Jeff Fleming is demanding a new vehicle or a full refund after buying a ‘lemon’ from General Motors

A Sault man bought what turned out to be an $81,000 headache from General Motors — and now he’s calling on the company to give him a new vehicle or a full refund to make things right.  

Jeff Fleming bought a brand-new GMC Sierra Elevation from Mission Motors in Wawa in July, but his new wheels have caused him all kinds of problems ever since. 

It all began when Fleming’s truck broke down after just 80 km because a cylinder injection line wasn’t installed when it was being built. 

“That was a major issue,” Fleming told SooToday. “It wasn’t a small one, right?” 

Fleming also learned that the trailer light plug wasn’t hooked up on one side — marking a second assembly line error for his pickup truck.  

The initial plan was for Fleming to take his truck down to London in August in order to have a $78,000 wheelchair lift installed.

He suffered a workplace injury in November 2021, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

“I can’t get in and out of the vehicle myself, so my wife has to help me each time,” he said. 

Those plans, however, were scrapped after the engine on the truck failed entirely. Fleming said he was grateful that he never made the trip down to London. 

“The engine would have blown less than a week after I got it back — or maybe even on the way home,” he said. 

When Fleming contacted Mission Motors about the blown engine, he was referred to GMC Canada’s Customer Care Centre. 

He’s received assurances from GM that a new engine will eventually be shipped out, but as far as Fleming is concerned, that resolution simply doesn’t cut it. 

“I’m not picking it up. I do not want the vehicle,” he said. “I want another one, or I want my money back — and they do not seem to get that message. 

“I told the lady at the customer care centre that I don’t want to put $80,000 into putting an accessible lift into it if I’m not comfortable with it. I think something else is going to break, you know? There’s no point.”

In a statement provided to SooToday, GM Canada said it works with customers to address their concerns in partnership with authorized dealers. 

“In this case, we are actively engaged with both the customer and the dealer to work toward a fair and satisfactory resolution,” the statement said. 

For now, Fleming is reliant upon his wife to drive him to his full-time job, as well as getting him in and out of their other vehicle.   

But the dissatisfied customer said it wouldn’t be that way if he didn’t end up buying a “lemon” from GM.   

“There’s a lot of things that I can’t do on my own that I would be able to if I had that truck,” Fleming said.