Re: Carlsen Service-SUCKS

[Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>]

>When I picked up the car, it had been "detailed" by
>some greasy mechanic who left grease and dirt on the
>doorsill, seat and even headliner. Normally I don't
>care but I asked them to clean it off-so obnoxious.

You think that's bad?  A family friend left his wife's car at a dealership
to have repairs done(Camero, so a GM dealership.)  The car came back with
cigarette burns in the carpet+seats.  He bitched and yelled at the manager
until they replaced the interior, if memory serves.


>Some months later, I decided to check the oil just
>for the hell of it. Guess what-not only was it
Personally, I check my oil at least every 2 weeks.  Though one car is 7
years and the other 11, I still wouldn't trust an Audi farther than I can
throw it.  I like my oil pressure gauge on the 200; once you know the
"right" behavior, it's easy to tell when the oil is doin' somethin funky or
if the filter needs changing.


>down--it was DOWN TWO QUARTS. Did those idiots forget
>to fill it up? There is no *$@#ing way that it used
>up 2 quarts in 1500 miles. And there are no visible
>leaks.
Is yours a turbo?  Oil capacity is probably different.  I bet the mech
simply read off the wrong number by mistake and filled by the numbers, so
to speak.  Still, the manuals always state "run engine at high idle, check
oil level, refill if necessary."  I usually run the engine for a minute,
turn it off, come back in 5, check the oil, top off, run for a minute, come
back in 5, check and be happy.


>Of course, the car appears fine and it never
>overheated or anything. I wonder how bad that is for
>the engine.
Unless an oil light came on(signalling the pump wasn't able to suck up any
oil) your engine is probably fine.  The middle of the dipstick zone is
where the engine is guaranteed to get oil under all sorts of conditions.
Unless you did some fast off ramps or a track event, or live in SF with the
gigantic, super steep hills, the oil probably never sloshed away from the
sump enough for the car to suck air.


Did you complain to the service manager?  So many people complain about
dealerships to friends(or the list), but you must remember; the dealership
is only as good as the lowest-level people who work for it.  The job those
people do can only be evaluated by what customers say; if you say nothing,
then the management can have all the ideals they want, but they're going to
have a tough time finding out how well the employee is doing(or if changes
they made in policy are working or not.)

I would say write up your experiences in a letter, and address it to
"Service Manager" at Carlsen.  You'll probably get a _very_ apologetic
letter back, and the employee who serviced your car will probably get a
good talking to(like, "Son, clean up yer act!")  You might even get some
nice "free XYZ" coupons or the manager might say "We're sorry, we'll give
you free maintenance for X months."

Remember, with things so important as cars, speak your mind about what you
feel is lousy service.  I'm thinking of writing Bernardi's manager to give
him/her a piece of my mind about how lousy the parts dept is(slow and
inaccurate, mostly.)

Brett

------
Brett Dikeman
brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net
~)-|
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.  Qui annus est?
Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
Ita, scio hunc 'sig file' veterem fieri.
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