Bad experience with independent auto shop

[Gom]

Been using the same one for years, he retired and sold his place, it wasn't convenient after moving years ago so I looked for a shop nearby. Read some reviews picked one.

They perfomed the fuel pump replacement after the "fuel sensor failure" happened. 43k miles.

Next day after repair, check fuel cap message comes on.
Call them and they say replace the fuel cap. I am suspicious at this point thinking they didn't do something right. But they insist the Dodge gas caps aren't very good and fail often.
I replace cap, and take the truck back a week later and they test fuel system and say the old cap was bad.
I asked if they dropped the tank again to make sure nothing was wrong/damaged from the last job. They didn't and didn't see any reason to.

Get the truck back and go to fill it up as it's empty. First fill up since fuel pump replacement.
Gas pump keeps clicking off like it's full. Can't get it to run any length of time after the initial 10 seconds or so of fill time.
Try a different gas station just to remove pump as the culprit when I know full well it's a venting issue.
Same thing, pump keeps clicking off.

Off to the to the RAM dealer. Tell them the story. They call me the next day and informed me they dropped the tank and the previous shop left a tool on top of the fuel tank that was mashing something affecting the venting. They fixed it.
Also informed me that they needed it another day to do the exhaust manifold repair as they are leaking (I hadn't noticed this) and this was being performed under warranty.

So the independent will get a letter from me telling them the outcome. I don't expect perfection from anyone or any shop but I do expect them to stand behind their work. This place just refused to consider that they made a mistake that needed to be fixed. Never going back there.

So, silver lining, exhaust manifold fixed under warranty that will expire in September. Yeah, I know, it will happen again.

Just happy to have my truck back, it needs to pull my boat this weekend.

 

[CamperMike]

There's good and bad dealers and independent shops. Sounds like your dealer is a good one.

 

[Gom]

There's good and bad dealers and independent shops. Sounds like your dealer is a good one.

agreed, it's just painful sorting through them all. I was really spoiled with the mechanic I had for 20 years. Great guy, great mechanic and stood behind his work. Did multiple things for free like checking check engine light codes. I had nothing against this RAM dealer, they always seemed good but the local shop was so much closer. No matter, the dealer has my business for now.

 

[Daw14]

Let us know how your next fill up works out. Time will tell. Dealers are known to tell lies ,cheat , and steal. Any one can ,they just do it for a living.

 

[chri5k]

Not only did you get the manifold bolts done under warranty but a free tool to boot!

 

[Tach_tech]

It’s funny, I just dealt with almost an identical issue from an independent shop.

I (lieing,cheating,stealing dealer) diagnosed a faulty fuel pump on a vehicle, customer chose to have an independent do the repair.

Customer had the CEL come on after a few days as well as complaining of hard to fill. After getting the run around from the independent saying gas cap faulty, it has to relearn etc. They brought it back to us. I look at it, codes for evap leaks. Put it up on the hoist to find they didn’t reconnect the vent line and had come partially plugged with dirt, clips were broken. So fixed it up and sent them on their way.

Moral of the story is people make mistakes, that shop however should have told you to come in and have them look at it, instead of just telling you to throw parts at it. There is honest and dishonest people in every profession. Being an independent shop/dealer doesn’t automatically put you in the good or bad category.

 

[Gom]

Several hundred miles with no problems, filled tank, everything good.
To be clear, I had no issues with that Ram dealer, I have been there a few times and they were always good.
The independent was very close to my house, read lots of good stuff about them. Little did I know they don't stand behind their work.
I should mention also the dealer charged me nothing to fix the independent shops mistake. Nothing.
The whole bill would have been zero but I decided to have them do a synthetic oil change. My back has really been bothering me so I had them do it to save me the trouble of crawling around on the driveway.
Very happy to say the least.

 

[Octane]

Been using the same one for years, he retired and sold his place, it wasn't convenient after moving years ago so I looked for a shop nearby. Read some reviews picked one.

They perfomed the fuel pump replacement after the "fuel sensor failure" happened. 43k miles.

