Water Pump Reimbursement.... I'm now confused....

[jelag]

Last summer I lost the water pump in my 2013 before the recall.... I was on the road, passing through a town towing my 5th wheel trailer and had the shaft snap... so both the truck and trailer needed to be towed...

I was in Tri-Cities WA, so I call the local Dodge dealer... A Lithia store... and the service writer told me that we were approaching a 3 day holiday... and they couldn't get to my water pump problem in less than 3 weeks... drop it by and we'll get to it when we can... of course when your passing through a town towing you really don't want to spend 3 weeks without a vehicle......

So I called around and found another dealer who would do the work and have me on the road the following a.m. We towed the truck and trailer to the dealer, they put the trailer on the back lot and we spent the night in the RV... the next a.m. I was done and out the door by 9:00 a.m. and had the dealer buy a lifetime warranty pump from one of the discount auto parts stores....

Months later I find out I can apply for reimbursement for the costs of the water pump so I call customer care and am issued case # 32556946 by a nice young lady called Elizabeth.... she emails me a link and I fill out the form on line... follow the instructions and up load a scanned copy of my bills... and in the text of the instructions I'm to fax copies to a fax number so I include a cover sheet that adds all the detail that I supplied to the web page..... BTW I've told her the whole story about Litha not having time to repair the truck... I was over 300 miles from home....

Now 4 months later I'm calling to see what happened to my check... I talk to a nice gal who listens to my story... puts me on hold... and comes back almost 10 minutes later saying "you had your truck repaired at other than a Authorized Dealer so we're not going to pay the costs of repair.... I tell her the story about being 300 miles from home and the local dealer, Lithia wouldn't work on the truck for 3 weeks.... she basically says... we don't care... so I tell her... this is a truck covered under the recall and the paper work says.... if you've had your truck repaired you can apply for reimbursement.... NO WHERE DOES IT SAY IT HAS TO BE FIXED AT A DEALER....

So she puts me on hold for another 8 minutes... what a thrill, times on cell phones... you know exactly how long your on ignore.... She comes back and says... nope not covered... I ask to be passed up the chain of command as I see the situation a little differently and hangs up on me.....

So was the first gal wrong and wasted my time.... doing all the paper work and submitting the documents... or was the second gal wrong and just put me on ignore.....

COMMENTS PLEASE and WHAT SHOULD I DO...

Jim

 

[mwilson]

First off, you state that you took it to a second dealer for the repair. Was that second dealer a Dodge dealer?? If not, what brand are they a dealer for?

 

[jelag]

I had called an independent diesel repair shop(he was busy going into the 3 day holiday) and he said that the Hyundai dealer had an excellent engine mechanic and any good engine guy can change a water pump... of course if I'd had a place to park the truck/trailer I'd have done the work myself.... but a call to the Hyundai dealer found their engine guy willing to stay over and start the work and finish early the next morning...

BTW all I really wanted was to get the truck fixed and on the road... I had no clue I could get reimbursed for this repair until months later during another recall issue.... so at that time I was provided with the phone for Customer Care and called them.... When I talked to Customer Care I was upfront on the whole deal...

 

[mwilson]

I think that I would try again, the pump itself should be eligible for reimbursement regardless of who did it. I was reimbursed for the cost of two front wheel bearings on my Town and Country that I changed myself when the warranty on front wheel unit bearings was extended to 50,000 miles. I changed both at just under 50,000 miles before the extended warranty was even offered. I found out about it later on, submitted paperwork just like you and was reimbursed.

I just read the recall notice for the WIN module on my Town and Country (which I was also reimbursed for, but was performed by my local dealer BEFORE the recall existed) and nowhere does it say that a MOPAR dealer has to perform the work to be eligible for reimbursement....you paid to have it done with good reason, even if they cut the labor to match Dodge flat rate or something they should take care of it.

Try again, escalate the situation.....I think she was wrong. It is not a component that needs to be flashed or anything of that nature.

 

[mwilson]

Duplicate...

 

[MRoberts]

I'm hoping that the CSA you spoke with is just simply mistaken and that this gets resolved quickly and in your favor.

On the other hand Dodge/Ram Cummins trucks are really kind of a unique market and those of you reading this are exactly part of what I'm referring too. I know they have sold a lot of them since 1989, but compared to the number of Accords and Explorers sold, the number of CTD's sold is small.

We are a group that expects and demands performance and reliability. We are also willing to spend our hard earned money on improving and when necessary repairing our trucks. I've had a CTD since 2002 and I love tinkering with my truck, it is way more then just transportation to me.

I'm really frustrated with the recent recalls and the lack of support from FCA. IIRC, I've received four recall notices and only one has been addressed. And it is not due to me being unavailable! I'm not railing for special treatment, it just seems that when folks are dropping $50-80k on a truck because of that engine, the support and willingness to help would be better.

Don't get me wrong, I love my truck and will not be selling it anytime soon, but I feel FCA really needs to step it up.

Good Luck Jim!

 

[SnoKing]

I was just on RAM Owners site looking at recall status and noticed this:

RECALL REIMBURSEMENT
If you have already incurred recall-related costs on the repair of your vehicle, you may qualify for reimbursement. Please begin the recall reimbursement process, which is handled on a case-by-case basis.

 

[MRoberts]

I was just on RAM Owners site looking at recall status and noticed this:

RECALL REIMBURSEMENT
If you have already incurred recall-related costs on the repair of your vehicle, you may qualify for reimbursement. Please begin the recall reimbursement process, which is handled on a case-by-case basis.

In Jim’s case, this should be a no brainer! He bought his truck to tow and travel. He took it to a factory dealer who could not address the issue. He then had it repaired so he could continue his trip. Done.

FCA should cover this right now.

PS - I don’t know Jim

 

[Deleted member 995608]

I was just on RAM Owners site looking at recall status and noticed this:

RECALL REIMBURSEMENT
If you have already incurred recall-related costs on the repair of your vehicle, you may qualify for reimbursement. Please begin the recall reimbursement process, which is handled on a case-by-case basis.

The "May" is what catches my attention. If your miles away, break down and have to play the cards you're dealt, they "Might" reimburse you.

 

[sag2]

I would submit it again in writing to FCA as though you never did. Include a copy of the recall notice.

Keep the cover letter short and concise. I was traveling, FCA dealer could not get me in, another dealer could, so I had it repaired and went on my way.

 

[EDankievitch]

Call again unless the other dealer did the job for free and has already put in a warranty claim you should be able to get a reimbursed. Now as for when you can get the reimbursed is the question. When my Alt burned up last year a month before the recall notice went out I had to pay for the repair. Then put in the claim at that time I was told I had to wait until Chrysler had "Known Good Parts Available" once they did then and only then would they process my claim. You have a claim number. Call customer service again. Ask nicely for the person you spoke with the first time, Note always get the name of the representative you speak with. BE NICE! attitudes get you tossed into the NOT GOING TO HELP PILE super fast. Don't bring up the bad experience you got from the dealer. You just want to know when your claim will be processed. You understand these things take time. You just don't want to be forgotten about. BE NICE AND POLITE! I can't stress that enough. Knowing that there still are NO good parts available for the recall chances are you will have to wait some more.

 

[Cummins12V98]

^^^^^^^ GREAT advice!