Another day at the dealer... another day of my time wasted

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MdMassey

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Hemi 5.7
When I had my 07 Ram in for a oil chance, and tire rotation the service writer told me my brake pads were down to 6mm and should be replaced. Then he told me as long as the truck was on the lift and the wheels were off, I could get a discounted brake repair for only $875.00. Like that was going to happen.

6mm is about 2/3 worn out. You still have a lot of life left in them. Hell for a basic brake job I only charge $60 per wheel ( plus parts) and $80 when calipers are replaced. Independent shops near me usually charge about 2x my price, but I'm doing it as a hobby and not for a living, and I have no overhead or employees to pay.
 

rsdata

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N Ky
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2014 BigHorn 1500 8spd 4X4
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Hemi 5.7
I have been following your two threads about your dealer ordeal...

today I had the good luck to find I had a flat in my driveway so I got a chance to find my spare tire winch tool under the passenger seat...

1. Since I've owned my truck the tire winch has not worked properly. When you attach the extension tool to raise or lower the winch it "slips" and won't go up pass a certain point. It's essentially like the little "nut" that the tool slides over to raise and lower is stripped out.
Dealer comments- winch works fine for us to go up and down (with no weight on it). I told them well I've tried with my tire and it doesn't work (explained the above). He said well that's not a stock tire so it won't fit... (it's a 33" tire). I explained it fits fine but it's the weight which is similar to stock that's the issue. Said sorry we can't do anything cause tires over size.

At first I tried and found that my little winch was slipping a bit... reminded me of your story here. I then found another end in the leatherette bag for the winch tool that had a slightly larger square end by maybe 1/8 inch or 1/16th... whatever, it was just a bit larger... I put that end into the winch and I found that it worked much better. So now I am wondering IF you are using the smaller end on the winch tool which is causing it to slip????

After taking my tire off, I looked at the winch itself and it appears to only be held on by two screws. If I were you I would take it off from it's mount and have a look at it... that is IF the larger end on the winch tool did NOT solve the problem with the winch tool slipping.

just a thought...
 
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Jeepwalker

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One always wants to receive good service, and it sounds like you didn't receive very good communication there ..and communication is a BIG part of people getting and feeling like they received good service. I've been there too so I know how frustrating it can be. Some of these issues could have been avoided:

Why didn't you just put your old spare tire on there 'before' taking it in? You're just giving them an opportunity to deny service based on the truck being modified, weather the weights were close or not. What the dealer sees day in and day out is a slew of owners who abuse or modify their stuff and come in and claim they didn't ...and expect 100% replacement (which costs the dealer $$ out of their pocket). And frankly those kinds of pay-outs cost everyone else money too because they have tomake it up somewhere. I'm not saying you abused anything in this situation, but they see it a lot and have become, I think justly, in many cases, gun shy. Don't give them any ammo to work with.

Battery: I agree they could have done more, but once you disturb the situation by replacing the battery, how are they supposed to replicate a potential discharging problem (unless it continues even with the new battery)? It's a waste of their time and yours. They probably should have offered to put it on a charger and load-test it your old battery but the majority of the time there's a reason it's discharging.

They probably should have asked you to replicate the door lock switch problem too. All that stuff goes through the computer so if it didn't throw any codes and couldn't be replicated, what would you do in their situation?

When I go to the dealer, I try not to give them reasons to deny what I'm asking them to do. I agree that there's no doubt, some service people are great at what they do ..and communicatting to owners, while others should probably be back in the shop.
 
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Bdersch

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2016
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3.6
I have been following your two threads about your dealer ordeal...

today I had the good luck to find I had a flat in my driveway so I got a chance to find my spare tire winch tool under the passenger seat...



At first I tried and found that my little winch was slipping a bit... reminded me of your story here. I then found another end in the leatherette bag for the winch tool that had a slightly larger square end by maybe 1/8 inch or 1/16th... whatever, it was just a bit larger... I put that end into the winch and I found that it worked much better. So now I am wondering IF you are using the smaller end on the winch tool which is causing it to slip????

After taking my tire off, I looked at the winch itself and it appears to only be held on by two screws. If I were you I would take it off from it's mount and have a look at it... that is IF the larger end on the winch tool did NOT solve the problem with the winch tool slipping.

just a thought...


interesting. i had not noticed any other tools or parts in the bag. I will give it a look today once i get it back from the dealer if they dont fix it. we are at dealer #2 to see what they can do for me.
 
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