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DEL.ICIO.USCadillac customer feels bad vibration from GM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bud Layson bought his first Cadillac 15 years ago.
“My wife wanted one,” says Layson, a retired salesman who still works every other week selling steel pipe fittings across the Southeast.
In May, Layson bought a new 2008 DTS. He says it just may be his last General Motors vehicle. The DTS vibrates during acceleration, going up hills, when it’s hitting 60 miles per hour or so.
It used to make a pitched, whiny noise, too. A new gear was supposed to stop both problems.
“But it did nothing for the vibration,” said Layson of Duluth. “It feels like it’s coming up through the acceleration pedal, but you can feel the vibration all over. It’s not a safety problem. It’s an aggravating problem.”
After he had the Caddy serviced at a local Cadillac dealership, he filled out a survey he received in the mail regarding the experience. In the comment section, he explained the car’s vibration and the repair(s) that hadn’t fixed the problem.
Then Layson, 73, made a promise: “I told them that I’d never buy another GM product.” Days later, Layson got a voice message with an 800-number from General Motors. Layson called.
A customer service rep pulled up the service record on his car. Then he put Layson on hold and contacted the area dealership shop that had worked on it.
“When he finally came back to the phone, he said [the company] had no resolution for the problem at this time,” Layson told me. “But he said that, if and when we do, that I’d be the first in line to get my car fixed. I may be dead by then. I tried to control my temper, but I was upset.”
Online, there were at least two automotive forums in which car owners sought help with the same problem. I didn’t find any reports about recalls of the Cadillac DTS due to vibration, so I called GM headquarters and was hooked up with company spokesman David Caldwell. I told him about Layson’s car.
“This is not a repetitive problem,” he said, noting that there had been no official recall of the Cadillac DTS for vibration issues. And even if a handful of owners have raised the issue online, he said, they pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers who apparently enjoy the car.
As for Layson’s vehicle, Caldwell suggested that he schedule to have a regional GMC engineer have a look-see. Layson can call the dealership and make arrangements, he said, or he can call 800-333-4CAD.
“We’ll have someone at his front door,” Caldwell said.
Layson didn’t know he had the option. He might heed the advice, but right now he’s pretty put off with Cadillac. After all, he owns a nearly $50,000 car that doesn’t run right.
On the news, meanwhile, all he hears about is GM’s need for a bailout.
“It’s disheartening,” Layson said. “If they can’t take care of the customers they got, why the heck do they want to keep making cars? Not standing behind the product — it says more to me about integrity than anything else. I guess this car might be something I have to live with. As mama used to say, ‘Get over it.’ ”
On a recent business trip, Layson rented a DTS. The vehicle had the same vibration as his personal car.
“Only worse,” he said.
* Rick Badie updates his blog Monday through Friday.
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By LT5000
March 7, 2009 12:30 AM | Link to this
Blubbering Badie almost wrote a salient article yesterday.
Of course, then he had to pull it down after 24 hours, and replace it with his usual moronic drivel.
What’s the over/under that the AJC tanks before 2010?
LT5000
By Bruce Wilcox
March 7, 2009 10:54 AM | Link to this
He must have enjoyed the other Caddies and the customer service, doesn’t Georgia have a Lemon Law?
By Keith
March 7, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this
What is the large newspaper for this area? For example, New York has the NY Times, Los Angeles has LA Times and OC Register, Seattle has Seattle Times. Is there an Atlanta times? Most of these cities have about a dozen newspapers like this AJC but I’m looking for the one big one that represents this place. Not that kind that shows up free in your driveway. Thanks in advance.
By k byrge
March 8, 2009 7:59 AM | Link to this
Mr Layson needs to keep taking it to the dealer and ask to speak to the Regional contact. It is very important that he keeps detailed records of every visit and call. There is an attorney in Atlanta that handles lemon cases. He can find him on line. It took us over 2 years but as soon as we sent our records to the attorney and he told us he would take the case, we informed GM. They settled for 54,600. So tell Mr Layson he can do something about his car.
By Bubba
March 8, 2009 10:16 AM | Link to this
A question I have:
Who fixes Mr. Layson’s car if GM goes bankrupt, or worse yet, out of business?
