Author Topic: Auto Mechanics, or car experts (Read 749 times)

cav58d · « **on:** July 27, 2006, 05:07:08 PM »

I get out of my car when i Get home, and the left side of my hood is raised about an inch and a half...I open the hood to see the frame of my strut housing his lifted and punctured my hood from within, and is jacked in that position, keeping my hood raised...I bring my car (which is a 12 month old 2005 Chrysler Sebring) to two auto body shops (both very good family friends)...We jack the car up on a lift and start to inspect.....Zero tire, wheel well or rim damage...alignement is fine...Only problem found is that welding holding the strut, or a strut panel or something like that has snapped....both mechanics told me in all there years of doing this line of work they have never seen a welding snap apart like that without other damage...they said sure, if the tire popped, rim cracked ect...then the weld break would be understandable.....but for the weld to break without any other damage to the more sensitive parts of the car, it makes them believe if was welded incorectly, or it is a design/factory fault, and I should not pay anything to have this fixed....... So I call up my dealership and they say they wont cover it, its under pot hole....I've called 8 times since, and the head service ****er is blowing me off and not picking up....Do I have a legitimate claim for faulty part? Whats my next step???? Do I call Chrysler HQ?

GtoRA2 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 27, 2006, 05:10:21 PM »

Try another dealer or call Cryslers customer service.

You have a legit claim. Find a service manager who isnt a ********.

Vudak · « **Reply #2 on:** July 27, 2006, 05:12:47 PM »

Call their VP of Consumer affairs for one... Complain, but don't swear. Be polite, and take down names, dates, and times you called.

You can also call various consumer protection agencies... I could actually find out the precise names for you from CT tomorrow at work, but right now I forget.

My father's one of those jerks who spends two or three hours on the phone when someone gives him an attitude at a Subway

so I'm sure he could help you out with some of this...

Actually, hell. I'll PM you his number and such. Give him a call tomorrow, tell him you're one of JP's friends and that I asked him to help you out with this. If there's one man in CT who can help you get to the bottom (er, top, really) of this, it's him

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 27, 2006, 05:40:12 PM »

Easy enough.

Give em a call.

Contact Us by Telephone
1-800-992-1997
M-F 8:00AM-5:00PM
All Time Zones

Contact Us by Mail:
DaimlerChrysler Customer Assistance Center
P.O. Box 21-8004
Auburn Hills, MI 48321-8004

Dont screw with a service dept. manager at the dealership.

In this market, no American car manufacturer can afford to ignore customer service. They cant go giving away the farm either, but to ignore a real complaint about product quality means a lost customer and that means lost revenue that they just cant afford. Even worse, it means a bad reputation. Chrysler has had its share of product quality horror stories in the last few years, they really need some positives.

Call these people up, tell them you have had the car examined at different shops and gotten the same opinion from ALL the mechanics. Tell them your problems with the local dealership. Tell them a local news agency has contacted you about appearing on one of those "complain about the jerks ripping me off" shows, and that you are seriously considering taking them up on it, but you want to give Chrysler one more chance. Make them understand that you are only asking for someone to give your car a fair examination, and if they think its not a flaw then you want a reasonable explanation. Make them understand that if they refuse to accommodate your very reasonable requests, that they could be in for some very nasty public exposure, at least at the local level.

Thats how I'd handle it anyway. Beyond that if they still balk I'd get sworn statements from the mechanics that looked at your car, take pictures of it, and then rape the dealer in court.

bkbandit · « **Reply #4 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:33:39 AM »

they cant eve weld right??? the car is only a year old, wats the mileage, 15k? at the most. i would make a big stink, call the news and report it, thats dangerous, imagine they didnt weld the frame together right, u be driveing on the highway andd the car would come apart around u.

nirvana · « **Reply #5 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:47:15 AM »

Legit claim, imagine it it had gone all the way through and your front end smacked the ground at 40MPH, fun ride. Good luck bro.

P.S. Never buy Chrysler, if one "American" manufacturer seriously doesn't know what quality control means, it's them.

Hell, i'll give you a story. Few weeks ago we get a Durango in with computer problems, tech switches out the computer for a new ones, thing works...til he goes to move it, truck dies. Eventually he starts thinking it's the wiring harness in the car. Well he calls up the Chrysler dealership and the head tech says "Sometimes I have to replace 6 or 7 computer before I find one that works"

Good stuff at Chrysler, tell you what.

mora · « **Reply #6 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:50:58 AM »

It should absolutely be covered by warranty. It would have been covered in all dealerships I've worked without a question asked.

The attitude at your dealership is unbelievable. It's not even coming from their pocket, so why the attitude?

rpm · « **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2006, 02:53:10 AM »

Because they don't get paid the same for warranty as they do for regular repair work.

mora · « **Reply #8 on:** July 28, 2006, 05:22:49 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by rpm
Because they don't get paid the same for warranty as they do for regular repair work.

Yes, but it's not like they are doing it at a loss. At least at the Volvo dealership I worked at did as much warranty work as was possible, it was still money to us. Personally I rarely argued with a customer, unless it was a clear case of foreign damage or warranty expiration. I simply contacted the manufacturer and asked if they will cover and that was it. Maybe it's different over there.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2006, 06:55:57 AM »

Most of the foriegn car manufacturers, I have had dealings with, are very good at standing behind thier product. Case in point.

