DETROIT — Approximately 193 consumers are returning vehicles under GM's 60-day Money Back Guarantee program, the automaker said on Thursday. Those disgruntled buyers will be contacted by General Motors to participate in exit interviews to find out why they are "not satisfied," said Mark Reuss, GM vice president of global product engineering.
"People are not satisfied and we're going to find out why," Reuss said in a GM statement. "This is about the best unfiltered consumer feedback we've had, and it was suggested by [GM chairman Ed] Whitacre. We've got all the [customer] data. We've gone to see some of them and we're calling some of them at night as well."
GM reported that 653 customers to date have opted for the 60-day return guarantee in lieu of a $500 discount on a new vehicle purchase. Fifty-three vehicles have been returned, and about 140 others are in the process of being returned.
In one case, GM said a Cadillac SRX buyer traded up to a more expensive SRX. Another customer was "unhappy with the paint quality and interior roominess of a Chevy Silverado pickup," GM reported.
The exit interviews will be conducted by Reuss or one of his engineering leadership team.
Inside Line says: It's surprising that nobody at GM thought of doing something like this before the company's market share slipped so low. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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coveman says:
04:57 AM, 06/27/2010
Missed out on the program, otherwise the Seirra would be returned in a heartbeat. Purchased truck based on what I feel was false towing capacity, cannot handle near the weights provided in GM's technical data. Older trucks of the same class and models all with lower capacities, or less, can easily do the job mine cannot. Love to have an interview.
tbone85 says:
03:57 AM, 11/21/2009
I think the actual data from the surveys will indicate a wider series of issues than those outlined above. Generic buyers remorse which strikes every buyer of a large ticket item will certainly be one reason. The overall number of returns is tiny given the number of vehicles sold, so the quality doomsayers are definitely overstating the case. Over the last couple of years we've rented and driven a number of vehicles while travelling and testing cars. The worst was the unbelievably sloppy handling Toyota Camry with 500 miles on the odometer. The best vehicles were the Honda Oddyssey, GMC Acadia, and the Chevy Malibu. As a person who has owned all Fords and Mazdas over 25 years of car ownership, GM has definitely improved and has some offerings that are among the best or the best in their class. Malibu, CTS, Acadia, Lacrosse, Equinox are very strong offerings.
GM needs a world class compact and subcompact. The Volt needs to be a home run. They need to continue improving their products faster than the fastest charging competitors (in the U.S. it's Ford, Honda, Hyundai). Finally, they need time for perception to catch up with reality. It took a decade for Toyota and Honda to receive recognition once they were making great cars. It took Hyundai a little less time to close the perception gap once they were producing some world class models. If GM can continue high level execution, in 3-5 years they will be gain momentum from improved perceptions.
jays83gsl says:
01:49 PM, 11/20/2009
I think it's much more likely that they returned them because they didn't like the shoddy quality they got with the car. They bought into initial market hype of GM's commercials (some of which claim outright LIES like the best warranty in the industry), realised they were buying a tinkertoy, and took it back.
I realise a few may have been folks that were able to get the credit for the cars, but not able to afford them, but with extremely stringent crediting processes in the modern day, I don't see that as a likely option for many of them.
Above the 193+ returns, does anyone know what GM's actual sales figures were? I know sales are dangerously low, so that could be a bigger percentage than they are making it out to be.
In short: GM needs to make quality products, not gimmicks like a money back program, to sell their cars. I'm a lifelong Dodge fan, and they're in the same boat. Right now Dodge seems to be relying on weird-ass European style commercials to sell (See "My tank is full"), rather than quality products. Granted, certain Chrysler products are already leaps and bounds ahead of GM's as far as quality (Challenger -> Camaro. On the Camaro fansite I was seeing TONS of complaints, from stuff as absurd as the top of the plastic surrounding the grill not being painted, to recalls {plenty of them} to tail lights just falling out. The list of problems with the Camaro are limitless.), but a couple of products can't carry them through this.
Ford had the right idea. They shaped up RIGHT away. They're putting out amazing products like the redesigned Mustang and the SHO (which I am a very proud owner of), which are the first steps toward actually competing with Asia.
GM needs to do what Ford's doing, not what GM has been doing for the last 100 years.
firstclass says:
09:45 AM, 11/20/2009
GM should be reading into sites such as this. It's highly probable that most of the 193 returns were due to an inability to afford the vehicle. Customers are simply taking advantage of an opportunity. They get the car and find they have to cut back on some luxuries ...so they simply return it for a car with a cheaper monthly payment. GM cars have come a long way since geo. I read some of the best criticisms on this site from non GM owners.