Holden Rant

[M3 Cab 0]

A bit long winded but in need of a rant.

So in 2007 I did a deal with the local Holden dealer for a new SV6 commodore and 2 Holden rodeo’s one diesel one petrol. The drama’s started when we didn’t receive any paper work on the rodeo’s and after a 7 month sh*t fight with the dealer and Holden Australia we final got the documents which didn’t have our signatures on them. That right someone at the dealership had signed them for a longer lease than agreed and less mileage.

As if this wasn’t bad enough it took a further few months to iron it out and was only resolved when I instructed the lawyer to return the vehicles and issue proceedings. Since then we have been forced to deal with the most incompetent dealer in the country with cars being sent back regularly to be repaired. That and fighting over loan cars for people when in total id bought 5 cars from this dealer over 12 months.

That gets me to the issues with the SV6. It was clear made after the guys at holden had got themselves pissed up on XXXX. Issues to date

Engine jumped its mounts (complained for a year)

New electric window relays

New Arial

Stereo turning itself off

Stereo only playing through 2 speakers

Drivers window loose – still is

Diff Noises (sent back 3 times)

Gearbox Noisy (most likely due to engine off mounts)

New front suspension – sent back 1 hour after being returned due to excessive noise

Stereo controls fell off steering wheel

Hole appeared in drivers seat

Re keyed (locked me out 3 times)

New battery – died 3 times

Aircon fault

Paint falling off dash

And more. Bare in mind that this car is 4 months short of 3 years old with 58ks on the clock. The reason for the rant? Well having complained and complained it turns out that no one will take responsibility. The dealer believes he isn’t responsible because the lease company owns the car. GMAC (the lease company) said it’s a dealer issue and GM NZ said to contact the dealer or you can make a complaint about the dealer through their customer service line. What the F**K is so hard with fixing what is clearly a sh*t car. So with only a couple of months to go with it im still not prepared to let this go. I believe that the service and product are sooooo bad that someone should be accountable.

Just working through the options but interested in what you guys think. Hell there a few people on here that have even driven the thing (WTF you do to my car andy ha) If ya think im wasting my time let me know.

[Jamez 2147483647]

all i can say is Fair Go, they seem to sort these kind of things out most of the time.

seems weird they treat a loyal customer in such a way, if had someone get 5 cars off me in 12 months I would call to their every whim

good luck

[savant 0]

I lease a couple of Toyota's, have bought Ford and Subaru. To be honest they are all pretty sh*t, but Toyota seems to be better in service and reliability - Sucks having to service every 7500km for diesel though. If Holden customer service is anything like Ford I know where I would be avoiding.

Having said that, went for a drive in a Omega Sportwagon last week for a rep and it doesn't seem too bad? The Toyota is completely gutless and not sold on the Mondeo.

[OSiRiS 0]

That seems unfortunate

We have 4 Holdens in our family which go through their regular service routine at Moyes and we have never ever had a problem.

[M3 Cab 0]

ya had bought something like 10 holdens off moyes and they were good. Only when I got to the bay it went pear shaped.

I drove the sportwagon too it wasn't bad but the thought of another Holden gives me the shits. To be fair both Holden and ford have fallin behind on all fronts. I don't expect much from my work car only that it goes ha.

Edited May 4, 2009 by M3 Cab

[OSiRiS 0]

ya had bought something like 10 holdens off moyes and they were good. Only when I got to the bay it went pear shaped.

Perhaps the problem lies within your local dealer only, as we are very happy with all of our Holdens

[Mattzy 0]

Arson.

[M3 Cab 0]

bahaha tempting that. Ya it is mainly the dealer for sure but the whole network is arse

Edited May 4, 2009 by M3 Cab

[BM WORLD 1283]

my mate has had some issues with there 2-3 year old holden wagon,

radio blasting out at full vol etc with out warning etc and lots of other issues

. they have since sent it back when lease ran out .

now they have brought a bmw 94 525i touring and lease that to the company they work for .

so now the car gets paid for and covers running costs etc

[Yamahoo 6]

I also have an SV6 and a Rodeo ute (turbo diesel) Both are awesome and I'd happily buy again. I guess sometimes you can just get a dud - assembled on a Friday afternoon perhaps.

[elmarco 56]

I also have an SV6 and a Rodeo ute (turbo diesel) Both are awesome and I'd happily buy again. I guess sometimes you can just get a dud - assembled on a Friday afternoon perhaps.

Or 1st thing Saturday morning after Port Adelaide beat Geelong....

