Hummer of Columbus

[Ground hawg]

Several months ago I took my H1 into this dealer for tire balanc and alignment. last week I had a blow out on the rear pasnger tire so i change it. while doing thid I find that the rear ctis valves now do not operate and that the radial armes on both sides are chewed up. all this damage WAS caused by the DEALER. Today I take my H1 down there to get the rear tires balanced and tell them that they need to fix what they damaged. there now refuzing to. and also saying that they dont wish to balance my tires becouse i'll acuse them of screwing something else up.


GREAT SERVICE GUYS KEEP IT UP.

Well the sarger continues, I finaly get the service mngr to get them to fix the CTIS quick disconects (not replace, FIX) if they can do this then fine. As for the radial armes they say there fine. it seams it must be normal to squash thenm by 3-4 mm and put big gouges in them. (bit of black paint and youd never know?????????)
Well I leave work early cos the service cntr closes at 5pmbut sails is open till 8pm. so I tell them to leave the Keys at front desk. I get there in plenty of time, no keys???. oh but the service managers still there. Well it seams that they decided that they didnt have time to balance the tires. BUT HE TELLS ME THEY DID FIX THE VALVES. LIAR they still dont work anything like they should. So I have to lose 2 hrs O/T again tomorow to take the H1 back down to get the work done. THESE GUYS ARE IMPRESSING ME MORE EVERY MINUTE

[Ground hawg]

Well this morning I drive back to the dealer for them to do what they said they were going to do yesterday. when I arrived I explained to the service Manager that I had talked to several hummer Experts on this site and others and that the radial arm damage was NOT acceptable and was detrimental to the life and performance of the part. AT WHICH POINT THEY KICKED ME OUT OF THE DEALERSHIP. So now it looks like the only way to get any satisfaction is to get an Atourny involved.

[NewHummerGuy]

Damn...any updates??

[Ground hawg]

contacted this gentleman at AMGenneral, Dan.Collins@amgeneral.com and also the local BBB for Columbus. Dan is sending all the info to the local Hummer maneger for the area. The BBB sent a letter to Hummer of Columbus regarding my comlaint, Hell with typing it all out. i'll copy paste it.
there reply is the second paragraph, my reply to there statement is at the top

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Activity

Date
Activity
Description

05/29/2007 Received Consumer Rebuttal (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
CTIS VALVES were NOT fixed and are in same state they left them in, Torque spec I asked for was a 2 piece military wheel that I used as a spare. I was not abusive. as I was not in a position to be so as I am a professional contract designer at Honda R&D. and unfortunately they will not allow me to vent my full wrath at such fools. Yes I can be abrupt but never abusive. as for the damage sustained to my vehicle I will either allow a trained mechanic of your choice or submit photographic evidence. which ever you deem necessary. I will also get written affidavits from 2 world renowned Hummer experts to testify that the damage sustained is excessive.
as to being a qualified tech, no im not. but even so I think im better qualified than there H1 tech who's main qualification seams to be "I worked in California".
Having over 15 years designing vehicles for Mercedes, Landrover, Chrysler, GM, BMW, Isuzu, Toyota and now Honda I think I have a fair understanding of how they work.
My automotive credentials should not be critiqued by someone who explains to the customer that. They do not apply heat because it will 1) distort the reading of the machine, 2) alter the molecular structure of the metal.

Ant 1st year tech knows the correct procedure for this, just because my H1 is based on the military hmv does not mean it gets fixed with brute force and ignorance 05/28/2007 OTTO Forward Business response to Consumer CLT.cf.rtf 05/24/2007 Receive Business Response Contact Name and Title: Brad Johnson General Mgr.
Contact Phone: 614-717-9494
Contact Email: brad@hummer of columbus.com
05/24/07

Mr. Grady brought his H1 in January for us to align the rear wheels. To align the rear so that it tracks correctly we must turn the tie rod ends(radious arms) so that we can set the rear wheels to spec.Often the radious arms are rusty and corroded.It is customary to turn the radious arms with a pipe wrench and a extenion as the are very large and often hard to turn.This sometimes put small scratches or grooves in the metal which does not compromise the metals integrity.Another way is to heat the radious arms with a torch which can damage the radious arms due to the size of the arm.We align and work on many H1 vehicles this is the first time a customer has complained. This customer thinks he is a qualified tech and has a opion different from ours. Our techs are factory trained and the tech who worked on his vehicle has 10 years of H1 experience.Bear in mind that this tie rod end is ment to go off roading as the H1 was built for.Many times the under carriage of these vehicles have scratches and dents and groves cut in the frame radious arms and under carriage.As for the CTIS vales these were damaged by the customer when he removed them to replace the tires himself.Once again if you are not familiar with these valves and how they are to be removed the can be damaged very easily. The customer like to do his own work and bring the problems to us.He even called our service dept to get the tork specs for the hubs as he was installing the wheels after he had replace the tires. Customer was aked to leave the dealer ship after he was abusive in the service drive and on the phone to me. If we would have damaged the vehicle we would have repaired at our expence.At this point is see no wrong doing on our part and do not wish to work on this customer's vehicle again.If he is as qualified as he states to be a tech he should have no reason to bring his vehicle to our Hummer store. I regret our difference in opions but this is a situation were the customer feels he is more qualified than us and i dont feel that i would be able to please him.It is not our normal business practice to ask customers to leave and not return but in this case i feel it is best for both parties.Just to note we fixed his CTIS vales at no charge to him.



