GM telephoned me about my emails to them re: Sean Hannity and their Caddie Promotion on his show

[Hepburn]

Awhile back I emailed GM about their promotion on the Sean Hannity Show which promoted their Caddie automobiles. Well, I must have hit a nerve somewhere because yesterday one of their "customer relations specialitsts" called me at home. For those who missed the thread where I posted the emails back and forth between me and GM, here they are:

MY ORIGINAL EMAIL TO GM:

#Subject=GMC Advertisement Comment

-----Original Message-----
From: [e-mail]
Sent: 10/5/06 10:00:03 PM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: GMC Advertisement Comment

Name : X. X. XXXXXX
Address : XXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXX XXXXXX, CA 9XXXX

Daytime Phone Number : (XXX) XXX - XXXX
ex.
Evening Phone Number : (XXX) XXX - XXXX
ex.

Comments : Today, I learned with utter HORROR
that you are using Sean Hannity as
a spokesperson. I have owned
Cadillacs and other GM vehicles
consistently since 1973. Today, I
went out and shopped for a new
Honda. I will NEVER under any
circumstances patronize ANY
business who has ANY association
with a piece of garbage like Sean
Hannity. You can kiss this 30-
year-plus customer "good-bye" and
I am blunt enough to name the spot
where you could put that kiss, but
I am betting you can guess where.

GM's RESPONSE:

----- Original Message -----
From: <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 7:37 AM
Subject: RE: GMC Advertisement Comment

Service Request: 1-437241177
Customer Relationship Specialist: Bruce Mitchell

Dear X.X. XXXXXX,

Thank you for your feedback and comments.

GM is a prominent advertiser in America and to tell our story we advertise across a tremendously wide array of media trying to connect with all customers irrespective of ethnic, religious or political affiliations.

The current promotion on Sean Hannity’s program is not intended to create controversy or support for any political view. Rather, it is designed to generate interest in our world-class lineup of vehicles. Sean Hannity has not been hired as a spokesperson nor is he receiving compensation from GM.

Again, we appreciate your views and thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Sincerely,


The General Motors Consumer Support Team

MY REPLY TO THE ABOVE:

ANY association with Sean Hannity as far as I am concerned spells POISON in my book. This is a man who is out supporting MARK FOLEY ~~ the US Congressman who resigned because he was sexually exploiting minors involved in the Page Program. If you care to associate with that type of person, then you can kiss my patronage good-bye. I am in the process of buying a new Honda ~~ not a new Cadillac ~~ and I will NEVER buy another new Cadillac again as long as you have ANY association with the likes of Sean Hannity. If you wish to have a pedophile-supporter such as Hannity involved with you, of course, that is your business. But, as a parent and consumer, I choose to take my business elsewhere.

Are you telling me that you are now reaching out to pedophile-supporters? Heck of a market you are looking to appeal to. You know, you ARE KNOWN by the people you associate with. Ever hear that before? You chose to associate with Sean Hannity. I don't do business with people who associate him. I am passing your email along to others who find Hannity's support of Foley to be utterly disgusting. I am sure they will also look upon you in less than a favorable light. I could not care less if he was receiving no money from you or even if he was paying you for the promotion he is running. You lie down with dogs ~~ you get fleas. At this point in time, all you have done is disgust me further about GM policies and "appealing" to all segments of society. Hey, go after the pedophile-supporters all you want. You must be really hungry for business to support trash like that.

I spoke to a friend who is a life-long Caddie buyer. He started in 1972 when he could first buy a new Cadillac. He was about to buy his 6th or 7th one. I told him that GM is now associated with Sean Hannity and if he did not believe me, to check it out for himself. He did and he is now looking at Jaguars.

After she introduced herself to me and mispronounced my last name twice ~~ without listening to my correction of how to say a very simple "English" last name ~~ she went into a song-and-dance about how EVERY GM customer is so important to GM that they thought they should follow up on my dissastifaction with their company with a phone call. She then stated she would like to discuss the matter with me.

At that point in time, she asked me how I felt about GM..and, boy, that was the WRONG thing to ask a mouthy liberal like me who has been kept totally well-informed by reading on the DU. (Thank you to all the well-informed posters on the DU for all of the wonderful information you bring to the forum every day! What a load of ammo I had right at my finger tips!)

