What happens when the dealer can't fix your car?

[DMCVegas]

Answer: Nothing. It was sarcasm. My representatives so far have been Jenna, Dillon, Cara, Armika, Amber, Sabrina, and Louise. I think "Dillon" is a guy's name.

Maybe I shouldn't try being sarcastic when I'm angry and tired. Sorry.

No worries, man. I myself, I actually prefer dealing with women when it comes to automotive stuff. Any technology industry itself is already going to be sexist against them, so they have to work much harder to get the same level of recognition that any given man does. The general attitude seems to be that if a man doesn't know something, it's not a big deal. But if a woman doesn't, it's proof she doesn't belong working there. As such I have found women are usually much more knowledgeable than men within their given technology profession (automotive, telecommunications, networking, etc.) because there is such a higher risk for them if they're wrong.

I also prefer working with them too because of that. Recognition and appreciation goes much farther with women, so it's much easier to get them to work harder on your behalf. It's not always true of course, as we've seen here, but it's generally a good rule of thumb.

To be fair to the dealer, if the parts network and dealer support network doesn't or can't provide what the dealer needs, you can't blame them for stalling and otherwise dancing around the service of the car. They are the ones left to deal with you directly and it isn't fair for them either. I agree they shouldn't lie about it but that is where human nature comes in, trying to be optimistic and getting caught in a web of lies. What you really want to try to do is "get them on your side". Confront them with the lies and tell them it is now time for the truth and what, if anything, can be done so you can work together. Ask for a meeting with the general manager, the service manager, and the parts manager.

Screwing with people you don't like, who have already pissed you off, is positively human nature. I can certainly tell you that in my years prior with customer-facing jobs, it positively happens. All. The. Time. There are quite a few universally loathed people, including celebrities, that would continuously get ignored by almost all Service Industry personnel in Vegas.

Since Chrysler wasn't going to take the blame for the parts, then said blame must fall upon the dealership. But again, that just seems to be the running theme here: Not my problem.

There may be something they can do as far as getting you a deal, where you trade the car in and get a big discount on another vehicle. They may have a program where they can do something.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that this has been their goal from the very beginning; Scare Farrar into buying a new vehicle from them.

The sad thing though is that nothing is going to happen because of this. Once Farrar's car is repaired and out of both the proverbially collective hair of the dealership and the Chrysler relations team, they're just going to close this out as a successful resolution. The repair times, the customer dissatisfaction, the problems with the parts "supply", none of it will count. It'll just be written up as a successfully resolved repair with both entities as though it never existed, and they'll move on.

If you don't report certain metrics, then it's like they never existed. Kinda like how Japan has one of the lowest murder rates in the world, yet somehow has one of the highest suicide rates. It's all about how you classify, report, and then interpret.

[Ryan King]

Is this the part Farrar? -

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...ol&_sacat=6000

[Farrar]

Update: even Chrysler doesn't know where the damned powertrain control module is. It was supposed to arrive today, and it didn't. I got phone calls from both the dealership and my case manager with the same information. Maybe the Pony Express broke down, or high winds disturbed the smoke signals.

It was never this bad under Daimler. Is Fiat trying to destroy Chrysler from within?

[Ryan King]

Is Fiat trying to destroy Chrysler from within?

Would anyone really miss it....?

[AugustneverEnds]

Destroying Chrysler from within would be following in Fiat's footsteps of destroying Fiat from within. Putting two sinking ships together doesn't get you one seaworthy vessel.

After my mom's '95 Dodge Intrepid and her '99 Chrysler Sebring ate their transmissions for lunch at less than 100K miles, no I would not miss it.

[whocruiser]

Update: even Chrysler doesn't know where the damned powertrain control module is. It was supposed to arrive today, and it didn't. I got phone calls from both the dealership and my case manager with the same information. Maybe the Pony Express broke down, or high winds disturbed the smoke signals.

It was never this bad under Daimler. Is Fiat trying to destroy Chrysler from within?

Of course it's not there, they're probably driving it out to you personally - in a PT Cruiser that also broke down, LOL ;-)

[Farrar]

Would anyone really miss it....?

I would.

But I have terrible aim.

*rimshot*

[DMCVegas]

Update: even Chrysler doesn't know where the damned powertrain control module is. It was supposed to arrive today, and it didn't. I got phone calls from both the dealership and my case manager with the same information. Maybe the Pony Express broke down, or high winds disturbed the smoke signals.

It was never this bad under Daimler. Is Fiat trying to destroy Chrysler from within?

Chrysler has always had it's own set of problems going back many, many decades into the past. Ford is like Daimler where they started out building cars themselves and continued forward with acquiring or neutralizing rivals when possible. General Motors is a conglomerate started by William Durant to buy the best coachbuilders and engineers and bring them in under one roof so everyone can benefit.

Walter Chrysler pretty much just piecemealed everything together by conrast. Buy some so-so companies, and then take the best parts out of them to try and make one really good vehicle out of all of them.

Ironically enough, had it not have been for Henry Ford himself, FoMoCo's two rivals Cadillac and Dodge possibly wouldn't even exist.

Chrysler to be sure certainly has had some great innovations over the years. Especially when you look at the beginnings where the Dodge Brothers pushing forward with technology rather than Henry Ford's idea of just sticking with what you know, and especially letting your personal needs getting placed ahead of the needs of the business. Plus their acquisitions of other companies such as AMC greatly benefited them, which is why they were so attractive to Daimler; they wanted to raid their technologies. Once Dailmer got what they wanted, they dropped them like a bad habit. Then Cerberus took over until Fiat came along. Fiat's goal was to take over Chrysler for any left-over tech and to get a foothold in on the American market.

Then we have Sergio Marchionne who is pushing for FCA into a hostile acquisition of General Motors. He says he's given up, and at the time thanks to €7B in debt. Just today alone it was released that Germany is now investigating FCA for their own emissions cheating scandal too for their 2.0L diesels, which certainly isn't going to help matters. But Ferrari's 9% public offering has helped raise almost $900M in liquid cash, and brought in a total value increase of over $4B to counter the debt. If GM sales continue to slide while the dollar increases, unless Toyota comes to GM's rescue, FCA may indeed conquer the General once and for all.

But is Fiat trying to purposefully destroy Chrysler? Probably not. They're just busy with more important things right now. They're a global conglomerate, and Chrysler is just a step child that isn't quite as important, so not as much attention gets paid to it. Especially with the antiquated dealer distribution system that the United States uses that further complicates things.

[Farrar]

Last Wednesday, the PCM was due to arrive at the dealership. I received a phone call that afternoon and was told that something went wrong and it was now due to arrive on Friday.

On Friday, I received a phone call saying that again something had gone wrong with shipping and it would arrive on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, I received a phone call saying that the part had shipped and would arrive on Thursday.

This afternoon, the dealership called and told me that the part had arrived and had been installed.

I'm at work right now, but my wife has picked up the car and told me that the "check engine" light is off, the car seems to be driving OK, and the damage to the interior has not been repaired.

Chrysler has won the battle and lost the war. I'm going to call them and tell them that although my problem was NOT 100% resolved, I will not return to that or any other Chrysler dealership. Previous generations of my family have been Mopar customers for life. This experience has turned me into an anything-but-Mopar customer for life.

[David T]

Sell the car quick while it is still working. Don't look back.