Next day after repair, check fuel cap message comes on.
Call them and they say replace the fuel cap. I am suspicious at this point thinking they didn't do something right. But they insist the Dodge gas caps aren't very good and fail often.
I replace cap, and take the truck back a week later and they test fuel system and say the old cap was bad.
I asked if they dropped the tank again to make sure nothing was wrong/damaged from the last job. They didn't and didn't see any reason to.

Get the truck back and go to fill it up as it's empty. First fill up since fuel pump replacement.
Gas pump keeps clicking off like it's full. Can't get it to run any length of time after the initial 10 seconds or so of fill time.
Try a different gas station just to remove pump as the culprit when I know full well it's a venting issue.
Same thing, pump keeps clicking off.

Off to the to the RAM dealer. Tell them the story. They call me the next day and informed me they dropped the tank and the previous shop left a tool on top of the fuel tank that was mashing something affecting the venting. They fixed it.
Also informed me that they needed it another day to do the exhaust manifold repair as they are leaking (I hadn't noticed this) and this was being performed under warranty.

So the independent will get a letter from me telling them the outcome. I don't expect perfection from anyone or any shop but I do expect them to stand behind their work. This place just refused to consider that they made a mistake that needed to be fixed. Never going back there.

So, silver lining, exhaust manifold fixed under warranty that will expire in September. Yeah, I know, it will happen again.

Just happy to have my truck back, it needs to pull my boat this weekend.

I would have gotten the tool and took it to that shop and tell them what was found Tell them that you are keeping their tool as token of their outstanding work(sarcasm)

 

[Gom]

I wish I could have gotten the tool, but I didn't. Felt good a tech there got a free tool.
When I picked it up the service advisor that told me about it on the phone was gone for the day, the one I talked to didn't know anything about it.
I am fine with it, I just wanted the whole thing behind me.

 

[British Bulldog]

Took my 2017 1500 in for an oil leak under warranty while in for oil change service. Truck had done maybe 20,000?

Dealer: we found the leak. It was your oil filter. Technician says it cos you had fitted an sun standard after market one.
Me: But you did the last service on this vehicle. It’s never been anywhere else.
Dealer: you must have done an additional service. Definitely not the right filter, wrong colour for genuine.
Me: Two oil changes in 6,000mls?????? Show me the old filter.

20 mins later, sorry we can’t find it must have gotten throw out.

********! They found the filter they fitted loose. AND next morning I had engine oil on my drive where it had not been cleared off the power steering pump properly!

 

[EdGs]

Took my 2017 1500 in for an oil leak under warranty while in for oil change service. Truck had done maybe 20,000?

Dealer: we found the leak. It was your oil filter. Technician says it cos you had fitted an sun standard after market one.
Me: But you did the last service on this vehicle. It’s never been anywhere else.
Dealer: you must have done an additional service. Definitely not the right filter, wrong colour for genuine.
Me: Two oil changes in 6,000mls?????? Show me the old filter.

20 mins later, sorry we can’t find it must have gotten throw out.

********! They found the filter they fitted loose. AND next morning I had engine oil on my drive where it had not been cleared off the power steering pump properly!

Lucky you didn't have a worse leak, who knows what would've/could've happened to your engine.

Scares the **** out of me.

 

[Ryan J]

If i have to use a shop. I inspect everything before i leave. Even a tire rotation if i dont do it myself. Check the lugnuts make sure they are (mine) not busted. Valve stem caps are the ones i came with and not a bunch of mismatch garbage.

Had a shop put bilsteins on. Crawl underneath to look at pretty they were... hmm the rear is still stock. And this was from 4WheelAutoParts a place i would expect no issues from.

I had the manifold bolts break on both sides. I did one side myself and took it to a shop to do the other side. I got a check engine light about 200 miles later. Code came back as the same as a gas cap or another valve (i cant remember what its called now but its directly under the battery) a vaccum hose basically. They took the hose off when doing the bolt repair and didnt put it back on. It has a clip so it cant just get pulled off.

