats my "regular" dealer), and Tutwiler Cadillac (theyre the ones I just called but didnt visit today) just in case any locals have had experience with these guys or were thinking of going to one of them.
New paragraph for a new experience. So...where was I...ok, so I back out of the service bay, park my car, and stroll into the showroom looking for the guy I'd just talked to over the phone. He spots me and says step this way and I'll show you the DTS. I say "whoa, DTS? I wanted to see a CTS." Hes like "oh, that makes more sense. I was wondering why you wanted to see a DTS grill with 18" wheels since its the same as the regular one". I just kind of shook my head and explained my situation. (Looking for the CTS 18" appearance package as a possibility to mod my own car, and I've given up on asking about the strut brace, even after showing them a picture these guys had no idea what I was talking about last time I asked). Anyways, he goes on to tell me they had one in but they delivered it to a customer a couple of days earlier (damn, thats the second time I've been to the lot less than 48 hrs behind this car). He then goes on to tell me that the grill on the 18" appearance package is exactly like the v-grill and since they have the "vogue" shop, they can get one for me. I carefully explain using very small words that no, the grills are not exactly the same, but they are similar in that they both have mesh... He's responds, "oh yeah, thats what I meant." But yeah, so at this point were over at the Vogue shop and he's busted out the catalogues and is showing me different grills. Theyve got the E&G "v-grill" knock-off as I call em, with the cheezy black plastic behind the cadillac crest. I acknowlege that the v-grill is one option I've been looking at, but I'd want a real v-grill because I didnt like the cheap black plastic piece on the E&G. He tells me "oh yeah, our parts guy can get you one of those" to which I respond, "yeah, for over $300, but theres a genuine GM v-grill on e-bay for $150 as we speak." He didnt respond. Then as he turns the page I see that the idea I thought was unique, blacking out the mesh part of a v-grill, is actually offered that way through E&G. I said, "hey, thats something I've thought of doing, how much is that grill?" His response, "twelve hundred bucks." I though he was joking and asked again and got the same answer. He then told me that this was a better deal than going through e-bay because an E&G grill comes with a waranty while the e-bay grills do not...yeah, pay 10 times the amount, get a waranty, great deal right there buddy. I decided at that point I had been completely dissapointed by my visit and it was time to leave because it was obvious these guys werent going to get any better. The salesman seemed to be under the impression that I might still buy something from him so he gave me his card. I then asked him to give me a call if they got in the 18" sport appearance package for the CTS and went on my way. Before heading home I tried calling the other local caddy dealer where the slimy-sounding salesman didnt listen to anything I said the first time and told me to "come on by because he was sure he had something I'd be interested in because he had 20 or 30 CTS's on the lot. I explained why I was interested in the sport appearance package specifically and his response was, "oh, you should just call the parts dept then" and he hung up on me.
I cant figure out why after my very first experience with the caddy dealer was so positive (rear bezzel replaced under waranty, free rental for two days no questions asked), these guys have turned out to be such idiots every single time I've been back since. Well, sorry about the rant :rant2: , and if anyone knows of a dealer within I'd say about 45 minutes of Indianapolis that staffs actually intelligent human beings, or at least ones capable of faking it, let me know. I've frightened myself twice in the past two weeks as I realized I've recieved much better service from much smarter techs and salesmen at a FORD dealership than I'm getting right now through Cadillac.
BTW - the two dealerships involved here were Lockhart Cadillac (thats my "regular" dealer), and Tutwiler Cadillac (theyre the ones I just called but didnt visit today) just in case any locals have had experience with these guys or were thinking of going to one of them.