Edit: Personally I would be sticking it to the dealer and GMH - it is their job to sort out warranty issues like this (not yours). I have a real low tolerance for passing the buck and poor customer service from companies that know better, and have had your patronage in fairly large quantities.

Maybe send them a bill for your wasted time?...

Edited May 4, 2009 by elmarco

[bellicose 9]

ya had bought something like 10 holdens off moyes and they were good. Only when I got to the bay it went pear shaped.

I know what ya sayin'. A mate of mine bought a brand new Maloo a couple years ago from Karamu and within 4 months the gearbox was shagged, Kerry Stone (owner of Karamu Holden at the time) wanted nothin' to do with it, keepin' in mind it was a $70k ute at the time.

My mate tony actually ended up callin' GMH Aust and within' aweel the car was at Moyes and getting fixed, GMH Aust paid for all expenses doin' the time was off the road ie: motels, food, travel to Auck from Napier and back.

I wonder how Kerry Stone is doin' now, does anyone know if he's still dealer principal for Karamu?

[M3 Cab 0]

Yep still owns it. I refuse to deal with him anymore

[bellicose 9]

Now that is a surprise that he still owns it. I guess new people are movin' to the bay all the time 'cos i know of at least 5 people that won't deal with him anymore so he's gettin' customers from somewhere.

[DRTDVL 0]

dad's got a ford explorer v8 limited with now 3 pages (A4) of faults with it. The dealerships in auckland (north shore and south auckland) have been blatantly rude about it. Booking in the thing with the wrong company name, wrong details for work/service to be done (i.e. in for a product recall (although the truck was outside the chassis numbers effect it still had the problems - i.e. wrong fuild in transfer case (or something like that) leading to part failure was listed as a basic service nothing about the recall work, Dad being called an Idiot because he couldn't enter in the stereo code after the service department failed to enter it and intially reconnect the battery (they didn't give him all the numbers for the code), replacing the front abs sensors only to have the problem be with the abs controller and then demanding payment for the sensors, the list continues... Even the product recall problems are returning, because of the crap job the did at intially fixing them... He consults with CEO's and board of directors and expressed to Ford that he needed a car as he had to take out some clients as the repairs where taking longer than expected (in for the 10th or 11th time for some sort of repair), he had assurances for a falcon would be provided for him, ended up with a fesita, complained enough to get a mondao...

The only decent dealer we have run into was CCS Audi who have been amazing with mom's a4's and its problems.

[M3 Cab 0]

ya it's interesting I know people who take their cars out of town for servicing to avoid dealing with Karamu. I'm still so pissed about it have madeca decission to contact the lawyer in the morning and send them both back. Now happy to spend whatever to get this put right.

[jjs 64]

I feel for you. Holden product is absolute rubbish. I can never work out why people buy them. I always thought it was some kind of twisted patriotic thing as I can think of no other reason why you would buy one when you evaluate the alternatives. If you want reliability, buy a Toyota. If you want performance, buy a Subaru. I once met a guy who traded his VX Commie on a Hyundai Sonata - he couldn't believe what a fantastic car the Hyundai was! Having said that, Holdens are very cheap and other brands cannot beat the deals GMAC offers. Did you pick yours up on the $499 per month operating lease special?

Anyway, I'm pleased you have seen the light and have decided to purchase another brand.

ya it's interesting I know people who take their cars out of town for servicing to avoid dealing with Karamu. I'm still so pissed about it have madeca decission to contact the lawyer in the morning and send them both back. Now happy to spend whatever to get this put right.

Would be interested to know what is wrong with the Rodeo's? How do you plan to get them taken off your hands? Being an asian Holden, I thought these would have been the most reliable!

[M3 Cab 0]

Nope didnt do the cheap $499 deal they are operating leases (no balloon payments just straight 36 payment give back).  To be honest iv always bought Holdens for daily because they were pretty standard corporate issue and i cant stand the falcons. As i said i dont expect much from the daily just reliability. However they have been replaced with a passat and a skoda for basically the same money yet both are far better cars than the holdens.

The plan is cancel payments from tomorrow morning that way they will have to get in touch with me as i am sick of trying to contact them. The Lawyer will take it from there and try and get them to take responsibility for the cars. The biggest issue for Karamu is the forged signature on the lease doc's I picking they would rather settle that than fight it publicly.

