O.K. I've reached my end point with my dealer.

I took in the car to finally install the driver's side headlamp which was on back order. The passenger side was installed about 3 weeks ago. Well anyways they installed the lamp and told me the car was ready. A friend of mine did me the favor of taking the car in for me. When i got the car back the light was sticking far out, not flush like the passenger side and it had huge gaps between the top of the light and the hood, and the driver side fender was damaged. It seems the technician removing the light was not properly trained and wedged some sort of tool between the fender's front corner where it meets the side of the headlamp to try and pry the light out. He apparently used the fender as leverage to pop out the light and dented the fender and shifted the fenders alignment with the bumper's corner.

I quickly called my service advisor and asked him about the damage and he said that it was a design of the fender to have a huge gaping hole between the light and the front fender and I told him "NO, i have another crossfire that i can take you and this is clearly damage, what are you blind"? So the next day i asked my friend to take it in again because i was busy with work and the service manager and advisor and technician wanted to see the damage. After he took the car to them they all took a look at it and finally accepted fault. They then tried to mend the fender and ended up chipping the paint of the corner of the fender. At that point it was getting late in the day so they applied touch up paint the SSB color on my GRAPHITE car and told my friend that it was not yet finished to bring it back and give them a full day with the car so that they could fix it properly. At this point my friend called me and told me what they did. I told him to just bring the car to me so that i could see it and that i would be going in with it the next morning personally.

I showed up the next day at the dealer to speak to the service manager. He sat me down and got an attitude with me asking me why I was there without making an appt after he had already told my friend to bring the car back and that he would need a full day to fix it. I stopped him right there and told him you guys damaged my car and then want me to drive my damaged car and make an appointment and wait all that time for you to fix it? I told him that if he didn't get on the phone with the body shop and fix my car that this matter would become a legal one. I know the owner and GM of the dealer as I have purchased 3 crossfires from them and that i didn't feel this was proper treatment.

Furthermore, i told him that i didn't need to sit there and justify why my car needed attention right away when it was damaged by them. Then he tells me that he can't give me a loaner. I told him that I'm always entitled to a loaner. He said the repair will bleed into the weekend and that he couldn't cover a loaner over the weekend. I told him that this was B.S. because they have always done it in the past without any problems also they are open on the weekend therefore its justifiable to DC for billing purposes and furthermore that it was a special circumstance of damage and that they would have to accommodate it somehow. He then seeing that i'm not an easy person to deal with, called the body shop and forced them to immediately take my car in for repair and to give me a rental. He advised that since this was not warranty work nor service related that DC would not pay for the rental and I told him that I didn't give a SH*T that they damaged my car therefore that i didn't care how they presented the bill to DC but that they would need to pay for it somehow and get me a car immediately.

SO they got me a new Grand Cherokee and off I went. I called DC and filed a complaint against the dealer and the service manager and they said that they would be contacting the dealership.

Then finally two days later (today to be exact) I got a call to pick up the car that it was ready. I show up and they lost my keys and the service dept had closed and that they would NOT release the car to me even with my spare keys on me till they found the other key and paperwork with zero balance. I told them that if they didn't release my car that I would simply jump in it with my spare key and drive it off the lot and that there was no legal law that could stop me. They then had to phone my service advisor at his home to get an ok that no money was due and I told them that even if there was that it was damage on their part and that I owed nothing.

I'm telling you guys that this has been the worst experience ever with this dealership that has serviced all my XFire's. I will never go back there again for absolutely nothing.

On a good note the car looks good. They had to work the fender back into place, respray it and then clearcoat the entire fender. It looks real good.

 

I feel for you. That's why I hate taking my car in. Sometimes you gotta do it though. The fan recall was my first trip and I made the service writer walk around the car with me. They made me do it on the loaner, I wanted to make sure they understood how serious I am about not having any dents, dings or scratches either.
I was lucky.

