Hummer Happening RIP OFF DAMAGE

[Huck BB62]

So what's happening to the alternator? I've had mine REALLY deep and nothing happened.

[MisterE]

Well,

My Dealer is Suburban Hummer of Troy and they are working with GM on behalf at this point. Other dealers were Hummer of Novi and Friendly Hummer of Detroit. Apparently they were very loosely involved with the event it was actually put on by GMRWorks and from what I can tell they are disappointed that have customers who damaged their vehicles at the event.

Please note I sense I may pursue legal action I can not comment for anyone at my local dealership but this is what I am gathering but I AM PLEASED with their actions thus far.

As far as the altenator I was told it had internally shorted out, it was indeed caked with mud and had (from what I inspected) been submerged in water. The battery also had been replaced, internal short, and had seal failure but GM did fix under warranty as they say it is a sealed battery.

As far as the altenator I was told it can be exposed to water such as splash running through say 10" of water at speed and perhaps even submerged briefly but we were fully submerged several times for several minutes at time.

Since GM was off today to vote should have an update for you tomorrow.

Thanks for all your posts!

[MisterE]

BTW

The Expert Guides did mention that often times their trails were set up man made on soccer fields in Miami because they couldn't get into the wilderness. I have no problem with Miami, but I DO HAVE A PROBLEM with an EXPERT guide if their time is on man made trails. Hell if I know exactly what every obstical is I can drive it w\o worry.

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Originally Posted by MisterE

BTW

The Expert Guides did mention that often times their trails were set up man made on soccer fields in Miami because they couldn't get into the wilderness. I have no problem with Miami, but I DO HAVE A PROBLEM with an EXPERT guide if their time is on man made trails. Hell if I know exactly what every obstical is I can drive it w\o worry.

Theres an event schedualed for Miami this month that I'm trying to get invited too (didn't buy from that dealer)...

Now I have doubts about going, even if it is a set up (man made) run.

RYD (2nd oldest)

[SR1355]

I was at same event but with a smaller group, we had the H1 with us. I could tell that the guys running the event didn't have a clue. They went to recover an H3 and we're using 1" nylon webbing (not tow strap) and some 1/4" oval lcok rings. We let them use a 3" toe strap and proper hardware. Hummers stuck all over the place, to be expected, but to also have this many damaged vehicles with the same problem is not acceptable.

[2xtreme]

Well now I'm pissed off, I bought my H3 from hummer of Novi and I didn't receive any notification of the event. Not that it's a bad thing considering all the carnage I'm hearing of. Although I would have liked to see Rick, Dennis and some of the others I have wheeled with in the past year of so. Last years hummer happening at pine knob with the same dealers was a lot more organized (from the sounds of this one). I am sorry to hear of all the damage that occurred, but hope it doesn't detour you from wheeling your trucks.

[Agriv8r]

not all dealer sponsored events are bad. we have had three trucks damaged all due to owners being over confident in their skills and not following instructions of the spotters. this is over a 4 year period. we run the trails with our cars long before the owners, modify what needs to be modified and then run them again the morning of the event. hope you to get your rig fixed, i would like to believe if it was our fault we would stand behind it, but have not had to make that decision. good luck

[HUMMJAY]

Hi folks, I work at Friendly HUMMER. I am a product manager there, and all I can say is this whole thing is a real shame. The Mounds was by far the best venue to date for our local HUMMER Haps'. Unfortunately, all the event planners seemed to achieve was to create a whole group of people who will never wheel' their trucks again. I had gone on my own to the Mounds the week before the event to do a "dry run," and I knew the possible problems that we might face when we got there. When we first got there at 10 am, I introduced myself to the guys running the show, explained that I had been there the week before, and expressed my concerns about the condition of the park. They informed me that they had spent the whole day prior running the park and there would be no problems. They then quietly escorted me to the end of the line.
Friendly HUMMER has spent thousands of dollars sending me to driving schools in Indiana, Arazona, and Navada to be instructed by people with thousands of practice hours under their belt including Rod Hall. Every time I cought up with the pack I could not belive my eyes to see what these event planners had taken you through and the lack of guidance while running the trails... forget about your alternaters. Its amazing that no one was hurt and that, for the most part, we all drove away. You can't lead 30 trucks down a trail and expect that people beyond the fifth truck back can follow your instructions.
Now, I told my customers what we were in for, and they insisted that they be moved to the back of the line so that they could follow me through the rough spots. If you want to be upset with your dealers, ask them where their product managers were, because they could have helped you out a lot. But in my opinion, the event planners (who maybe had 50 hrs of off-road experience between them) are the guys you should be pissed at. Thank your lucky stars you got out with just a fried alternator.

