Own non-toyota vehicles? 2010 Chrysler Town & Country ~ Holt Chrysler Arlington, Texas FAIL!

[toyotafan]

I bought a 2010 Chrysler town and country minivan in early 2011.

68k miles on her. They just replaced the engine as there was significant oil leaking internally.

Seriously?

The dealership that I took it too has had it for 7 1/2 weeks. That's right nearly 2 months.

I will not disclose their name on here, but they are one of the largest seelling Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealers in the Dallas Fort Worth area. They are just overwhelmed with a very small service area and too much work for not enough staff.

I actualy feel for them, so I'm not going to blast away at the techs ... this is a management issue all the way back to when Chrysler went bankrupt and they closed too many dealers down.

Anyhow. 7.5 weeks and I go to finally pick up the vehicle and the front bumper has a big chunk taken out of it. They over tightened the one-piece bumper at the top and it split on them in both areas. They forgot to put all of the screws back in holding in the grill ... and to top it all off, they got the carpet filthy dirty with mud as it just stated raining here.

They said they are going to do right by me. They're going to fix with a used bumper and paint it to match. Reattach the grille properly. And detail the entire van for me.

Plus I get to drive the midsized Chrysler 200 for another few days. Whoopie.

I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[toyotafan]

Oh ... the engine was covered under the factory 100k warranty. The logic behind it is that the quality took a nosedive when they went bankrupt back in 2009 (?) So this engine may have had two different heads, from two different vendors ... but the gasket packs were supposed to be for one or the other.

Oh well. I'm going to probably sell her soon. Anyone want a deal on a 2010 Chrysler T&C minivan will 68k miles? Engine is brand new.

 

[MuddyTacoma]

Wow. Just wow. How can they stay in business with service like that.

 

[toyotafan]

I've been writing about this on a minivan forum.

http://forum.chryslerminivan.net/showthread.php?t=43929

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[Toyota Girl]

i'm speechless. you've been without that van for almost two months? wow. Still making payments on it, but you don't have the vehicle to drive. just not sure at all what to think about that, and then when you come to pick it up, you end up with it looking like that? wow.

PLEASE tell us what dealership that is. Just amazing.

 

[tbplus10]

Chrysler should never have failed like they did. Management insisted on selling crap when they owned the mini van market, had profit in the truck segment, and the Charger/300 series was profitable. Jeep has always been profitable for them too.
The new (er) Challenger line has been a profit too, dump the non performing crap.
Chryslers engine plant has had quality problems off and on for a while, multiple parts suppliers for like parts that dont meet same standards is only part of the issue.

 

[toyotafan]

Talking with some more people, I felt like the right thing to do was to open a ticket with Chrysler. Their customer service person seemed very receptive and almost didn't believe me it sounded like that they really have had it nearly 8 weeks and that they could have done a really bad job on the repair. I told them to come check out this page on here.

Now that I've had some time to think about it, the one Service Adviser told me that twp of their quality people had left, and then it looks like he left as well a couple of weeks ago. I'm guessing that they put the bumper back on with a high power impact wrench and didn't even care to hide the fact that the did something horribly obvious.

Here are some more pics of the after effects of the "new engine" swap. For crying out loud, they didn't even wipe off the grease on the exterior of the fender. How can anyone think that's decent workmanship?

(I'll upload the pics in a min)

 

[mfleetwood]

Irregardless of the short staff, they should have never presented your van back to you in that condition. Sounds like/looks like you've been through a lot.

 

[toyotafan]

Here's my video, have a look and let me know what you think. I do in-fact name the dealer in the video I put up on YouTube.

 

[toyotafan]

Turns out the don't have a body shop. They want to pass it off to a no name shop. Ugh. I guess they're not taking this seriously after all.

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[tbplus10]

Never dealt with Holt, and after seeing this I wont. Sounds like they have a long ways to go to gain customer confidence.

 

[toyotafan]

... Anyone think that broken piece on the bumper could be bondo that broke off? I'll have to go look tomorrow, but I'm not sure what the difference between the factory plastic and bondo would even look like.

 

[tbplus10]

From experience Eurethane bumpers cant be succesfully repaired and look perfect, the cover needs to be replaced to do the job correctly.

 

[toyotafan]

I'm just concerned that they're not disclosing everything. How can I know if its been repaired?

 

[toyotafan]

Here is a close up pic. Doesn't look like bondo to me. But I'm no body repair expert. Maybe it was? Doesn't mean that they didn't damage the top part by putting it on with an impact wrench.

 

[toyotafan]

Got this raised to Top Care.

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[toyotafan]

The dealer has stepped up, after fumbling AGAIN. They are working to get a new OEM bumper ... which actually is overkill considering I'm convinced that there probably was damage to the bumper before all of this happened ... in fact I know there was because I paid a local dealer (that I used to work for) about $500 to have them repair and paint it back in early 2011 (I think) ... but they didn't do any bondo work, and if that was bondo on there ... then I'm not sure what to think now.

Regardless. They still didn't use any carpet protection and they got mud inside the drivers area of the cabin ... that's not any good, and they did cause some additional damage to the top of the bumper, so there is always that.

 

[tbplus10]

They might have used an Epoxy mix to repair the bumper, Ive seen this type repair used.
It doesnt turn out perfect but it is passable.

 

[toyotafan]

Yeah. I'm not holding that against them ... except that they were rough with it and left it scratched up.

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[toyotafan]

What gets me is the total lack of service they provided.

Get this ... on the day that I went to pick up my van. I drove in and parked the loaner vehicle. I walked into the service area and no one greeted me. After waiting for a few I went to the bathroom and came out and happened to pass by someone (who looked very busy) and he asked me if I needed any assistance.

I told him I was there to pick up my van and he walked me to the waiting room door (about 1/2 way total, so he did help) and pointed me to the cashier. That was where I needed to go.

So I went there and sure enough they had my keys. They signed me out, chatted a little bit about how long it's been there (laughed with me for a sec, that was good) then told me basically go to find it.

Not exactly the gold star treatment is it? That's the level of care I expect when I go to jiffy lube to get my oil topped off. They put in an engine! No paperwork on it. No pat on the back or shake off the hand. Just me walking around their parking lot pressing my remote lock button so I could try to find my van.

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