Ongoing Problems

Friday, October 22, 2004
We were driving along this evening and the heater in our van suddenly turned on. We thought that was a bit odd, and we proceeded to turn it off. Within 10 seconds, it turned itself back on again. This happened a total of seven times before the heater would stay off. Very nice!

Saturday, October 23, 2004
My wife and I had decided to take a weekend away in Niagara. We were driving along Hwy 407 and, just like last night, the heater decided to turn on. We turned it off and it came back on within 10-15 seconds. This happened a total of 3 times before the heater would stay off. Later in our trip, the rear left interior light decided that it would turn on.

The road noise from the left sliding door is really starting to get annoying - especially during highway trips.

Sunday, October 24, 2004
Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. The heater decided to turn on while driving. It had be powered off three times before it decided to stay off. The rear left interior light also decided to turn on by itself today - twice!

Thursday, October 28, 2004
The heater is still turning on by itself. We also have a new problem appearing for the first time. When we wanted the heater on and we had it running, it decided to turn on the air conditioning. When we turned the A/C off, it seems to stay off though - at least for about 10 minutes until the problem occurred again.

Friday, October 29 , 2004
My wife dropped our van off at MacIVER Dodge for them to check into the ongoing electrical issues. We have also asked them (again) to look into the engine running extremely rough and the road noise through the left sliding door. While at the dealership and explaining the problems, the rear left interior light actually turned on by itself. Wow! Perfect timing!

The dealership is getting pretty frustrated with us. I can understand, but it's not like it's our fault. We're not making up these problems. We leased the vehicle from them and we expect them to repair the problems. They sat down with my wife today and indicated that they feel we should go through CAMVAMP to force Daimler Chrysler to buy back the vehicle. Sounds great, but, as mentioned earlier, CAMVAP's buyback formula works on mileage, and we would have to pay Daimler Chrysler to have them take back the vehicle. That's not happening! These problems are not our fault.

My wife forgot her house keys at MacIVER Dodge. She left them on the key ring with our van keys. At 3:45pm, she drove back to MacIVER Dodge to get the keys. She noticed that our van was still parked in the EXACT same spot, with the wheels turned the EXACT same way that she had left them. They haven't even looked at our van yet, and we were supposed to have it back by the end of today. Then, at about 4:30pm, MacIVER Dodge calls our home and tells us that "your van has been in the shop all day, but we need some more time to diagnose the problems". WHAT A BUNCH OF LIARS!!!! Our van had not moved as of 3:45pm - Don't tell us it's been in the shop all day! Is this how they checked out our roof leak as well - letting it sit all day and then calling us to say they couldn't find a problem?

Saturday, October 30, 2004
The brakes on our loaner van seem to be acting weird. We've been driving around town this evening and the braking seems very sporadic. MacIVER Dodge is closed until Monday, so we'll have to wait until then to let them know.

Sunday, October 31, 2004
We had to drive our boys to a birthday party this afternoon. The braking is still very sporadic. We mentioned it to one of my friends at the party (who knows his way around cars). He took a quick look and discovered that we have no brake fluid. Nice! This is quite dangerous, and could lead to the brakes not working at all. Hmmm... How does a loaner vehicle that comes from the dealership not have brake fluid? Very concerning!

What makes this even better is the signage on the back of our loaner van. Please see the picture below. Six star service? Daimler Chrysler's web site indicates that the Five Star designation is the highest recognition that Daimler Chrysler Canada can award a retailer for exceptional customer service. Wow! And, MacIVER Dodge claims to be six star. They must be really good compared to the rest of the dealerships then!

The above scares me though. Because if I went to a dealership that was only Five Star, how many visits would it take to get a cupholder repaired? It took four visits at a Six Star dealer. How many months would you have to drive with a clicking sound coming from your wheels at a Five Star dealer before they found the problem? It only took six months at a Six Star dealer before they uncovered the problem. If a Six Star dealer would give me a van to put my children in where the seats would not fasten into the floor, I'm scared to think of the vehicle that a Five Star dealer would give me. If a Six Star dealer considers brakes that are completely rusted out and hardly working to be in perfect condition, then I'm frightened to think what a Five Star dealer might consider perfect brakes to be - maybe they'd be missing vital components or something!

I'm sure the Six Star Service sign is just MacIVER Dodge's little attempt to try and make you believe that they are a little better than everyone else. I did go to their web site, www.maciverdodgejeep.com, and they do only list themselves as a Five Star dealer. But wait a second! When I go to the Daimler Chrysler Canada web site, www.daimlerchrysler.ca, and try to find Five Star dealerships in my area, MacIVER Dodge IS NOT LISTED! Why is that? Is Daimler Chrysler not telling the truth? Surely not! Have they not received the highest recognition that Daimler Chrysler Canada can award for exceptional customer service? Wow! That just can't be! I am quite surprised!

Above is the screen capture from www.maciverdodgejeep.com/New.cfm that indicates they are a Five Star retailer. (Note: As of Feb 2005, more than 3 months after I brought this "error" to the attention of Daimler Chrysler, the MacIVER Dodge web site has not been corrected and they are still claiming to be a Five Star Dealer.

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