[Hummer Guy]

The dealer may try to claim ignorance on it, but who sponsored it? Who advertised it? And who's customer list was it? It?s a joke if they try to pass the blame -- at the end of the day, they're paying the off-road park or organization and its up to them to make the call of whether to take obstacles or not. Also, even with a waiver, you were under the impression you were being guided by professionals, and if they were negligent, it doesn't matter what you signed. With that said, dealers have it tough...there seems to be very little room between "we should have had more extreme off-road" and "There was no serious off-roading..this was a joke"...its a tough line to balance. It?s been my experience that you can tell any driver to go slow, but everyone wants to crawl up the rocky road faster than anyone else, and have the higher mud splash when going through a puddle. Whoever has the muddiest truck at the end of the day wins ? you?ve all seen this happen? J A responsible dealer would tell you before a certain area that it is for more experienced drivers if damage is likely to occur, or suggest that ?you?ll make it through this puddle?but any damage won?t be under warranty??you?d get one or two folks to go through but most don?t like to knowingly take such risks that may tear up their rigs...most of the time I would say the majority of damage that happens at Hummer Happenings is driver error or inexperience?this is one that sounds like dealer/organizer/off-road-park error ? at the end of the day, the dealer needs to do the right thing ? especially if it was 5 trucks?wow.

[Big Z]

Originally Posted by Hummer Guy

The dealer may try to claim ignorance on it, but who sponsored it? Who advertised it? And who's customer list was it? It?s a joke if they try to pass the blame -- at the end of the day, they're paying the off-road park or organization and its up to them to make the call of whether to take obstacles or not. Also, even with a waiver, you were under the impression you were being guided by professionals, and if they were negligent, it doesn't matter what you signed. With that said, dealers have it tough...there seems to be very little room between "we should have had more extreme off-road" and "There was no serious off-roading..this was a joke"...its a tough line to balance. It?s been my experience that you can tell any driver to go slow, but everyone wants to crawl up the rocky road faster than anyone else, and have the higher mud splash when going through a puddle. Whoever has the muddiest truck at the end of the day wins ? you?ve all seen this happen? J A responsible dealer would tell you before a certain area that it is for more experienced drivers if damage is likely to occur, or suggest that ?you?ll make it through this puddle?but any damage won?t be under warranty??you?d get one or two folks to go through but most don?t like to knowingly take such risks that may tear up their rigs...most of the time I would say the majority of damage that happens at Hummer Happenings is driver error or inexperience?this is one that sounds like dealer/organizer/off-road-park error ? at the end of the day, the dealer needs to do the right thing ? especially if it was 5 trucks?wow.

....Now, having said ALL That! ...I've only been to 2 HH's.... Both had the SAME Structure!...Obstacle/Training course...Sereral Trails, ranging from Easy To HARD....A Choice! .......Trails were run Prior to any guest rigs hitting them!.....A Mandatory Drivers Meeting each day---Prior to Any Staging for trails!...Don't know the Choices everyone has, but sounds like the sponsors and PRO's ...are responsable and Pro's--Not Too! ...Mix in a shortage of Common Sense!...And Bummer for you trouble!....Hope it all works out!

