How GM Responds to Their Drivers

[uhwarrior6608]

Hello, everyone. I am a fairly new owner of an XLR. Purchased the car with the understanding that I would run into a few hiccups locating parts for a vehicle that was discontinued, but never realized it would be this difficult! Most people don't go into a dealership realizing that parts such as a head lamp or tail lamp are items that truly exhausted from inventory, or that a company (GM) either never released a patent on these parts, or that there was little interest by aftermarket manufacturers to supply these items. With that being said, I sent an email to GM soliciting either their assistance in locating a few parts (local dealership was not helpful), and to provide some constructive feedback on my experience thus far. I guess my hope/expectation was that they would acknowledge there is a shortage, perhaps consider researching the demand, or at the very minimum, find a solution to the parts shortage (i.e., encourage aftermarket production).

Long story short, I reach out to their telephone representatives. No help. Finally, I decided that a Better Business Bureau complaint might get my concern some attention. I received a call within a day of filing the BBB complaint, and a lady (Jessica) begins by telling me that the call will be recorded... No problem... Then the questions... "Have you been in an accident with the vehicle?" "Has the vehicle been altered in any way?" "What exactly is wrong with the parts that you are needing?" And a few more questions which in my mind now, were more focused on probing me as to whether there was a credible safety concern, rather than inquiring about my issue - the lack of parts availability.

Today, I received the below response from GM. I guess I can't say that I am extremely surprised, I was a bit shocked that in lieu of a more sympathetic response, I received the below. Perhaps a simple acknowledgement that there was a dearth of parts out there in the market, or some solution to my problem, surely was warranted. While I love my GM vehicles (Escalade, SRX, and XLR), I can say that after this whole ordeal, and the response from a manufacturer that clearly doesn't support their vehicles (nor their customers), I will move on from my affinity with Cadillac vehicles once these these have stopped kicking.

BBB
20300 W 12 Mile Rd, Ste 202
Southfield, MI 48076-6409
Phone: (248) 223-9400
Fax: (248) 356-5135

Customer: Sean
Reference number: 12042283
Service request: 8-2818644724
Customer Relationship Specialist: Jessica

Dear Constance Stevens:

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding Mr. Sean's concerns with his 2005 Cadillac XLR Roadster.

We have reviewed Sean's situation, and have found that he pursued this matter through the Better Business Bureau Auto line arbitration process. General Motors found that Sean’s vehicle was operating to specifications and that his concerns were not a manufacturer’s defect in material or workmanship. Based upon our review, we are in agreement with the position taken by the Better Business Bureau, and accordingly will take no further action in this matter.

If you have further questions, please contact our Cadillac Customer Assistance Center at 866-790-5700 Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time. Please refer to your service request number above and any of our Customer Relationship Specialists will be pleased to assist you.

Sincerely,

General Motors

 

[mickeytee]

sad

From what I understand they only have to supply parts for the warranty period. They made a lot of extra headlights and taillights but had to replace a lot of them under warranty. Thus they are out. As far a patents on the parts I doubt anyone would suffer if they where to make a headlight and taillight. All of the after market companies do not have to deal with patents and can make a close looking or even an exact headlight without paying royalties. I had contacted GM to try and find out who made the parts so I could buy the molds but they where not interested in any help. Even when I offered to pay their royalty fees. I am working on both headlight and taillights. However I need to purchase 5000 to make a run. Well there is no way. with maybe 10,00 cars left that's 1/2 of them even though I can get headlights made for 300 and taillights for 250. so I double the price or triple and only need to sell a third of them to get my money back. but that's 2-3 years time. . People will see there cars get towed away and sold after hitting a bird and breaking a headlight. Insurances companies will total it if no parts are available. as I said SAD

 

[lextoy]

on the bright side, scarcity will drive up value of the ones that survive
i'll be keeping mine for a loooong time

 

[Caddyjack]

on the bright side, scarcity will drive up value of the ones that survive
i'll be keeping mine for a loooong time

And when a tail light or head light goes bad (or any one of hundreds of parts) and you can't pass PA State Inspection, it will make a great lawn ornament.

 

[mickeytee]

And when a tail light or head light goes bad (or any one of hundreds of parts) and you can't pass PA State Inspection, it will make a great lawn ornament.

