DannyMK2
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2013
- Posts
- 1,727
- Reaction score
- 491
- Location
- Long Island, NY
- Ram Year
- 2015 Power Wagon
- Engine
- 6.4 Hemi
I’ve been having some issues with my local dealer. Maybe those of you who have been down this road or a similar one cane share some input. I have never had any experiences like this before. It started out with me having some issues with my truck (2012 1500 w/ 33k on it), the main one being a nasty clunking in the steering when turning and especially bad when going over bumps. It started off faint, but got progressively worse to the point that it felt like the steering wheel was going to fall off. The clunking could also be felt by holding the steering shaft while somebody jiggled the steering wheel. The other issue was the seats. Both front seats would creak whenever you hit a bump, or taking a hard turn and you weight shifted. It’s hard to explain, but was easily felt by simply pushing down on the seat, almost like you could feel the springs moving. I made an appointment at the end of June. I should start by noting that I bought my truck from an out of state dealer. My local dealer is close by and they are open until midnight so it seemed convenient for my work schedule. When making the appointment I asked for a loaner car. I was told that I could only get one if I had bought my truck from them. I explained that it wasn’t a service visit but warranty work and I was told that it didn’t matter. Went ahead with the appointment and told them that I was going to wait for the truck while they looked at it.
The appointment was for July 8th in the evening. I brought the truck in, explained the issues and 3 hours later the service adviser told me I needed a new steering rack and new seat frames. He also informed me that the parts would take 3-5 days to show up and I should get a call when they arrive ( I could drive the truck in the mean time). At that point they would set me up with another appointment to get the parts installed (he made it seem like they would get me right in) and that they would need the truck for 2 days to install everything. Once again I asked if I would be able to get a loaner car for those 2 days and was told that the owners of the dealership are adamant about not giving loaner cars to people who didn’t buy cars from them (pretty ridiculous if you ask me when it comes to warranty work). Fast forward a week later, still no call from the parts department so I decided to call them up. They tell me the parts have been sitting there. Great. So I try to make an appointment, best they can do is 2 weeks away. Tried to get in touch with my service adviser to see what he can do but he doesn’t return my calls. Would have been nice if somebody had told me that I was going to have to wait so long, I would have made my appointment earlier. Instead I had to wait 3 weeks, but I’m a patient person.
My appointment was for July 30th 8am. I dropped the truck off the night before. Once again, went over with the service adviser what was to be done, and also mentioned that I had been hearing a whining noise in the rear that I forgot to tell him about when I was last there. I told him it sounded like the pinion bearing was going, and is only heard at about 25-35mph when you’re off the throttle (anybody that’s heard a failing pinion bearing knows it’s a pretty distinct sound). He told me that if they find an issue with the rear that it could take longer to get the truck back. I understood that. He also told me that he was going on vacation that Friday, but he was going to call me on Thursday and let me know what they find and who will be handling my truck for the next few days. Thursday came and went, no phone call. I called on Friday to look for an update. Took a few phone calls since everybody seemed pretty clueless as to who was handling my truck but I came to the conclusion that my truck had not been touched yet. I tried to get some more information on Monday, but once again nobody knew anything or returned any phone calls. I decided to take time out of work to go the dealership Tuesday morning to try and get some answers. I spoke with the service manager and his answer was basically that they are busy and I should understand that. I stressed the fact that this is getting ridiculous and that I don’t have a car. He promised me that he was going to have an update later in the day. He did, but not anything good. The new steering rack was defective and they needed to order a new one. They also found the noise in the rear to be the rear wheel bearings (seemed odd to me since it sounded nothing like a bad wheel bearing, but I wasn’t about to argue that). He tells me the parts should take about 2-3 days and maybe another day or so to install. I was pissed that they had wasted 5 days of my time, but at least I had an update at this point.