I first asked her if she would like to wipe the blood off her hands before we continued our conversation any further. This was met by apparently stunned silence from her ~~ because she was totally silent. I went on to tell her that GM and corporate America are supporters of trash like Sean Hannity and his ilk who support the lying POS Bush who has sent nearly 3,000 US soldiers to their deaths in Iraq based on lies about WMD. That Fox News and the lying employees like Hannity still further the lies which by this time anyone with a brain knows to totally untrue. I further went on to tell her about the sums of money the corporations like GM contributed to Bush and his election campaigns. I told her that GM supported the lies that has sent thousands to their deaths and asked her if she would like to discuss this particular dissatisfaction with me.

At that point in time, the GM rep asked me again about my dissatisfaction with GM. She clearly did not get it in the least that I was not about to continue to patronize a company that supported Bush. She wanted to know why I did not care for their "product" and would no longer be buying GM autos or trucks.

My next response to her was about how the income and salaries of corporated executives have risen while the wages of their regular employees has not kept up with inflation. That was one giant reason I would not support corporations who had execs who lived like kings, but who had regular employees who were struggling to make ends meet and could not even declare bankruptcy because of the new bankruptcy laws that the Repub Congress passed which basically denied these people a new start. I suggested that maybe a few of those execs did not need two or three homes all over the U.S. while their workers could not support themselves or their families on one paycheck.

Ummmmm....she STILL did not get the discussion I was having with her and again tried to re-direct the conversation back to why I would no longer be purchasing GM products. It was apparent at this point in time that either she did not read my emails to GM or if she did, she simply totally out of touch with the political realities of what I wrote.

So.....I then told her that she most likely was too late trying to patch things up with this former Caddie/GM buyer because I had already put in an order for a new Honda CRV. I told her that not only was it better than anything that came off their production line, but any profits on it did not go to a bastard like Sean Hannity or Fox News who was promoting the LIE that under-age, male U.S. Congressional pages were to blame for Mark Foley's conduct and it was those nasty pages chasing the hell out poor Rep. Foley to get him to stick his dick in one or both of their bodily orifices ~~ and, oh, yes, these were obviously LIBERAL pages from bad families. I asked her if I could make myself anymore clear than that and told her that maybe the fact that their product is crap, they don't protect their workers and they supported and still support that asshole Bush and his deadly lies minght not have been enough of a "deal breaker" with me, but supporting someone like Hannity who made up lies and excuses for a pedophile really crossed the line with me to the max and never again would another GM product grace my driveway.

I then asked her if there was anything that she did not understand about my position in regard to GM and she replied, "I guess not." To that I wished her a nice day and asked her a favor ~~ that when she went to the polls on November 7th, to remember who protected children, soldiers and workers and who did not. And, thereafter, I wished her a "good-bye" and thanked her for the call ~~ it was a pleasure to get a few things off my chest.

I doubt if what I said did any good ~~ but, I do have to say it sure made me feel good to personally tell GM exactly what I thought of them!

:hi:

Edit for typo

[pepperbear]

1. good job. The CS agent probably had a script...

that kept her on topic:

Why would you buy a toyota instead of a GM? How can we keep your business?

How about you stop peddling your wares on Hannity?

[Hepburn]

2. I bet you are right on that...

...she concentrating on the "product" and not what GM was doing politically. She was not, to say the least, prepared at all to discuss Foley or other subjects with me.

Maybe I gave her some food for thought...but I doubt it.

[driver8]

6. I think these idiots really feel that the public doesn't care about things like

that. They find it hard to believe that one would boycott a company based on politics.

[oregonjen]

11. Oh, I don't know about that. The right sure did a number on the

Dixie Chicks. I think perhaps they may not be used to the left doing that sort of thing, though.

[pepperbear]

25. and why wouldn't they expect a reaction either...

I mean what with entering into the political fray by shilling for such a polarizing buffoon.

If they want to stick with why toyota is better than GM (gee, half of their small cars are MADE by toyota), maybe they should sponsor my name is earl or something.

[SouthernBelle82]

23. Definitely appears to be the case

It seems to be the case of her being on a script. Especially obvious when she kept repeating the nonsense about customers while seeming to ignore the original poster has been a customer since the 70's. I personally have a Honda I got once for my eighteenth birthday (used 2001) and it's a great car. I hope the original poster enjoys their Honda. My dad has always used them (even with his old 80's mazda he had to get rid of a couple of years ago) and they've always been good with customer service and have good cars.

