I thought I would post this story in case there are any fellow Long Island KJ owners that deal with the really poor quality dealerships on LI.
I posted on here several months ago that after connecting my Mopar iPod kit to the back of my RBQ radio that the CD changer no longer worked. Since I travel a lot for work, the only time I really could get the truck to a dealer is when I am off on vacation and actually home. So I made an appointment with Merrick Dodge of Wantagh to have the radio replaced under warranty (I had tried Town & Country Chrysler Jeep in Levittown but found their service department to be incompetent and nasty). The guys in the service dept. in Wantagh were alright, but I found myself a little bit annoyed since they ordered the radio during my appointment prior to the July 4th holiday, but couldn't actually get it until after the holiday when I had to go back to work. So I rearrange my schedule and get the vehicle back to them and it comes back with a new radio that works great, so everything was cool there.
About two days after I got it back from them, I notice that something doesn't look quite right on my front driver's side bumper. I look closer at it and I notice that it's totally scratched up as if it was hit. So I figure at first that somebody hit me in a parking lot or something, and I'm pissed off but I deal with it. The next day after I discovered it, I look closer at it and I notice that it has blue touch-up paint bumps on a bunch of the scratches. Now what is the likelihood that someone off the street would hit me and have the proper color of paint to cover up the damage? Especially when it had just come from the dealer only two days before...
So I took it to a friend who is an auto body mechanic and he confirmed that it was definitely touch-up paint on the scratches. I took it back to the dealer and showed the service manager, who agreed that the coincidence was just too great, it had to have been hit at the shop. What bothers me is that somebody in this shop hit it and tried to cover it up without telling anyone, which is so ethically wrong I'm seeing red as I think about it. He took the jeep for 3 days and they repainted that section of the bumper and buffed out the small scratches on the fender. They did this free of charge (obviously), and the quality of the repair is alright. The bumper is slightly misaligned with the fender, but not really noticeable, only to me. I asked the service manager if anyone fessed up about it and he said nobody said anything, which leads me to believe either he didn't investigate who hit it and doesn't care, or he knows who did it and is covering up for them. Either way it isn't right to damage the customer's property (expensive property at that!) and not tell anyone.
So that's the story, I've had it with Long Island dealerships and I'm ready to drive to New Jersey if it ever needs warranty work, otherwise I'm just going to do the routine maintenance myself. What a story though. Stealerships suck!
I posted on here several months ago that after connecting my Mopar iPod kit to the back of my RBQ radio that the CD changer no longer worked. Since I travel a lot for work, the only time I really could get the truck to a dealer is when I am off on vacation and actually home. So I made an appointment with Merrick Dodge of Wantagh to have the radio replaced under warranty (I had tried Town & Country Chrysler Jeep in Levittown but found their service department to be incompetent and nasty). The guys in the service dept. in Wantagh were alright, but I found myself a little bit annoyed since they ordered the radio during my appointment prior to the July 4th holiday, but couldn't actually get it until after the holiday when I had to go back to work. So I rearrange my schedule and get the vehicle back to them and it comes back with a new radio that works great, so everything was cool there.
About two days after I got it back from them, I notice that something doesn't look quite right on my front driver's side bumper. I look closer at it and I notice that it's totally scratched up as if it was hit. So I figure at first that somebody hit me in a parking lot or something, and I'm pissed off but I deal with it. The next day after I discovered it, I look closer at it and I notice that it has blue touch-up paint bumps on a bunch of the scratches. Now what is the likelihood that someone off the street would hit me and have the proper color of paint to cover up the damage? Especially when it had just come from the dealer only two days before...
So I took it to a friend who is an auto body mechanic and he confirmed that it was definitely touch-up paint on the scratches. I took it back to the dealer and showed the service manager, who agreed that the coincidence was just too great, it had to have been hit at the shop. What bothers me is that somebody in this shop hit it and tried to cover it up without telling anyone, which is so ethically wrong I'm seeing red as I think about it. He took the jeep for 3 days and they repainted that section of the bumper and buffed out the small scratches on the fender. They did this free of charge (obviously), and the quality of the repair is alright. The bumper is slightly misaligned with the fender, but not really noticeable, only to me. I asked the service manager if anyone fessed up about it and he said nobody said anything, which leads me to believe either he didn't investigate who hit it and doesn't care, or he knows who did it and is covering up for them. Either way it isn't right to damage the customer's property (expensive property at that!) and not tell anyone.
So that's the story, I've had it with Long Island dealerships and I'm ready to drive to New Jersey if it ever needs warranty work, otherwise I'm just going to do the routine maintenance myself. What a story though. Stealerships suck!
