The Problems are Escalating... so Let's Escalate the Problem to the General Manager

Tuesday, December 16, 2003
I am still absolutely irate from last night! I called MacIVER Dodge and asked to speak to the owner. I was told that he was unavailable and I was put through to the General Manager, Frank. I completely lost it on Frank, but I believe that I had every right to. He apologized for what happened and seemed genuinely sympathetic. He asked for me to make a complete list of all the problems that we were experiencing with our van and to bring it in for him to review with me. He would have his service manager, Bill, ensure that the problems were resolved, and he was going to personally take care of getting us a proper loaner vehicle. We scheduled an appointment for December 17 at 9am.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003
I arrived at the dealership at 9am and was directed to Frank's office. When I arrived in his doorway, he was on the phone. I stood just outside his door, making my presence known, but not intruding on his conversation. He made eye contact with me several times and he knew that I was there waiting for him. His phone call continued. From the tone of the conversation and the swearing, it was obviously a personal call. He continued to glance up at me and continued in his conversation.

Finally, after 6 minutes (yes, I timed it), he finished his phone call. He introduced himself and had no idea who I was. I introduced myself and he still didn't know who I was or why I was there. How is this possible? I had a scheduled appointment with him for 9am. Does he really have that many irate customers that he can't keep track of them all?

When he checked his schedule and I jogged his memory on who I was, he went out to get me the loaner vehicle. It took him 16 minutes (again, I timed it). Apparently his service department didn't have one ready so he had to grab one of his sales rep's vehicles to give me. We exchanged keys and he took my list of problems to give to his service manager.

He did not review my list with me - as was discussed when I made this appointment. He did not personally arrange a loaner vehicle for me - as was agreed to. And, to top it all off, the loaner vehicle he gave me had no gas in it. When I questioned this, he gave me a $20 gas card. Then, a couple of kilometeres down the road, I discovered that the vehicle had no windshield washer fluid. Not a good thing in the middle of a Canadian winter.

At this point, I'm pretty much feeling like they couldn't care less about me. I've leased one of the most expensive vehicles they sell (at the time - except for the Dodge Viper). The roof is leaking. I'm experiencing a number of other severe problems. And, the General Manager - the guy who runs the dealership - doesn't have time to say much more to me than "Hey! How's it going?" and "My service department didn't have your loaner ready, so here are the keys to one of my sales rep's vehicles.". Very nice! Now this is a place that really understands customer service!!!

Friday, December 19, 2003
The service department at MacIVER Dodge has had our van now for two full days. We received a call to indicate that they have gone through our list of problems and that the vehicle is ready. The following is a summary of the issues that we asked them to look at and the responses that we received.

The cupholder was replaced - finally! Yippee!

Again, they could find no leak in the roof. It was "suggested" again that we left the moonroof or a window open. This was absolutely not the case. We were given the brush off - "If you see the problem again, please bring it back."

They looked into the defrost issue again. They told us that "this time we pulled apart the whole ventilation system and looked for blockages". Huh? We were told that was already done back on Dec 2. When I questioned them about this, they indicated that the service records do not show that this was done last time. So, are the service records wrong, or did they lie to us? Either way... not too comforting. And, besides, I'm still wondering why they are even bothering to check out the defrost issue if 20+ minutes is considered normal.

So, no fault found on the front defrost. It was again explained to me that 20+ minutes to defrost a front window is normal. When I started to explain that I've never seen a vehicle take this long to defrost, I was quizzed by the service manager on how a front defrost system works. When I could not provide proper answers, I was berated by the service manager and several of his staff for not understanding the intimate details.. They crowded around me and laughed at my answers, then they all proceeded to inform me how all of their vehicles (a Neon, a Dodge pickup, and a Durango) all took around 20 minutes to defrost the front window. Wow! I guess Dodge has a widespread problem with front defrost. And, getting back to them laughing at me. What is that all about?!?!? How professional of the manager of the service department to laugh at and berate a customer and to allow his staff to do the same. Am I supposed to understand how to do their job? I didn't understand that as a requirement of owning a Dodge vehicle. I don't think they could explain transactional database replication. Maybe I should laugh at them because they don't understand my job.

There has been a clicking noise coming from the wheels when we start and stop the vehicle. It is really noticeable when you are somewhere fairly quiet - like a drive-thru. This was checked out, and we were told that it is normal operation - which is complete garbage! No one we talk to has ever heard this type of clicking sound coming from a vehicle.

We have been experiencing intermittent issues with the power side sliding doors. On occasion, they will not open and/or close via the push buttons. We have also been having the same problem with the power rear liftgate. They looked into this and... no fault found.

We had been experiencing a low-pitched grinding noise coming from the ventilation system when the heat is on high. They did find the issue and they made the necessary repairs.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003
We are still experiencing issues with the front defrost. We are having to start our vehicle and let it run on full defrost for up to half an hour before we are able to leave to go anywhere. The power doors are still failing to work intermittently. The clicking noise from the wheels is still present.

We have not heard back from Frank. I would have expected him to follow-up re: the service that was done from December 17-19. Am I being unreasonable? Shouldn't someone have called to make sure that we're satisfied? Or, I guess they know that we're not satisfied (because most of the problems were not resolved) and they assume that if they ignore us then we'll leave them alone. Anyways, another glaring example of great customer service!

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