Another Sad Dealer Tale

[dcscott]

My son-in-law purchased a new '03 from Bellevue Dodge. It was his first new vehicle and a huge investment for him. Recently, at about 38,000 miles his power steering pump went out. He took it into Bellevue Dodge and had it replaced and was charged the $100 deductable. Two weeks later all three of his u-joints froze up. He consulted several of us, and we all diagnosed the problem as bad u-joints. He took it into Bellevue Dodge and they insisted that it wasn't the u-joints. Three days later he walks in, finds the driveshaft laying on the floor and they finally agreed that the joints were frozen. Of course despite having had his rig for three days they didn't have any parts in stock and were going to have to keep it another day for the parts to come in.



At that point he asked them to waive the $100 deductable and/or give him a loaner car for the 4th day. They not only refused but then went so far as to tell him to grow up and learn to pay like the other adults.



He ended up taking the drive shaft to Drivelines NW where he got three new u-joints with grease fittings, installed, for not much more then what he would have had to pay for the deductable.



He now understands that the reason I drive 325 miles to purchase from Dave Smith Motors isn't just about price.

 

[Tim]

Sounds to me that they were simply doing their job and you're just whining. Sorry man, but such is life. The bumper to bumper warranty is over and it's deductable time. The reason is so you don't take your rig in for every little squeek and complaint. Sounds to me that these are unrelated complaints. I wouldn't have eaten the deductable as a service manager either.

 

[Scooby]

I think the point dcscott is sore about is the length of time it took to diagnose the (rather simple) problem and the fact that they told his son-in-law to "grow up and learn to pay like adults".



I'd say 3 days to diagnose faulty u-joints is unreasonable. A personal attack is totally unwarranted regardless of what the customer asks for. Any mature "adult" with any negotiation skills at all would at least request some form of compensation for the 4th day of being without transportation.



Does the service manager have a right to decline the customer's request? Absolutely..... but that's all they need to say - leave the personal attacks out of it. (Of course we are only getting the son-in-law's version of the story here - the service manager may claim that the customer was yelling and screaming and making personal attacks as well - in which case the defensive side of human nature may have over-ridden his customer service skills)

 

[Hercules130]

aren't u-joints covered under the 70-100 warranty? 3 days with no diagnosis is rediculous. warranty or no warranty.

 

[NDanecker]

Don't feel bad. I was denied a loaner car because I filled out one of those service survey's honestly and was yelled and cursed at by the service manager for doing so, and then denied the loaner car I paid extra for thru the extended warranty. Truck only had ~2k miles or so and I purchased the truck from the dealer.



I have since accepted the fact that some dealers just stink and there is nothing you can do to fight them. Just move on and find another dealer with good service, and when you find one LET US ALL KNOW!!!



Unfortunately, we are all at their mercy until our warranty expires and/or we become our own warranty station!!!



Good Luck!

 

[fj40dave]

What Bellevue Dodge did was unacceptable - both in the comment they gave the customer, and the time it takes to find and fix a u-joint problem - especially when the customer suggest's they look at them to start with.



If a service department wants to consider themselves proffessionals... ... ie; "We do this for a living" kinda thing... ... they would starve if they relied on me to get work done there!

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

Sounds to me that they were simply doing their job and you're just whining. Sorry man, but such is life. The bumper to bumper warranty is over and it's deductable time. The reason is so you don't take your rig in for every little squeek and complaint. Sounds to me that these are unrelated complaints. I wouldn't have eaten the deductable as a service manager either.

I can't wait until you get bent over by a dealer. I'll save this for when you post about it.

 

[fj40dave]

I can't wait until you get bent over by a dealer. I'll save this for when you post about it.

Looks like he's been dealing with Tommygun... ... so it might be a while (if ever) before he has the kind of experience that Bellevue Dodge is serving up to their customers.

 

[Texasrattler]

How far are you from Spokane. My son was hauling a load through Washingto and had injector problems (Edge Juice). He's on business direct. They pulled his truck in before anyone else, found the problem to be the Edge box. Remove it to verify. It ran correctly. So get this, they reconnected his Edge and said it was OK now and if he has another problem to get another box from Edge. They did it all under warranty. It's sad there is such a difference in dealaers.



