Ram recalls and terrible customer service

After just getting hung up on by a Ram Customer care representative, I do not know what to do here. I'd like the community's advice here.

TLDR; I have had a vehicle that is under warranty and cannot be registered with the state due to recalls that Ram has been negligent on for 5 months. I have been completely blown off. What would you do?

Back story - I have a 2019 Ram 2500 CTD and live in California. Recall W03 (transmission valve body) is open on my vehicle. I went to reregister my vehicle with the state and was informed that I cannot, due to an open recall. I contacted my local dealership, Thompson CDJR out of Placerville California, and scheduled an appointment.

1st attempt at making an appointment is in September 2022. About a month later, at the time of the appointment, I was told they did not get the parts and the appointment must be rescheduled. I scheduled another appointment as soon as possible - about a month later.

2nd attempt, I simultaneously scheduled an appointment with Folsom CDJR. They did the same thing Thompson CDJR did. At the time of the appointment it was cancelled due to parts not being delivered to the dealership.

10-20-2022 I submitted two attempts at contacting Ram Cares through their submission form on their website about this issue explaining what just happened with both attempts at getting service. I never received any response. I got an email to rate the service I was given. I gave it all zeros since they ignored me.

11-8-2022 Ram Cares calls me in response to my poor review of their service. It was a Case manager named Kathy. I explain the whole situation to her. She confirmed that Ram does indeed have parts available and she then contacted Thompson CDJR and worked with them on coordinating parts and an appointment. Thompson CDJR called me and said they will get it done, and scheduled an appointment for 12-8-2022.

3rd Attempt, on 12-6-2022, 2 days before my 12-8-2022 appointment, Thompson CDJR calls me to tell me they don't have parts for the W03 recall. I reschedule ASAP. Closest date is 1-08-2023.

12-6-2022 I call Ram Cares and speak with a woman in which I explain the previous events, give her my case number, and ask her to have the Case Manager, Kathy, to call me back. NO PHONE CALL WAS RETURNED.

12-22-22 I called Ram Cares and spoke with a gentleman explaining my situation, gave him my case number, and told him to have my case manager call me back. NO PHONE CALL WAS RETURNED.

12-30-22 Ram Cares called me informing me that I have 3 open recalls and asks if I am willing to come in. I explain I have been more than willing and have made 3 attempts, but every time there has been a lack of parts being ordered. I explain that at this time I would like financial compensation since my vehicle has been deadlined due to Rams inability to perform the recall. He offers be "free tire rotations and oil changes"
I said I will have to consult lawyer at this point to seek advice.
He puts me on about a 8 second hold, comes back and says "All we can offer you is free tire rotations and oil changes. I am closing the case out at this time. Have a good day" and hangs up on me before I can respond.

1-04-2022 (SEE BOTTOM FOR UPDATE) will be the 4th attempt at getting the recall done, and the 5th month that my truck will have been illegal to drive. I have been making payments on a vehicle that has been a brick in my front yard for 5 months and have been completely blown off by customer service.

What would you do??? I have made an incredible amount, and variety, of attempts to get this service completed and have been completely ignored. I feel like my only option is to seek a lawyer and pursue this legally. Keep in mind, my payment on this truck is ~$750 a month and it has been deadlined/unregisterable with the state for 5 months and illegal to drive.

This has been an absolutely terrible experience with Ram Customer Service.

1-4-2023 EDIT TO ADD additional info.
On 1-3-2023 my dealership called me to confirm my 4th appointment attempt for 1-4-2023. I asked "do you have parts available?" because the last time they called me to confirm my appointment and they didn't even realize they didn't have parts. Sure enough, they did not have parts and cancelled the appointment. I was told I will be called back when parts arrive. So I am left indefinitely without a legal vehicle.

I posted this thread on @RamCares profile page on 12-30-2022. They responded yesterday asking me to DM them. DM sent on 1-3-2023. No reponse yet.

Have you called a different dealer?

I did. Please see "2nd attempt" in my post.

DStand said:

I did. Please see "2nd attempt" in my post.

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I saw that one, just wondering if you followed up with them about parts after. Or any other dealers to make sure it isn't just this dealer dropping the ball on your truck.

I’d check with a lawyer and see if lemon laws in your state apply .

You explained all the grief in your life in the first sentence of the third paragraph. Your gonna need more than a lawyer to fix it!

Lawyers are a fix..eventually...MEDIA exposure..like TV..Radio are the way to get attention to your issue. Find a medias outlet that likes to BITE the BIG BOYS !

A buddy of mine has had some success getting on Linkedin and finding the higher-ups at large companies and reaching out to them directly. Basically, "Hey, I'm about to file this lawsuit since your company is blowing me off and figured I'd give you a chance to fix it." He had an issue with Comcast damaging his house during an install and Costco (or their vendor) majorly screwing up his window covering order. Both times he got pretty immediate action.

This is a sign of the times , recalls and can't get parts or no solution . Some recalls are more serious than others but they all need to be dealt with at some point.
Not to understate your treatment , but the dealers are stuck in the middle and they're getting crap from both sides . Corporate office says fix it and no support and you want it fixed and they have no parts .
What needs to happen is manufacturers must be held accountable to address recalls in a timely matter or pay up.
When push comes to shove they will come up with a bs fix like welding the drag links so it doesn't come loose , cheap bs repair but it worked .
I wish you luck , and when lawyers get involved they are the only ones that win.

mtofell said:

A buddy of mine has had some success getting on Linkedin and finding the higher-ups at large companies and reaching out to them directly. Basically, "Hey, I'm about to file this lawsuit since your company is blowing me off and figured I'd give you a chance to fix it." He had an issue with Comcast damaging his house during an install and Costco (or their vendor) majorly screwing up his window covering order. Both times he got pretty immediate action.

