Took my car to the dealer...
 

the radio's Bluetooth and voice recognition went out so they ordered me a new one and I went in to get it replaced yesterday.
so I'm chilling in the waiting area when I hear them crank up the car(Greddy Evo catback thank you) and I see the guy pull it out of the garage then drive off the lot...... now correct me if I'm wrong but after a factory radio install a test drive is not necessary.
so after several minutes I see him return to the lot, park the car, get out and go inspect the left rear wheel/tire. so I'm thinking, "I wonder if he Initial D'd my shit into a curb." and "I wonder if I went out and beat him to death with this complementary juice box will I be able to plea temporary insanity?". so instead of going up front and losing my mind I stay seated and try to calm down. deep breaths and trying to relax. so the service writer comes up to me so we can check out. I sign the papers and before I hand them back I say, "let me ask you something(in typical Walking Dead Shane fashion). is it normal or necessary to test drive a car after replacing a radio?". he looked at me like I asked him to divide 42.3 by tree and said, "No. why do you ask?". I explained that I saw the tech take my car off the lot and stay gone for several minutes and I wanted some answers. So he gets the manager of the dealership and goes back to the shop. they come back and he said, "the tech said he was checking the GPS.". I just looked at him with haughty derision and said, "We both know that's bullshit.". he agrees and said that the tech was being written up and disciplined. then after a bunch of apologizing on their part I left.
Frankly I'm thoroughly impressed with my ability to remain calm and not go outside and wait by the entrance for the little shit to get back from what was likely beating the shit out of my car and chewing thousands of miles off my tires. but I'm feeling unsatisfied and lacking something. I still have free maintance for about another year so it's not like they can give me free oil changes or something. should I go back and ask for anything or something. it's almost like I need to actually get it out by screaming and yelling at someone. I mean could you imagine if that prick had wrecked or damaged my car?

on the bright side I had a couple of random people come up to me and compliment my wheels. :p

Dealership techs are notorious for this. I remember a story from a few years back where a BMW tech took a customer's M3 (or some other ///M) out for a drive and wrecked it; he blamed the tires for not having any tread despite it being a hot day in Miami.

Anyways, what's done is done, the tech will probably get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. If there is no damage then I would just move on. If you take it back a second time and they decide to do something similar then I would be pretty pissed.

yeah. it's just that the dealer is pretty small and the shop is right by the entrance/exit to the shop with my exhaust there's no way in hell you could even crank it without everyone else knowing. not sure if it's balls or stupidity that led him to that course of action. but I will admit it's kinda flattering. I mean no one has ever wanted to joyride my other cars except my VR4 but no way I was taking that to anyone anyways. I handled all that myself.

Unless you have proof he hooned it, you don't really have much ground to stand on, despite your overactive imagination. From your story, all you saw was him leave, come back a couple minute later, and look at the back of the car. The rest is just guesswork based on a worst-case scenario. You should be happy that the dealership was cool with your allegations.

Buy a car cam, make sure its obvious where its mounted (or leave a note saying that the car is equipped with one), and that kind of problem will go away.

yeah, I don't have any "Proof" other than why in the hell would you need to drive it? oh yeah you don't have a reason.

p.s. they were supposed to wash the car but they didn't. all for the better I guess as they probably would have scratched it or left swirl marks on it.

Same thing happened with my buddys mustang
Was getting it painted, came early to check on it and the guys were doing burnouts in the parking lot with it haha
one was fired on the spot

They actually did you a favor by not washing it.

I would first warn service adviser not to test drive and how much you treated with this car. if he's not dumb, he understands "ok. i wont touch your super-car" mode. yeah get dash-cam or something if you really it's bothering you.

If i was in your position, i would go out and yell. why? because it's my F* car!

see my problem is once I start yelling it pours out like a flood. the more I yell the more I get mad, cops get called and it becomes a big fiasco. I'm not a small guy so when I get pissed people get pretty nervous. it's best for me to try and remain calm.

ok. with loud voice "WHAT IS HE DOING?" and talk to manager?

anyway, i feel you exactly how it was.

on a side note I'm afraid to go back to that dealer. I don't want the guy trying to get back at me by doing something to the car.

