so i took my truck into the dealer to get the steering column lock recall done and I honestly was amazed at how retarded the employees were. I asked them to check for play in the ball joints too since the truck makes noise from the front end while turning that sounds like ball joints going bad. The mechanic really wasnt that bad except for the part when he pulled my truck into the shop and revved it up so high it bounced off the limiter... for no aparent reason. that REALLY pissed me off. Anyway he did some 27 point inspection after he did the recall and afterwards he told me that my right front tie rod end is going bad, (which really could be true). Then he said the steering rack was leaking and it needed replaced. I find that strange since the truck has never lost a drop of power steering fluid and i've never noticed any spots on the ground. He also said something about the steering gear needed replaced too which doesnt make any sense because the steering is just the way it was when it was brand new.

Anyway, while I was sitting there waiting I asked the parts guy to look up how much a factory LSD would cost since I am looking at swapping out to an LSD in the rear. A while later he came up to me and proceeded to tell me that he could sell me a new differential case for 600$ but chrysler never made a "posi" rear end so it wouldnt spin both wheels. I told him that they did and they were called Trac-Loc's and Sure Grips and they both came in the 8.25 rear. After that he was at a loss for words and just retreated behind his desk and pretended to do something until i just walked away.

After that I asked for a receipt from the guy at the service desk... a simple task (or so I thought) So.. I stood there for 20 minutes while the guy typed with one finger at a whopping speed of .5 words a minute. when he was finally done he said he would call me with a quote to fix the rack and tie rod end. I told him dont bother because there's nothing wrong with it anyway, and if there was i'd just fix it myself.

 

Sounds like my dealer here, brought it in for a SIMPLE task, find out why the engine isn't running properly... Okay, so the guy checks the distributor, wiring, cap, rotor, cables, even though i TOLD them these are fine I am a 100% sure. But no... Okay, does a compression test comes up at 140 for all around (170 k km's on the engine (100 k miles aprox)) Okay, charge be 3 hours of labour for doing **** all. They did not do one thing to my truck, and rather told me I need to fix the harness (Okay I knew that already I did just swap the engine in.) It's the stupidest thing I have ever paid for... I couldn't just leave without paying though because well, I need to buy parts there at times... But 300 bucks for nothing, I got home, changed the crank sensor, took me about 30-45 minutes
Vroom Engine runs like a champ, compared to before. Swap two spark cables, runs perfect. What a waste, that shop sounds stupid, the counter people never know anything I asked them once to find which parts are interchangeable, and he's like I don't have a list... But was too lazy to look up lets say 8 items... alternator, ac, support bracket and starter.... each one twice to see how it works. Than he tells me that to order a new computer I have to order one by vin! I just wanted a price for the computer if I didn't get one. Their system is stupid, and they are stupid most of them that, but never again is my truck going there... I prefer to see what they are doing, and the worst part is I told them 2 hours max, and they do 3. How hard is that to understand... But next time, Im just going to do it myself, unless I need a DRB scanner, only thing I will go to anywhere for.

 

LOL this post is sooooo true!! most dealers (ill admit here and there.... Very here and there you find an alright one) are totally corrupt. ive never taken a vehicle into the dealer without the guy comming out with an outragous quote for me for things that are totally unrelated. my worst time at the dealer was last summer i had bought a 2001 dodge dakota sport 2wd. i had a rattle noise comming from the front area of the engine but it was really loud so i couldn't pin point where exactly it was comming from so i took to the dealer. .. (1st mistake right there).. anyway they proceed to hook up to there machines and whatever.. i see 3 mechanics looking at it through the window of the shop so i figure they must know what it is. so the shop dude comes out and gives me a quote of 1200$$ to fix! there printout says 90% alternator is issue... also belt, idler pully as well. i was like no thanks and paid the inspection fee and left. took it to a local shop a buddy referred me too and the dude walked out had a 10 second look at it and said its the water pump pully. HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING THE DEALER TOLD ME. we changed the waterpump and bam problem solved. i ended up swaping the alternator myself before i had taken it to the shop but nothing had changed. i was so pissed. like they would have charged me 1200$ and then had to come up with an excuse to charge me more to fix the proper thing. ripoff artists man. i had a similar issue with speedy. they quoted me 1300$ to fix a break issue i had back in the day with a ranger i had. thing was 1 year old nad they tried to tell me it needed all new breaks all around. LOLOL that was a laugh riot for sure. took it to the shop the nxt monday and it cost 240 bucks. just some pads and a turn on the rotors and i was out. sheesh. i think people hve to become aware of how much things actually cost now days. alot of companies will attempt to ripp off the unsuspecting customer who doesn't know any better. and the ones htat do they don't care cause they just charged you 50 bucks for inspection anyway. its sad. anyway good stories i don't feel so bad now.

 

Unfortunately there are alot of dealers like these out there. I know because I have had to work on vehicles that had been at other local dealers around where I live. I can say that I know that not everybody can be totally satisfied with everything 100% of the time, but I would hope that I wouldn't look or sound so incompetent with my job.