His 2-3 day estimate was way off, the parts didn’t arrive until Friday August 14th in the afternoon, or at least that’s what I was told. Got a phone call Tuesday August 18th and the truck was all done, so they said. I was annoyed that the whole process had taken so long but relieved the get my truck back. I picked it up and drove it around the next day. The new steering rack felt much better but there was still a slight clunk in the steering shaft, the noise in the rear was still there, the seats didn’t creak as much as they used to, but still creaked, the alignment was totally off and the truck was pulling to the left on the highway, power steering fluid all over my engine bay, and to top it all off, a nice scratch in my driver’s side interior door panel and on the passenger side dashboard. Pretty annoyed at this point. But before I went back to the dealership I decided to make sure that I wasn’t being petty about some of the issues the truck was having. I asked a buddy who has a 2013 with about 20k on it if I could drive his truck to see if his does the same things as mine. I wanted to make sure the truck I was comparing mine to was used, since it wouldn’t be a fair comparison to a new one. His steering had no clunking, his seats didn’t creak and no noise from the rear.
Drove my truck back to the dealer and explained to the service manager that my truck still wasn’t fixed. His answer was “well we replaced your steering rack, I’m not sure what else you want.” Pretty appalled by this. I tried explaining what I was feeling in the steering. He proceeds to tell me that my truck isn’t new anymore and what I’m feeling is normal. I explained to him that I drove another used truck and that one doesn’t have any of the issues. He doesn’t believe me and sets out though the service center trying to find another ram to prove me wrong. He finds a third gen and begins lowering it off the lift, all the while I’m telling him that’s the wrong year truck. He opens the door of the truck into the lift (damaging another persons truck), then slams the door shut and keeps walking though the shop trying to find another truck to prove me wrong. He doesn’t. I tell him I can show him exactly what I’m feeling, so he calls over the head mechanic. At this point I showed him the damaged interior panels. He acknowledges them, but doesn’t say anything else. As I’m trying to show the mechanic the issue with the steering shaft, he walks away. The mechanic agrees that he feels something as well and says that it could possibly be a bad u-joint in the steering shaft. I go back inside to tell the service manager what the mechanic had found, again he is annoyed and wants nothing to do with me and tells me to have the service adviser write it up. I told the service adviser that I was going on vacation for 2 weeks that Friday and would like to have the truck ready when I got back.
Fast Forward to September 8th, back from vacation, no messages received on my truck. I’ve been trying to get a hold of the service adviser, but he’s not returning my calls.
I’m beyond fed up at this point. I’ve been trying to get my truck fixed for two months now and this is absurd. My truck is my only form of transportation and I’ve been borrowing car’s to get to work. I’m completely disgusted with the way I was treated by the service manager (and the fact that I saw him damage somebody’s car with zero regard). I also cannot believe that there is almost no communication from these people and I cannot get any answers from anybody on this. I probably shouldn’t have left my truck there before I went on vacation, but I was already too busy with other things to try and find another dealership to go to, or to contact Chrysler and was hoping that they would make things right and have the truck done. I guess I was wrong. I think at this point I should reach out to Chrysler about this. If anybody has any contact info as to who I can forward this to I would greatly appreciate it.
The appointment was for July 8th in the evening. I brought the truck in, explained the issues and 3 hours later the service adviser told me I needed a new steering rack and new seat frames. He also informed me that the parts would take 3-5 days to show up and I should get a call when they arrive ( I could drive the truck in the mean time). At that point they would set me up with another appointment to get the parts installed (he made it seem like they would get me right in) and that they would need the truck for 2 days to install everything. Once again I asked if I would be able to get a loaner car for those 2 days and was told that the owners of the dealership are adamant about not giving loaner cars to people who didn’t buy cars from them (pretty ridiculous if you ask me when it comes to warranty work). Fast forward a week later, still no call from the parts department so I decided to call them up. They tell me the parts have been sitting there. Great. So I try to make an appointment, best they can do is 2 weeks away. Tried to get in touch with my service adviser to see what he can do but he doesn’t return my calls. Would have been nice if somebody had told me that I was going to have to wait so long, I would have made my appointment earlier. Instead I had to wait 3 weeks, but I’m a patient person.