By Shaun
March 8, 2009 10:54 AM | Link to this
I don’t think there’s an Atlanta Times here. I come here for business about 5 times a year and I grab pretty much whatever the hotel is offering. I’ve never seen a Times edition. You have to remember though that Atlanta is a small city and has maybe 1/4 of the resources as many other markets.
By Michael H. Smith
March 8, 2009 11:58 AM | Link to this
First guess to your question if GM goes bankrupt, Bubba, would be that Mr. Layson ends-up paying the costs out of his pocket with the option of lining-up behind a long line of other litigants to recoup his loses. Of course, if in the event Mr. Layson had a third party warranty he probably wouldn’t be concerned if GM goes bankrupt. Georgia has a lemon law which it seems would apply to Mr. Layson’s case. At this point k byrge’s post sounds like good advice to pursue.
@Shaun
There was once a paper by the name of The Atlanta Times in existence back in the ‘60s. The Atlanta Times experienced a very short lifespan, it simply could not compete with El Atlanta Journalesta’ Y Constitutionale’ (sic) a.k.a. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).
By Bruce Wilcox
March 8, 2009 1:49 PM | Link to this
Here’s an idea for Mr. Layson, TEST DRIVE.
By Mark
March 8, 2009 2:16 PM | Link to this
Bruce Wilcox You put it in a nut shell.
By Chris Broe
March 8, 2009 6:57 PM | Link to this
Isn’t a Cadillac just a Chevy with more sound-proofing?
By Chris Broe
March 9, 2009 12:56 AM | Link to this
Isn’t a Lincoln just a Ford with rich Corinthian leather seats and a better stereo?
Isn’t the whole approach to marketing automobiles in this country obsolete? I have sold cars in every decade since the 70’s. I know the biz. American car makers have lost touch with John Doe.
The bottom of the auto market coincided with that commercial that shows a very wet chick driving a Cadillac and the voice over sez, “When I turn my car on, it should turn me on.” Remember that nonsense?
Something is terribly wrong with us all. We’ve become a corrupt and stagnant body of consumers and producers. We’ve leeched off each other until we’ve blended into one vibrating mass of up-yours upward mobility, mindless affluence, and poor gas mileage.
By LT5000
March 9, 2009 9:14 AM | Link to this
Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
An added attraction for the cartels, say Nahmias and Rodney Benson, the DEA’s Atlanta chief, is the explosive growth of the Hispanic community.
*Nahmias calls northeast suburban Gwinnett County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, the “epicenter” of the region’s drug activity. *
Gwinnett’s Hispanic population surged from 8,470 in 1990 to 64,137 in 2000, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Now, 17% of the county’s 776,000 people are Hispanic.
Nope nothing else for Blubbering Badie to write about, might as well find a disgruntled Cadillac owner.
Please AJC fire this moron.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-08-mex-cartels_N.htm
LT5000
By jim d
March 9, 2009 11:04 AM | Link to this
One would think that Bud, being of an adult age would have heard about the Georgia Lemmon law
By Mark
March 9, 2009 12:06 PM | Link to this
American made cars are crap. I will never buy another.
By Gandalf, the White!
March 9, 2009 1:27 PM | Link to this
Push for getting rid of the illegals Badie! Make Gwinnett a good place to live again! That’s our biggest problem, only write about that until they all get taken home. Spanish isn’t spoken her you wetbacks!
By SnellvilleShops.com
March 9, 2009 8:34 PM | Link to this
The company no longer has a motivation to try to please the customer if the customer has already stated that he will not buy their product again.
To get a situation like this corrected, it works better to write to the top dog to get past the customer service underlings. Tell the company that you want your trust in them restored so that you will feel confident in purchasing from them and recommending their product to your friends and family. That gets more action. The letter gets forwarded DOWN to the person who can help you, and they work faster because the letter came down to them from the big boss.
By Michael H. Smith
March 9, 2009 10:16 PM | Link to this
This customer no longer has a motive to buy another GM - UAW made problem. This is a letter from your former BOSS, GM and illegal alien supporting UAW.