I'm working on my self control. now if I can just be this good with strippers I'll be in business.

He cant! trust me. he'll be in more trouble if he did that.
talk and show how car was looked like before taking in with manager.

i usually work on my car myself.
i never took all my cars to dealer for service even they offer me free oil change. lol

A high school buddy of mine had that happen back in 1971 with a brand new Porsche at a radio shop and it took a year and a half to fix the damage--the insurance company refused to total the car--it was the model with the v-8 engine up front. An upgraded stereo and a demolished car.

Just so you know, this is their idea of being "written up and disciplined.

http://i60.tinypic.com/2rbyrur.jpg

probably.

I just remembered there is a Toyota dealer across the street from them. I used to work there and know the manager. I'll see if I can take it there instead from now on.

Here you go...just think about this right here and I bet you'll calm down very quickly ;)

http://tattoos-3d.com/wp-content/upl...-tattoos-1.jpg

quite the opposite but I appreciate the sentiment. :lol:

+1^
Let me say I am on your side OP and dude may have been joyriding. Then again maybe he actually was checking the navigation and wanted to verify it was tracking while moving? Damn good excuse to hop in a badass BRZ anyway. Your car is a Limited which if you have stock deck still in your car it also has GPS. Personally I hate having to deal with dealers with the exception of one Subaru dealer back east and that's because I was friends with the finance manager. Even then I barely would let their tech's near any of my WRX's bought there or not. Not all tech's are out there ripping up and down the street after a oil change. 99% of my dealership experiences have been bad and like you I cringe any time a tech gets near my car. It's not the tech's fault, I am just that paranoid. I commend you for running out there and not kickin some ass! Which would of created a bigger mess. I would let this one slide, whatever the dealer has to offer in concessions wouldn't be worth the trouble. The dealer's version of discipline will probably be a joke as well.

This is the screen that shows up before you use the GPS for the first time. It only dis this the first time you turn it on. Which he never did because it came on for me.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...psubswy99w.jpg

Well that's just plain stupid on their part.


I took my car in for the very same issue... Bluetooth stopped working.

Like you, I was nervous at the idea of someone else handling my car, so I sat on the curb next to my car while it was in the Service Queue, waiting for the Tech.

Once he showed up, I started chatting it up with him before he went and pulled it into the Service Bay. Told him exactly what I was experiencing, even sat down in the car with him to demonstrate. Also learned that he owned a modded Sti that had been featured on an import magazine.

By the time he drove the car off, I had established friendly rapport with him and also given him a face to associate with the vehicle... I find that that usually works to encourage Techs to treat my car better.

When I heard my car start up again (UEL header, Ark DT-S), the car was only driven as far as the pick-up area, where I was waiting. Tech explained to me that he had installed and tested a new head unit (no test drive needed) and that everything was good to go.

Moral of the story: Watch your car like a hawk, but don't give the impression that you're waiting to catch them slip up. Instead, be nice to them and they will want to be nice back to you. It's easier to "prevent" an incident like this than to try and resolve it after it happens.

Doesn't prove anything. Mine came on several times before I finally realized you have to push the button on screen that says "The message won't be indicated from now onward" to keep it from being indicated from then onward. He probably just didn't push the button.

Ah, true.

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/004..._1_xlarge.jpeg

how do you get past that screen without pressing it? press GPS and it goes straight to that.

If you press "OK," it will clear the screen, but it will come back next time you power up the unit.

If you press the long bar instead so that the little indicator light on the left end lights up, then press "OK," the message doesn't come back.

Mine kept coming back, and every time I would think, "Why the hell is this screen showing, when it said last time it wouldn't be shown again?" I didn't realize that's a button rather than just a message.

