Made a TERRIBLE Mistake...

[2Fast4Mu]

Originally Posted by el ess X

I could never own a Jeep or off-road anything. I'm freaking out over dirt on the Camaro and feel the "need" to hurry up and wash it off. I couldn't even begin to think about purposely taking a new car and ramming it through the mud. Did that when I was a kid. Those days are over for me.

Brandenburg, at least you can return from the "dark side" again...someday. Lucky you, some people never realize their "mistakes".

Oh you're soooo right. I kept the Camaro spotless. I practically washed the paint off it With the Jeep, I promised myself that I'd only really clean it once or twice a month instead of twice a week.

[Grandeos]

OP,

I am sorry you have had an unpleasant experience. But as others have pointed out, it sounds like your experience points to a sub-par dealership. Unfortunately the OEM car companies have little-to-no control over the privately owned dealerships. Some are great, but most are terrible. Dont let a bad dealership determine your opinion of the brand.

I had a terrible experience with my first Camaro, a 2010 2LT/RS. I took it to a few dealerships that only seemed to make the car worse with their lack of knowledge, customer service, and over all attitude. I was even working for General Motors at the time, and could get no satisfaction. I even took the battle up through corporate customer service, only to be angered and disgusted with the very company I worked for. Long story short, I almost gave up on GM all together until BeckyD (from Camaro5) came to the rescue. It was her dedication and commitment to making me happy that ultimately made me buy another Camaro. Otherwise, GM would have lost me as a customer for good.
I now drive 30-40 minutes to Becky's dealership to do all my business, because I know my car will be in good hands.

So I suggest you hit the JEEP forums and find out where the best dealer in your area is. It makes all the difference. JEEPs are great vehicles. I actually want to buy one, but like you, I can only afford one new vehicle. And I simply cannot part with my Camaro. But the JEEP Wrangler is a far more practical vehicle.

Again... Do not let a bad dealer experience lead you to swear away an entire brand. I have worked for both companies, and I guarantee you, that both are committed to putting out the best possible products. Unfortunately there are some faulty vehicles that slip through the cracks, and no brand is immune to it. That is what warranties are for. Just make sure you find a dealer that will honor that warranty and are as dedicated to perfection as those of us who design the vehicles.

Best of luck!

[Trevorw24]

OP, sorry about your remorse! You have a nice Jeep though.

[2Fast4Mu]

Originally Posted by Grandeos

OP,

I am sorry you have had an unpleasant experience. But as others have pointed out, it sounds like your experience points to a sub-par dealership. Unfortunately the OEM car companies have little-to-no control over the privately owned dealerships. Some are great, but most are terrible. Dont let a bad dealership determine your opinion of the brand.

Thanks, but my issue really was with my interaction with the corporate offices and not the local dealership.

When I looked to purchase a Jeep, I visited every dealership within 50 miles and talked to countless salesmen. Admittedly I was shocked to find the sales force to be poorly trained and completely ignorant of their product. They were unable to answer really simple questions like "What's the difference between the Sport and the Sport S?" Even when they had a chance to research the question, they'd come back with incorrect answers. Thank god for the forums which gave me a great education.

Though I admit I have had a few laughs at the expense of some GM sales guys in regards to their product knowledge as well. More than one GM salesman tried to tell me that the ZL1 is a special aftermarket package that you add onto the SS -- granted, that was a few months ago when they were telling me such things. It's not surprising that fans of a product will have more accurate information faster than anyone else, though.

I was lucky to find at least one Jeep salesman, though, who has been around for awhile and knows which product fairly well -- but he too admits that the Jeep fanboys are gonna know much more.

So, my issue with Chrysler really was with my very distasteful first interaction with the Chrysler HQ....when I found it impossible to contact someone capable of making a decision and someone capable of actually listening to my concerns. I found the whole process rather cold and rude. As I mentioned before, in the past when I had issues with GM products, I was always easily able to contact someone who could make a decision and who would at least take the time to talk with me. In general, they seemed very interested in making things right with me so as to keep my continued business. Heck, three local dealerships even seem to know me by name and smile when I drive up. That kind of customer service goes a very, very long way with me.

[mpgsux]

Originally Posted by RIDE-F-X

... I found it's better to own both

Same here..I bought a 2003 TJ for my daily driver. Completely different than my SS, but I still love it!

[oyealiz]

Originally Posted by Brandenburg

So, my issue with Chrysler really was with my very distasteful first interaction with the Chrysler HQ....when I found it impossible to contact someone capable of making a decision and someone capable of actually listening to my concerns. I found the whole process rather cold and rude.

So your beef with them isn't about service of the vehicle, it's about the color of the seats being different than shown on the website?

And...nice looking jeep. I even like the interior colors.

[2Fast4Mu]

Originally Posted by oyealiz

So your beef with them isn't about service of the vehicle, it's about the color of the seats being different than shown on the website?

And...nice looking jeep. I even like the interior colors.

