Oil Change Blues
A month ago, I went to Saturn to get an oil change, and I had a horrible experience while there. I was stuck at the dealership’s service department for two hours while waiting for an oil change. I also had my tires rotated and balanced, but that shouldn’t have padded the time that I had to wait for too long. Saturn always sends me a survey that I can fill out and mail back to them after I have service done. I usually give them glowing reviews because I’ve always had good experiences there.
This time is different. Sitting on my thumbs for two hours waiting for an oil change is ridiculous.The thing that really got me steamed was that my car sat for an entire hour before they started working on it. I had an appointment for the work, and I was 10 minutes early. If I had just shown up without a call beforehand, I wouldn’t have minded the wait. However, I had an appointment, which tells me that they should have a mechanic (or technician as they call them) sitting there waiting to do the work on my car.
I just got the survey form from Saturn over the weekend, and I just finished filling it out. I gave them the worst review that I could possibly give, and I included a letter with the survey. I hope they get the point that they really screwed things up this time around. Here is the letter that I included with the survey:
I made an appointment to take in my 2004 Saturn Ion Red Line in for an oil change. I showed up 10 minutes early for the appointment, and during the inspection, it was suggested that I rotate and balance the tires since it had been more than 12,000 miles since it was done. I agreed to the rotate and balance of tires in addition to the oil change.
I was told that they would start working on my car right away, so I took a seat in the waiting area. I was conveniently sitting where I could see my parked car. I would occasionally look up from my book to see if my car had been moved. ONE HOUR PASSED before anyone came near my car.
If I had just shown up without an appointment, I would have expected an hour wait. However, I did have an appointment, and I expected the work to start on my car immediately. If Saturn is unable to keep their end of the appointment, then they should abandon their entire appointment methodology, and simply take care of people as they show up.
I had to take the initiative to ask why my car had now been sitting there for an hour. I was told that the technician was backed up on oil changes, and that he would get to my car next. This was totally unacceptable. By the time my patience had worn thin, my car was on the lift, and was being worked on. If the tires had still been on the car, I would have asked for my keys back, so that I could go to Jiffy Lube to get the oil change done.
After waiting for an hour before the work was started, I had to sit and wait another hour for the work to be done. I did not get an engine flush during this trip. It took the technician an entire hour to change my oil, and balance and rotate my tires. This is totally unacceptable.
To make matter worse, I had to return a few days later because one of the front tires was not balanced properly. I had to sit and wait another hour (even though I had made another appointment) for a single tire to be balanced.
Overall, three hours of my life were wasted because of your service department’s incompetence with handling appointments, scheduling enough technicians to do the work, and keeping me informed with an accurate time estimate on how long a process will take. If I had been told up-front that the oil change would have taken two hours to complete, I would have arranged for a ride back home where I could have done some work around the house. However, no one even made an effort to approach me to tell me of the extended wait times. I had to track someone down and ask them. If your staff is aware of problems, they should immediately inform the customer of the problem.
In the past, I have been greatly pleased by the service department’s track record. When I bought my new car in 2004, it came down to the Saturn that I purchased, and a Volkswagen. The deciding factor between the two cars was the reputation of Heuberger Volkswagen’s service department (which is poor), and my past experiences with Saturn (which is good.)
I am willing to give Saturn a chance to redeem themselves. However, if this kind of treatment continues, I will gladly trade my Saturn in for a different model of car, so that I can move to a different service department.
Please ensure that the manager of the service department at the Saturn of Chapel Hills in Colorado Springs, CO receives a copy of this letter.
