Help kick dealer A$$

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:19 pm

My shaky neon did turn out to be a fried pcm..thanx for tip..appearently when coil shorts out it spikes the pcm and fries it..why there isn't a fuse i dont know....any ways..pcm is warrantied for 8 years..80 k and the friggin dealership has had my car since last wed evening...promised it would be ready mon, but did not look at it until today!!!... and now are saying part is arriving wed morning...does any one know who i can go to about complaints on a dealer ship service department..i dont trust the dealership managers after they burned me yet again this weekend!!!! any help appreciated..[/size]

Post by **racer12306** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:21 pm

If they had unexpected situations you can complain all you want but unexpected situations are just that...

unexpected.

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:23 pm

unexpected my A$$.. they dropped the ball and now i am stuck with over 200 dollar car rental...gonna raise hell one way or other...but thanx any ways

Post by **racer12306** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:25 pm

Getting all fired up will just shut off their ears.

That is the perfect way to get nothing.

Ntyvirus1 · Post by **Ntyvirus1** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:29 pm

yea, calm down man. worse things have happened for crappier reasons.

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:49 pm

I am actually pretty calm..pissed but calm...its just frustrating...i am pretty well screwed ...huh???

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:51 pm

If this is warranty work than they should be paying for the rental. You aren't by chance renting from Enterprise are you?

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:54 pm

actually yea i am.. they were the closests and cheapest..

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:01 pm

I just ask cause I work for one lol. I'm assuming if you don't know if the dealer is going to pay, than just ask the guys work there politely if they can talk to the dealership about paying for your rental, happens all the time. Best of luck to you

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:06 pm

thanx for the tip

no disrespect...i dont hate all dealerships or anything..just want my car back...i will see what i can do...

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:12 pm

Oh I meant I work at a Enterprise haha

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:17 pm

lol...enterprise is the only guys that have been helpful...

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:20 pm

Well I hope everything works out for you mang, I had huge troubles with my dealership when I asked them to flash my ECU for a TSB, took a good battle before they would do it for free but it fixed the problems on my car. You just have to state facts and don't be a pushover but don't be too aggressive..

Passt · Post by **Passt** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:00 pm

opie0669 wrote:I am actually pretty calm..pissed but calm...its just frustrating...i am pretty well screwed ...huh???

I know how you feel man. Maybe try bringing the bill for the rental with you and politely expressing your frustrations. Who knows, maybe you'll get a discount or something.

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:01 pm

Wow I know people who have swapped out coils when they go bad...never heard of them taking out PCM

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:39 pm

Depends on how bad the windings short out. The PCM prolly uses some kind of transistor to switch the current on/off to ground.

If the windings fail in a way to provide near full current to the coil driver, it is going to blow that electronic switch. This is prolly very rare, hence no fuses.

Plus it would be tricky to find a fuse that would handle the operating current, and yet be able to blow fast enough, to protect a piece of silicon from failure.

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:06 pm

The best thing you can do is call chrysler corporate and tell them your situation. If it is a 5 star dealership, then corporate can light a fire under their ass since they are closely affiliated with corporate.

The avenger guys had to do this when dealerships wouldn't honor the ball joint recall. After it had been replaced once (with another defective ball joint) the dealer would refuse to replace it again.

Not sure if the new fiat merger has changed the policies with corporate, but it is always the best route since the service managers will just blow you off.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:15 pm

If you feel the service department is jerking you around, ask the service manager for the phone number for the Chrysler rep for that dealership. If that isn't enough to make the service manager step in and make sure everything is being done correctly, then a call to the rep will be.

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:37 pm

thanx for the tips!! picking it up tommorow ..if they didnt lie to me again..I'll try it all...

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:25 am

Good luck, hopefully you can get this resolved without too much hassle. It's not just a chrysler thing if that makes you feel any better, my friend is having a similar problem with lexus right now. He knows the routine by now, so 1 call to corporate fixed everthing, you just have to be persistent about it.

speedracer · Post by **speedracer** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:50 am

The exact same thing happened to my neon. Coil shorted and fried the pcm. They wouldn't honour my warranty because my car had mods on it, none of which were pcm mods or even electrical. I got stuck with an $1100 bill.

I did all the calm, professional, and technical explaining I could come up with. This was a real stubborn and dick dealership though, they were too proud to change their minds. Even so, being calm is the way to go. At least your bill is only $200.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:05 am

When I have had warranty issues that required my car being at the dealership overnight, Chrysler has always paid for a rental (yes, through Enterprise

). I don't know if your issue is being taken care of under the factory 3/36 or if you have an extended warranty like I have (7/70).

