Sunnyvale Dave

I took my car in for service at Courtesy Chevrolet this morning. The service advisor mentioned that the new ownership had taken over two weeks ago. They had changed the phone system, and he had a new direct phone number. I didn't think much about it.

I went in to get some hot chocolate and discovered that they had closed the Corvette Cafe. I thought the Corvette Cafe was the one thing that made Courtesy Chevrolet unique. The guy that ran it, Philippe, was always friendly and made a good breakfast. I asked about it, and was told that closing the cafe was one of the first moves the new ownership made.

I wonder what other changes will be made?

RichieRichZ06

I think there are many more changes in store for them. The owner has never been a GM fan and from what I here, he just wanted to add a GM dealership to his portfolio. Without passion for the Corvette and allowing employees to make decisions that reflect that passion, I would assume things will not be like they used to be.

tuxnharley

I'm surprised to hear that John Anderson sold it. He must have gotten a good offer. I know he bought it cheap; damn near stole it from the Roulette family after the old man passed away and they had financial problems.

Just another good reason to drive on up to Rio Vista and see Richie at Abel Chevrolet!!!!

Craig3Q

This sucks. I've had nothing but the royal treatment at Courtesy. I hope the employees there don't get shafted, but it sounds like the guy running the cafe has already been booted, so there goes that hope. I wonder if they at least still have free wifi and the employee loung in the lobby, in front of the former cafe.

Zoxxo

That *really* sucks. I always enjoyed Philippe and would have breakfast there when getting the oil changed on one of the cars.

Besides losing a lot of loyal (well, semi-loyal, anyway) customers?

Oh well. Yet another good thing gone. Sigh.

Z//

env00

Wow interesting......I too would take my vette their for an oil change and remember Philippe/Corvette cafe (nice guy)...the service advisor I always dealt with was Todd Mason....real cool guy...I'd work with him when he was with Billings Chevrolet in Milpitas (closed many moons ago).

- Eric

FastGhost

[QUOTE=
Just another good reason to drive on up to Rio Vista and see Richie at Abel Chevrolet!!!! [/QUOTE]
no place like Abel and the staff...

Craig3Q

Todd Mason is great.

Zoxxo

I miss Sandy.

Z//

flaagan

Buddy of mine and his wife both recently bought C6's from there, messaged him up to let him know about the change since he was very happy with the service he was getting from them before.

doje

While I generally go to Abel (even for an oil change), in an emergency I'll go to Courtesy if I have to. The one thing I liked about Courtesy service has always been Sandy Harris. I was bummed when she told me she was leaving.

Zoxxo

Yeah, she was just terrific. We email back and forth now and then. She's working for a Ford dealer (in Virginia - IIRC.)

Courtesy had a nice little setup there. Too bad they've foolishly dicked it.

Abel is just so far for only little stuff. If only the trip was more picturesque.

Z//

C7 BOB

The only other Chevrolet dealer in the San Jose area is Capitol Chevrolet. (It used to be Carl Chevrolet). It's owned by the Del Grande family (Oak Tree Mazda, Capitol Mazda, Subaru, etc.) Anyone have experience with them?

Zoxxo

I live close to them and have purchased a few parts from the parts department but I've never had service done there. I've just never received a very friendly vibe from them. I could be 100% wrong but on the other hand, in five years of reading the Corvette Forum not once have I heard anything about them - positive OR negative. Make of that what you will.

Z//

C6DuffMan

Well damn. Sandy was nice to work with. We'll have to keep an eye on Courtesy now and see how they do.

Craig3Q

How about Boardwalk? Anyone have service experience there?

AORoads

take a look at post #1.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-2010-z06.html

Grzldvt1

I have had my car at Capitol Chevrolet for service and it was fine. I had my ABS module go out and no private mechanic could figure out how to remove it and reprogram it. I took it to Capitol and they had it done in a few hours, and actually fixed up a couple of little things I didn't mention. I did have to tell them not to wash my car. But I drove away happy.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Having said that my shop also details some of their used cars(You can tell, they have a much better shine than the others ), so I am there quite often and deal with the Service dept.

I have never heard any of the customer picking up their cars and having issues. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, I just haven't seen it.
I see one or two Vettes a week in for Service, no Abel by any stretch, but they do get them.

Werks

I have to say that it sounds like you've had better experience with them than I have then. I took my brand new '11 Carbon Z06 to them with about 1200 miles on the clock because my rear window gasket was coming loose by the pas. side top corner of the halo (this is the gasket that is attached to the halo and seals against the rear glass when the hatch is closed so no water leaks into the trunk area). Brought the car in and they said that they would have to order the gasket and it should take a few days to come in. Finally roughly 2 weeks later I get a call that the part is there and make arrangements to drop the car off. Come back in the afternoon to pick up my car and the old gasket is still on there. They tell me that they got the wrong gasket in and they are going to have to order a different one which they will rush order. 2 1/2 weeks later I'm starting to wonder if there is some type of global shortage of window gaskets or something when I finally get a call that the gasket came in.

So.. drop the car off the second time to get the gasket installed. Give them the usual "the car is spotless, and they only made a few of these so please take care of it" during the walk around with the service writer etc. Get a call in the afternoon that the car is done and head down to pick it up. Get there and the gasket is indeed installed. Check the car over and notice that the rear cloth cargo cover/shade is balled up and just tossed in the back. Get in the car and their paper carper protector that they put in the cars to stop the guys tracking oil around is just crumpled up and tossed in the passenger foot well like a piece of trash or a crumpled up news paper. Needless to say I'm not thrilled to see this type of stuff with a nearly $90k car so I mention to the service writer that if they are going to be dealing with vehicles like this then the least that they can do is take a second to look things over so that customers do not get their cars back looking like they were trashed because getting a car back looking like that certainly does not make people feel like they actually care about the cars that they are working on. Obviously the service writer agrees with me and is apologetic. They offer me a free oil change which I thank them for but decline while explaining to them that I appreciate the offer but I'm not looking for anything free I'm just looking for the dealer to take care of my car.

Icing on the cake from the whole experience is that I have the car at another shop getting some work done to it and they mention to me that while comparing body panel spacing on a couple of C6's they noticed that my rear hatch is not aligned properly and that the hatch is hitting against the front of the rear quarter panel and is chipping it lol. So now I'm going to have to get that fixed too. So needless to say my car will no longer be going to Capitol Chevrolet which is unfortunate as it is only about 3 miles from my house! From this point forward my car will be making the trek over to Rich at Able who I will add I have never met but I hear nothing but positive comments and rave reviews about. First stop there will be to re-align my dmnn hatch and fix the chips.

So my $0.02 is even though I've dealt with that dealership when it was Carl Chevrolet for years without any problems and me and my dad have bought 4 cars from them (including 2x vetts) I will not be going there again for any type of service again. Unless that is I end up buying a pickup truck or some type of daily beater that I don't care about.

Boomer111

Attitude starts at the top and works its way down.

Businesses have forgot how to keep customers for the most part. I shop at only customer oriented businesses.

A good example is our local ACE hardware store. Even a company like "IN and OUT".