Faces of GM

Joel: stuck in Elephant Butte, saved by dealer

October 29, 2009 at 8:09 am

Hiking on the catwalk in Silver City, NM with my son Jimmy

Joel Kendzorski, customer
Greatest fishing feat: Biggest fish I ever caught was a 78 lb Amberjack off the coast of Fort Meyers, FL
Favorite TV show: I love reality shows. Survivor is my favorite.
Hangin’ with the kids: I enjoy going to country music concerts with my daughter (we recently saw Carrie Underwood) and to go hunting with my son.

Last Sunday, I took my wife and two kids fishing. We went to New Mexico’s only large lake called Elephant Butte. It was a great day. We caught a lot of fish. When it was time to leave, I asked my son to grab our truck (it’s a 2008 Chevy Crew Cab Silverado). We were about 50 yards from the dock and my son usually goes to get the truck because it’s a steep, long ramp. So, I give my son the keys and he started twirling the keys on his finger. Just as I was about to tell him to stop, the keys flew off his finger and sank to the bottom of Elephant Butte lake. The other set of keys were 100 miles away at my house.

It’s Sunday. We’re 100 miles from home. I was thinking “How are we gonna to get out of here?”

First, I called OnStar from my Blackberry. I gave OnStar my truck’s VIN number and password, so they were able to unlock my vehicle. Next the OnStar rep and I talked through what we should do since we still couldn’t start the vehicle. She called a local towing company and, in the meantime, I called the local State Police and asked them to call the local Chevy dealer. I figured, “We’re in a small town and everyone would know everyone.” I was right. Within 10 minutes, I received a call from Gary Whitehead from Whitehead Chevrolet. The bad news was that he was four hours away. The good news was that his brother Doug was only 40 minutes away.

Doug drove out to Elephant Butte. The towing company arrived and took my truck to Doug’s dealership. Doug drove my family and TOWED MY BOAT to the dealership.

When we arrived at his dealership, he handed me the keys to a Chevy TrailBlazer. He said I should drive it back to my home in Las Cruces so that I could get to work the next day. Are you kidding me? I couldn’t believe it. I have never met this man in my life. Anyway, that was on Sunday. A few days ago my wife returned the TrailBlazer and picked up our Silverado. I am still amazed by the customer service.

Editor’s Note: Joel is a purchasing director at Delphi. He works in Cd. Juarez, Mexico. Yes, he works for a supplier but he has no affiliation with Whitehead Chevrolet, nor did know Gary or Doug prior to this weekend.