[bmpower 3]

I work for Brendan Foot Holden, we also sell Hyundai, Kia and now Suzuki (since Williams & Adams have now departed us...) To be honest, and i talk to our workshop guys regulary, the VE Commodore range is pretty good on the whole. There has been the odd issue here and there but nothing major. And the odd problems have been fixed under warranty and that has been the end of it. It seems, as has been said you may have got a dud - which you'll get in every car make from time to time.

I'm over people saying Toyota is the best etc etc, every car make is reliable now and Toyota is overpriced and under-spec'd. If you really are over the Holden product i would highly recommend the Hyundai product as someone mentioned above. Some people still have hang-ups with the brand which are mis-placed. I sell Hyundai's primarily and have been up to the head office in Aucks a few times - met the MD etc etc. They run their business in an extremely modern way, are very very good to their customers, have a fantastic product and deal with problems swiftly if there are any. You will struggle to find a product with the value for money that these have! I would sooner own a Hyundai over a toyota equivilent.

By the sounds of things you local dealer is letting you down in a huge way - if we treated customers like that we wouldn't be in business. If you want to know more about the Hyundai product or want to deal with a company that knows Holdens PM me. ...no this is not a sales ploy by the way, i am talking openly and honestly about a product i know more than enough about - i can't remember the last time i heard about a new Hyundai having a problem...

My 2c, let the critism of me being a salesman begin! haha.

[Kaz 64]

Wow thats terrible seeing you brought so many cars off them.

Thats why you stick with the BMW's

[E46-RAT 1]

Unfortunately, you can get lemons from any car manufacturer, but Holden seem to have there fair share

I must admit I like the Ve range but I wouldnt get another Holden.

I owned a V8 a few years ago but now have moved on to better things lol.

I am not brand affiliated to one particular brand as in the last few years I have owned a couple of Subarus,a Honda accord, a Nissan sentra etc etc, now i presently have a 2005 Nissan Maxima, the M3 and a e36 325i.

Service from dealers is important to me and I must say that City Nissan in Lower Hutt are good, and Jeff Gray in town looked after me quite well.

Good luck with getting your Holden issues dealt with.

Edited May 4, 2009 by E46-RAT

[M3 Cab 0]

I agree that occasionally there is just a bad car. That said the whole point of buying new in terms of work cars for me is warrantys. Yet the service or lack there of is so bad and there just isn't any other option but to deal with these clowns. If we had been given good service (for the whole term of ownership) I'd be happier and most mikey just let it go

[Apex 693]

I feel for you. Holden product is absolute rubbish. I can never work out why people buy them. I always thought it was some kind of twisted patriotic thing as I can think of no other reason why you would buy one when you evaluate the alternatives. If you want reliability, buy a Toyota. If you want performance, buy a Subaru. I once met a guy who traded his VX Commie on a Hyundai Sonata - he couldn't believe what a fantastic car the Hyundai was! Having said that, Holdens are very cheap and other brands cannot beat the deals GMAC offers. Did you pick yours up on the $499 per month operating lease special?

Anyway, I'm pleased you have seen the light and have decided to purchase another brand.

Would be interested to know what is wrong with the Rodeo's? How do you plan to get them taken off your hands? Being an asian Holden, I thought these would have been the most reliable!

Bang for your buck. We paid 40k for our Astra SRI-T, it had more kit than a premium brand euro costing twice as much.

Our Holden’s have been great, the dealers on the other hand have been muppets, I swear ten minutes after handing over the money for our new car they had completely forgotten who we were and treated us like crap. Every time we claimed something under the new car warranty they would turn it into an ordeal.

Example.

I thought I would claim on a small imperfection on our gear knob, thought it would be as simple as dropping in and getting them to look at my knob, note the imperfection on my knob and order me a new one. But no, we had to drop the car in have them asses the knob for a day at our inconvenience, then we had to wait 6 weeks for a new one, when it arrived they had made a mistake and ordered the whole gear selector assembly so we had to book it in for a further two day’s to have fitted. So it took them a total of 45 days to change a gear knob!

[westy 614]

Buy a Falcon (ute).

[martyyn 2]

Nice to hear its not just the BMW dealers causing people problems. You wouldnt know we were in the middle of a financial crisis with customer service like this would you?

Ive been trying to find an e39 for my mum the last couple of months and its just been so painful having to deal with main dealers who to be honest are just plain liars.

I couldnt believe the discussion I had with the bloke at Jeff Gray, he knew absolutely nothing about e39's whatsoever and just lied through his teeth as to whether bits were missing or broken......that was of course after he told me to wait whilst he ate his apple when I asked him for a print out on the car