Dealer Service Department

[dsmith17]

Good afternoon -

New to the Ram community and looking for a dependable dealer for service (we bought our truck in another state).

QUESTION: Who out there loves their dealer service department?

I'm coming from a '99 Ford Power Stroke so have not had to deal with warranty and dealer service departments in about 18 years.

We are located in Central Texas (north of Austin). Does anyone out there in our neck of the woods have a dealer service department (and manager) that you are extremely pleased with and would recommend? I don't mind driving some distance for exceptional service.

Around our area in Cedar Park, Austin, Georgetown seems the big shops require the truck for up to several weeks.

Appreciate hearing of your experiences.

Many thanks,
Dave

 

[Jared Herzog]

San Marcos Ram is good. They are who i use. My advisor ,Tina, is gone but the others are great also. Currently when there i use Randall. Also further south Bluebonnet in New Braunfels is good but the parking situation sucks. SUCKS. The shop is old and it is a constant movement of vehicles to get stuff in and out. For that reason i get nervous. But they sell a ton of diesel trucks. Do not, DO NOT, service in Austin. They do mostly cars, mini vans, bicycles, and hybrids. A diesel truck is foreign to them. That is why they keep trucks so long. They are trying to find a diesel mechanic. Then there is a great Ram dealership in Uvalde but it is a haul. Those guys work on tons of diesels due to farming and ranching there. Not sure they know what a car or mini van is. I spent a day there and a special trip out to get a tricky oil leak fixed that every other dealership could not fix. My advisor there is Levi. Good Luck.

 

[lawdog1]

Sam at Milton Dodge (near Pensacola) is good for service. Took mine in for 30K service (I had already done oil change and fuel filters and have tires rotated elsewhere), they inspected all (all fluids were good), lubed front end and drive shaft and it cost me $0!! Other dealer in town quoted me $800+ to change all fluids, trans filter and flush trans (to get all the "dirty" fluid out of converter). After getting that quote I implemented my dealer rape countermeasure plan and made the short drive to Milton. I would suggest you do the same if in the area.

Service area is small (no service drive) but they are open Sat 8-3 and take appointments.

 

[Hippy43]

My local dealer completely SUX but I really don't have any big issues with their truck shop. The crew is nice and gets the job done correctly the first time BUT they won't go that little extra to keep a customer happy. It's the little things like asking them to turn off the CEL (because of the T05 recall) when I got the T25 recall done. Said "Doesn't matter, it will come back on anyway." Well it DOES matter as it killed my remote start. I love my remote start. I used the Torque Pro App to clear the message first, then cleared the CEL and it never came back on. Remote start working again. Little things. Oh,, asked while they were in the ECM if they would turn on the day time running lights.. Two techs didn't have a clue how even after I handed them the "how to". Still wouldn't do it even after I offered to pay for their 15 minutes.. Little things.

 

[Newsa]

Was real pleased with the service at Sam Leman in Peoria. The lived the front drive shaft without me asking. Some dealer service techs can't even find the lube port.

And the documented in the computer it was done. Didn't need it. I had already lined it 4 times in 38,000 miles. Now It's been lined 5 times in less than 40k.

 

[Will_R]

So.... DON'T use San Antonio Dodge on I-35! My salesman has been GREAT, the service department is W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S!

This happened this week and last (1/17/2018 - 1/29/2018); bought a CPO 2014 2500 CTD 4wd Limited Megacab with just under 23k miles on 12/30. Truck is CLEAN and was very well cared for.

Two weeks ago today, truck wouldn't start, dead batteries. It took them until Friday to get it in for service, by that time the batteries were so bad that I had to get roadside assistance to come jump it b/c my box couldn't do it anymore. Didn't hear anything all day Friday, so I called Saturday morning. I had to talk to four or five people before they could figure out that they even had my truck in for service. The last guy said, "yeah, it's done", so I told him, "be there in a hour".