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:03 am

Interesting to see how this went, any update?

Post by **occasional demons** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 12:23 pm

speedracer wrote:The exact same thing happened to my neon. Coil shorted and fried the pcm. They wouldn't honour my warranty because my car had mods on it, none of which were pcm mods or even electrical. I got stuck with an $1100 bill.

I did all the calm, professional, and technical explaining I could come up with. This was a real stubborn and dick dealership though, they were too proud to change their minds. Even so, being calm is the way to go. At least your bill is only $200.

That's where a call to the Better Business Bereau would have done you some good. When a complaint is filed against a business , they are given an opportunity to right it. Most dealers will freak out if they have a negative rating against them. This worked very well for a co worker.

Since there isn't any mod, other than an aftermarket coil that would have voided that part of the warranty, there is no legal way they could have denied it. A letter to the local news paper would have prolly yeilded some results too, since you had the legal edge in the matter. They could not do any legal action against you. Hell paying a lawyer $300 would have saved you $800. Most ppl don't look at it that way tho.

TeckNeon · Post by **TeckNeon** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:24 pm

The local newspaper prolly won't do anything. Unless you have a group of people who are having the same issue, they won't be interested in running the story.

A $300 letter from a lawyer will however get some people burning. Small claims court is the best way to deal with it. But, you will have to front the money for the repair and take delivery on the car and make it up on the back end. The owners and the service people are all SALES people first. They will try to get you to do anything and everything to take their side and keep your money. You have to involve Chrysler and/or an outside attorney to get anything done.

Unless the repair calls for air tools, a welder or a tire machine, I do the repairs myself. The dealership can screw people over on $150 throttle body cleanings and $30 oil changes but not me.

speedracer · Post by **speedracer** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:14 am

Yeah I'm sure there were several different other avenues I could have pursued with time an patience, but I was finishing my last semester in college which includes lots of papers and stacks of hours at the hospital. I needed my car, plus I was getting married in several months as well.

All advice given is very true and helpful. I was one the customers dealerships count on, I needed my car and couldn't spend anymore energy setting things right.

Thet were arguing with all the internal mechanical mods I performed myself something must have happened plugging unplugging portions of the wiring harness. I did have a dual gauge pod with oil pressure and oil temp gauges (forgot to mention that)

Wow way too long a response, sorry!!!

opie0669 · Post by **opie0669** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:35 pm

dont know if anyone is watching this but here are the results...dealer denied warranty due to after market coil, which was brand new, cause i swapped my msd coil out cause i new what they would do..when i got it back it was cracked like some one hit it!!!so.....if it is not mopar..no freebies!!! $1060 later, new coil and computer...and a week later i have my neon...no help...no apologies...all i got was put your hands on the table an a just take it!!! so now i must find other revenues..msd wont do squat..had the coil for over a year...now hopin to get some results from chrysler...even if it is just a bad mark against the dealership....by the way if this happens to you you can replace the computer your self for about 650 to 700...but only a dealership can program it for you...for about 150 to 200...i looked into it.. pcm swap is as easy as coil....but it is usless with out programing...thanx for the tips again...hope you are all better blessed than i was...

He Hate Me · Post by **He Hate Me** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:56 pm

Wow man, that's some bull, I'm sorry to hear that

wiggyx · Post by **wiggyx** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:21 pm

racer12306 wrote:Getting all fired up will just shut off their ears.

That is the perfect way to get nothing.

Yes, this.

Calmly ask to speak to the service manager and explain your case. I doubt it will get you anywhere, as this sort of thing is more the norm than not when it comes to service. They can't do much about parts arriving late. That's not their fault.

Good luck though!

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 9:20 pm

The 2 main things that are important when dealing with the service department:

1. Knowledge about your car in general. If you know what you're talking about, they realize it's not possible to bullshit you about stuff.

2. Attitude. If your a dick, you get treated like one. If your calm and personable, they will be happy to help you out. Pretend the service manager is your friend and not just some guy that "has" to fix your car.

These guys have to deal with idiots and assholes all day long, so he just assumes you will be the same as all these minivan driving assholes that come in and bitch about stupid things.

It's kind of like dealing with police, they assume everyone is lying to them because that's all they deal with everyday. If you seem personable and nice they usually won't screw you over.

Then again, there are always dealerships that just have terrible service and attitudes, at that point you have to go over their head.