My appointment was for July 30th 8am. I dropped the truck off the night before. Once again, went over with the service adviser what was to be done, and also mentioned that I had been hearing a whining noise in the rear that I forgot to tell him about when I was last there. I told him it sounded like the pinion bearing was going, and is only heard at about 25-35mph when you’re off the throttle (anybody that’s heard a failing pinion bearing knows it’s a pretty distinct sound). He told me that if they find an issue with the rear that it could take longer to get the truck back. I understood that. He also told me that he was going on vacation that Friday, but he was going to call me on Thursday and let me know what they find and who will be handling my truck for the next few days. Thursday came and went, no phone call. I called on Friday to look for an update. Took a few phone calls since everybody seemed pretty clueless as to who was handling my truck but I came to the conclusion that my truck had not been touched yet. I tried to get some more information on Monday, but once again nobody knew anything or returned any phone calls. I decided to take time out of work to go the dealership Tuesday morning to try and get some answers. I spoke with the service manager and his answer was basically that they are busy and I should understand that. I stressed the fact that this is getting ridiculous and that I don’t have a car. He promised me that he was going to have an update later in the day. He did, but not anything good. The new steering rack was defective and they needed to order a new one. They also found the noise in the rear to be the rear wheel bearings (seemed odd to me since it sounded nothing like a bad wheel bearing, but I wasn’t about to argue that). He tells me the parts should take about 2-3 days and maybe another day or so to install. I was pissed that they had wasted 5 days of my time, but at least I had an update at this point.
His 2-3 day estimate was way off, the parts didn’t arrive until Friday August 14th in the afternoon, or at least that’s what I was told. Got a phone call Tuesday August 18th and the truck was all done, so they said. I was annoyed that the whole process had taken so long but relieved the get my truck back. I picked it up and drove it around the next day. The new steering rack felt much better but there was still a slight clunk in the steering shaft, the noise in the rear was still there, the seats didn’t creak as much as they used to, but still creaked, the alignment was totally off and the truck was pulling to the left on the highway, power steering fluid all over my engine bay, and to top it all off, a nice scratch in my driver’s side interior door panel and on the passenger side dashboard. Pretty annoyed at this point. But before I went back to the dealership I decided to make sure that I wasn’t being petty about some of the issues the truck was having. I asked a buddy who has a 2013 with about 20k on it if I could drive his truck to see if his does the same things as mine. I wanted to make sure the truck I was comparing mine to was used, since it wouldn’t be a fair comparison to a new one. His steering had no clunking, his seats didn’t creak and no noise from the rear.
Drove my truck back to the dealer and explained to the service manager that my truck still wasn’t fixed. His answer was “well we replaced your steering rack, I’m not sure what else you want.” Pretty appalled by this. I tried explaining what I was feeling in the steering. He proceeds to tell me that my truck isn’t new anymore and what I’m feeling is normal. I explained to him that I drove another used truck and that one doesn’t have any of the issues. He doesn’t believe me and sets out though the service center trying to find another ram to prove me wrong. He finds a third gen and begins lowering it off the lift, all the while I’m telling him that’s the wrong year truck. He opens the door of the truck into the lift (damaging another persons truck), then slams the door shut and keeps walking though the shop trying to find another truck to prove me wrong. He doesn’t. I tell him I can show him exactly what I’m feeling, so he calls over the head mechanic. At this point I showed him the damaged interior panels. He acknowledges them, but doesn’t say anything else. As I’m trying to show the mechanic the issue with the steering shaft, he walks away. The mechanic agrees that he feels something as well and says that it could possibly be a bad u-joint in the steering shaft. I go back inside to tell the service manager what the mechanic had found, again he is annoyed and wants nothing to do with me and tells me to have the service adviser write it up. I told the service adviser that I was going on vacation for 2 weeks that Friday and would like to have the truck ready when I got back.
Fast Forward to September 8th, back from vacation, no messages received on my truck. I’ve been trying to get a hold of the service adviser, but he’s not returning my calls.
I’m beyond fed up at this point. I’ve been trying to get my truck fixed for two months now and this is absurd. My truck is my only form of transportation and I’ve been borrowing car’s to get to work. I’m completely disgusted with the way I was treated by the service manager (and the fact that I saw him damage somebody’s car with zero regard). I also cannot believe that there is almost no communication from these people and I cannot get any answers from anybody on this. I probably shouldn’t have left my truck there before I went on vacation, but I was already too busy with other things to try and find another dealership to go to, or to contact Chrysler and was hoping that they would make things right and have the truck done. I guess I was wrong. I think at this point I should reach out to Chrysler about this. If anybody has any contact info as to who I can forward this to I would greatly appreciate it.
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