rsgs
01-27-2004, 07:54
I was driving my truck (2003 Sierra 2500HD Duramax/Allison Crew Cab Long Box) on Thursday January 15th when it just died. It was about 7 degrees out. After a 3 hour wait (contacted On-Star) for a wrecker, he towed it to my local dealer (Jim Causley - supposedly the largest volume dealer in the country). The next day I get a call from the Service Tech. that the bill is at $1500.00 right now. That includes a new filter, sensor, cleaning out the tank and the lines. He then tells me that the bill could go as high as $7000.00 if other items, like injectors, injector pump, fuel pump are bad. He said they pulled half a jar of water out of the fuel filter. I asked him why this was not covered under warranty as the Water idiot light (WIF) did not go on to tell me that there was water in the fuel. He said this was NOT a warranty item and suggested I contact my Insurance company, which I did (he said "we have this problem all the time and the insurance usually will cover it"). The station I buy my fuel from is a high volume station. My original thought was that they had not switched to the winter blend and the fuel just gelled up. Then the dealer comes back with this.
I got the truck back on Friday January 23rd. My insurance did cover the repairs. When I talked to the Service Manager after I signed off, he seemed to not know what was going on (even though the Tech had asked him about warranty coverage several times before they started the work). He then went to get the mechanic that worked on the truck. When I suggested to the mechanic that the damage should have been covered by warranty because the WIF did not come on (after they "took a half jar of water out of the filter" - according to the Tech.), he said it was bateria and dirt that caused the problem. When I asked where the sample of fuel I had asked for was, he said they had offered it to the insurance agent and she didn't want it in her car. So they threw it away. Nice, eh? Destroy the evidence. I have the filter, the WIF sensor, and the fuel pump, but no sample to be checked out. They had charged me over $800.00 dollars (9 hours) in labor for a job that should have taken 2-3 at the most. A case of the dealer ripping off the insurance company - big time! I am going to continue to pursue this. I now know of several cases from different dealers where customers had the same problem, some with even more damage, that the warranty covered. I'm not sure what I can do, but I'm going to try.
I got the truck back on Friday January 23rd. My insurance did cover the repairs. When I talked to the Service Manager after I signed off, he seemed to not know what was going on (even though the Tech had asked him about warranty coverage several times before they started the work). He then went to get the mechanic that worked on the truck. When I suggested to the mechanic that the damage should have been covered by warranty because the WIF did not come on (after they "took a half jar of water out of the filter" - according to the Tech.), he said it was bateria and dirt that caused the problem. When I asked where the sample of fuel I had asked for was, he said they had offered it to the insurance agent and she didn't want it in her car. So they threw it away. Nice, eh? Destroy the evidence. I have the filter, the WIF sensor, and the fuel pump, but no sample to be checked out. They had charged me over $800.00 dollars (9 hours) in labor for a job that should have taken 2-3 at the most. A case of the dealer ripping off the insurance company - big time! I am going to continue to pursue this. I now know of several cases from different dealers where customers had the same problem, some with even more damage, that the warranty covered. I'm not sure what I can do, but I'm going to try.