[HUMMJAY]

Originally Posted by Hummer Guy

The dealer may try to claim ignorance on it, but who sponsored it? Who advertised it? And who's customer list was it? It?s a joke if they try to pass the blame -- at the end of the day, they're paying the off-road park or organization and its up to them to make the call of whether to take obstacles or not. Also, even with a waiver, you were under the impression you were being guided by professionals, and if they were negligent, it doesn't matter what you signed. With that said, dealers have it tough...there seems to be very little room between "we should have had more extreme off-road" and "There was no serious off-roading..this was a joke"...its a tough line to balance. It?s been my experience that you can tell any driver to go slow, but everyone wants to crawl up the rocky road faster than anyone else, and have the higher mud splash when going through a puddle. Whoever has the muddiest truck at the end of the day wins ? you?ve all seen this happen? J A responsible dealer would tell you before a certain area that it is for more experienced drivers if damage is likely to occur, or suggest that ?you?ll make it through this puddle?but any damage won?t be under warranty??you?d get one or two folks to go through but most don?t like to knowingly take such risks that may tear up their rigs...most of the time I would say the majority of damage that happens at Hummer Happenings is driver error or inexperience?this is one that sounds like dealer/organizer/off-road-park error ? at the end of the day, the dealer needs to do the right thing ? especially if it was 5 trucks?wow.

HUMMER events are sponcered by the customers.. every single person who buys a HUMMER.. a portion of the sales $ goes to a LMG (local maketing group) the LMG hires event planers,, Rworks, they intern hire a company to run the event,, O'Brians, they go out and test the area and determine what is safe and what is not in case like this one. 9 times out of 10 they run a pre exsiting track built jus for HUMMER's so there job is pretty easy. HUMMER dealers have no say in this process. It is Mandated as a condition of francise ownership that dealers provide there customers the oprotunity to attend these events they do this by giving the event co. names and #'s of their customers. "at the end of the day" the dealer looks like a hero if the cusomers had fun or a zero if they did not

[bparker]

omg, dewds! if you take a car wheelin **** can happen. You need to think on these terms. its not anyones fault but your own for going off road and dont blame anyone else for YOUR descisions to do so.

wheeling breaks crap, its just part of the game.

I do not agree with them not covering an alternator under warranty.... a busted fender well thats a different story... but hell it rains alot and there are deep puddles all over the usa. why take a position that it was due to off roading... thats gay.

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by bparker

omg, dewds! if you take a car wheelin **** can happen. You need to think on these terms. its not anyones fault but your own for going off road and dont blame anyone else for YOUR descisions to do so.

wheeling breaks crap, its just part of the game.

I do not agree with them not covering an alternator under warranty.... a busted fender well thats a different story... but hell it rains alot and there are deep puddles all over the usa. why take a position that it was due to off roading... thats gay.

It is really no different than a broken fender. if GM publishes a spec for maximum water forage and you surpass that spec, then GM is not responsible for the warranty on the part that is damaged. Your reasoning would be if you exceeded the vent tubes and destroyed a powertrain component by sucking in water or you sucked in water into the engine, it should be covered under warranty. Either way, it would be considered driver or spotter error.

Alternators are water proof to rain, road splash, etc.; however, you cannot submerge them in water and expect them to continue to operate.

However, I would have been curious if the poster had gone to another Hummer dealer and never mentioned off-roading, if it would not have been replaced under warranty.

If there was a continuous line of Hummers and they were guided through a stream or river that was deeper than the spec for the H3, by a dealer representative, then in my opinion, the dealer should be responsible. Especially, since these Hummer Happenings bring in people who are NOT experienced off-roaders, and are relying on the dealers representatives to guide them, and help them with the terrain.

[CrisB]

I was there, the four of us that went together didn't get invited either, we 'd been there before & decided to crash the party.....no obstacles were man-made, all existing muck & trails & holes. Whoever was leading (in brand-new, off-the-lot H3's with window stickers still), had little idea where they were going, barely any spotting or direction. I saw them come through on one run being led by some toothless guy in a Chevy pickup, apparently he knew the way past the long mud holes that the guides couldn't find. My impression at the time was that it wasn't well thought out or well planned.

That said, we went through the same holes & mud pits, with no damage in our group...not sure why some failed & others didn't.

Got mine at Hummer of Novi, great guys, great service, no issues here...they've treated me fairly.