Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Hope so... ... ... .
About 3 months ago I took my truck to the dodge dealer in Calhoun GA for an oil change... ... Usually do it myself unless I am traveling out of town and I was. As a contractor I work in several states and happened to be in Calhoun for a while... ... .
Long story short, they damaged my truck while they had it in the back... ... . As they were pulling the truck into the shop they turned too quick and scraped and nicely dented and creased the right rear quarter panel just in front of the wheel well... ... . ABout a 18" section in circumference.
Well, they showed me the damage and said they would take care of it... ... . So they had me take it to a body shop that they use for an estimate... ... The guy at the body shop told me he felt sure they expected him to do a putty job but that due to the rather tight angles and small curves molded into the quarter panel it would be difficult to get right... ... . and that he recommended a new quarter panel.....
I agreed since my truck didnt have bondo when I got there for the oil change... ... . Expecting an arguement I took his estimate and went and got two more... ... . all three were between $1750 and $1850 with their own guy falling in the middle... ...
Now being a contractor that uses his truck allday/everyday for work and that I am from out of town I could not give up my truck for a week and sit in the motel... ... . So I took the estimates and went back in and told them I could not get the truck fixed right now and would have to have it done at home anyway. The "service manager" said that would be fine and I should have whomever was going to fix it contact them and they would pay.
Well time rocked on and rather than getting to go home I found out I would be leaving Calhoun and going to Illinois for an indefinate period... ... . I went by the dealership the day before leaving town (about 3 weeks after this started). Explained that I was not heading home but rather up north for 2 to 3 months or more and was not comfortable leaving this unresolved. The "service manager" said he would get a check cut and have it for me the next day... ... Went by the next day, NO CHECK, only an excuse and a promise to put it "IN THE MAIL". I knew right then this was going to escalate but I had to hit the road and I didnt push it... ... .
I gave it a couple weeks and no check in the mail (of course), so I called and was told (by the "service manager") that the "owner" said the repairs had to be done locally... ... . My response was, so you folks want to pay for room and board for a week and replace lost wages since my work requires my truck so you can have your guy do it, that smacks of insurance scam to me since I can think of no other reason you would take such a legally shakey stance.
He of course said they couldnt possibly pay all that... ... . I responded that I would just come resolve this in person or ultimately with a lawyer when I get back from Illinois as a phone doesnt allow for the kind of conversation this seems to require... ... .
Bottom line is the Dodge Dealer in Calhoun GA is BAD NEWS (my opinion, others may vary)
I wonder if a complaint to Dodge would get me anywhere with these people... ... .
disclaimer, this is the G-rated version of this particular RANT, my name isnt Paul Harvey and this wasnt the WHOLE story..... many expletives and horrendous verbal castrations and cursings of a vile and utterly demeaning nature have been extricated from the above (less entertaining as a result LOL), Kinda funny actually, once I had cleaned it up I found it was only a few paragraphs rather than a 1000 page Atlas complete with illustrations of projected tortures for those who dared to rain on my parade
DAMN
Just had to get ONE good one in... .....
About 3 months ago I took my truck to the dodge dealer in Calhoun GA for an oil change... ... Usually do it myself unless I am traveling out of town and I was. As a contractor I work in several states and happened to be in Calhoun for a while... ... .
Long story short, they damaged my truck while they had it in the back... ... . As they were pulling the truck into the shop they turned too quick and scraped and nicely dented and creased the right rear quarter panel just in front of the wheel well... ... . ABout a 18" section in circumference.
Well, they showed me the damage and said they would take care of it... ... . So they had me take it to a body shop that they use for an estimate... ... The guy at the body shop told me he felt sure they expected him to do a putty job but that due to the rather tight angles and small curves molded into the quarter panel it would be difficult to get right... ... . and that he recommended a new quarter panel.....
I agreed since my truck didnt have bondo when I got there for the oil change... ... . Expecting an arguement I took his estimate and went and got two more... ... . all three were between $1750 and $1850 with their own guy falling in the middle... ...
Now being a contractor that uses his truck allday/everyday for work and that I am from out of town I could not give up my truck for a week and sit in the motel... ... . So I took the estimates and went back in and told them I could not get the truck fixed right now and would have to have it done at home anyway. The "service manager" said that would be fine and I should have whomever was going to fix it contact them and they would pay.
Well time rocked on and rather than getting to go home I found out I would be leaving Calhoun and going to Illinois for an indefinate period... ... . I went by the dealership the day before leaving town (about 3 weeks after this started). Explained that I was not heading home but rather up north for 2 to 3 months or more and was not comfortable leaving this unresolved. The "service manager" said he would get a check cut and have it for me the next day... ... Went by the next day, NO CHECK, only an excuse and a promise to put it "IN THE MAIL". I knew right then this was going to escalate but I had to hit the road and I didnt push it... ... .
I gave it a couple weeks and no check in the mail (of course), so I called and was told (by the "service manager") that the "owner" said the repairs had to be done locally... ... . My response was, so you folks want to pay for room and board for a week and replace lost wages since my work requires my truck so you can have your guy do it, that smacks of insurance scam to me since I can think of no other reason you would take such a legally shakey stance.
He of course said they couldnt possibly pay all that... ... . I responded that I would just come resolve this in person or ultimately with a lawyer when I get back from Illinois as a phone doesnt allow for the kind of conversation this seems to require... ... .
Bottom line is the Dodge Dealer in Calhoun GA is BAD NEWS (my opinion, others may vary)
I wonder if a complaint to Dodge would get me anywhere with these people... ... .
disclaimer, this is the G-rated version of this particular RANT, my name isnt Paul Harvey and this wasnt the WHOLE story..... many expletives and horrendous verbal castrations and cursings of a vile and utterly demeaning nature have been extricated from the above (less entertaining as a result LOL), Kinda funny actually, once I had cleaned it up I found it was only a few paragraphs rather than a 1000 page Atlas complete with illustrations of projected tortures for those who dared to rain on my parade
DAMN
Just had to get ONE good one in... .....
