Ram warranty/customer service nightmare

[tron67j]

not at the expense of the person who's suffering now, but that is one of the things that drives me nuts with extended warranties. It is handled by the financial arm of the organization and of course the financial arm's responsibility is to maximize profit. Just absolutely mind-boggling that he still doesn't have a rental. He should have had that from day one.

 

[chrisbh17]

not at the expense of the person who's suffering now, but that is one of the things that drives me nuts with extended warranties. It is handled by the financial arm of the organization and of course the financial arm's responsibility is to maximize profit. Just absolutely mind-boggling that he still doesn't have a rental. He should have had that from day one.

Honestly I feel like its the dealers more than FCA/warranty writers.

Why work on something you arent guaranteed 100% up-front-money for? Sure Im sure FCA will (eventually) reimburse them, but if they had one bay left and a customer without a warranty paying them, which would they want to work on?

 

[tron67j]

Agree, dealer won't touch it if customer says warranty unless FCA authorizes it. But it may also be dealer service writer who just doesn't want to fight with FCA. Hoping for a positive outcome for this guy.

 

[IRSmart]

Why wouldn't the Maxcare cover rental regardless of in or out of factory warranty? I don't much about the extended warranty. Paying money for something that starts day one, it better be covered especially since the transmission is being covered. And would be very interested in hearing the reasoning why the starter is not covered. It is a covered part and who wouldn't, in their right mind, try to start truck. What a crock! My wife had extended warranty on her van, took me 5 straight phone hours of moving up chain to finally get a repair covered. Keep on them, you should be successful in getting it all covered. Good luck!

That’s the thing, though. It doesn’t take effect day one. It only kicks in when the factory warranty expires. Courtesy loaners are covered under the extended warranty, they’re not covered under the factory warranty.

 

[tron67j]

Chrisbh17 wrote rental coverage starts day 1, as do other parts I assume like trip insurance. The OP is out of warranty, so all should be covered.

 

[chrisbh17]

That’s the thing, though. It doesn’t take effect day one. It only kicks in when the factory warranty expires. Courtesy loaners are covered under the extended warranty, they’re not covered under the factory warranty.

The loaners start on day of purchase of the contract, if no other vehicle is provided to you....at least thats what my contract says.

 

[HEMIMANN]

That’s the thing, though. It doesn’t take effect day one. It only kicks in when the factory warranty expires. Courtesy loaners are covered under the extended warranty, they’re not covered under the factory warranty.

None of us want to (or should have to) fight with FCA, either.

I'm sure it will be all better within an even larger global corporate behemoth (Stellantis Corporation).

 

[IRSmart]

The loaners start on day of purchase of the contract, if no other vehicle is provided to you....at least thats what my contract says.

Only if the repair is NOT covered under the factory warranty and IS covered under the extended warranty.

 

[chrisbh17]

Only if the repair is NOT covered under the factory warranty and IS covered under the extended warranty.

That could be....my dealer provided "loaner" cars so I never need to use it (I use the term "loaner" loosely because its basically me giving Enterprise my credit card for a rental, with the dealer absorbing the first X amount of it and anything over that is on me)

But if thats the case, there definitely should be a rental for OP since they are using MaxCare.

 

[Docwagon1776]

not at the expense of the person who's suffering now, but that is one of the things that drives me nuts with extended warranties. It is handled by the financial arm of the organization and of course the financial arm's responsibility is to maximize profit. Just absolutely mind-boggling that he still doesn't have a rental. He should have had that from day one.

Yup. "Peace of mind" isn't doing him much good at the moment. With a warranty repair you're locked into the dealership and sort of at their mercy and the mercy of their supply chain. Now's not exactly normal times in terms of supply chains, so it's not a historical concern to not have a transmission available for 5-ish months, but if you were funding the repairs yourself there's plenty of rebuilts (including performance rebuilts) and used trannies out there and available.

I figure that's what I'll do with my Camaro. It's not over 35k miles yet, but as stuff breaks stuff gets upgraded.

 

[tron67j]

Yeah, parts are hard to come by now. Ford has had to shut down production in Europe due to a lack of computer chips. Camping trailer companies in Indiana have rows of unfinished trailers waiting for appliances from China. I had to search for days before I found a motor for our washing machine. These are not good times to need a repair part. I hope OP gets to enjoy a brand new TRX courtesy of FCA while waiting.

 

[Big Daddy]

I've been dealing with the lifetime warranties on a few cars. If its mechanical or electrical its covered. If there is a major delay in getting the parts they cover a loaner or rental. Been down this road many times and they have always been really good about it.

 

[Raydulce]

December 12th my truck tried to kill me,

This is a 2017 ram 2500 with a 6.4 hemi and lifetime maximum care warranty with 68k miles on it.

Driving down a 2 lane slick highway in Cooper landing Alaska. I was cruising 45 mph through a corner in a 55mph zone, felt a little bump and noticed my truck had died. Since I had no power steering/brakes at this point I rolled the truck into nuetral and pushed the start button. Next thing I know the entire cab is filled with electrical smoke and the headlights turn off in the dark. I stab the brakes with both feet and somehow managed to get the truck and trailer stopped while still on the road. Difficult, since I couldn't see the road and nothing electrical in the truck would work, like the windows to let the electrical smoke out.

This happens in an area that has no service 80 miles from home/dealer. Hitch hike to a place with signal 20° outside and call for help.

Get the truck and trailer home with various tow services. Dealer calls and said that the transmission has sized and the starter likely burned up because it couldn't turn the motor. They would put in the warranty request and let me know.

Yesterday my dealer calls and says that a transmission is backordered untill March 1st and they denied the starter repair. I have been 6 week's without a vehicle to drive and have spent 10-15 hours on the phone over the past 5 1/2 weeks trying to get fca, ram, or the warranty to help in some way.

