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Review 2/26/2008
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I, Latisha and Steven purchased a new 2007 Pontiac G5 from the Pitre Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership in Albuquerque on August 3, 2006. The following is a summary of the issues I have to contend with since purchasing this vehicle.
On August 11, eight days after the purchase, I was driving from Albuquerque to Roswell, New Mexico. Approximately 60 miles outside of Roswell, the check engine light came on. The engine power decreased drastically, I was only able to maintain a top speed of 35 mph. I called Pontiac Roadside Assistance to take care of the issue. About an hour later, a tow truck was dispatched from Moriarty, which is about 161 miles outside of Roswell. The tow company was Tavenner’s Tow Company.
The roadside assistance representative informed me that they could only tow the vehicle to Santa Fe, because that was the closest Pontiac-GMC dealership, otherwise I would have to pay the difference. The representative also told me that I would have to rent a car and be reimbursed for it. Thankfully, the tow person was able to take me to Albuquerque. I chose to drop the vehicle off at the Quality Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership, located at 7901 Lomas Blvd NE in Albuquerque.
The service department at the dealership was closed for the weekend. I placed the keys in the night box describing the problem with the vehicle. On Saturday the 12th, Steven and I paid a visit to Pitre, requesting a vehicle be issued for the mean time while the new vehicle was being repaired. The new car manager, Roberto, loaned us a Pontiac Sunfire to use until the part came in.
I was informed at 8 a.m. on Monday, August 14th, that the vehicles computer was defective and had caused the car to stall out. They said they had ordered the part and that it would arrive in about three days. On Tuesday, August 15, I called to check on the vehicle. I was informed by a service member from Quality that the order was cancelled, and a reorder was placed. I was told I would have to wait another three days.
At the end of the three-day waiting period, I called to see if the part was in yet, since I had not heard from the service department. The service manager told me that the part would not arrive until October 9th. I immediately called Mr. Porras, and he told me to contact the service manager at Quality to ask them to release the car to Pitre. Two days later, the vehicle was towed to Pitre. The service department took it in and ran their diagnosis. They determined that it was the computer and they tried to see if they could have the part rushed. A GM representative, Chris Rock, came in to Pitre to see if he could get the part in any sooner. They informed us that if they couldn’t, they would try buying back the car.
On August 18th, I received an overdraft charge on my checking account. The overdraft was due to a car payment being drafted from the finance company of my trade-in vehicle. The finance department at Pitre had failed to pay off my car loan, the account became past due so my checking account was charged to make it current. I was unable to resolve the issues with my bank. I contacted Mr. Porras at Pitre and informed him what had happened. He asked me to meet him at the dealership, so I took two hours off of work in order to meet him and get reimbursed for the charge. While waiting for Mr. Porras, an associate from the finance department and a salesman by the name of Nash told me that I owed them an additional $50 more on the payoff amount. I know that the payoff quote was incorrect so I called my finance company and a conference call was placed with all three of us in a room. The finance company representative explained that the payoff quote that I was given at the time of the transaction was correct, but because of the untimely manner of issuing the check to the finance company the payoff quote had increased.
On August 30th, nineteen days after the new vehicle had malfunctioned, Mr. Porras informed me that I needed to return the loaner vehicle for inventory reasons. On Saturday, September 2nd, Steven rented a vehicle from Enterprise Rentals, and the Sunfire was returned to Pitre. Pitre Covered $218.80 of the rental charges and Steven paid the difference of $70.73.
On Wednesday, September 6th, I picked up the supposedly repaired G5. When I was getting in the car I noticed the door had scratches and it looked like it had been struck by another car door. There was white paint on the driver side door. As I drove around that day I also noticed that the engine idled higher than normal, like the choke was sticking. When the car was in neutral, the tachometer stayed at 3,000+ RPMs. It concerned me, so I called the service department and spoke to Randy Powers. He told me to drive it till Friday and if it was still acting up to bring it by. I called Mr. Porras, and he told me not to wait till Friday because that was their busiest day and they wouldn’t get to it. He said it would be best to bring it by in the morning. The following morning I drove up to Pitre and explained the problem to another service associate named Larry Lodge. We took it for a test drive and he witnessed the high RPM’s and told me to drive it for another 1,000 miles, that the computer would calibrate itself. Later that same evening, Steven contacted Mr. Porras and was told that they had not touched the car, but it would be worked on the next day.
