General motors allowing frinchisees to do over clients

<p>I wish to lay an official complaint against General Motors South Africa.</p> <p> </p> <p>The story so far...</p> <p> </p> <p>I am a very particular person when it comes to the running state of my vehicle. I always make sure by hook or by ***** that my vehicle is serviced on time and in the correct manner. I always use service representatives as specified by the rules laid out by the manufacturer on the times that is specified by the same manufacturer.</p> <p>So, it is holiday season and I want to take a trip to Cape Town from where I stay and as it happens by the time I reach Cape Town I need to get my vehicle serviced to prevent the warrantee from being void.</p> <p>As part of the process to manage my budget, I get a quote from the dealer where I normally have my vehicle serviced. The quotation came to around R2642. However, due to the fact that I will be about R3000 KM way from my normal dealer I booked my vehicle in at the local dealership in the area where I will be staying in Cape Town. To my amazement the service turns out to be quite a bit more at about R3200 with a R263 difference in price for the SAME air filter, among other things.</p> <p> </p> <p>So, not feeling this is correct nor acceptable I contacted the GM franchise head office enquiring about this difference in pricing. To this I got the reply that they, GM South Africa, cannot get involved. This made me angry as my logic then kicked in with speed saying that surely the franchise office is there to protect the customers from being abused by the franchisees? The conversation then continues and I get bluntly advised that as they cannot get involved I am free to “choose another dealer to service my car” or speak to the franchisees myself. At this point all my senses screamed, because in effect they are telling me that they have received my money for the vehicle I have bought and that they are now allowing me to be done in by the dealer in question and that it is not their problem if the dealer wishes to do that even if I managed to find out that I, as customer, am being done in price wise for services rendered.</p> <p>Voice recordings to this effect can be provided on request. Reference numbers can be provided and will have to be taken from the voice recording.</p> <p> </p> <p>Surely this cannot be right? Surely we, as customers that must turn pennies over to make ends meet, should be protected by this type of blatant abuse from Franchisees? I understand that everybody needs to make a living and would have been fine if the price was a bit this way or that, but I cannot accept the fact that for the same parts received from the same warehouses can possibly be sold at such a difference and then get told that I must just live with it by the franchise owner.</p> <p> </p> <p>So the story continues.....</p> <p> </p> <p>I then contacted a good couple of dealers to get quotes for the same service on my vehicle. One of them got hold of the quotes in question and raised some concerns about the overpriced service.</p> <p>According to the dealer (once again, voice recordings are available), the franchisor lays down the rules as to the time that can be charged for a service. In the case of my vehicle it was 1.7 hours chargeable labour. The laour I was charged for the same service was 2 hours. Not to mention being double charged for workshop consumeables as per the explanation given to me by the helpful dealer.</p> <p> </p> <p>Once again I ask the question. Why is General Motors distancing themselves from these type of practices?</p>