Update on the 1st State Chevrolet - ZL1 Debacle

"Battery Tender Unnecessary" (carac) 01/14/2014 at 11:19 • Filed to: ZL1, First State Chevrolet

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From Mr. Hooper on camaro5.com

Just a quick update for everyone...

1. I never demanded a new car. I merely stated that I should not HAVE to be forced to buy a new [read "different"] car when mine was totaled through no fault of my own. If I had been driving the car, I would accept the loss.

2. The difference in price between a good, used 2012 ZL1 and a new 2013 ZL1 is only about $5-6K considering rebates, etc.

3. Yes, the OP really was to just let everyone know what happened to #1635 that appeared on the ZL1 registry many months ago.

4. We actually made 3 payments on the car while the car was in the dealer's possession while they tried to figure out what to do about the paint issues [read "left the car there for weeks on end without actually doing anything."] I believe the last time I drove the car was the weekend of October 25, 2013.

5. GM and Berger Chevrolet (Grand Rapids, Michigan) have stepped in and are paving [not paying] the way for a new 2013 ZL1 to be sent to First State Chevrolet for me to purchase.

6. We have apologized to many of the employees at First State for the actions taken by many of the people who have been infuriated by this whole story and have called First State to voice their opinions. Anyone who thinks the dealership has not been affected by all of this must have his head in the sand.

7. We want to thank everyone for their support. We never expected this to take on a whole life of its own. A special thanks goes out to the suppliers who have so graciously stepped up to provide parts at their own expense to help ease the heartache we have experienced in this ordeal.

8. I am not the biggest tech guy out there, and I have never made it a practice to post on forums, don't have a Facebook page, etc. But I do plan to stick around on this forum, and I hope to meet many of you in person at various events.

9. When the situation is resolved, I will post photos of the new car. I understand that it will be about two weeks before the insurance check is cut, the old car is paid off, the new car arrives, and a new purchase contract will be signed by my wife and I for the PURCHASE of our new ZL1.

Thanks,

JRH (jhoop302)

It looks like GM and another dealership stepped in and are sending a new 2013 ZL1 (apparently of their own accord) to 1st State Chevrolet for Hooper to buy. He doesn't mention that 1st State is paying the difference and the way he talks about feeling sorry for the dealership that totaled his ZL1 (and his comment about $5-6k between a used and new is likely a hint on what he's out of pocket), I would be willing to bet he's paying the difference between the insurance settlement and the new car.

I'm glad it worked out for him, one way or another. On a side note, a couple of companies that make aftermarket ZL1 parts are sending him a CAI, adjustable swap bars, interior LED conversion kits, etc. for his trouble.

I don't like that it appears 1st State Chevrolet ended up doing nothing to help and that it appears the situation was resolved without any effort on their part. But if Mr. Hooper is happy, I guess all I can hope is that future customers of that dealership think long and hard before giving them any business.

(Moved up for the morning crowd)

offroadkarter > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 03:53

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Karma bit that dealer in the ass for being such cheap asses. It will take decades to try and recover the reputation they may have once had.

PS9 > offroadkarter 01/14/2014 at 05:02

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Dealer stories like this is why I am never getting a car from a dealer.

AeroEagle333 > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 07:25

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I don't like that it appears 1st State Chevrolet ended up doing nothing to help and that it appears the situation was resolved without any effort on their part.

I'm happy for the Hoopers, but that really bothers me. The dealer deserves everything they've gotten and more. Hopefully the negative publicity ends up being too much to overcome and they shut their doors (unlikely, but one can dream).

Party-vi > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 07:31

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It's fitting that Berger is stepping in to help this along, considering the awesome Camaros they used to sell and upgrade.

offroadkarter > PS9 01/14/2014 at 08:19

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I got my marauder from a dealer, but I don't take it to any dealers for service

liquid_popcorn > offroadkarter 01/14/2014 at 08:33

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Mmm, Marauder...pic?

liquid_popcorn > PS9 01/14/2014 at 08:34

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I have only purchased two cars from a dealer - a 2010 Ford Focus SE (had a bad experience, but also hated the car and will never own another one), and my 2013 GTI. That experience was good enough that I now work for the dealership I purchased from. Point of the story being that there are some good ones; they're just a little harder to find sometimes, I think.

