gm forces goodwill after the fact & cost us $$$

[Michael White]

had a situation where we did a customer pay repair on a vehicle. Cust never asked us for goodwill. cust pays, then cals GM. GM rep says we are to goodwill the repair for a $200 DEDUCT. We charged the cust GM list plus Mitchells flat rate (rear end overhaul)GM wants me to eat about $600 in gross to do the goodwill and says this is the obligation we have signing up for the franchise. this did not make me happy. My rep has been absolutley first class in terms of support and help. But this really irks me. Has anyone elso had this experience

[Doug]

Yeah, been there, done that. Not easy to swallow, I know.

But this kind of situation comes up, what? maybe once a year?

<shrug>

Doug

[robc]

I agree it is wrong after-the-fact for a dealership to lose the difference in warranty versus C.P. gross. While some will tell you to just charge GM the C.P. reimbursement cost my general thoughts are that is just one more burden we carry as dealers, so in a slight essence I agree - it's part of package the dealership signed up for.

My only condolence is I figure had the customer had the foresight to complain from day one, this is all we would have gotten anyway. (I know that makes a big difference since youve already paid the tech on the Mitchells time, SA commission and parts commission, but again it is a burden we all have.)

Sure, you could argue with the rep over the decision and getting your money back, but it is one of those things that Id just let the rep know I am not happy about in hopes to build a few markers I might need to call in sometime.

I wish there was an easy way out of it other than to cut your nose off, but there really isnt.



------------------
** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[bpuckett]

I know there are a lot of if's and when's involved in this, but what if the service manager says I would not have considered this repair for goodwill to begin with? Can GM actually force a Dealer to goodwill a repair? Can GM actually expect to put a service manager in that position considering the service manager becomes the sole responsible party after submitting the claim? I would certainly depend on GM to reimburse a customer directly for a repair if the customer called GM after the fact and the representative on the phone offered goodwill.

[TOMMY CRASE]

we have 5 different franchises and they all differ slightly from each other when it comes to reimbursements. what we try to do is take control from the factory as
soon as they get involved. for example,
offer the customer parts reimbursement only.
9 out of 10 times customers will go for this.
let the factory rep know what the customer
has agreed to and keep the customer away from
him or her. they don't want to deal with them and they will be thankfull. with ford we have to buy a minimum 10% of the reimbursement, thats a whole lot less than 600.00 if you get your reps used to this program, you and your techs will be happier.

[Michael White]

Consumer relations did contact me after the fact and I said no to them because the customer was not a loyal customer, and frankly, I did not want to eat all the money. They called my AVM and he instructed me to reimburse them. He chalked the loss I took as "the cost of owning a GM franchise"
GM consumer relations does have the ability to reiumburse a customer directly. Have had this happen many times. Do not know the parameters. The latest one was a 90K Transport with a broken steering gear pinion bearing. The SIR coil broke and we noticed the MIL light on when we went to install the gear under the recall. C.O. offered the customer to reimburse the customer directly, and did not require me to do it.