Subpar Service Experience

On January 16, 2006, I took my 2000 S80 in for its appointment for a

recall (NHTSA Recall Bulletin 04V451000: Cooling Fan; Mfg Campaign

No: 141).

On the above date, I met with one of the Service Advisors to fill out

the necessary paperwork. I chose to wait on my vehicle. After a

little more than an hour, my SA handler, Earl Pruet, met me in the

waiting area to let me know that "I was all set and good to go."

I moved from the service runway to the parking lot to inspect my NEW

fan.

(I diverge here to offer explanation for the inspection):

A year earlier I had an unpleasant service visit: I went in for a

front end alignment due to it pulling to the right. An alignment was

performed and I was charged, however, the car would still pull to the

right. I was dismissed with the company line, "that they all do

that." I went to an independent Volvo shop the following day and was

SHOWN that the ball joint was BAD. I was told that it was UNSAFE to

operate the vehicle until it got repaired. After calling Rick

Hendrick Volvo and comparing prices with this independent shop, I

decided to pocket the almost $220 difference and let the independent

shop perform the repair.

(Back to this most recent problem):

I opened my hood to verify the fan's replacement as per the NHTSA's

remedy (according to official documents furnished by the NHTSA, the

corrective action was that "dealers will REPLACE the cooling fan.")

only to discover that the fan was NOT replaced. I went back to the

service advisor, Mr. Pruet, to ask why the fan wasn't replaced. He

was clueless and referred me to the technician. The technician

explained to me that the fan in the car was the latest technology and

asked when it was replaced. I responded to the technician that it

had never been replaced according to my documentation (and

apparently, Volvo's, as well).

I explained to the technician that I would not have brought the car

in if the fan was working properly (due to my aforementioned

experience, as well as, being excessively overcharged by Rick

Hendrick Volvo Parts department (as much as 65% over retail list

prices of other VOLVO dealerships). I informed him that sometimes

the fan will run on after turning off the ignition. It would run

enough to wear the battery down to the point of not starting. He

said I should pass that information on to the Service Manager, Sonja

Wilson.

I discussed my issue with Ms. Wilson, who in turn scheduled me for

another appointment a couple of days later. She stated that the car

would be hooked up to their computer for troubleshooting.

Step forward to today, January the 18th. My Service Advisor, Amy

Ferguson, for this visit informs me that the technician put the car

on the computer and everything's fine. After two and a half hours of

wait time, the cooling fan remained unchanged. I hoped that they

were right.

However, upon starting my car, I noticed another problem: the idle

was rough. So, I immediately went back to my SA to let her know.

She called the technician to take a look at the car. When the

technician arrived, he stated that he noticed the rough idle when the

computer was hooked up to it earlier. He further stated that the car

appeared to be in "limp-home mode," although there was no error

message in the DIM. He offered to put it back on the computer, but

that more than likely it was a bad oxygen sensor. It struck me as

odd that he was pretty confident of what the problem was. However,

since he just had the car hooked up to the computer, why wouldn't he

be.

That was the last straw! Rick Hendrick Volvo had my car on two

occasions this week. And on both visits, I went away with the sense

that I was being shuffled down the road or that the service

department at Rick Hendrick Volvo didn't really care. While nobody

appreciates a dealer trying to push unneeded repairs, it's shocking

that Rick Hendrick Volvo would tell me that my car was FINE, all the

while knowing there's indeed a problem. To have knowledge that my

car is exhibiting a possible problem and not offering a solution, but

just giving the "all is well" company line, borders on sheer

negligence.

At this point, I don't feel comfortable with Rick Hendrick Volvo

performing ANY further work on my car, recall or otherwise. Not

only is this car not living up to its billing, neither is Volvo's

assertion that they are concerned with Customer Service.

Sincerely,

Joseph P. Furlong

1120 Rosemead Rd

Mt Pleasant, SC 29464

843.884.0395