I get there, truck is still in the back, try to start it, "click"... "oh, looks like they haven't changed THE BATTERY (singular) yet". I had already asked him why they were only changing one, but figured, "free battery, whatever, cheap b-tards..." They go get a tech, he has a battery and asks which one is bad, nobody knows, so he disconnects the passenger side since it has a little corrosion on the terminal. Doesn't have the tools he needs, so I grabbed mine out of the back so he doesn't have to waste time getting his. Has a fight with the terminal, cussing the whole time, "this is BS, I'm not even supposed to be here today..." Once he gets it loose, he THROWS it across the parking lot. At this point, I mentioned, "um... the under hood light just went dim... seems like that was the good battery". He tries to tell me that all the accessories are on that battery/circuit.... but I'm an engineer, so I was like, 12v, batteries in parallel, shouldn't matter. He installs the battery, can't get the blanket back on right, so he just rips the top off. Truck still doesn't start, so they get a jump box and insist that it just needs to charge. I'm thinking that I should have just gone to Interstate and done it myself...

I drive it around front and the service manager wants to take a look at the two other issues I brought it in for (overhead lights and headliner not attached behind sun roof). He tells me, "diesel techs said you were right, need to change both batteries, we don't keep them in stock, will have to special order, will be here Monday" and follows that with, "I'll make sure the lights and headliner are fixed", "you shouldn't have to deal with these kinds of problems...". At this point I also showed him where one of their people put nicks in the leather on the steering wheel after I dropped it off...

I have a loaner from them, so I'm not that worried about time, but.... Monday, nothing. Tuesday, nothing, Wednesday at lunch, I call the guy who promised to give me good service and left a message. Thursday, I call his desk again (no message) and then call his cell and leave a message. About two hours later I text my salesman, "I know it is your day off and this isn't your job, but... " He texts back, "no worries, I'll check into it". About 45 minutes later he texts me, "_____ is going to call in a minute". Two hours later, he texts back, "did ______ call?" Nope...

Friday morning, the dealership calls, "your plates are ready..." I told her, "it would be great if my truck was ready..." and proceed to tell her what is going on. She says that she'll walk back and find out herself. ~30 minutes later my wife gets a robo-text from the dealership (? my number is the one on file...). It says, "hope your service was a 10, if not, tell us why", she responds, "it's been a zero so far". ~90 minutes later they call her and she sends them to me. I ran him through the situation and he tells me that everything but the headliner is done, but the upholstery guy can't do it till Monday and if I want to pick it up, I can have it for the weekend. I said, "keep it, no reason to pick it up only to drop it off again..." I go on to explain, "I'm not hard to please, if there is a problem, a delay, something.... that's fine, JUST TELL ME, complete radio silence isn't acceptable" and he agrees.

I'll admit, I stalked the truck with uConnect and all week it showed that the truck hasn't moved. Suddenly after the last phone call, things start to happen and I can see that it has moved back to the service area. Monday comes, truck sitting in the same place as it was on Friday, finally around lunchtime it shows up ~30 miles away and I'm thinking, "WTH? must be the headliner guy, but... that doesn't look like an upholstery shop..." Finally ~3:00 it moves again and spends an hour sitting at a bank. ~6:00 my salesman texts me, "truck is done" and I go pick it up. Everything but the steering wheel is fixed and I'm like, "screw this, I'm outta here".

Needless to say, since the OP lives in Austin and was given some recommendations for shops near me, I'll be trying them.

 

[ScottRoberts]

I used Maxwell a couple of times with my '03, I don't recall being displeased with them. I remember taking it in with around 5000 miles on it for clutch chatter, I had read about a TSB for it here on the TDR. They weren't aware of the TSB at the time, so that item wasn't addressed. I took it back at around 22,000-23,000 mi for some other items and again asked about the clutch chatter. They said it was past the 12 month/12k mile warranty but since they had a record of my previous complaint, they covered the repair under warranty.

My '16 is currently at South Point, don't know that I would recommend them, but they are close to where I work. Their diesel tech is at least a week out from my experience. The first time i dropped it off for fogged cab clearance lights and updates, they had the truck over a week. The second time I dropped it off for some messages that had flashed previously or continue to flash on the EVIC. I had to pick it up after a week as I was having issues with my secondary vehicle, truck never made it into their shop. Just dropped it back off on Monday for the same items. I was informed this time they will no longer perform updates unless they are directly related to a warranty item, which is kind of a bummer. Oh yeah, if you have a tool box, they'll ask you (after you got there) if you emptied it, as they have had some break-ins in their storage lot.

I bought the truck from Blue Bonnet, it's a bit of a haul for service, but may have to try them next time.