This has been the worst customer experience event I have ever had in my life. My paper weight of a truck is going to spend over a quarter of 2021 on the shop due to ram not having parts to fix it.

@RamCares should be called @ramdoesntcareaboutitscustomers

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm a first-time RAM (2021 Rebel) owner and honestly I'm pretty disappointed with my first 1,500 miles. I've had problem after problem with my truck and not one has been fixed yet. Thankfully I have a wonderful dealer doing their best to help me. If could get some of this stuff fixed, it would be the best truck I've ever owned...

Due to the problems I keep having, I've been definitely looking at an extended max-care warranty. How have other's experiences been? Would you (all) recommend the warranty?

 

[Doug Ram]

I am not surprised that parts are not available when plants are being shut down due to lack of electronic chips and COVID issues. But they can and should give you a loaner vehicle. There is NO excuse for not covering the starter and getting you a loaner.

Frankly, I have had good luck with third party warranties. The CarTalk website has a list of recommended (and not) warranty companies. FCA is recommended FOR FCA cars, because they only use FCA parts. Which could be a problem obviously if none are available. Years ago we bought a used Suzuki SX4 all wheel drive (fantastic car BTW) with both a factory 100k drivetrain and third party 10/100,000 bumper to bumper warranty from used dealer... When the rear differential was damaged by rutted road bottoming out the 3rd party warranty company paid for a rebuilt unit, no questions asked. We were on the road in a week.

 

[jagman_xjs]

I HATE to hear you are having problems with FCA as well. This is the very reason why I always have kept a backup vehicle and also why I will NEVER buy a new vehicle again. I have never owned new vehicles until 2019 and then I bought 4 . What I have found is I am at the mercy of their unintelligent "mechanic" who is normally nothing more than a parts changer. Plus the part I hate I have been able to count on going back at least 3 times because they aren't bright enough to fix right the first time and all the red tape crap that goes with it. When my warranty expires I will be done with FCA new vehicles forever. I do LOVE driving new but when there is a problem it is NOT worth the hassle. Plus they do not like you to mod it so I have to wait lift my Jeep.

 

[demonram]

December 12th my truck tried to kill me,

This is a 2017 ram 2500 with a 6.4 hemi and lifetime maximum care warranty with 68k miles on it.

Driving down a 2 lane slick highway in Cooper landing Alaska. I was cruising 45 mph through a corner in a 55mph zone, felt a little bump and noticed my truck had died. Since I had no power steering/brakes at this point I rolled the truck into nuetral and pushed the start button. Next thing I know the entire cab is filled with electrical smoke and the headlights turn off in the dark. I stab the brakes with both feet and somehow managed to get the truck and trailer stopped while still on the road. Difficult, since I couldn't see the road and nothing electrical in the truck would work, like the windows to let the electrical smoke out.

This happens in an area that has no service 80 miles from home/dealer. Hitch hike to a place with signal 20° outside and call for help.

Get the truck and trailer home with various tow services. Dealer calls and said that the transmission has sized and the starter likely burned up because it couldn't turn the motor. They would put in the warranty request and let me know.

Yesterday my dealer calls and says that a transmission is backordered untill March 1st and they denied the starter repair. I have been 6 week's without a vehicle to drive and have spent 10-15 hours on the phone over the past 5 1/2 weeks trying to get fca, ram, or the warranty to help in some way.

This has been the worst customer experience event I have ever had in my life. My paper weight of a truck is going to spend over a quarter of 2021 on the shop due to ram not having parts to fix it.

@RamCares should be called @ramdoesntcareaboutitscustomers

I have to disagree with you assessment of Ram Cares. They did me a solid back in 2017.

 

[Octane]

Ram cares...till they don't.lol

 

[GREGORY BRIGGS]

What does FIAT stand for (FIX IT AGAIN TONY) LOL GOOD LUCK YOUR GOING TO NEED IT

 

[Octane]

Fiats sold so badly here that the company pulled them out.Years ago they had to do the same thing

 

[farout75]

December 12th my truck tried to kill me,

This is a 2017 ram 2500 with a 6.4 hemi and lifetime maximum care warranty with 68k miles on it.

Driving down a 2 lane slick highway in Cooper landing Alaska. I was cruising 45 mph through a corner in a 55mph zone, felt a little bump and noticed my truck had died. Since I had no power steering/brakes at this point I rolled the truck into nuetral and pushed the start button. Next thing I know the entire cab is filled with electrical smoke and the headlights turn off in the dark. I stab the brakes with both feet and somehow managed to get the truck and trailer stopped while still on the road. Difficult, since I couldn't see the road and nothing electrical in the truck would work, like the windows to let the electrical smoke out.

This happens in an area that has no service 80 miles from home/dealer. Hitch hike to a place with signal 20° outside and call for help.

Get the truck and trailer home with various tow services. Dealer calls and said that the transmission has sized and the starter likely burned up because it couldn't turn the motor. They would put in the warranty request and let me know.

Yesterday my dealer calls and says that a transmission is backordered untill March 1st and they denied the starter repair. I have been 6 week's without a vehicle to drive and have spent 10-15 hours on the phone over the past 5 1/2 weeks trying to get fca, ram, or the warranty to help in some way.

This has been the worst customer experience event I have ever had in my life. My paper weight of a truck is going to spend over a quarter of 2021 on the shop due to ram not having parts to fix it.

@RamCares should be called @ramdoesntcareaboutitscustomers

I would call FCA at 1800 992 1997 and as to speak to a person at a higher higher level. If you have the MAX Care warranty there should have been no issue, Someone is messing you up.
I have had good luck when I asked for a supervisor, and stuck to my guns asking for one person even higher. Good luck!