I recently took my car in for some routine maintenance and a warranty service. I didn’t do any research before I went it for the service though, and now I wish I had. Luckily, I’m still within the allotted time for warranty service to still be done for free. However, if my problem had not occurred again I may have been out of luck.
What exactly happened?
A few weeks ago I had my car looked at for a problem with my tailgate. It’s a power tailgate and I was having trouble with it properly closing and opening. The problem wouldn’t always happen though. It was a seemingly random occurrence. Sometimes my tailgate would close normally, and at other times it would close most of the way and then I’d hear a beep and it would open back up. It was a strange thing that I first thought was a fluke, but then it started happening more frequently. I eventually took it in for a fix.
When I took it in the first time I was told that it needed a “reset” and that it would be fixed. They even tried to charge me for the “fix” but I fought for it and told them it was under warranty and that they should fix it for me for free under warranty. The manager tried to tell me that the service techs time was not under warranty unless it was for changing out parts, and I had to be firm and inform him that it never says anything of the sort in the warranty booklet I got from the manufacturer when I bought the car, brand new might I add, and for this very same dealership.
In any case, they eventually did the fix for free after a bit of back and forth with them, and my insisting that we contact the manufacturer if they didn’t want to do it for free under warranty to see what they had to say. I guess in the end they decided I was right or that it wasn’t worth their trouble to not do the service. So they did the “reset” and all was good with my tailgate. Or so I thought.
My tailgate is still broken and almost out of warranty
A couple weeks later my tailgate starts to act up again like it had before. Again isn’t accurate because it was never fixed in the first place. The problem was random and sporadic so I don’t know for sure whether or not the “reset” did anything at all. Luckily I was still under warranty for a few more days so I scheduled a service for the fix. This time I didn’t want to take any chances though. I needed to make sure the tailgate was fixed so I did a little research before going in.
What I found was a bunch of other people who had the same problem that I was having with their car. As it turns out I was also able to find a TSB (or technical service bulletin) that was about my exact issue. I documented all the info I had found and put it all in one email. I wasn’t exactly sure what the fix would be but I had a couple TSBs and some posts that I had found in the forums about what people were doing to fix this problem while under warranty.
I had also read that since this problem was hard to replicate on demand that I should take a video of it so I can share that with the manager and service tech to help them fix the problem while also help me document the problem with a paper trail. Luckily, I had already done a video of the problem and showed it to the tech last time and after seeing it he said a “reset” would fix it. I was still able to get a new video though that showed it acting up so I used the new video.
Contact the dealership by sending an email for a paper trail of proof
What I did next was call to setup my appointment for service. Now that I knew all of this info it was time for me to share it with the dealership so I can better make sure that I get my car fixed correctly this time around. I called in to get a service appointment and I told them that it was for the same problem as last time and that I wanted to email the manager a video of the problem so I can more easily show him what the problem was. I got the managers email address and sent him an email with my video and all the information I had found about the problem. Now I had a paper trail in case things went wrong for some reason.
The research and video I had proved to be helpful as I was able to get them to changed out expensive parts out of my car. Their reasoning was because there was a TSB out on the problem and that they would follow what the TSB had them do. I don’t know what would have happened if I had not found the TSB myself. I can only assume it was not have gone as smoothly, but who knows.
The TSB had them change out my struts (or actuators as their called in the TSB) on both sides of the tailgate. This was supposed to fix the problem as I got some faulty ones in my car. Only time will tell if this is a true fix or if there’s something else wrong with the tailgate. I hope I don’t have this same problem again with my tailgate a couple years from now, but if I do at least I’ll have a paper trail of what I tried to do to fix it and then maybe I can get the car manufacturer to pay for or help with the bill.
What I learned from this
It’s unfortunate that I have to do all this research myself to get a problem fixed. Really, it should have been fixed the first time the right way. Who knows how many times I would have had to go in if I wouldn’t have had the info for them. I couldn’t take the chance though because I was short on time and wanted to be sure I got everything done under warranty.
As an added security I had also contacted the car manufacturer themselves and reported that I was trying to get something fixed under warranty and that I was worried it wasn’t going to get done in time. They called me back and informed me that I need not worry because I had started the service request before the warranty had expired and that I would get the service done under warranty even if the warranty period lapses. It doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan in case things go wrong, and who knows, they may have even called the dealership to make sure my problem was resolved.
I guess another thing I could have done was take the care in sooner to get the tailgate fixed while under warranty. I waited a while because I thought it was a fluke and then because I was waiting to take it in when I also had to go in for an oil change. In hindsight I should have taken it is immediately to give myself more time to make sure it works right. Oh well, live and learn I guess. At least I got fixed for free under warranty. Hopefully the fix will last.