Earnhardt Cadillac – LIES AND COVER UPS…WHAT A CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHTMARE! scottsdale Arizona

Earnhardt Cadillac, Scottsdale – LIES AND COVER UPS…WHAT A CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHTMARE!  

In January of 2011, I purchased a 2008 Cadillac STS, in excellent condition, with less than 20,000 miles – 20,000 ARIZONA MILES!  That means so snow exposure, and little, if any at all, rain exposure.  With such low mileage and the excellent condition of the car, I was looking forward to several years of enjoying it. 

Cadillac vehicles have been a constant in my family for as long as I can remember.  My grandfather bought a new one every 12-18 months and my father has ALWAYS had a Cadillac -  a new one every 2 years.  I was excited to continue this family tradition.  I took extra special care of the car…as I do all my cars.  I purchased the extended warranty and serviced the car, oil changes and ALL other service,  ONLY at Legends Cadillac, which became Earnhardt. 

In the early part of 2014, my car began making an unusual noise only upon the first cold start in the morning.  Of course, I took the car to Earnhardt for a diagnosis.  I was told that the service department was unable to replicate the noise and thus could not provide a diagnosis, but that the car seemed to check out and be running just fine.  There were no concerns. 

The power train warranty expired at the end of June, while the car was still well below 70,000 miles.  In August of this year, while driving with my 2 young children, I received a message stating “OIL LOW, TURN OFF CAR.”  I was able to drive to the dealership for service.  This appointment revealed only, according to JD – our service manager, that an oil pressure sensor wire had come loose causing the alert message.  I asked if this could be related to the noise that they had been unable to diagnose, which had significantly worsened over time.  JD told me “no,” stated that the car was running fine and sent me on my way. 

A couple of weeks ago, with the noise now EXTREMELY loud and a noticeable hesitation on acceleration, my wife contacted JD and told him that there was definitely a problem and demanded to drop the car off at service. 

Two days later, I received a call from JD stating that there was a major problem, oil pressure related, that had caused extensive damage to the engine and would cost $4,800.00 to repair! Oil pump issue. I ended the conversation knowing that I did not have $4,800.00 laying around and available, to fix the car.  I also stated that a Cadillac that has been babied, with less than 70,000 miles, should absolutely not have repair issue of this magnitude. 

I then received a call from JD, much later the same day, stating that he had “taken it upon himself and spent several hours on the phone with Cadillac, going to bat for me, to have the repair costs reduced.”  He then revealed a reduced repair cost of $1,800.00, and acted as though I should be forever grateful for this good deed on behalf of himself and Cadillac??  This “good deed,” if anything, indicates to me a sense of guilt or responsibility.  I responded stating that this was still an enormous amount of money and a problem that should not exist at less than 70,000 miles.  Additionally, I reminded him that I had brought the car in to service, prior to the expiration of the Power Train warranty, for this issue AND that the car had been in service for an “OIL PRESSURE ISSUE” in August.  Again, he mentioned the “good deed offer” that Cadillac was willing to extend. 

My wife went to the dealership to pick up the car.  She requested full service records and was told, by JD, that he was “unable to print them,” and that he “could only see them on his computer screen.”  He blamed this issue on the Legends/Earnhardt transition.  My wife insisted on obtaining the service records, even if it meant that she would need to take pictures of his computer screen showing the records.  JD replied saying that he “would try.”  He then returned 10 minutes later with printed service records.  My wife noticed that the most recent records were missing and asked JD about them.  He acted surprised and said that he would check again?  He returned with the service record from August 2014.  My wife proceeded to ask about the record for when the car was brought to service for the “unidentifiable noise,”  PRIOR TO THE POWER TRAIN WARRANTY EXPIRATION.  She was told, by JD, that because there was no “service” completed, there was no official record of the visit?!?!?!

In summation, neither Earnhardt nor GM/Cadillac, has made any attempt to follow up with me regarding the situation, even though I have pursued an answer on a management level.  They have clearly demonstrated that the loyalty in this relationship was one sided, on my part, and that they clearly to do not value my business. 

Do yourself a favor, STEER CLEAR OF EARNHARDT CADILLAC IN SCOTTSDALE, AND CADILLAC IN GENERAL!