HAHA. Yes and 10 years later all dusty you will list it on craigslist "running when parked"

 

[lextoy]

i guess most of you cant afford the parts anymore, time to sell em for scrap !!!!!!
luckily $3k for a headlight isnt a big deal for me.
PA inspection ?? pfffff, stickers can be bought just like anything else in this world...

you guys tryin to sell your parts for A$$rape prices are a jonny come lately joke on this site...
go back to rippin off the Z3 crowd.
and if you hateyour XLR so much... sell it

if you even own one.
this is an enthusiast website, not a place to bash a car you dont even own.

trolls.

 

[onalaska]

I'm not worried. When I can't repair my XLR anymore due to lack of parts I should be able to sell parts off of it for more than the complete car is worth. I have already seen Allante' owners doing the same. One Allante' owner I knew parted out his car for quite a bit more than it was worth complete. I bought a transmission from him since GM quit making parts for the particular transmission used in that model. There are at least two successful "used" Allante' parts sources that will sell you just about anything including headlights and tail lights which also became unavailable from GM. The body was built by Pininfarina in Italy so you can imagine how difficult parts became from that venture. Allante's were built from 1987 to 1993 with a total production slightly larger than the XLR.

So as you can see, this is not the first abandonment of support of a high end Cadillac by GM after production ends. It's just a continuation of their policy which is to cater to those that replace their cars every few years.

From Wikipedia

"The last Allante built was flown from Turin, Italy on July 2, 1993, and completed at Detroit-Hamtramck 14 days later. With 21,430 built, assemblies averaged just a little more than 3,000 a year throughout the car's lifetime. Production officially ended on July 16,1993."

 

[mickeytee]

well I was just first offering to work with someone here that may need it and its brand new not used and less than folks are paying on ebay. Its no problem to me, I will keep it and leave it on the shelf and just laugh at people buying used ones with burnt out leds and cracks all over them. However if someone wants nice new one I have it. I must say , so far the BMW crowds was and still is a lot easier and more fun to work with,

 

[David_B]

Mickey, do you think that's a professional way to act toward your potential clients?
Seriously, if you plan on selling stuff to us, "laughing at people buying used ones with burnt out leds, cracks" won't really endear you toward people, don't you think?

If berating the people you sell to was "fun" in the BMW crowd, I guess you have a different idea of what "fun" is than I do.

Maybe you can understand people won't be happy with you when you buy up $600 tail lights then sell them for $3000? I get it, the market is the market, but once again, laughing at people because they don't want to pay your 400% markup won't make you many friends in a friendly community.

well I was just first offering to work with someone here that may need it and its brand new not used and less than folks are paying on ebay. Its no problem to me, I will keep it and leave it on the shelf and just laugh at people buying used ones with burnt out leds and cracks all over them. However if someone wants nice new one I have it. I must say , so far the BMW crowds was and still is a lot easier and more fun to work with,

 

[mickeytee]

Mickey, do you think that's a professional way to act toward your potential clients?
Seriously, if you plan on selling stuff to us, "laughing at people buying used ones with burnt out leds, cracks" won't really endear you toward people, don't you think?

If berating the people you sell to was "fun" in the BMW crowd, I guess you have a different idea of what "fun" is than I do.

Maybe you can understand people won't be happy with you when you buy up $600 tail lights then sell them for $3000? I get it, the market is the market, but once again, laughing at people because they don't want to pay your 400% markup won't make you many friends in a friendly community.

Well you certainly have a funny way to look at things. I offered to help SAVE someone maybe 1000$ over what they are selling for but you think that's a rip off. I provided over 350 BMW customers all over the world with a discontinued bracket that was no longer available from BMW. They where able to then buy a hardtop for their car that otherwise they could not .I sold them at a profit of 50$ for 2-3 hours work. Every single one of those people wrote me an thanked me .The only other choice was to buy individual pieces for 1200$ I sold those parts for 400. SO don't you dare call me a ripoff. If you don't want to pay the price that's fine MOVE ON> ANd when you can find them for 600$ you tell me and I will be more than happy to pay that and hold on to them until some one needs them and sell them for the same price. SO quit your bashing and find something else to do. My first post clearly states that I do not think they are worth what they are going for but that's the market price.

These car prices are dropping heavly as parts no longer are available so. Keeping them going ,maintains the value. Soon they will be like the ALLANTE that you can buy for 3-4K. That must be what you want.