Meatcoma > AeroEagle333 01/14/2014 at 08:38

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That would be a terrible outcome for 90% of the people that work at the dealership and had 0 to do with this. Realistically you can probably only blame about 5 people at the dealership for this and having the dealership go out of business will probably not hurt the people who made the poor decisions, only the ones who had nothing to do with it.

I'm not defending the actions taken by the people who make the decisions for the dealership, I agree with most everyone that they handled it horribly and it should never have gotten this far, but I am glad to see the Hoopers getting the situation rectified.

offroadkarter > liquid_popcorn 01/14/2014 at 08:48

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its been posted on oppo a thousand times, I think people are sick of seeing it by now

AeroEagle333 > Meatcoma 01/14/2014 at 08:49

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You're probably right about that. Shutting the dealership down would be a bit harsh, but hopefully those five people (or whatever the number ends up being) pay for this in one way or another.

Meatcoma > AeroEagle333 01/14/2014 at 08:50

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Agreed.

Grindintosecond > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 09:00

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I didn't know Mr.Hooper was still around. His corner deli on Sesame Street is the best. Interesting customers too.

Sinanigans > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 09:22

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Its amazing. The dealership could have turned all this around, and made a big story about how the customer comes first, and how they are willing to rectify a bad situation. They could have made a big marketing thing out of this on doing the right thing and attracted new customers. Instead, these boneheads dug their heels in and did the exact opposite. It wasn't the dealership's fault per se that one of their employees royally screwed up. But it is their fault for not standing up to do the right thing - and not realizing that anything they did would lead to a big public outcry.

Slave2anMG > Sinanigans 01/14/2014 at 10:31

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They counted pennies and ignored the value (and cost) of good will.

Fuckwits.

liquid_popcorn > offroadkarter 01/14/2014 at 10:38

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hah, I'll have a look around then. never too much marauder.

benchslap > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 10:39

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As someone who spent 3+ years in car sales and management, they should have eaten the $6k and given him a new car. It was incredibly stupid of them to not get ahead of this and turn this into a positive PR situation for them. It's going to cost them WAY MORE than that in the long run.

Grindintosecond > benchslap 01/14/2014 at 11:22

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this...

Nothing says "we care about our customers" more than sacking the guy who did it and giving him a new one in the same spec he bought his in. Win win for everyone and POSITIVE PR at that...an action they can promote in the end.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Party-vi 01/14/2014 at 11:25

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Hah yeah, I live in Grand Rapids, I'll be happy to drive the ZL1 to First State for mr Hooper!

camaroboy68ss > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 11:44

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Glad to hear that others have steeped up to help when they shouldn't have to because the dealership should have fixed this right away. The other dealership helping a is Berger Chevrolet and is the #1 Chevy dealer and I think the oldest continually operating one too. They build specialty cars like a Yenko in the late 60s and still do today on new camaros. I've always heard they were a class act and this act of helping them proves that.

pdthedeuce > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 11:45

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I wonder what would have happened if it had been a "regular car" . I imagine we would never have heard about it and the customer would have been screwed to the wall .

Mathias Rios > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 12:10

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I am confused, as it still appears that he is buying the car...

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 12:21

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So he had to go through his own insurance AND is having to pay $5-6k out of pocket for the replacement car?

Is it really too much to ask for the dealership that destroyed his car while under their watch to file the claim under THEIR insurance (shouldn't this be legally required, somehow?) and then eat up the $5-6k difference as an apology to the customer?

Not sure how it works in a case like this, but hopefully Mr. Hooper's insurance premium doesn't get affected by this situation - and that his insurance actually goes after the dealership's insurance to recoup their cost.

Battery Tender Unnecessary > Mathias Rios 01/14/2014 at 12:24

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That's what worries me that I alluded to above. It doesn't appear any party involved learned a lesson from this. From the info provided, it appears Mr. Hooper is buying a new 2013 ZL1 from the dealership that totaled his last one (it's just coming from Berger, they don't appear to be selling it to him) and the dealership itself just dug its heels in, deleted their facebook page, acted like they did nothing wrong, and others stepped in to clean their mess.

