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Several on this forum have asked that I post the experience I went through regarding paint, body, and electronics issues with the forum, so here's the story from the beginning.
On Friday, October 11, I took delivery of my new 2014 Corvette, VIN 1786. I picked it up in Richmond, Virginia, on a rainy day. The dealership had it all shined up and sitting inside their detail shop. I spent about 45 minutes going over the car using a check list that I had found on a forum and then took the car for a test drive. Since it was dark and dreary outside, I didn't have an opportunity to look at it in full sunlight that day, or any of the first three days I had it because it was cloudy and rainy in Richmond the whole time I was there. However, I did notice a couple of issues Friday evening when I had parked it in a friend's garage where I was spending the weekend.
I really enjoyed the drive back to SW Oklahoma that Sunday and Monday. It was a blast driving something that almost everyone noticed and wanted to spend time looking at and talking about. I've never been photographed in a moving vehicle so many times in my life! When I got home, I showed her off to all of my friends through the week and started detailing her up to show her off at a local car show. It was then that I noticed quite a few more fit and finish issues.
I made an appointment with my local Service Director for Monday, October 21. He kept the car and had the Manager of Aftersales come look at the car with him. They found other issues that I had not seen and contacted plant management to see how they wanted to handle the situation. The plant wanted the car back so they could replace the body panels and correct all of the issues. So, on Monday, October 28, a truck arrived at my local dealership and my Corvette was loaded for her trip back to the factory.
The plant first corrected several electronic problems: competitive driving mode was not activating, memory seat recall was not working properly, and the center media screen was flickering. Once they had those issues corrected, they began the process of re-skinning the car. To make a long story short, they ran into problems with the first attempts to re-skin my car. At one point, my car was scheduled to be released but after a meeting of upper management, it was decided that they were not 100% satisfied and were going to do the job again. I'm grateful that they weren't going to send anything back to me that they were not 100% satisfied with!
My local Service Director had initially shared with me that the process would probably take around three weeks, but that GM would compensate me for whatever length of time my Corvette was away. I would have preferred to have had my Corvette back sooner rather than later, but of greater importance to me was that the car would be without issue when it returned, so I was okay with the delay.
At some point along the way, I realized I could activate OnStar's Family Link and find the physical location of my car at any time. You can only imagine the excitement when I saw it had left Bowling Green the afternoon of Tuesday, December 17! My excitement grew on Wednesday as it entered Oklahoma on Wednesday! On Thursday, morning, the truck left the town it had stopped in for the night. It was only a few hours away, but had to stop at two Oklahoma City dealerships, a Norman dealership, and a Blanchard dealership, before delivering my Corvette to my dealership in Lawton. As it neared Lawton, I jumped into my 1994 Corvette and took off to find the truck that was hauling my baby back to me! I intercepted the truck about one mile from the dealership and followed her into the dealership parking lot. It was like following Santa and his sleigh! I could barely contain myself when she was backed off the truck and I was asked to drive her in to the service bay!
I spent a little time checking her out that afternoon, but the Manager of Aftersales wanted to be there to inspect the car, to deliver it to me, and to present me with a check from GM, so we set up an appointment for Friday afternoon. Of course, I made a check list of things I wanted to make sure were corrected and eagerly awaited my appointment. At that time, I did not know how much money I would receive, but I figured they would treat me right since everything they had done for me up to that point had left me quite pleased.
The meeting on Friday went extremely well. I went through the checklist and was very pleased that the electronic issues and paint issues had been corrected. As a matter of fact, the paint quality that the plant provided is a show car quality finish and it really pops! I was equally pleased with the amount of money that GM had provided for me, and it was a proper amount for the time that my Corvette was away. I am choosing to not disclose the amount they provided for me because every situation is different and I do not want the dollar amount to seem like a precedent for any other situation. I also did not have to sign any form of non-disclosure. Suffice it to say that I was very happy with the amount!
Management wanted to provide me with a loaner vehicle while my Corvette was back in BG. Since I did not really need one, I asked for a variety of accessories instead. Here are the items that were provided:
I don't feel that I could have been treated more appropriately or professionally by my local Service Director, the regional Manager of Aftersales, or plant leadership in Bowling Green! While I would have preferred to have not gone through this situation at all, I am so happy to have my car back in such beautiful condition, with complimentary accessories provided by GM and money in my pocket, which was eventually spent on more goodies for my C7!