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Noice!!! Yeah, I got Kia to provide an Optima Battery Maintainer/Charger for free when they wouldn't replace my battery even though there were weird stock battery issues. Just a quick hit to the local news station about how a certain dealership f***ed up and that was all she wrote haha

smittyd174 said:

This is a sign of the times , recalls and can't get parts or no solution . Some recalls are more serious than others but they all need to be dealt with at some point.
Not to understate your treatment , but the dealers are stuck in the middle and they're getting crap from both sides . Corporate office says fix it and no support and you want it fixed and they have no parts .
What needs to happen is manufacturers must be held accountable to address recalls in a timely matter or pay up.
When push comes to shove they will come up with a bs fix like welding the drag links so it doesn't come loose , cheap bs repair but it worked .
I wish you luck , and when lawyers get involved they are the only ones that win.

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Yeah, ain't no way I'd even consider any lawyer that isn't pro bono and specializes in deathing with lemon law and such like that.

This will be my last attempt to give Ram a chance to remedy this. After getting hung up on this morning, that was a total slap in the face after all my patience with this.

Next step forces me to carpet bomb this publicly. I have a twitter, facebook with a few Ram groups, and LinkedIn. I have even considered going out front of the dealership, on the public property side, with a sign saying "my vehicle has been deadlined for 5 months and Ram hangs up the phone on me. " I know the dealership is seperate from the Warranty/customer service people, but maybe they will care about their customer if it starts affecting them.

smittyd174 said:

This is a sign of the times , recalls and can't get parts or no solution . Some recalls are more serious than others but they all need to be dealt with at some point.
Not to understate your treatment , but the dealers are stuck in the middle and they're getting crap from both sides . Corporate office says fix it and no support and you want it fixed and they have no parts .
What needs to happen is manufacturers must be held accountable to address recalls in a timely matter or pay up.
When push comes to shove they will come up with a bs fix like welding the drag links so it doesn't come loose , cheap bs repair but it worked .
I wish you luck , and when lawyers get involved they are the only ones that win.

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I don't buy "this is a sign of the times". These trucks cost $65-100,000 these days. There is PLENTY of profit in there. I know this because I see contract pricing for whole sales through work.

Should sue them for mental anguish, too.

No parts is simply no parts, there is nothing a dealership can do to make a manufacturer escalate a component build for you.

FCA does not make these parts, a 3rd party does, all they do is install the assemblies on the production line. In my industry (IT), I have a 6-9mo lead time on all switching equipment. That's like me screaming at my vendor to yell at Cisco, who then has to yell at some chinese company who makes the chips. Simply not going to happen. Do I like it, hell no, but I accept it. Covid f'd up the whole worlds supply chain.

Additionally, and this is a big one, you have threatened legal action against the people that's job it is to help you escalate. They will no longer help you based simply on that, seen it time and time again. The case is now flagged and they will now defer to their legal team for communications with your lawyer.

You should also be blaming the state of California. I have heard if no other state that will fail inspection due to a recall that is not emisions related causing the computer to be in a "not ready" condition.

Probably not going to get too many folks to side with you on this. You would have been better off asking for substitute transportation while your truck is not drivable rather than finacial compensation. They can absorb that cost, same as oil changes and tire rotations.

My 2cents....

chopperman1 said:

No parts is simply no parts, there is nothing a dealership can do to make a manufacturer escalate a component build for you.

FCA does not make these parts, a 3rd party does, all they do is install the assemblies on the production line. In my industry (IT), I have a 6-9mo lead time on all switching equipment. That's like me screaming at my vendor to yell at Cisco, who then has to yell at some chinese company who makes the chips. Simply not going to happen. Do I like it, hell no, but I accept it. Covid f'd up the whole worlds supply chain.

Additionally, and this is a big one, you have threatened legal action against the people that's job it is to help you escalate. They will no longer help you based simply on that, seen it time and time again. The case is now flagged and they will now defer to their legal team for communications with your lawyer.

You should also be blaming the state of California. I have heard if no other state that will fail inspection due to a recall that is not emisions related causing the computer to be in a "not ready" condition.

Probably not going to get too many folks to side with you on this. You would have been better off asking for substitute transportation while your truck is not drivable rather than finacial compensation. They can absorb that cost, same as oil changes and tire rotations.

My 2cents....

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I will edit original post, I forgot to add that Kathy, the case manager, confirmed there are parts available from Ram (the 11-8-2022 call) and that was part of her call to the dealership to coordinate them.

No parts ? They’re still rolling these trucks off the line .

I’d be driving this truck with expired plates and documentation on the issues with the BMV and Chrysler and considering it a discount on my registration. No cop is gonna write you a ticket with that documentation. Maybe they would even visit the the dealer with you. Gotta be a good part on another truck sitting around there.

I'd definitely find a lawyer for a consult even if it cost a couple hundred. I know there are lawyers that specialize solely in lemon law. Depending on the state, they may be free cause the mfg pays all legal fees.

While the dealer is the middle man, they are being scummy by covering for the mfg (if that is what's happening). I've heard of occurrences where a dealer told someone to get a lemon lawyer cause it was clear they had a lemon.

PR might help allot. Go for it on FB and al that once you give up on them. Might send news stations a **very** short synopsis to see if they want to write a story.

Agree manufacturer’s need to be held accountable. **** rolls downhill. Stoke the media publicity and let the Boys in High places feel the heat. It will be amazing how quick things will happen. If they have any clout and the manufacturer wants to stay in business.. parts will appear.