[Joe Bacon]

28. Did she phone you from a call center in India?

I wouldn't be surprised if she did. After all, GM is into cutting costs, aren't they?

[driver8]

3. Hepburn -- that is an awesome story!!

Way to go!

Fuck GM -- I'll never buy one of their cars or trucks...it's Honda or Toyota for me!!

[Hepburn]

13. Hi and thanks!

I was rather surprised, to say the least, that they bothered to call me. My main purpose in sending them the original email was to get them to stop supporting Faux Snooze with their advertising. I had hoped that if they got enough negative emails about Hannity, they would pull their promotion.

I don't know why exactly they picked me to call ~~ but since they did respond personally with a live telephone call, maybe they got some negative feedback and the DU made a mark on them.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

4. Absolutely postively dead on!!!!!

Hepburn, :yourock:....

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. I received an identical reply from GM to my letter. My, what a concidence.

You don't suppose it's not a personal reply to us, do you?

Nah, GM would never do that.

[whistle]

7. Were you offered a $10,000 rebate on the purchase of a new Cadillac?

[Hepburn]

14. Nope...

...and I would not have taken it anyhow! The price of a new Caddie compared to a new Honda CRV???? What a difference! Besides...the Honda is a much better product!

[Clark2008]

27. Honda's aren't much better... but I digress.

[Hepburn]

29. I have had them both...

...and I can tell ya from personal experience, any Honda I have had has been a ton better than any Caddie I ever bought ~~ and I started buying Caddies in 1973. At 60,000 miles most of my Caddies looked "worn." At 60,000 with my Hondas, they still looked inside and outside almost like new cars. Some "gizmo" ALWAYS was broken on all of my Caddies ~~ and my Lincolns, too ~~ but I have never had things like this happen with the two Hondas I have owned. I fought for years against buying "foreign" cars ~~ and then I ended up with a Honda (the story behind how is long and I need not go into how I got Honda #1). I am totally sold on Honda cars. They cost far less than any of the luxury cars I have owned, perform far better and are reliable and still look good for years after the first day they go on the road.

I take excellent care of my cars and when I am ready to get a new one, there is a list of people waiting to get whatever I have been driving. That has always been true of my Caddies and my Lincolns. However, I literally had a bidding war over my first Honda when I decided to get a new one.

I love Honda and I have never been more satisfied with any product which I have purchased and owned. I would add that the dealership in my area is absolutely out of sight on being the best ever. The charges are reasonable, the people are polite, well informed and when I get my car back ~~ on top of all of this ~~ the car have been washed inside and out. With all the Caddies I have owned, I have NEVER had service this good...or this cheap!

[jedr]

8. Vote at the polls and vote with your wallet;

the only way to break the Corporate strangle-hold on our government is to use all weapons at hand. A few dozen letters such as this will get their attention fast......good job, I urge others to join you!

[lpbk2713]

9. Excellent. K&R

They really polarized themselves as far as I'm concerned by choosing InSannity as their spokestooge.

[BlueInPhilly]

12. Way to go

I'm going to get off the script here and tell you that you probably just unloaded your chest to a CS making $18K a year, and you probably upset her in the process too while she failed to meet her quota for "#s of satisfied customers". If you feel good about what you did, good for you. If you think it would ever reach Rick Wagoner and his minions, I don't think so. What should you have done? I don't know... maybe asked for the number of the chief for marketing / customer relations.

[Hepburn]

18. You most likely are correct.

I truly was a bit startled when I got the phone call. And I did think a bit about this towards the end of my "conversation" with her. So...that is why I asked her to do me a favor when she went to the polls on November 7th and to remember just who protects us.

[rhett o rick]

10. Great post. I just fired off an email to GM. nm

[neoblues]

15. Clearly your answer was beyond her comprehension...

might've given here the short answer she could write down on her short customer contact report:
1. How do you feel about GM? (Customer Response: :-( )
"Company has unacceptable "partisan" bias for Republicans because of Hannity advertising"
2. How do you feel about GM Products? (Customer Response: :-( )
"GM Products inferior because of Corporate Political Bias for Neocons"
3. Any Other Comments: (Customer Response: :-( )
"GM is now associated with Congressional Sex Scandal because it chose to support Hannity who supports Foley"; "GM Executives are grossly overpaid and probably just like Mark Foley and Sean Hannity"
Thank You for your Response Sir; We'll Do Everything (nothing) in Our Power to Address our Customer's Concerns (sure we will)

But at least it might've gotten written down and made it to the first-line manager before being filed in the dumpster. So, yeah, why bother.

