Frustrating dealer visit!

[michaelm_ski]

Find a different dealer and see if their service department is better , I took my new vehicle to one and it was an hour away and I was not impressed with their (service) so I went to a local place about half an hour away and loved their service super friendly and extremely courteous . Pays sometimes to go to other places .

 

[Elkman]

With every truck I have owned there has been a choice of 3 or more dealers. Eventually I learn which one has the best people and who to talk to in the service department and who to avoid.

I have found Yelp to be fantastic for finding out in advance which dealers stink and provide good after sale support for customers.

 

[Tach_tech]

Experience doesn’t always equate to knowledge or expertise lol. I’ve met a few techs who’ve been doing it forever and they weren’t very good techs at all.

 

[MADDOG]

Gents,

I have just cleaned up this thread and removed a bunch of posts.

The site rules are very clear about personal attacks not being allowed. Keep them out of the open forum. Take it to PM if you really want to continue to engage in a male member measuring contest.

 

[spinxt]

Service writers are the worst (in most cases). They know nothing that the computer in front of their face isn’t telling them.

I had one claim they were not going to cover a couple bad lifters on my Grand Cherokee. He claimed my Jeep ran out of oil and that’s why the lifter failed. I do all my own oil changed, so I knew this was impossible. I asked, “how do you know?” He said the tech checked the dip stick. I said, did he open the plug to see? Long story short they stuck to the story that the issue was cause by no oil. So I said “let me get this straight, my Jeep will tell me when my washer fluid is low, but it won’t tell me when my oil is low causing major engine damage”? He said “those lights/warnings aren’t reliable”. I literally started laughing.
Then I went home and found a TSB where certain GCs with the HEMI had the wrong dipstick installed from the factory. My VIN was included in my TSB. At this point my vehicle was still up on the lift. I said, let’s all walk out there right now and open the drain plug. Guess what drained out. OIL.

they are idiots. Moral of the story, I wasn’t an educated “car guy”, I would have been screwed and completely taken advantage of.

 

[Tim7139]

Service writers are the worst (in most cases). They know nothing that the computer in front of their face isn’t telling them.

And like HR staff are there primarily to protect your dealers profit, not your vehicle.

 

[reyn3545]

Last weekend, I had a golf trip planned to South Carolina. On Saturday's rounds, we drove to the course with no problems. At the end of the rounds, loaded everything into the truck, hit the start button on the ignition. There was a loud popping noise, and on the dash I'm getting messages about the air suspension system needing service, key fob not found, auto-aiming headlights not functioning, and maybe a few other things. It would not start. We tried using the back side of the keyfob, disconnecting the battery, unplugging the computer, nothing would start the truck. So, we found a local auto parts store and one of my golfing partners drove me there.. we got a new keyfob battery and a volt/ohm meter to check the main battery. It was showing only 5 volts.

It was late in the day, but we did find another parts store about 15 miles away that had a new battery in stock... so we got it, tools to replace it, and a flashlight so we could see what we were doing.... it didn't start.

So, I'm in nowhere South Carolina with a dead truck, 24K miles on it. I called my insurance company to have the truck towed to the nearest dealer, but they couldn't deliver to the dealer until Monday because the dealer was closed. So, I had to ride back to Charlotte with my friends (I live in Florida), then rent a car on Monday to drive back to the dealer.

I called the dealer Monday morning to let them know the truck would be delivered, and asked if they could at least put it on the test equipment to give me some idea of whether it could be repaired that day or if it would require parts to be ordered... I had a 3 hour drive to the dealer, then a 7 hour drive home from there. The dealer said "We should be able to look at it in a day or so".

I called the dealer when I was about a half hour away... they received the truck earlier in the day, but hadn't had a chance to look at it. When I arrived at the dealer, the story was the same... no time to look at it. They asked me to sit in the waiting room, and he would ask one of the techs if he had time.

So, I sat in the waiting room boiling for about a half hour, then walked next door to a Ford dealership and traded for a new F150. I have never been so mad over a broken down truck and poor service. I'm in the electronics business, so I understand that things can break with no notice... but a failure like this at 24K miles, and no interest at the dealer in helping an out of town traveler with a long day ahead of them just sent me over the limit.

I've had a number of little issues with the truck... passenger step would intermittently not deploy, radio losing its pre-set channels, knocking noise in the front suspension, the typical hemo ticks in the engine, air suspension system lowering for no reason, etc... and lastly some electronic problem that left me dead in the road. Luckily I was with people who could help me, but who knows what would happen next... not my problem now.

 

[BigLazer4u]

Last weekend, I had a golf trip planned to South Carolina. On Saturday's rounds, we drove to the course with no problems. At the end of the rounds, loaded everything into the truck, hit the start button on the ignition. There was a loud popping noise, and on the dash I'm getting messages about the air suspension system needing service, key fob not found, auto-aiming headlights not functioning, and maybe a few other things. It would not start. We tried using the back side of the keyfob, disconnecting the battery, unplugging the computer, nothing would start the truck. So, we found a local auto parts store and one of my golfing partners drove me there.. we got a new keyfob battery and a volt/ohm meter to check the main battery. It was showing only 5 volts.

It was late in the day, but we did find another parts store about 15 miles away that had a new battery in stock... so we got it, tools to replace it, and a flashlight so we could see what we were doing.... it didn't start.

