a very very hot clutch.
The smell was so strong, I got out the car and opened the hood just to have a look. Then back in the cabin I noticed the fuel level was in the red and the miles left was done to near 0 miles.
The miles left was around 60 mlles when I dropped the car off.
Then I checked the miles in and miles out numbers on the work receipt and spotted a 20 mile difference. The car had apparently been driven 20 miles when in for a simple fluid change and with no drivability complaint.
Furious about how my car had been treated I went in and confronted -- in a calm manner -- the service writer. Long story short he blew me off, or tried to, fed me various lies, sent me to see other people in the dealership who played no role in customer service, trying to just get me to go away.
It did come out the SW made a transcription error and the actual distance the was driven was just 2 miles.
Seething with anger the treatment my car had received and then how I was treated after I reported this treatment I remembered I had a CarChip in the OBD2 port and went home and downloaded the data and from studying the telemetry I managed to work out the route the tech took. I followed this to confirm the speed/RPM changes and what have you. At almost every stop sign I came upon two very black and wide and very recent strips of rubber on the pavement.
Long story short faced with a print out of this data and my threatening to take this to the police or someplace else (BAR would have been better maybe) he softened up some. We settled sort of by me getting a full refund of the service which I then took and spent at the Dublin CA Pontiac dealer to have the tranny/diff fluid renewed and the old fluid (just a few days old) inspected for any metal bits. None were found.
The 2nd time at the Dubln Pontiac dealer to have the car serviced after I got the car back I just downloaded the CarChip and saw from the telemetry what had gone on. I suspect I know who at the dealer did this. Some months before I had bought the car I was at a local gas station and spotted a nice black GTO with dealer tags on it getting fueled by some kid in a mechanic's overalls. After he finished he pulled out into the street and proceeded to do a long smokey burnout down the street.
Some time later and ready to buy a new GTO I was at the Dublin CA Pontiac dealer and on a raised platform right in the main lobby of the dealership was this black GTO and I could see it was all tricked out with every factory and dealer installed option under the sun. The MSRP was astronomical, too.
'course as soon as I stepped on the showroom floor the first thing the salesman did was steer me to this car and made a sales pitch. I declined. Had I know then what I learned later though I would have said something like "Gee I'd love to have that car but this is a car I saw a dealer employee abusing not too long ago and now I know where that car came from, no thanks. In fact fearing all new cars on your lot have been abused like this I no longer want to buy a car here, so I'll just go to the next Pontiac dealer over in the next town and buy a new car there."
Shudda. Cudda. Wudda.
Next time. Though I hope to God there is never another next time. Ever.
One reason why I use a Porsche dealer to service my cars. Porsche techs are restrained from driving a customer's car unless it is deemed necessary for diagnostics or confirming a problem has been properly addressed. Also, hotrodding around brings with it another risk. The SM said just one ticket could mean he could no longer drive dealer or customer cars and this would be the end of his employment.
Not too many months ago a shuttle driver had a wreck. Just a block or two from the group of dealers he drives for he hit a light pole and knocked it down. He walked back to the dealership with the news and was fired on the spot. I don't think the dealer GM even asked him how he was.
Given what has gone on before at the GM and Pontiac dealers if I ever catch a Porsche tech hotrodding in any of my cars I'm going straight to the GM and complain. I'll write letter to the BAR and complain. (The mention of the BAR one time to a body shop owner really got a reaction. He acted like I had brought the wrath of God down upon him.) And I'll tell the GM I will not only no longer consider that dealer suitable for servicing my cars and in fact no longer on my list to buy a new/used car.
You know I did the math and since that last incident with the GTO I spent over $110K on a new car and a used car purchase and not one car was a GM brand. Furthermore, I have spent uncounted thousands of dollars in servicing and repairs since this last incident happened back in early 2009, and not one dime have I spent at a GM dealership. Before I bought the GTO I toyed with buying a Corvette and I might have moved to a Corvette after I tired of the GTO, had I tired of the GTO.
Anyhow, I'm going to make it uncomfortably hot for that offending tech, if I can. I'm not going to put up with any abuse of my cars by a tech or any dealer employee I don't care what the brand the dealer sells/services.