Pete

 

[fj40dave]

Let me guess..... your son took his truck into Dishman Dodge in Spokane?



Dishman rocks!



There are a lot of NWBomber folks around up here - "www.nwbombers.com"

 

[red-rider]

dcscott,

Your son needs to talk to a manager and if that doesnt work, talk to HIS manager, complaning about situations like that should get him heard, and also let the manager know what service writer told him, sounds like the service writer need a couple of customer savy classes.

 

[guava]

Well... it is bellevue, land of the just cut a check and get it fixed at any cost...



Tim-read the post and digest it before spouting off. Be helpful.



This guys post says enough. ---

Some of my reasons for saying by.

 

[mberry]

You can read more of the story over on DTR. Much more info and, it would appear, from the source himself.

 

[Tim]

I can't wait until you get bent over by a dealer. I'll save this for when you post about it.

Sure. :-laf

Looks like he's been dealing with Tommygun... ... so it might be a while (if ever) before he has the kind of experience that Bellevue Dodge is serving up to their customers.

Bingo. I didn't buy from Tom for price. I bought because he was the closest dealer on here with a reputation for honesty. The price was great, too.



In this instance I say:



The tone of the dealer sucks to say the least.



I wouldn't *expect* the dealer to cover the deductable and complain if they didn't, but it still sucks that they had it not too long ago and you have to pay again.



Honestly, I hate car dealerships. I wouldn't have even bought a truck if not for how painless Tomeygun made it. I dispise just the smell of being in such a place--it's the smell of knowing people were ripped off.

 

[hasselbach]

Sounds to me that they were simply doing their job and you're just whining. Sorry man, but such is life. The bumper to bumper warranty is over and it's deductable time. The reason is so you don't take your rig in for every little squeek and complaint. Sounds to me that these are unrelated complaints. I wouldn't have eaten the deductable as a service manager either.

LMAO! Is this the same person who whined constantly about DC purposely holding all G56 orders just to ruin his planned vacation? :-laf



I'd be po'd too if the experts had my truck for three days to diagnose a simple u-joint fix. If the dealership actually told junior to grow up, I'd even be a little more heated. There is a correct way to discuss their position, and it appears that they didn't do so...

 

[daytripper63]

Once upon a time good business went hand in hand with good CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOU ACTIONS! But in this day it seems like nobody takes responsibility anymore and would rather blame on others etc. If they did not check u-joints after telling them to and insisted they where not the problem then they should at least make a faithful effort to make things right! say maybe even 1/2 normal deductable but at least make an effort.

As much as I hate to say it; We live in a world of WHY ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS WHEN YOU CAN JUST BLAME IT ON SOMEONE ELSE.

Guns dont kill people, people kill people but still we blame the gun mfgrs.

 

[DPKetchum]

The powersteering pump if I'm not mistaken is a 3/36 item. They did a out of warranty repair with a $100 deduct being nice and all that. The next deduct was a powertrain repair and should have been collected. Sounds like he kicked them in the teeth.

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

I use Bellevue Dodge also. With my 01 I had one service writer that didn't do well by me. With my 03 every time I go in Melanie has taken care of me. Even when I had brake shimmy at 15K miles, beyond the 12K warranty they fixed it and even gave me a loaner. Had it in today to adjust the speedometer for bigger tires. Once again, she was courteous and I was pleased with the work. If I have to deal with anyone else there, forget it.



Doug

 

[rbattelle]

He ended up taking the drive shaft to Drivelines NW where he got three new u-joints with grease fittings, installed, for not much more then what he would have had to pay for the deductable.

Any chance you can get the part numbers they used for these joints?



-Ryan

 

[Rotty]

Sorry to hear about your whoes about bellevue dodge.

I have dealt with them in the past. :-{} :-{} All I can say about them is go somewhere else fast. If i say what is really on my mind I will be booted of this great site, too many expletive deleted comments. They have absolutly poor service in my book.

Go to Burlington Dodge or Lynnwood dodge. We have had decent service at both of those.





Good luck... .