Had the rearend bearing changed and came back with a smaill dent on the door. They gave me a shoulder shrug and said it was there when it came in.

My mom had her windshield replaced. They tool they used sratched all the paint off above the windshield and they gooped on some paint that looked like finger paint. I took it back for her and told them **** happens, thats fine, but fix it right and tell your customer. Plain and simple. Thats good business and will keep me coming back.

So tired of people not being accountable for there laziness......

 

[Skatulaki]

Repair work can be challenging sometimes. Most repairs are pretty simple, and some an be real head scratchers. Couple that with the customers need to use the equipment and its easy to screw something up. I repaired copy machines for 3 decades, ( as both a dealer and an independant ) and always told customers, ( any problems call me back ) I always went back as many times as it took.
As far as cars go, I usually do my own work, but some stuff I either didn't have the tools, time, or knowledge. Have had good and bad experiences with both dealers and indy's. One dealer I had to take my ride back 6 times before they got it right. I was pretty peeved the 3rd time, but the 4th, 5th and 6th time, I would just look at the SM and laugh and drop the key on the counter, and just walk out, I didn't even wait for him to write it up. After trying to fix the first one, they put 3 different transmissions in it before they got a good one.

 

[Tach_tech]

Repair work can be challenging sometimes. Most repairs are pretty simple, and some an be real head scratchers. Couple that with the customers need to use the equipment and its easy to screw something up. I repaired copy machines for 3 decades, ( as both a dealer and an independant ) and always told customers, ( any problems call me back ) I always went back as many times as it took.
As far as cars go, I usually do my own work, but some stuff I either didn't have the tools, time, or knowledge. Have had good and bad experiences with both dealers and indy's. One dealer I had to take my ride back 6 times before they got it right. I was pretty peeved the 3rd time, but the 4th, 5th and 6th time, I would just look at the SM and laugh and drop the key on the counter, and just walk out, I didn't even wait for him to write it up. After trying to fix the first one, they put 3 different transmissions in it before they got a good one.

As a tech been there many times with customers coming back multiple times due to sub par parts. Most customers are understanding with that we don’t make the parts but others seem to expect us to reengineer parts in house while they wait and have a coffee. Best one I’ve had is a lady that owned a Dodge Journey. They have a very common issue with the radio. Hard drive fails and navigation no longer works. We put 5 or 6 radios in this thing in a span of a couple years. Luckily she was very understanding, but still not fun for her or us a shop trying to stand behind some awful remanufactured radios.

 

[Doug Ram]

As a tech been there many times with customers coming back multiple times due to sub par parts. Most customers are understanding with that we don’t make the parts but others seem to expect us to reengineer parts in house while they wait and have a coffee. Best one I’ve had is a lady that owned a Dodge Journey. They have a very common issue with the radio. Hard drive fails and navigation no longer works. We put 5 or 6 radios in this thing in a span of a couple years. Luckily she was very understanding, but still not fun for her or us a shop trying to stand behind some awful remanufactured radios.

Do you find yourself wondering what the heck the manufacturer is doing when you have to replace the very same critical part more than once? I had a new, under warranty, 03 Toyota 4Runner for a year and half... It went thru 2 transmissions, 2 catalytic converters, and 2 "computers". I was not happy. Dealer was not happy. He had 3 similar 4Runners with similar issues. As for me, after the second "computer", I was done. Drove it straight from Toyota dealer to the Dodge dealer, and traded it for an 05 Durango limited.

I don't know what Toyota was doing, but I was not putting up with it.

 

[Tach_tech]

I wonder that every day I work on cars lol. For the radios specifically, the issue is that they are remanufactured. So they take the old broken radios, then “fix” them and we use them in someone else’s vehicle.

 

[Bill Blackmon]

I never let a dealer change my oil. Some years ago I had a dealer change the oil while under warranty. The tech did not check to see if the oil filter gasket had come off with the filter. Got the truck back and within a few miles the engine went ****. The oil had been pushed out between the gaskets. Dealer installed new engine but was without truck for 2 weeks. I ALWAYS change my own oil now.