I think the managers parting comments to me summ it up best " IDONT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOU< YOUR TRUCK ORE YOUR BUISENESS. GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SERVICE BAY"
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If this person had paid as much attention to my vehicle as he does (useing hummer of columbuses facilaties) to working on his own boat i dont think we would be in this situation now

[Agriv8r]

sorry to hear your treatment...keep pressing and the right thing will happen..

[Mr. I - Man]

Originally Posted by Ground hawg

I think the managers parting comments to me summ it up best " IDONT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOU< YOUR TRUCK ORE YOUR BUISENESS. GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SERVICE BAY"
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If this person had paid as much attention to my vehicle as he does (useing hummer of columbuses facilaties) to working on his own boat i dont think we would be in this situation now

I think if a service manager talked to me like that. He would definately give a damn about how he would remove my foot from his A$$ ( a.k.a his love service bay)

[Ground hawg]

all I have asked them to do is replace the damaged radial arms cost is aprox $120 for the two, and 2 ctis disconnects about $60 for the 2, Where is the $1100 worth of damage. clearely this compant is making alot of money on parts mark up also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From: Brad Johnson [mailto:brad@hummerofcolumbus.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 1:32 PM
To: mlseymour@columbus-ohbbb.org
Subject: Ground hawg

Dear Mary Lou Seymour


Hummer of Columbus will not pay for damages we did not create. The air valves were damaged by the customer and not our shop. We aligned the rear of the vehicle in January if these valves were damaged by us it would not have taken 4 months to figure it out. In the meantime the customer has performed several several repairs to the vehicle which require removal of the valves. The customer admitted to me that he has replaced all four tires himself. If we had done all the repairs to the vehicle in the past and the customer had not performed repairs I could see his argument. But when people other than my shop have performed services it is hard to believe we created the problem with the valves. We have only worked on the vehicle one time in January 2007.Where has this vehicle been the rest of its life. Somebody recently the engine and various other repairs. As for the radius arms, we had to move them to adjust the rear alignment. The scratches in the metal are cosmetic and it is common to turn the radius arms with a big pipe wrench to align the rear wheels. To put things in perspective the undercarriage of this vehicle has many scratches to the frame from offroading according to Mr. Hawg's train of thought I guess the frame should be replaced? The radius arms are in good working order and are performing to American General Specs. The customer is not complaining of a rear align tracking problem. To make this simple the radius arms perform a very simple function they hold the rear wheels in align along with the upper and lower control arms as well as the coil springs. These items are subject to mud, water, rust, rocks, dirt, brush, and anything else this vehicle might encounter on or off the road. This customer is asking for aprox. $1100.00 in repairs that he isn't entitled to. Once again I will say if I thought for a moment that we damaged this vehicle or devalued or made it unsafe to drive I would not hesitate to make the repairs at our expence.If I was Mr. Hawg's I would be more concerned about the engine that is leaking oil from several places and could cause him problem down the road more that a few scratches in a piece of metal that was built to take abuse from off roading.
Hummer of Columbus will not pay for valves and tie rod ends that are not damaged. The customer damaged his own air valves and the cosmetic scratches on the tie rod ends do not impair their function. Ask Mr. Hawg's if he wants the frame replaced because of off roading scratches. This is getting a little ridiculous at this point.

Brad Johnson
General Mgr.
Hummer Of Columbus

[Ground hawg]

Well the story gets stranger.

This weekend I took my H1 to Bob Ross in Centerville, Ohio. Met with Randy Rupert, Service consultant, real nice guy, went over the Hummer with him and made sure he new what I wanted, and what I expected from them. He then introduced me to the tech (Nick Elkins) that would be working on my vehicle. Explained everything to him, and he in turn Explained every thing that he would be doing. The Main reason for this Visit was to Balance the rear tires and replace the radius arms. well I sat down in there service lounge had a coffee, went out side and had a smoke, back in for another coffee(this went on for some time). Finlay Nick comes out to see me. "Phil, we seem to be having a problem". OK whats up??
"Well we balanced all the tires for you, the fronts were slightly out as well. but we cant move the radius arms on the rear." so I ask him to add some heat. "I have, I still can't get them to move". I tell him that's strange, as Columbus Hummer managed to move them 4 months ago.(and chew them all up). "don't think so" Nick tells me. "If they had adjusted them 4 months ago I'd be able to move them now. and your rear end wouldn't be out by 1/4 inch."

So that would explain why the marks are only on the top and bottom of the arm and not all around, and why the arm is distorted. If the arm doesn't turn you only have the two contact points.

OK FOLKS WHAT DO I DO NOW???
HOW WOULD YOU PROCEED WITH THIS??
HELP ME!!!!!

[pteam]

Contact the Hummer Area rep, most of the time they will step in for a customer right or wrong just to keep you as a customer. Tell them your looking at buying several hummers for the rest of your life from GM.