PITRE BUICK GMC

I gave Pitre failing grades because I spent time and money and they did
absolutely nothing for me.  I?ll explain
what happened and you can decide whether I have been too picky or not.  Our Yukon XL is 3 months short of being 5
years old and has about 60,000 miles on it.
 Radiator Fan
Over the last few months the radiator fans on our Yukon XL have been
making a lot of noise?turning on much more often than before.  When I researched that symptom on the
internet it appeared to be a failing temperature sensor.  Several ?experts? recommended taking it into
the dealer and having it done under warranty. 
My reading of the warranty said it was for 5 years, so I took it in.  The first person I talked to about it, Sean,
said it was out of warranty.  When I
escalated it to Randy, the Service Manager, he said that it was under warranty,
but that I would have to pay for the diagnosis to prove that was really the
problem.  Eventually, he agreed to do the
diagnosis free.  I took the truck in and
he met me and explained that he?d reread the warranty and it was out of
warranty but that was too complicated a situation to explain over the phone, so
he let me fight rush hour to find out.  I
suppose that he thought that as long as I was there I?d just leave it and agree
to pay some unspecified number of hundreds of dollars for the fix.
 For the record, his second reading that the specified emission
components are warranted for 2 years (less than their ?bumper-to-bumper?
warranty) was probably legally correct. 
I had missed a reference to earlier paragraphs when I read it.
Recalls
As long as I was researching the radiator fan, I researched
recalls.  I looked them up on GM?s phone
line, GM?s internet site, and NHTSA?s online database.  All three had different lists.  The one that concerned me most was
safety-related?the binding ignition switch issue that made headlines a while
back.  It was on the NHTSA site
only.  Randy told me that since it was
not on his list he could not do the work as a recall.
I have a case submitted to NHTSA to see which list is correct and to
reconcile them, so I don?t know for sure who is correct.
Transmission
As I recall, all the GM trucks I?ve owned over the last 40 years have
recommended transmission fluid service at 50,000 or 60,000 miles.  Since our truck just turned 60,000, I thought
I?d look into it.  While I had Sean on
the phone I asked him about that.  After
I told him that I?d relocated from Houston he said that here in New Mexico they
recommend a transmission fluid flush at 30K miles for $149.95+tax and a
transmission service (drop the pan, change filter, etc.) at 60K for
$248.00+tax.  In other words, get in here
now and have >$400 worth of work done. 
I smelled a flagrant up-sell.  The
truck has spent its life in flatland and most of its miles have been on flat
interstates and he wanted to treat it like a heavy use vehicle driven in hilly,
dusty New Mexico.  And generate $400 in
business in the process.
So I looked it up and found that page 11-6 of the Owner?s Manual calls
for ?Automatic transmission fluid change (normal service)? at the first oil
change after every 100,000 miles.  One
online site referred to the synthetic fluid being used now, so that may explain
the change from days of yore.
I then spoke to Randy and he explained that he had been doing
transmission work for 30 years and recommends a fluid change at 60K miles.  In fact, he said, if I did nothing and came
to him at 100K miles he would refuse to work on the transmission because of the
likelihood that his work would destroy the transmission.  When I asked about what the manual said, he
criticized GM?s recommendation as inadequate.
I called GM?s Service Center and they stuck to their guns about waiting
until 100,000 miles.

unknown

There was a recall and he called us up and they let us know that GM will call up and say that there is a recall on something. The gentleman that I deal with is Frank and he's an excellent attendant. He's very professional as far as letting me know if something that needs to be done with the car, but he does not push me on it. You can drop your car off and then they will shuttle you back to your home or to your work and then when the car is ready, they will come pick you up again. I'll take the car in at 7 o'clock in the morning and usually by noon, it's ready to go. They charged $29 for the oil change, filter, and disposal of the oil, which was fairly reasonable.

They did a good professional job in the time they said it would take.

Their parts department is excellent but their service department is just okay. The parts department has always been very good there. They are willing to deal with customers and are pleasant. They look like they enjoy their job.

My truck is under warranty so I didn't pay them. They did nothing for me. They actually diagnosed the problem as something else and when I tried to argue the point with another technical service bulletin he gave me a brush off. They weren't looking at what the problem was and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I think warranty work doesn't pay them anything so they didn't really want to address it; or they must have misunderstood what I had said and just thought that I was arguing their point for them to do something.

Ya know, we have done business twice here before (approximately 2006 and 2007), but this time blew us out of the water. Sooooo satisfied. Herman Sanchez was a great sales guy. He did his job for us. Very, very knowledgeable on big trucks, towing, RV-ing, diesel vs. gas....and that is exactly what we needed.

There were options to be completed after the sale and Herman was so effective, prompt, and kind, that my wife could cry. His sales manager/finance guy was awesome, too. We bargained with them and they came back with a fair deal that we ended up making us happy. I've bought more than a few new vehicles and traded in old ones over the years and this was the best experience ever.

WE HAVE BEEN USING THEM FOR ABOUT FOURTEEN YEARS AND HAVE BEEN NOTHING BUT HAPPY WITH THEIR SERVICE. THEY ARE VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO DO THE BEST JOB THEY CAN FOR ME.