And I may be mistaken, but I don't think that's the GPS screen. I believe that's the screen that comes up when you power up the head unit. You should get the startup screen image, then this message, then the audio screen.

The GPS screen is different. It has a warning telling you not to fuck with the GPS while the car is in motion. There's no permanent dismissal button for that.

ish, I don't remember what I pressed. :lol:

still. there is no need to "test the GPS". that's bologna. we didn't have to drive the car to get the GPS to work when I bought the thing brand new off the show room floor. I'm not buying their story.

don't read too much into it. it sounds like you're paranoid over handing the keys over and I agree with you, however, unless you can do everything yourself then it's just a feeling you need to get used to. not everyone is out there trying to do burn outs in your car and race it. if there's no damage or signs of abuse, then everything is fine.

if you're still worried, then just learn how to do everything yourself (can usually find a DIY guide online) and be at peace.

oh I can do everything myself. I just don't want to. I am more than capable of working on a 4cycl NA car. I spent years under my VR4 and I've had enough. that's why I bought a brand new car with a warranty. I don't want to spend my time fixing something that shouldn't be broken in the first place. F that noise. I wasn't paranoid at all. I just saw the guy leave after installing a radio and was like "WTF". dude shouldn't be driving and messing with the GPS anyways. hell the damn thing warns you not to do that when you turn it on.

yeah, I understand where you're coming from. after owning my 86 MR2 for 5 years and chasing down every little quirk that came with a 25+ year old car, I got tired of it as well. I just threw money at it and took it to someone else. but I still do worry about other people abusing my car since I spent my hard earned money, blood, sweat, and tears working on it. just letting them know that you are concerned about your car and actually care about it is enough in my eyes. no need to raise hell at all and I'm glad you didn't. things would just have gotten worse. perhaps the dealership made a note under your name saying not to drive your car unless absolutely necessary now. I wouldn't think too much into it and still take the car there if they do good work and are friendly. however, if they drive it no reason for another time after you made it clear previously, then perhaps some hell needs to be raised and names need to be called out

Actually there is. If the GPS antenna isn't connected properly, the GPS will go into a weird kind of slow motion mode where it can't keep up with your driving. It's really annoying.

I think the guy was using that as an excuse to drive your car, but he wasn't entirely wrong. There's a chance he was just trying to make sure he got it all hooked up correctly and didn't pinch any wires in the harness when he buttoned it all up.

"I gave you my dollar, I OWN YOU"

the antenna? like on the roof? yeah they didn't touch that.
but of course. :bellyroll:

No, the GPS antenna is behind the center console. The rooftop antenna is for the radio.

I think you over reacted. I am not surprise if the the oem repair guide instruct the mechanic to test GPS by test driving. have you see broken GPS? it wont locate you or appears you have super power that you were jumping around the map as you were moving lol.

The GPS was never bad and they didn't drive it when I brought it in with the Bluetooth/voice recognition not working

I thought you said they replaced the head unit. The navigation system is in the head unit. If they put a new head unit in it, the only way they would know the navigation was working properly and that everything had been reconnected is to drive the car and watch the little arrow move around on the map.

If they hadn't tested it, and the navigation didn't work, you'd be on here whining about that instead.

Jesus Christ. It's only a car, and the guy didn't do any damage to it. Just get over it.

Looks to me that you are more upset about this thread than I was (keyword was) about the tech going all Ferris Bueler's day off on my car. Seems that you need to "get over it" and don't bother posting here if you're just going to be a jerk.

This and me. It's not fair that a small person can express himself all he wants but I have to keep it all bottled in because I'm big & scary.

The irony is I don't have a physically violent bone in my body. Zero.


edit: sorry, had to be done.
http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms.../555587017.gif

don't even get me started on that. :mad0260:

What dealer was it, so I can avoid them? I've used Subaru of Gwinnett twice for service, and both times I came back no additional miles were on the car, and service was very quick.

It's ok. Soul brothers.