If you have visited this dealership please take a moment and rate by clicking the review tab.
By taking a few minutes you can let everyone know how well you were treated or you can register a complaint.
If your thinking of visiting this dealer the review tab allows you to read other customer reviews.
I needed to get my oil changed, and I was able to locate a coupon online for an oil change, tire rotation and other misc inspections. So the day of I was able to schedule an appointment for about noon time. As I walk into the service department, I went up and said I was here for my oil change. The girl behind the desk started writing up the paper work and as she was filling it out I mentioned that some pennies seem to have fallen into a crack in the little storage compartment on the passanger side door. I asked if it would be possible for the mechanic to simply remove the pennies from behind the plastic because when ever music plays the pennies rattle together. She said ok and that was that. I left the dealership excited to get my car back with the oil changed but most importantly to me, those noisey pennies extracted…Wrong.
Upon my arrival the car was still not ready which was really not that big of a deal to me. The girl who was helping me earlier just got finished with another customer. As the woman that the girl just helped was getting in her car and leaving the girl behind the desk began to describe to me and my friends that the woman she was just helping comes in a lot and looks like a “who from whoville”. After that the girl behind the desk also said that the womans hair looked like she “stuck her fingers in a power outlet.” I’m guessing that because my friends and I were close to her age she found it ok to say these things but it was awkward, unprofessional, and of bad taste. Note: this woman comes into get service a lot according to the girl. This is how a frequent customer is talked about.
My friends eventually left because some time had passed and my car was not ready yet. Once it was all done she started to get the paperwork to finish everything up. I asked her if the mechanics were able to remove the pennies. She said she would need to see if they were able to do that for me. It was in that moment where I knew I would leave the dealership with the pennies right where they got stuck. I told her I was able to get a few of them out by kind-of hitting the bottom of the plastic on the door and bending the plastic a little so some could fall out. She then asked if I tried to remove the plastic myself, because they were only snap on pieces and all of a sudden this problem now seemed very easy to fix. I told her I did not try to do that because I did not want to break anything. She then recanted and said it would actually be a 160 dollar service charge to remove the pennies. I told her I did not want to pay that much. She ecouraged me to try to do it on my own and try using a vacuum. A little frustrated, my car pulled up and I went out to get my keys. I asked the mechanic if he was able to remove the pennies that I had told the girl about earlier that morning. He said I would need to speak with her and walked off. With soap still on my tire from the wash, I entered my car, shook the passenger door and of course, the pennies had not left. By the way it looked like they kind of vacuumed the floor of my car but there was still dust all along the dash. Might as well do a good job if your going to clean it right?
I called the dealership about 40 minutes later wanting to speak with a manager as I was a little upset about the penny situation and thought I should mention the rude comments towards the “Who from Whoville.” He was not picking up his line or any pages so I called back about an hour later. I got the assistant service manager and told him the account of everything that happened and that I was under the impression that the pennies would be removed with out having to pay an additional 160 dollars, which was 3 times the amount of the oil change. All I wanted was to have the pennies to be removed and to be able to return to Galpin with a peace that they take care of their customers, especially the ones who have purchased their cars from that particular dealership. The manager did not seem too phased by the complaint or request. It felt like a waste of his time to hear what I had to say about the incident. He did say sorry about it told me he’ll see what he could do and that they would call me back either later that day or the next.
Nearly 7 or 8 minutes later my phone rang and it was the dealership. I picked up the phone and it was the girl behind the desk, not a manager. “Hi this is -blank- from the dealership, thanks for telling on me, I was just kidding” was how I was greeted on the phone. She began to ask if me having to pay for the penny removal was the reason for my complaint. I told her that I was under the impression that the removal of the pennies was free and I want them removed for free. I told her that I have had bad experiences with Galpin and this whole ordeal is only making it worse. She said it isn’t fair for me to judge all Galpin employees upon her mistake. She said sorry for her mistake. I told her that she is a representative of Galpin and of course she will reflect the outlook of Galpin. She said that from her side the issue isn’t under warranty for me getting pennies stuck in a car. She then said that the 160 amount was a mistake, it was actually 115 …I told her that my side was pennies shouldn’t get stuck in the car anyways, especially a STORAGE compartment (something used to STORE various items.. including pennies) and I don’t want to pay for something I was under the understanding of not having to pay. She put me on hold and talked to her manager. She said they could only do it for 70 dollars as directed by her manager.
I never did recieve a call from a manager regarding this issue. Thanks to close friends who personally know the owner of Galpin, I am currently in the process of contacting the Galpin owner to report the unprofessional conduct of the girl behind the desk and how the managers handled this situation. The assistant manager totally threw me under the bus after I spoke with him, I should have been contacted by a manager, not the person who I’m complaing about. Totally rude.
This situation started off as something small but due to the stubbornness of Galpin Valencia the issue was never resolved. They were unable to remove snapable plastic pieces and extract about 5-7 pennies from my door. This wouldnt have been an issue if I was told that it would cost me extra for them to do this when I dropped off my car initially but that never happened.