I lost my only ignition key for my 2002 Buick Century. I contacted local garage to get new key made. I was told no problem.--bring proof of ownership, ID and VIN for the car and they would make a key for $30 -$40. They would have to order the key. Nest day I went in to pick up key and was charged $82 for 2 keys (had only requested on). Keys did not work! Called dealer and was told that they would have to "reprogram" keys and that I would have to have the car towed in. Arrived at dealership with car and was told they could not "reprogram" the keys because it could take 45 min a key and sometimes failed the first time. The next day I was told that I needed a new ignition! This would cost $397 for the part alone! Then it could still be more money to program plus I would still need to purchase the keys! I refused to do it! After much research I found out that the key for this car does not have to be programmed at all! To make a very long story short -- I paid a locksmith $125.It took him about 35 mins and he had a new key made. The locksmith had over 20 years experince and assured me that this was the original ignition--that all the original clips were present. He said that in rare instances he has seen this happen where the car manufacturer has the wrong key code. The dealer had been trying to convince me that the original ignition had been changed out but there was only one owner before me and no evidence that person had this done. So for what should have cost $32 and taken less than 10 min--I had spent almost $300 and was without the use of my car for over a week while I tried to sort out this problem! Had I followed what the dealership said I would have been out approx $600 or more!
I called and wrote both the dealership and the Buick division o GM. So far it has been over 2 months and I still have not received any satisfaction. I believe they should return anything I had to pay over what it should have cost to have the key made. The customer service at GM Buick was one of the worst I have ever had to deal with. representatives did not call back when they said they would, when I called back and asked to speak to a supervisor on numerous occasions--they would not transfer my call. The 4 people I have dealt with so far have been very ill trained and did no homework before giving me their answers.