Thanks. It's a wee bit more complicated than that. I just didn't want to go into all the details of my Jeep woes on a Camaro forum

On their website, when you changed between Black and Black/Dark Saddle, the center of the seat changed intermingled thread colors....that was it. I built a zillion jeeps in every configuration using their web app. When I ordered my Jeep, there was only Rubicon within 1000 miles that matched the things I wanted (manual sift, connectivity group, tow package, soft top, tinted windows, etc)...the only thing on it that I did not want was Black/Dark Saddle. However, since (based on the website and other material) that *only* meant having some tan threads in the seat, I agreed.

I signed the papers. The Jeep arrives a week later from Arkansas. When I open the door, I'm shocked to see half the interior is bright tan.




My jaw hit the floor. I really, REALLY hate brown.

And this particular tan, with a mostly black interior, looks especially terrible. It looks cheap in my opinion.

In two years of test driving and looking at Jeeps at more than a dozen different dealerships, I had not once seen a Jeep with a brown interior so I had no reason to believe one existed in the normal packages you would order. In the brochure and on the website, there are some non-descriptive pics showing a tan interior, but they're *always* with tan leather seats. In none of those photos is it described that you are looking at the Black/Dark Saddle. The *only* place Black/Dark Saddle is described is when you're building the interior of the Jeep and it only showed the center (the saddle???) of the seat getting some tan fibers.

So, to make a long story short, it was my contention that I purchased this Jeep based on incorrect/misleading/poor marketing material. In no place was there any mention of even the possibility of getting this brown plastic. Even the salesman said he had no idea that the Black/Dark Saddle meant you'd get this ugly bright tan.




Unfortunately, I had already signed the papers a week earlier so they would pick up the Jeep and deliver it from out of state. They already had my Camaro. The Jeep was mine on paper long before it even arrived. Furthermore, I never blamed the dealership because a) they were uninformed about this as well b) I had indeed already signed the papers and c) they merely sold the product as incorrectly depicted on the website and brochures. It is possible I could have rejected the Jeep at the dealership, but that would've only created conflict with the dealership and perhaps would have created legitimate legal problems....and, as I said, I held the marketing material responsible and not the dealership.

I immediately called the Chrysler corporate customer service offices to tell them of my situation. I believe that an honest mistake was made based on very poor info provided by their marketing department. Within hours of my call, they changed their website in several places so as to acknowledge the problem.

Here are some of the changes they made within hours of my complaint:




As you can see, they replaced the simple graphic of just the seat changing colors to showing that the entire interior changes colors.

I asked that they make a good will gesture and simply replace my plastics. I'm sure they have a huge warehouse of plastics and swapping out new tan plastics for new black plastics would be fairly inexpensive for them. They called me back and informed me that I could easily do it myself...........for full price. "Thanks for informing us about the mistakes on our website and brochures....sorry that we can't help correct the problem."

I refused to accept that as an answer. I spoke to a supervisor a few days later. He was very cold and harsh. He refused to listen to my issue and only had an incorrect "memo-to-his-desk" understanding of my problem. He lied to me and told me that the website had never changed. I'm leaving out some of the grittier details of our exchange.

A day or so later, I received a survey call to ask about my customer service interaction. I gave them all zeros -- zero satisfaction for resolving my issue, zero satisfaction that they took the time to understand my issue, and zero satisfaction that they were courteous during our call. I answered honestly.

Two days later I had a call from a higher supervisor who wanted to know what he could do to help me. I began explaining my issue to him. I explained how I made nearly a $40k purchase based on bad/misleading marketing info and how the previous supervisor didn't take the time to actually listen to my issue. After a few minutes, this new caller began interrupting me to tell me that he wasn't calling about my problem. Rather, he was calling to find out why I had ranked the last supervisor so lowly. haha. i.e., he *also* wasn't interested in helping me with my problem, he simply wanted to know why I would rate the last guy low and say he was uninterested and rude I promptly told him goodbye.

So.....
That's where it stands. Based on plentiful misleading marketing information available to me (brochures, website, etc.), I made a sizable mistake. They immediately changed the website and told me I could correct the mistake at full cost to me...... In other words, "we were wrong....but tough luck."

For this, I will never buy Chrysler again.


Sorry for going into such a long essay. I wasn't originally intending on sharing so much of the story here, but just decided to do so for clarification. In all my time with GM products, I'd never had this type of experience.

As a side note, I was talking to a dude a few days ago who informed me that this two year old Wrangler has been in the shop for 43 days.......for a door leak. Apparently Chrysler corporate refuses to own this problem. He showed me photos of "inches of water" gathering in his floorboard just from rain. Chrysler's answer to him was that he should no longer park on his inclined driveway where the water can reach the point of leak. Instead, he needs to park in his garage. A day later, I met another gentleman with almost an identical story.

I have no faith in Chrysler.

[RoadMonkey]

ahhhh..the mistakes we make and the many dollars it costs us. You are not alone my friend. But, I like the goal towards a new ZL1 =)

[2Fast4Mu]

Originally Posted by maddog360

ahhhh..the mistakes we make and the many dollars it costs us. You are not alone my friend. But, I like the goal towards a new ZL1 =)

You're exactly right. Live and learn

And yeah. I'm aiming for a ZL1. It'll take some time, but I'll have it....and it'll be red (black drives me nuts to keep clean lol)