Saab USA Owner Center Now Hosted By Yahoo?

Posted on 22. Jun, 2008 by in 2000-2009

soc1 Saab USA Owner Center Now Hosted By Yahoo?

An extremely devoted Saab Owner in the United States has recently brought Saab History up to speed on the “Saab Owner Center” that is immediately accessible on the Saab USA website.

Saab Automobile USA & GM have recently, as of April 1st, 2008, decided to convert their “Saab Owner Center” to a yahoo powered website experience. This new “experience” has caused much distress and headaches to current Saab owners and enthusiasts who have kept careful records in the previous online interface.

As you can see the experience above from the photos are quite alienating to the Saab USA customer base, not only with the depiction of a large GM SUV, some pickup trucks driving by, etc, but here’s the kicker…

The information that many owners have been entering in this sytem for years, has now apparently been removed and now force the user to “re-register” and agree to new terms & agreements, specifically stating that GM is not responsible for the content of any independent sites. Could this also mean that GM is now not responsible for removing all of Saab USA customer’s information?

This transition is really appalling, and I hope that the necessary corrective actions will be put into place ASAP.

I apologize that I did not know about this any sooner like I should have, but here we have it.

Below is the e-mail I received from a very devoted Saab Owner in the United States along with a telling screen shot.

soc Saab USA Owner Center Now Hosted By Yahoo?

I’m wondering if you’re aware of other people having trouble with the
Saab USA owner’s center. This sucks.

1. I spent many hours keeping my records there. Went there today to find it’s gone, replaced with a Yahoo-based owner center. My records are apparently gone.

2. I tried the new center with my existing Yahoo ID as instructed. I couldn’t get there in Firefox, so I used Internet Explorer. It doesn’t work either. They have a find vehicle by (1) Name and Address, (2) VIN,

or (3) by make and model. I get nowhere with any option, just a “We’re having trouble with your request…” or “We’re unable to find your VIN…”.

3. I tried “Contact Us” at the main SaabUSA site, typed in a long message explaining the problem, only to find the “Send” button doesn’t work!

I’m a very frustrated Saab owner right now. :’(

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2 Responses to “Saab USA Owner Center Now Hosted By Yahoo?”

  1. Ted Y

    23. Jun, 2008

    This looks like just another step of integrating Saab into GM, another blow to Saab’s identity. I’m betting when the next generation of cars come out, starting with the 9-4X and 9-5, there will be no more WIS or EPC. It will instead be integrated into the all-models-in-one GM Service Information DVD.

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  2. Ted Y

    24. Jun, 2008

    Well, I am tentatively happy to report some success. Yesterday, I used the GM Owner Center site to post a complaint by signing in and clicking the “Help” link, and reporting a problem with the web site. This was the content of my message:
    “1. I was a previous user of the original Saab Owner Center. I have been unable to register with this new Yahoo-based Owner Center. It cannot find my vehicle VIN (*****************), nor can it register me by name and address. I have had the car serviced at Classic Saab, Mentor, Ohio, and I have even purchased the GM Major Guard Protection Plan. It surely ought to be able to find my information.
    2. I manually entered a lot of service information on the original Saab Owner Center. Will it be migrated to the new system, or am I SOL?
    3. I really don’t like being forced to use Internet Explorer or Safari. Please fix the system so it works with Firefox.”

    Today, I received an email apologizing and saying that they were working on the problem. I also received a phone call, and I was told that the transition was in progress, but not complete. However, I was also told that they will transfer customer-entered information to the new site. I was also told that they will look into the Firefox incompatibility.

    I am a bit skeptical though. I should have asked how they were going to know what Yahoo-based account to transfer the information to. But, maybe that will happen based on VIN number (or my name and address) when I add my Saab. Unfortunately, as of today, it still cannot find my VIN (or my name and address). I will keep trying and post my results.

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