SAN ANTONIO — Fernando Garanzuay bought a slightly used Chevy Trailblazer Active in December of last year. He was able to use the vehicle to get to work, drive for Uber, and do other things; and it only had around 14 thousand miles at the time.
But four months later, at only 26 thousand miles, the vehicles transmission suddenly went out. Garanzuay had it towed to a local Chevrolet dealership, as it was still under warranty, and the technicians told him they would order the parts. The dealership also said the it would take a while to get those parts so it gave him a rental vehicle free of charge.
Two months later, the parts still hadn't shown up. Garanzuay was also still making payments on his Trailblazer but had no idea when it would get fixed.
"They just say it's on back order. There is no estimated time," Garanzuay said. "I'm paying for something I'm not using."
Finally, in July, he called KENS 5.
KENS 5 reached out to Northside Chevrolet, which still had the vehicle, a few days afterwards. A service manager told KENS 5 they had already requested the part in their system and there wasn't anything else they could do.
KENS 5 then reached out to Chevrolet Corporate to ask why the transmission is so hard to find at this time and ask if Chevy is still having supply chain issues.
Chevy corporate responded the next day and told KENS 5 they had found the needed parts.
A spokeswoman said via email, "Thank you for reaching out! I wanted to let you know that Fernando will be hearing from the dealership soon with an update. The parts he needs are being prepared to ship, and should arrive soon."
KENS 5, again, asked why the parts had been unavailable for two months. We also asked what Chevy would recommend other customers do in the same situation.
Chevy did not address the supply chain question but did send a response saying, "Customers should work directly with their local Chevy dealership should they face any service issues with their vehicle."
The parts for the trailblazer did arrive at the dealership just one week later and the vehicle was fixed shortly afterwards. Garanzuay was thankful those parts showed up after all and he's glad he called KENS 5.
"I was like 'yes! I'm going to be driving my own vehicle." Garanzuay said. "If I didn't call yall I could have been waiting six months. I appreciate you for helping me out."
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.