YOU ARE BOTH FIRED!
PS. Good luck finding your next tremendously lowering paying jobs. Without benefits of course.
By Bruce Wilcox
March 9, 2009 11:35 PM | Link to this
KMA, Michael Hemmorrhoid Smith, no one boo-hooed when GM was number uno in the world and Ford second. Don’t blame the UAW for the incompetence of management, the UAW had nothing to do with the design, marketing or following the trends in the industry. Did the UAW decide to purchase ceappy parts to save money?
Blame the blue collar for all the ills, the fat cats, I mean really Fat Cats always do, it’s no wonder you’re a ‘Hemmorrhoid’ sitting on your butt all day will do that.
By Michael H. Smith
March 10, 2009 2:25 AM | Link to this
Dumbass-hole Brucie Wilcox, I’m not boo-hooing now or then. As a customer I have every right to tell any business and their employees I am their boss and it is my right to essentially fire them by not buying their products or services.
It is so painfully obvious why you were a government worker. With your attitude and character flaw you would likely never have survived in the private sector, certainly not as a salesman, that I will personally attest to. My post sent a very loud and clear message that many who depend on customers for their livelihoods understood completely what I was saying and why I made the reply to the above message to a customer advising them to dance on what amounts to eggshells in dealing with GM.
One dissatisfied customer is all it takes to put you out of business, even if you are a GM or a Ford. Anyone that sells anything for a living or ever has, understands THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT! The customer is not the reason your are in business, the customer is the only reason you have a business or a job.
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Don’t blame the UAW for the incompetence of management, the UAW had nothing to do with the design, marketing or following the trends in the industry.
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Back your crap up, prove it! Where did I blame your slim-ball backstabbing anti-America worker union for any management mistakes. Though I’ll will go on to say this one more thing about the UAW and it applies to most every union and that has everything to do with worker character and attitude. Union members always think the company is screwing them and the company owes them. HOOEY! An employee owes the company/ employer that gave them a job.
The employer owes the employee nothing more than fair humane treatment and the agreed upon wages they earn; and the employee owes their employer a positive business attitude in the employer’s place of business, which includes the decency of character to do their job is such manner that says, Thank you Mr. or Ms. Employer for giving this job, I am working to keep it.
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Did the UAW decide to purchase ceappy parts to save money?
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Did UAW workers do crappy shoddy workmanship? No amount of money spent on parts can makeup for crappy shoddy workmanship done by people with the P’ poor attitude of… “ah screw it, the company has plenty of money and the fat cats upstairs don’t know squat about building these cars. Besides, the unions got my back.
I blame your scumbag unions for screwing the blue collar workers of this country to the floors, to the walls and to the ceilings too by advocating for illegal alien unauthorized workers that do replace American blue collar workers that do lower the wages of American blue collar workers that do pose an undue safety risk in the work place for themselves and America’s blue collar workers because they do not understand and cannot speak English to any proficient degree needed in the workplace. Your union can rot in hell for that anti-American worker amnesty advocacy! If you want to join them, then that is fine by me.
FYI dumb a***** Brucie, I stand on my feet all day except for break and at lunch time, which often has meant and even now continues to mean ten or more hours in a workday in a construction related private sector occupation. It has never meant sitting on my butt watching videos and eating popcorn waiting for the next car wreck to happen while nursing off a government teat.
By Bruce Wilcox
March 10, 2009 2:27 PM | Link to this
‘Hemmorrhoid’, your post is a laughable piece of crap, I survived my government job as a firefighter, you’re right, I couldn’t make it as a salesman, too boring kissing someone’s butt all day to sell a piece of crap from China. Remember government workers include the Police, Boarder Patrol and our military, not too smart to insult those putting their lifes on the line everyday.
What is the most dangerous part of being a salesman,a dog chasing you from the property, getting a door slammed in your face or having your foot jammed between the door and the jam.
Yes ‘Hemmorrhoid’, salesmen are first line of defense.
Being that you know little about Unions, maybe you attempted to join one and they refused you, would explain your unreasonable hatred or are you just channeling Lou?