 

That's why you do your research and take your vehicle to an independent shop that is well known in your community and that is known to be reliable. I think just about any decent sized town is going to have at least one good independent shop and if not check neighboring cities.

Making a good relationship with a shop helps too. Pick one and stick with it. I think they require that you havea criminal record for fraud, and a previous work history as a con-man to work in a dealership now a days. I literally think that they brainwash salesman. I have a friend from college whose father works at Stew Hansen's Dodge here in Iowa, it's the biggest Dodge dealer and even though I met his Dad there and told him who I was and that I know his son he still treated me with that sort of fake niceness and talked to me like I was just another customer. You would think that since I knew his kid that maybe he would try to work a better deal for me, but nope the financing department offered me $10,000 for my Dakota and at the time it had around 6-7k miles on it. It now has thirty and I have been offered $12k for it from similar sized dealerships. I was just dumbfounded with the guy, its like they are brainwashed and they have to try and rip everyone off no matter who it is that they are talking to. Same thing with dealership shops, they want to sell you their ridiculously overpriced parts and then charge you their sky-high labor fees on top of that. I never listen to that buy only Mopar parts bullcrap because the Mopar authentic parts are like triple the price of aftermarket parts of the same quality. Even if an aftermarket part didn't last as long you could probably still buy 3 of the same aftermarket replacement parts for the same price you would pay for only one authetic dealer part. Its all a big joke, dealerships are like casinos, the odds are stacked against you.

 

yea, this is only the second time my truck has ever been to a dealer because I absolutely hate them. The last time was for the ball joint recall and this time was mainly for the steering column lock recall. I dont take my truck anywhere for work, I do it all myself unless it's a recall for the simple fact that I could live with myself if I screwed up something and had to pay alot of money, but if I let some dumbass screw up my truck and then have to pay alot of money to fix it, I would be so pissed at myself. The funny thing is, even after I told the guy not to bother calling me with an estimate... HE DID ANYWAY. I was sleeping because I work midnights at a factory but my mom said they quoted like 900$ to do a power steering rack and steering gear and tie rod end. I was like yea whatever, theres not even anything wrong with the truck.

The sad thing is, I applied for a job as a parts guy at a Dodge Dealer a few years ago and I gave the manager my application he just tossed it aside and never called me. Aparently they would rather have incompetent employees opposed to someone who actually knows what they are talking about and actually cares when it comes to Dodge customers. I think the new Chrysler owners should stop selling cars to all dealers and just sell them direct from the factory at a lower cost much like what Dell computers did and had so much success with. After that Chrysler could open up it's own service shops and if they knew what was good for them, hire good mechanics and knowledgeable employees. I know I'll never buy a truck from a dealer, if I ever get a brand new truck.. I'll order it strait from the factory.

 

We have a decent Dodge dealer in town. I took our previous Grand Caravan there for a water pump change (covered under 7/70 warranty), and they switched that out for the $100 deductible, and also said I needed sway bar links and bushings. I declined, since I had changed them just a year before, but they put them on anyway. I didn't pay for them, and the service writer did a song-and-dance about how the money will come out of his pocket, etc. Not my problem. But overall, Crown Dodge in Fayetteville has been decent. Not the best I've ever been to, but not the worst by a long shot either.

I second the notion to find a good and independent shop in town. See if your state or county has an independent garage association. North Carolina does (http://www.igonc.com/). And here's a national association: http://www.autoserviceproviders.com/. I have a relationship with a local garage, and that helps out a lot, even though I don't take my vehicles there very often, because I do most of my own work. Just yesterday, I couldn't budge the fan clutch nut on my truck, and took it up to H&L Auto in Fayetteville. He took it right back, and 15 minutes later, it's off and the truck is parked out front. He asked for $8, and I gave him a $20 and said "keep the change". Give and take like that is how you cull those relationships with local folks, and those relationships are usually much more fruitful than ones with dealers, but there are exceptions. I know a lot of guys who work at dealerships, and they're just like you and me -- honest folks just trying to make a living. As with any busy/hectic situation, parts and prices are flying back and forth and communication gets crossed and things can get messed up. We're all humans.

 

All I can say is that I hope the owners of the vehicles I work on wouldn't have the same things to say. From a dealer employee standpoint, we have many customers that simply expect miracles. I have a vehicle right now, an '06 Liberty, that had a misfire problem. There is a service bulletin on it that involves pulling the heads and replacing intake valves. All in all about a 12 hour job if you know what you are doing. We get the parts in about 10 AM one morning and the guy got pissed because it wasn't going to be ready. Things like this happen alot and in some ways, make dealer employees less likely to go the extra mile for anybody. But like I said earlier, its hard to be able to please everybody all the time, but I would say that we have a good bunch of guys that stay on top of things 90% or better.

 

we are lucky the dealer where we bought our trucks(both yes 2) is good about the stuff the prices are high, but i think thats dodge talking more than the dealer, but we dont buy there anyway, and when we need intel they guys either know what their talking about, or go find out the answer for you