My Wife's Volvo S60 had to go into the shop for repair work. The A/C compressor had exploded and took out the water pump, timing cover housing, alternator, and power steering pump.

The dealership was just amazed. The manager sent my Wife to the waiting room and, on his own, made some calls. We ended up only paying for the A/C compressor replacement. Two days after we get thew car back, we get a letter from Volvo offering a 25% rebate for the repair work.

Now here is the most amazing part. The car is 5 years old with 117,000 miles on it. Well out of warranty. Will we buy another Volvo? You bet.

Gunslinger · « **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2006, 07:37:02 AM »

Cav,

If it comes down to it that they flat out refuse to do the work, have a local mechanic document his findings and then get it backed up by another mechanic as a 2nd opinion. If they still refuse then have the car fixed and pay for it out of pocket. Then go down to your local court house and file suit against chrysler in small claims court. You don't need a lawyer, most of the time you only need about $50 to file the claim. Wait a couple of months and then go to court. IF a chrysler lawyer shows up he's more then likely ready to give you a check. If not explain it to the judge. For $50 and a days time you might get your fair shake at it.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #11 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:54:08 AM »

An impartial expert will be able to tell if the weld broke due to unusual stress or id it was faulty from the git go. The dealer should have inspected it just to make sure. Im not an expert, but I belive robots weld the frames. I have run across bad welding rods that makes a real crappy weld and if there is no human looking at it, it can go unnoticed.

bkbandit · « **Reply #12 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:04:46 PM »

A WELD BREAKING ON A 05 CAR? cmon now, go to court.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #13 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:16:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Most of the foriegn car manufacturers, I have had dealings with, are very good at standing behind thier product. Case in point.

My Wife's Volvo S60 had to go into the shop for repair work. The A/C compressor had exploded and took out the water pump, timing cover housing, alternator, and power steering pump.

The dealership was just amazed. The manager sent my Wife to the waiting room and, on his own, made some calls. We ended up only paying for the A/C compressor replacement. Two days after we get thew car back, we get a letter from Volvo offering a 25% rebate for the repair work.

Now here is the most amazing part. The car is 5 years old with 117,000 miles on it. Well out of warranty. Will we buy another Volvo? You bet.

Damm, Im gonna buy one too:)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 28, 2006, 01:04:16 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Most of the foriegn car manufacturers, I have had dealings with, are very good at standing behind thier product. Case in point.

My Wife's Volvo S60 had to go into the shop for repair work. The A/C compressor had exploded and took out the water pump, timing cover housing, alternator, and power steering pump.

The dealership was just amazed. The manager sent my Wife to the waiting room and, on his own, made some calls. We ended up only paying for the A/C compressor replacement. Two days after we get thew car back, we get a letter from Volvo offering a 25% rebate for the repair work.

Now here is the most amazing part. The car is 5 years old with 117,000 miles on it. Well out of warranty. Will we buy another Volvo? You bet.

Thats because for the most part, they understand a basic fact of business that seems to have eluded American car companies for at least 30 years now. One person buying one car from you might not make much difference in your bottom line. But how many cars will that one person buy in a lifetime? How many cars might his family buy? His children, his grandchildren, his siblings and cousins and so on. Now figure in friends brought in just by word of mouth. The Big 3 had it so good for so long that they lost sight of how important one person can be. For all the others, looking in from the outside at the huge American automobile market, they understand very well how important each and every one of their customers is.

The company I used to work for won GM "supplier of the year" awards twice while I worked for them. We dealt mainly with GM and Chrysler, sometimes with Ford. For awhile we had a contract with Toyota as well. The difference between Toyota and any American car company is like night and day. GM cares about what the people in between the factory and the dealership do that might mess up their cars during transit. Well and good, but they really dont do much to protect the cars during shipment. Plastic covers over the seats is about the extent of it. Maybe a foam rubber piece stuck on the door to prevent banging it against the side of a railcar or something. Whether on a truck or inside a railcar, there is very little room to maneuver, and damage happens. GM expects it and writes it off as the fault of the carrier. Chrysler is the same way. Toyota? Plastic covers over the wheels, to prevent scratching. Spray on coating to protect the paint that has to be washed off before the cars can be sent to dealerships. A REAL pain, but it worked. Plastic over the seats, and sticky plastic on the carpeting too, to keep anything from marking up the car. A few German built cars I've seen were the same way.

Point here is, the foreign car companies recognize that percieved quality is important to customers. "Initial quality" and "service quality", or what happens if you need repairs. This is what they care called in ratings reviews, but both affect overall percieved quality of the product. Both are something foriegn car manufacturers score highly in on a consistent basis, and domestic car companies fall flat on their faces. Did you think it was a good quality product when you drove it off the lot, and has that opinion been altered by your service since? A poor mechanic or a dealership that doesnt give a rat's arse can make a simple problem into a PR nightmare by not fixing it right the first time.

I'm not sure the Big 3 will ever get it.