Edit: fix smileys...

[Hepburn]

17. Excellent suggestions

I wish I had thought more clearly and quickly when the GM rep called me and had gone down a list like this. Yep, she appeared to have a "program" and she was not getting responses from me which led her into her next question to a "dissatisfied customer."

[CharmCity]

16. How to Slow Down Hannity (and Others)

Great for standing up to GM.
The most effective way to take on companies like that is to keep the message simple and to the point. In my humble opinion, I think the initial objective should be to weaken Hannity, Rush, etc.
In this case, consider telling them "I will not buy your products as long as GM continues to support Sean Hannity or any other far-right wing spokesperson. And I intend to tell all my friends and family to do the same."
This a very effect grassroots approach. Companies really listen -- right-wingers have been doing this for years with great results.
So: consider contacting the major GOP contributors and tell them you're done buying their stuff until they stop supporting Hannity and Rush (and whatever other garbage they support out there).

[Hepburn]

20. Good idea.

I am sick of corporate America shoving neocon politicians down the throats of all of us regular voters who do not benefit in the least by the tax breaks and other financial support that these corps get from the pols they help elect. Let's face it: We have all known for a long time that corp America is NOT the friend of the average American.

The only way we can get to these corp giants is by not supporting them when we exercise any buying power we have. Maybe they will get the hint and maybe they will not ~~ but at least we do not even in some small way give them the profits to fund assholes like Bush and his media whores like Hannity, Rush and the rest of those assholes.

You know, it is not the tax breaks these corp giants get that really, really gets to me ~~ its the IMMORALITY they support in order to get those tax breaks. Turning a blind eye on the deaths of nearly 3,000 soldiers and thousands upon thousands of Iraqis and blaming the victims of sexual predators like Foley for the wrongful conduct they received??? These corp assholes deserve NO financial support from those of us who find this kind of conduct totally reprehensible.

I hope some of them start getting our message and STOP supporting the LIES and IMMORALITY! Hmmmmm....I guess I live in a dream world, but I just keep hoping things in our country get back on track.

[BluegrassDem]

21. Buying a Honda doesn't help

They're made in non-union factories. Whether you like it or not, GM provides more Americans jobs than all foreign auto companies combined! These jobs are union jobs in blue states. The Japanese factories here don't treat their employees much better than Wal-Mart does theirs. I know this cause my dad works at Toyota in Kentucky. If you're truly progressive, then you should just be equally outraged by the foreign automakers as well.

Also, Honda and Toyota make excellent cars. But their SUV's leave something to be desired. The CR-V is a troublesome vehicle and has had a history of problems. It's certainly not one of Honda's finer products. A Ford Escape or Saturn VUE would more trouble free.

[Hepburn]

30. Sorry...

...but I must disagree. I am about to buy my 3rd CRV. It is by far and large the best car I have ever owned. I have NEVER had one problem with the two CRVs I have owned. I have had Ford and GM products and I will never buy another one.

I checked the safety ratings for Honda CRVs in crash tests. The highest rating possible is a "5." In all categories, the Honda CRV received a "5" rating. Please see the following link:

http://www.internetautoguide.com/crash-tests/09-int/2003/honda/cr-v/index.html

As for the Escape: It did not fair as well as the Honda CRV did. It received only a "4" rating on the passenger-side crash test whereas the Honda received a "5." Please see link:

http://www.internetautoguide.com/crash-tests/09-int/2004/ford/escape/index.html

As for the VUE: It tested out with the exact same ratings as the Honda CRV. Please see link:

http://www.internetautoguide.com/crash-tests/09-int/2005/saturn/vue/index.html

And.....the re-sale or trade in value of a Honda CRV is far better than either the Escape or the VUE. Right now, I can get about $1,500 MORE than I paid for my used CRV which I bought over two years ago. Yes, it is low mileage and a top of the line CRV with all the bells and whistles, but even with that, I doubt that two years later a VUE owner or an Escape owner can say that about their vehicles.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi CharmCity!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[leesa]

19. I'll bet she had a hard time condensing those responses into sound-bites

about some car. Good job.

[williesgirl]

24. Thumbs UP! Hooray for You! Thanks so much for saying what we all think.

recommended

[twenty4blackbirds]

26. That's a great response

A very eloquent way of phrasing "GM is an unethical corrosive warmonger".

Bravo!