Mathias Rios > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 12:27

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Yeah I'm worried. I understand that Hooper didn't have his ZL1 completely paid off, so I understand that it wouldn't make much sense to GIVE him a ZL1 outright since he didn't exactly "own" it from the get go, but it would be nice if they just transferred this ZL1 to the payment plan he was in before I guess. If they wanted to go the extra mile a MASSIVE discount would be good but the scum bags at First State wouldn't do that. They should lose their dealership license.

Battery Tender Unnecessary > Mathias Rios 01/14/2014 at 12:33

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Someone needs to (after sacking them) give the management at First State Chevrolet a couple books on customer service. Imagine the positive buzz and free advertising they would have gotten if they just fronted the couple of thousand dollars to get Hooper in a new ZL1, they would have been internet and marketing darlings. But instead they chose to lose any reputation and respect they had to save a buck.

Darigaaz > pdthedeuce 01/14/2014 at 12:47

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I would imagine that it never would have been wrecked in a joyride in the first place.

pdthedeuce > Darigaaz 01/14/2014 at 12:58

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you don't think "regular" cars get taken for joyrides ?

Sunray09 > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/14/2014 at 15:13

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The Dealership should have stepped up from the get go ..and let this be a lesson to all of us about the power of alternative media. This story goes beyond whats legally correct to what is actually fair and right.

Too bad the dealers reaction to this was so poor..I have no sympathy for them at all and expect that their initial reaction is indicative of their general attitude to the public in general. They tried to get one over on a little guy because it would cost them money instead of claiming the cost on their insurance and making an honest man whole again. The right thing may be done in the end but let this be a lesson for anyone who is shopping for a place to buy or fix your car...DONT GO THERE period

rich44 > benchslap 01/14/2014 at 16:02

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As a small business owner,(not auto) I am baffled why the dealer would go to war over a measly $6-10K. The damage from the negative PR and goodwill will easily be in the six figures if not millions. Sometimes my company will commit a screw-up that hurts a customer and we are very aware of the power of social media (not to mention Karma) if we don't make things right -quickly

Darigaaz > pdthedeuce 01/14/2014 at 19:38

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No. No one specifically comes into work on a Sunday to take a Toyota Camry for a joy ride.

pdthedeuce > Darigaaz 01/14/2014 at 19:52

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my cousin had a mustang gt in for service , came out with a smoked clutch due to burnout practice by service tech .

Darigaaz > pdthedeuce 01/14/2014 at 20:04

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A Mustang GT is not a "regular car"
It is a car that people want to do burnouts in and ruin clutches.

pdthedeuce > Darigaaz 01/14/2014 at 20:21

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compared to a ZL1 ... a GT is very much a regular car .

Darigaaz > pdthedeuce 01/15/2014 at 00:53

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Except there was an article on here about a new Camaro SS that was mistreated. The SS is in the same class as the GT thus rendering your point moot since if the GT is a regular car then so is the SS which was covered by the media. Neither of those cars are regular cars.

pdthedeuce > Darigaaz 01/15/2014 at 01:42

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what SS ? nevermind ... if you don't think regular cars aren't abused , you may be a little naïve .

munznelson > Battery Tender Unnecessary 01/15/2014 at 22:59

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1st State Chevrolet

Their real Facebook page is back up and still getting slammed in the review section.

On their page they still deny any fault... "We are glad to see all the haters gone too! It wasn't even our fault, it was an employee!"

signintokinjalol > pdthedeuce 01/15/2014 at 23:29

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You're the guy who thinks a big V8 is "regular" in a world of I4.

Mustang GT isn't a regular car, it's a muscle car. A Ford Focus SE is a regular car.

pdthedeuce > signintokinjalol 01/15/2014 at 23:43

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actually , I consider a car I see ever day , to be a regular car . perhaps "common" would have been a better description .

signintokinjalol > pdthedeuce 01/15/2014 at 23:46

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Well tell me this, what would a 20 year old rather hoon, a GT or an SE Focus?

pdthedeuce > signintokinjalol 01/15/2014 at 23:52

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I guess I don't see what that has to do with my original comment . however , to answer your question , it has been my experience that a 20 year old will hoon whatever he can get his hands on .