So, I'm in nowhere South Carolina with a dead truck, 24K miles on it. I called my insurance company to have the truck towed to the nearest dealer, but they couldn't deliver to the dealer until Monday because the dealer was closed. So, I had to ride back to Charlotte with my friends (I live in Florida), then rent a car on Monday to drive back to the dealer.

I called the dealer Monday morning to let them know the truck would be delivered, and asked if they could at least put it on the test equipment to give me some idea of whether it could be repaired that day or if it would require parts to be ordered... I had a 3 hour drive to the dealer, then a 7 hour drive home from there. The dealer said "We should be able to look at it in a day or so".

I called the dealer when I was about a half hour away... they received the truck earlier in the day, but hadn't had a chance to look at it. When I arrived at the dealer, the story was the same... no time to look at it. They asked me to sit in the waiting room, and he would ask one of the techs if he had time.

So, I sat in the waiting room boiling for about a half hour, then walked next door to a Ford dealership and traded for a new F150. I have never been so mad over a broken down truck and poor service. I'm in the electronics business, so I understand that things can break with no notice... but a failure like this at 24K miles, and no interest at the dealer in helping an out of town traveler with a long day ahead of them just sent me over the limit.

I've had a number of little issues with the truck... passenger step would intermittently not deploy, radio losing its pre-set channels, knocking noise in the front suspension, the typical hemo ticks in the engine, air suspension system lowering for no reason, etc... and lastly some electronic problem that left me dead in the road. Luckily I was with people who could help me, but who knows what would happen next... not my problem now.

this is a hell of a story, and in all honestly I probably would of done the same. Except I would of traded in on a Toyota!

 

[Elkman]

With every truck and car I have owned, regardless of the manufacturer, has had good dealers and poor dealers and terrible dealers. Out of 4 dealers in my area there has never been more than one of them that had people in the service department that were competent. It is even worse with a diesel engine.

What has proven very useful now is to check the Yelp reviews for dealers. I get dealer specific information posted by past customers as to how they were treated by the dealer's people.

Dealers actually make the majority of their profits from parts sales and service work on cars and trucks. A service rep is doing a clerical job and should not be expected to know anything about the mechanics or electronics on vehicles. Unless it is a warranty repair I go to independent owner operated garages with good reviews and where the skill and knowledge level is far higher than at a dealer.

Overall from my own checking, Ram dealers are the least bad between those of Ford, Chevy, and Toyota. Of course with a Toyota there will be far fewer visits to the dealer for needed repairs.

 

[reyn3545]

I'm in the service business, I know things fail, and I know the value of good service. I don't blame Ram for the dealer's poor service, but there are a couple of things that come to mind.... In my almost 50 years of driving, I have never had a vehicle drop dead in less than 24K miles. When that happened, in top of the "little" new truck bugs, the game was over. If there was a Hyundai dealer next door, I probably would have driven one of those home. I'm sure that whatever my problem was that day, it was repairable. But for how long, and what was going to fail next? That's not a question I've ever had to ask myself before that day. When the problem did happen, the dealer had several hours during which they could have pulled the truck into a service bay and at least hooked it up to a test system to get some idea of what went wrong. That dealer lost me as a Ram customer that day, and probably forever. My Ford may die tomorrow, and we'll see what happens then.

 

[gray_flhxs]

I'm in the service business, I know things fail, and I know the value of good service. I don't blame Ram for the dealer's poor service, but there are a couple of things that come to mind.... In my almost 50 years of driving, I have never had a vehicle drop dead in less than 24K miles. When that happened, in top of the "little" new truck bugs, the game was over. If there was a Hyundai dealer next door, I probably would have driven one of those home. I'm sure that whatever my problem was that day, it was repairable. But for how long, and what was going to fail next? That's not a question I've ever had to ask myself before that day. When the problem did happen, the dealer had several hours during which they could have pulled the truck into a service bay and at least hooked it up to a test system to get some idea of what went wrong. That dealer lost me as a Ram customer that day, and probably forever. My Ford may die tomorrow, and we'll see what happens then.

How did you manager to do a trade on a dead truck sitting on another car lot? LOL I am wondering how that deal worked out for the trade-in.

Bad situation and I don't blame you for getting mad.

 

[dhay13]

Sounds similar to my Ford experiences. This was over 25 years ago but 1990 F150 302 new engine at 40,000 miles, 1994 F250 460 needed a rebuild at about 40,000 miles when I traded it in (burning oil like crazy, 4x4 quit working, and wouldn't start after 2 days). And a 1996 Ford Windstar that we bought brand new that blew a head gasket at 60,000 miles just after the warranty was up. Haven't owned one since and won't again. Never had any engine issues on any of my other vehicles ever. Maybe Fords quality control was on vacation those years but their attitude with me over it sealed their fate. And it wasn't the dealer but Ford customer service

 

[reyn3545]

How did you manager to do a trade on a dead truck sitting on another car lot? LOL I am wondering how that deal worked out for the trade-in.

Bad situation and I don't blame you for getting mad.

The same company owned both dealerships. It was a little odd.... They couldn't start it or drive it, but it was a nice clean truck. It was under warranty, so the Ram dealer surely took care of whatever the problem of the day was before the Ford dealer took it over. I hope whoever buys it has a better experience with it than I did.

 

[keisur]

going to the dealer was the thing I dreaded most when I started looking at a new truck. I just want to look and find and not be "sold" a vehicle. then there's the service department, always trying to get you to leave the vehicle but offering to give you a lift somewhere so that they can de-prioritize your vehicle and tell you it will be a couple of days. never a good visit, lol, so if I can do it at home, it gets done at home.