Pat

 

Ok you have me a little scared now. On Monday I'm bringing my car in for the fan module tsb and to see if they can fix my interior light that does not dim out. I guess I'm exaggerating about being scared, but since I am a new owner, and I've read a lot of the posts, I get the general feeling that a lot of the dealerships are not properly trained, are new or just don't care about their customers or their cars. I guess I'll see how my dealership is when I get my car back on Monday. I assure you I have my fingers crossed!! Bob

 

My car still has the driver wind noise, but I just don't trust the dealers, so I'm holding out till I must take it back for something more serious. Hope I never have to...

PS...When I think about the thread starter getting his loaner, I think of the Seinfeld episode when he rents a car..."Do you want the insurance?" "Darn, straight, I plan on beating the heck out of that baby"... lol.

 

Good Job. Way to let 'em have it Bullfrog.

I have always been amazed at how many dealers initially assumes that the customer is an idiot and then later change their behavior if the customer at all resists the condescending treatment. It is so damaging for any business to treat their customers in a way that is offensive.

I know that many dealers think they can't afford to treat everyone first class. I wonder how they can afford not to.

 

Speaking of dealer damage, a couple of months ago I had mine in for the transmission replacement. I took it in, they had me come pick it up until the tranny came in. The dealer is undergoing a huge remodeling with all kinds of construction work going on. Lo and behold, a couple days after I pick it up I notice a nail in the left rear tire, of course out of the repair zone so it has to be replaced for $400+. I didn't drive anywhere near any construction zones so I have a sneaking suspicion I picked up the nail at the dealer. Can't prove it of course.

 

Earnhart? Or another dealer?

 

And people wonder why I change my own oil. At least if I break it, I know who to blame.

 

Airpark in Scottsdale. I wouldn't buy a 30 cent bolt from Earnhardt.

 

Thanks for the tip. Others like Airpark, but I had my doubts. Earnhardt is "lots of bull," not "no bull."

I used Power (Pitre) on McDowell for one TSB and had no problems. But that was only one small TSB. We'll see later about the big things. It's amazing to me that none of the East Valley dealers seem to understand these cars. There are enough owners here to keep one of the many dealers happy if they would focus on the Crossfire and let the community know that they have those specialized skills. But I guess not--they seem happier with the volume work for Jeeps, PTs and 300s.

 

Airpark's OK, they are my selling dealer so all of the tranny stuff I took there. Oil changes, etc. I get done at Power/Pitre on McDowell since it's more convenient. I've always liked Power/Pitre, they get all my business on my 300m. Airpark was a good Chrysler soldier on the tranny, trying all the on-the-cheap fixes before finally going to bat for me on a new one. That's OK, I understand their situation and when cheapie fix #2 blew up in a week they didn't hesitate (but that was the trip that I think might have caugh the nail, where they peeked at it and called Chrysler...arrrrgh!). Oh well, just stay away from Tex and you're on the right track. When I was buying a 300m in Fall 2000 we had a deal on one and they baited and switched me on the paperwork. I was too smart to let that by but to this day wonder how many people let them get away with it. Funny thing was listening to their excuses and how they try to wiggle off the hook when you call them on it. Pure scum, it's five years later and it's as fresh in my mind today as it was back then.

 

Bullfrog, I feel for you. My dealer has damaged my car 3 times now. First
they bent up a hubcap after rotating the tires, then they tore up a rim while
installing new tires, and finally they have bent up another hubcap while
again rotating tires. In each case the dealer has made me "whole", but I
really have to question the competence of the service team when they
repeatedly screw up on such minor things.

Currently, I am having performance problems that Chrysler claims is a
cooling problem. Funny thing, this problem just appeared after having
the E19 recall work done. This car has performed exceptionally over the
last year and one half, yet Chrysler wants to replace the water pump instead of focusing on the E19 work which was done the day prior to my
noticing the problem (which is intermittent, and generally noticed only
while I am driving to work down the I-75). I wonder what damage the
service dept. will do to my baby if I let them replace a water pump? With
these guys, I would not be surprised to find that the serpentine belt is
twisted and routed incorrectly.

Coyote