I was driven to the dealership on Friday, September 8th, to pick up the car. When I went to put it in first gear it was very difficult and made a horrible noise. I had to force it into gear and I drove it around to the other side of the dealership and called Mr. Porras right away. As I was speaking with him on the phone I tried shifting it into the different gears. A friend that was with me could hear the grinding and popping from where she was sitting outside the vehicle. Mr. Porras advised me to pull it back in the bay and let the service people know what it was doing. Mr. Powers came up to my car and asked how he could help. I showed him how difficult it was to shift it into gear. You could hear the grinding echo throughout the bay. Mr. Powers told me, “Oh, it just needs to be broken in.” I told him that shifting gears wasn’t this difficult when I purchased the vehicle. It had never made those noises before I brought it in for repair. He told me, “Well, we didn’t touch the gears, you just need to drive it around for a while.” It was very difficult to shift it into reverse to back out of the bay. It made such an awful noise that Mr. Powers even looked back over his shoulder! Steven called me and said he just spoke to Mr. Porras and explained we were not satisfied with the service and had had enough. We no longer wanted the car. Mr. Porras said that he understood and if we came back in on Saturday he would get us into another car. He said all that we had to do was simply come in and talk to “Charles”, and we would leave with a new car that same day.
Saturday, August 9th, Steven and I went to Pitre and spoke with Charles. He set us up with a car salesman named Andre Lewis. He took us outside and showed us the only G5 on the lot. This car was different from the one I had originally purchased and had expensive upgrades that I was not interested in. He then brought out a used 2006 Pontiac G6, also fully loaded. We took it for a test drive and ran the numbers. Andre came back and said my payments would be $110 more a month on the G6 than what I originally agreed to. I explained I wanted to stay around the same payments that I had agreed to ($435 and that included an extended warranty). He said the only way they could do that is if I stayed in the same kind of car or bought a used Chevy Cobalt. I told him I didn’t think that that was reasonable to go from a brand new 2007 to a used car I didn’t even like. He said he would pull inventory on other locations for a G5. Mr. Lewis came back saying he had several at a Farmington location, but they could not do dealer trades on the weekends. I planned on going back in on Monday the 11th to get the car and sign all the contracts again. Mr. Lewis stated he would take care of all the paperwork on Monday and have the vehicle at the dealership that evening. As we were getting ready to leave, Mr. Lewis asked Steven to sign a blank application, saying he knew Steven wouldn’t be here on Monday and it would help speed up the process. A few days later I came across information on Mr. Lewis committing identity theft at the Casa Dealership here in Albuquerque, and purchasing a vehicle for himself under a customer’s name. This is yet another concern we now have to contend with during this whole fiasco.
Monday, August 11th, Steven contacted the dealership to see when the car would arrive in Albuquerque. Steven was then informed that the payments on the new car, with the same exact options as the broken car, would be higher. The payments would be $460 a month. Steven was told that the payment increased because the rebate didn’t apply to the new transaction. What it all boils down to is we have three choices now. We could keep the broken car and deal with it. We could buy the used four-door Chevy Cobalt (that’s looks rough) or our last option would be to pay out more a month on the same model car. These choices are unacceptable. I did not damage the vehicle myself. It was a defective car from the start!
September 12, at approximately 3:20 p.m., I called the owner of the Pitre Dealership, Bob Pitre, just to see if he was aware of the issues I’ve been having with my car and the service (or lack thereof) I have been receiving. He stated he was aware and that he would have to try and get a hold of the GM Representative, Chris Rock, and speak to him tomorrow. Mr. Pitre took my name and number in order to contact me tomorrow. A short time later, I received a call from Mr. Powers from the Pitre Service Department. He stated the car was ready for pickup. Mr. Powers told me they fixed the gears and the RPM’s and test-drove it yesterday. He also stated that Mr. Rock came by earlier this afternoon and test-drove it himself. I asked if I could pick it up to test-drive it myself before signing the work order. He said that was fine. After I test-drove the Pontiac, it still did not shift smoothly and the engine was still racing.
Steven and I made several calls to the Pontiac GMC customer service care hot line. They have all of our complaints from the start. We tried to make sure everything was documented by an outside source. The service request number is 1-431027159. The representative’s name was Jessica and her extension is 20675. Steven and I came to the conclusion that we no longer want the 2007 Pontiac G5 or any other vehicle that is carried by the Pitre dealership. We plan to go somewhere else to purchase a new vehicle as soon as they buy back the vehicle from the bank.
In conclusion, the lack of professional service and incompetent sales and service associates have left Steven and I very disappointed. We have been inconvenienced at every turn throughout our dealing with Pitre Motors. I was not only forced to miss time from my job, but was charged by my bank for their incompetent financial department. I have been without a vehicle for about four weeks and have been forced to inconvenience my coworkers by asking them for rides to and from work and picking up my child from school. The total amount of money that this has cost Steven and I is $150.00.
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