Here are some Photos of most of the problems that were corrected:
On Friday, October 11, I took delivery of my new 2014 Corvette, VIN 1786. I picked it up in Richmond, Virginia, on a rainy day. The dealership had it all shined up and sitting inside their detail shop. I spent about 45 minutes going over the car using a check list that I had found on a forum and then took the car for a test drive. Since it was dark and dreary outside, I didn't have an opportunity to look at it in full sunlight that day, or any of the first three days I had it because it was cloudy and rainy in Richmond the whole time I was there. However, I did notice a couple of issues Friday evening when I had parked it in a friend's garage where I was spending the weekend.
I really enjoyed the drive back to SW Oklahoma that Sunday and Monday. It was a blast driving something that almost everyone noticed and wanted to spend time looking at and talking about. I've never been photographed in a moving vehicle so many times in my life! When I got home, I showed her off to all of my friends through the week and started detailing her up to show her off at a local car show. It was then that I noticed quite a few more fit and finish issues.
I made an appointment with my local Service Director for Monday, October 21. He kept the car and had the Manager of Aftersales come look at the car with him. They found other issues that I had not seen and contacted plant management to see how they wanted to handle the situation. The plant wanted the car back so they could replace the body panels and correct all of the issues. So, on Monday, October 28, a truck arrived at my local dealership and my Corvette was loaded for her trip back to the factory.
The plant first corrected several electronic problems: competitive driving mode was not activating, memory seat recall was not working properly, and the center media screen was flickering. Once they had those issues corrected, they began the process of re-skinning the car. To make a long story short, they ran into problems with the first attempts to re-skin my car. At one point, my car was scheduled to be released but after a meeting of upper management, it was decided that they were not 100% satisfied and were going to do the job again. I'm grateful that they weren't going to send anything back to me that they were not 100% satisfied with!
My local Service Director had initially shared with me that the process would probably take around three weeks, but that GM would compensate me for whatever length of time my Corvette was away. I would have preferred to have had my Corvette back sooner rather than later, but of greater importance to me was that the car would be without issue when it returned, so I was okay with the delay.
At some point along the way, I realized I could activate OnStar's Family Link and find the physical location of my car at any time. You can only imagine the excitement when I saw it had left Bowling Green the afternoon of Tuesday, December 17! My excitement grew on Wednesday as it entered Oklahoma on Wednesday! On Thursday, morning, the truck left the town it had stopped in for the night. It was only a few hours away, but had to stop at two Oklahoma City dealerships, a Norman dealership, and a Blanchard dealership, before delivering my Corvette to my dealership in Lawton. As it neared Lawton, I jumped into my 1994 Corvette and took off to find the truck that was hauling my baby back to me! I intercepted the truck about one mile from the dealership and followed her into the dealership parking lot. It was like following Santa and his sleigh! I could barely contain myself when she was backed off the truck and I was asked to drive her in to the service bay!
I spent a little time checking her out that afternoon, but the Manager of Aftersales wanted to be there to inspect the car, to deliver it to me, and to present me with a check from GM, so we set up an appointment for Friday afternoon. Of course, I made a check list of things I wanted to make sure were corrected and eagerly awaited my appointment. At that time, I did not know how much money I would receive, but I figured they would treat me right since everything they had done for me up to that point had left me quite pleased.
The meeting on Friday went extremely well. I went through the checklist and was very pleased that the electronic issues and paint issues had been corrected. As a matter of fact, the paint quality that the plant provided is a show car quality finish and it really pops! I was equally pleased with the amount of money that GM had provided for me, and it was a proper amount for the time that my Corvette was away. I am choosing to not disclose the amount they provided for me because every situation is different and I do not want the dollar amount to seem like a precedent for any other situation. I also did not have to sign any form of non-disclosure. Suffice it to say that I was very happy with the amount!
Management wanted to provide me with a loaner vehicle while my Corvette was back in BG. Since I did not really need one, I asked for a variety of accessories instead. Here are the items that were provided:
- Wing Spoiler
- Stingray Floor Mats
- Stingray Cargo Mat
- Stingray Door Sill Plates
- Stingray Center Caps (also returned my C7 flag center caps to me)
- C7 Flag Valve Stem Caps
- Stingray Car Cover
- Targa Top Cover
I don't feel that I could have been treated more appropriately or professionally by my local Service Director, the regional Manager of Aftersales, or plant leadership in Bowling Green! While I would have preferred to have not gone through this situation at all, I am so happy to have my car back in such beautiful condition, with complimentary accessories provided by GM and money in my pocket, which was eventually spent on more goodies for my C7!
Here are some Photos of most of the problems that were corrected:
























