In March 2005 I had taken ownership of a brand new Opel astra enjoy from a dellership in Durban. On the first day The vehicle over heated. On calling the help line they informed me to bring the vehicle in for a check up. After rectifying the problem there were other problems that i picked up in the next few days which supposed to have been checked when the PDI of the vehicle was done. I had to again go back to the dealership to sort out these problems. In the second week of me driving my vehicle I noticed that the vehicle swayed on windy days and also did not handle well on concreted roads.

I again informed the dealership who the arranged for a test drive. Prior to the test drive I informed the technician that the problem is felt when you drive under 20km per hour or over 135 km per hour. The results of the test drive was that the were no problems being experienced as was reported by me.
The technician had not taken my experiences when thesting the vecle into account.

I complained but the dealership told me there is nothing they can do. I tried another dealership, but before I went in for the visit I had the shocks of the vehcle tested by an independant Tyre delership. The resluts were that the rear shocks were damaged. With the resluts in hand I went back to the dealership and showed the results to the service centre manager, who then decided that the shocks needed to be changed. The rear two shocks were subsequestly changed. This entire episode took the dealership at least one months to rectify.

The vehicle became more better to drive on concreate roads. The fish tailing at the back of the vehicle did not go away and the vechicle still swayed on windiny days.

I was at my ends when I decided to try another dealership for assistance, the dealership in question also test drove the vecle and reported no faults. Tired and angry I tried another dealership who after many tests and pestering decided to change the front two shocks. This did not change anything.
About 6 months ago I noticed that my rear tyre was splitting in right around the tyre in the centre. The service centre manager then informed me that he would need to get a professonal opinion on the tryes and refered me to another reputable tyreship. On inspection the owner of the dealership informed me that in his twenty years of him being involved in the business he has never seen something like this. He then relayed the information to the service centre manager at opel who inturn requested me to go to Bridgestone and have the tyre inspected.

The General Manager of the plant inspected the vehicle and decided to swap the damaged tyre with a second hand tyre and informed me that he would try to ascertain why the tyre was spliting by sending it to the Johannesburge branch for analysis. To date I have not been contacted by the individual or his company and have not received that report also.

My vechicle is now 19 months old and still has not been sorted out. I called the National call centre and informed them of my problem. To cut a long story short they also cannot asist me because abridgestone has now told them that the tyres on the vehicle has only got 40% life left. Six months ago the general manager of bridgestone , mobeni told me that " I must continue to use the tryes and when it requires changing I must come in back to him and he would arrange a discount. Opel has had similar complaints but due to them not coverng the warranty on the tyres they refuse to assist. My point is there is no proper customer service at Opel and If there were I have not recieved it as yet.
The dealer principle a Mr Lutendo and the service centre manager all acknowledge that the is a serious problem with the vehilce before he took it back to bridgestone for testing. But due to bridgestone idicating to him that the tryes have been used past a certain percentage they are not prepared to accept liability of the problem.

This man then decided to take a u-turn and not assist me in rectifying the problem. It is sad that the organisation that supplied the vehilce to me is not prepared to assist me, citing the fact that the do not cover warenty on tyres.

Had the technicial been qualified enough to detect the problems when i had complained about my vecle when I had taken ownershio of it, I would not have been in the problem.

I intend taking leagal action against both organisations for all the inconvenience they have put me through and also the fact that they (GSM and Bridstone) do not value safety. I can write more about my experiences but don't have the time. If anyone out there owns an Opel and hs expierienced similar, hope you get more joy than me. If any one has advise for me please inform me what else I can do.


Mr. Angry
SA




When and again the same response.On my way to