First off- they were super great to me in the service department UNTIL I left a good review on their website. Then it all started to go downhill.
We started having problems when our 2002 Chevrolet Malibu started overheating. We put more coolant into the surge tank, it filled up fine, but the next day it overheated and the surge tank was empty. Suspecting a leak, I took it to the Walker Chevrolet Service Center because they were so helpful when I was trying to get my vehicle to pass emissions just a month prior.
They fit me into their busy schedule, which was really great of them to do, and did a pressure test. Almost an hour later, they came back to tell me they found no leaks; however, the whole cooling system was "gunky" (they described it like the film in a fish tank that hasn't been cleaned) and they believed it had never been taken care of in the life of the vehicle. They offered to flush it- twice to be certain- to get the gunk out, then the would refill it and pressure test again to make sure they didn't miss anything.
The quote they gave me was a few dollars less than what the total came to, so I was unimpressed with that part. I was also unimpressed with $300 to flush my system, that seemed excessive. But I paid and they gave me back my car and said I was all good, no leaks were found.
FOUR days later, the car started SMOKING while my husband was driving home from work and suddenly went from fine to overheating. We took it back to Walker Chevrolet the next day to try to figure out what was going on. I had an appointment, and even arrived for that appointment a little early, but it still took over three hours to figure out what was wrong. They updated me once during that time- the first time, they said it was going to take several hours and offered to shuttle me home...until they noticed (apparently for the first time since coming in??) that I had a toddler and they said they couldn't move my car seat over to get me home and we'd both just have to wait. The only other time they talked to me was to tell me what the problem was.
THREE gaskets were suddenly leaking and the car needed $1200+ in work to take care of. I asked how that could happen since we just took our car in less than a week ago and there were no leaks. TJ talked around the problem- saying the "gunk" from before was "masking" the problem (though they cleaned out the "gunk" and tested again, according to them, so shouldn't they have found it?) then saying that the problem was driving it around when it was in bad condition (they had told me less than a week prior that the cooling system was fine, so I had no reason NOT to drive it, I trusted their assessment). When I expressed that they might be responsible- at least for not actually solving the problem the first time and telling me it was fine to drive which made the problem worse- he just kept talking around these points. Then he suggested that if I didn't have $1200 to fix it, that it might be good for a trade in.
I said I had to talk to my husband, and they offered to get my car seat to their shuttle car and get me home. I'd already had to WALK with my toddler to a Walgreens to get lunchables to eat in their waiting area AND they had woken my toddler from taking her afternoon nap on a chair in the waiting area. I only did these things because they said they COULDN'T take me home before.
So they shuttle me home and my husband and I decided to trade in the car...but somewhere else. We didn't trust Walker Chevrolet with our car any longer.
When I went back to pick up the car, they brought it around for me and said they'd had to jump start it. They tried to tell me the battery needed additional testing and there might be more wrong with it and they needed to keep it longer, but I told them to give me the keys to my car and let me leave. They kind of laughed at me and shrugged their shoulders like "good luck." They went from helpful to condescending practically overnight.
Until we could trade in the car at a different dealership, we had to jump start the car every time we started it because the car would overheat if we drove it long enough to get the battery charged back up. The battery should not have been bad, it was only a year old!! They killed my battery in the one night they had it and tried to use that as an excuse to keep my car there. I suspect they wanted to do that so they could give me pennies for my car in trade in value and get me to buy a car at their location.
I got a Toyota and am more than happy with my decision. My husband and I have sworn off Chevrolet for all future car purchases, just in case we'd ever need to bring it to Walker Chevrolet for any reason.
(They also never gave me the opportunity to review this visit on their website. Once they get a good review, the service goes downhill fast. I wouldn't trust any review on their site, at least not the good ones!) read more