I took my truck to the dealer today to get the PCM and Trans cooler line repaired per the recall notice I got in the mail. I called the dealer last friday(South Bay Dodge, Torrance Ca.) and made the appointment for today. I get there at 7:30 this morning to drop the truck off and the service guy tells me it should be ready sometime in the afternoon but he doesn't know when.

Ok, when he tells me he doesn't know when the truck will be done, I get a little suspect that there are going to be problems. I asked him if he could get it done in a reasonable amount of time because I am going to San Diego and I don't want to sit in LA traffic for 3 hours. My truck shifts fine so I'm not even sure if the new parts are needed for the truck.

At 2:30 PM (7 Hours Later) I get a call from the service guy who tells me that they checked their parts dept and guess what????They don't have the replacement parts in stock. I am going to have to come back next week. Sorry

I went to the dealer and let the service guy have in front of about 10 customers. I can't belive it took them 7 hours to figure out they didn't have the parts. Obviously my truck sat in the parking lot the entire time and no one bothered to check. The best part is I didn't get any paperwork stating which parts if any had to be replaced. What a joke......

I talked to the Service Manager and all he could tell me is Sorry....Whatever.....I guess I will make sure the parts are in stock before I drop the truck off or I'm sure I will have the same problem. Did anyone else have this problem? or maybe I'm just venting......

 

That is a shame about your visit. Sometimes the service and parts don't correspond too well. Sounds like the case this time.
Due to scheduling sometimes a vehicle won't go in the shop until the afternoon. If the trans tech or diesel tech (whoever was to work on your truck) was tied up with another vehicle they hafta get that one done first. Worse even if they didn't even get to look at your truck. That has also happened. But giving the writer heck in front of 10 customers just pushed you to the bottom of the pile. I would suspect they have tagged your file now. Remember treat them like you like to be treated. Good luck.

 

Sounds like a pretty bad experience, but I think you'll find that kind of thing is NOT the norm from Dodge.

 

That was the same thing that happened to me, made the appointment on Friday, brought the truck in first thing Tuesday am. Get a call at 1:30 we don't have parts in stock need to keep it until tomorrow. They had it an extra day and didn't even wash it.

 

I had the same problem with my wifes VW, the dealer had it for 3 days,my fault for not checking if they had the parts. The service dept. did me right as far as I'm concerned, they gave me a 15% discount and they didn't have to. I guess it pays to be nice. Just my 2 cents.
I call my truck " The Cowboy Cadillac"LOL. 2004.5 QC, CTD, 4x4, SB, 3.73

 

They can red tag me all they want because I won't be going to that dealer again. What they did was completely unacceptable and bad business. Their recall and not having the parts is not my problem. Those parts should be in stock being there is a recall for the truck. I highly doubt I'm the only one in the area with a CTD recall.

 

I don't think you were out of line at all. I went to my dealer 4 different times just trying to get info on the recalls and to make sure they had parts in stock for the two recalls so when i dropped it off they could do all I wanted at one time. I also had a few TSB's i wanted them to check out for me. The service manager seemed really clueless and very jumbled up like he way more to do than he could handle. It took me 3 of the 4 tries to make sure they had the parts I needed.
So I drop my truck off yesterday afternoon so they will have it first thing this morning and I tell him to call me when its done and I will pick up A.S.A.P. So I wait until about 3pm to call him just to check the status. And he tells me..."oh I dunno why but we don't have the parts we need to complete your TSB repair" And this was after I made sure and he supposedly checked to make sure ...Then the really big thing that irritated me was that he never even called me to tell me about it as it was done and ready to be picked up about 11am.
I get really disgusted with these guys....Its not that hard of a job...A little busy at times...But if you keep lists of whats what and whos who and check it off as you go it really can be done right. I am not just being smart alec as I had been in the parts and service business for a long time before I do what I do now.

On a side note: Has anyone checked out the O-rings they install on the PCM connections?..they really don't look like they will do much. As the ones installed on mine don't even seem to fit right It definitly looks like an afterthought.....Which it is I guess I would think they would make a new design connector with the o-ring built in.....Oh but wait ...thats costs money...stupid me

 

I don't think you were out of line at all. I went to my dealer 4 different times just trying to get info on the recalls and to make sure they had parts in stock for the two recalls so when i dropped it off they could do all I wanted at one time. I also had a few TSB's i wanted them to check out for me. The service manager seemed really clueless and very jumbled up like he way more to do than he could handle. It took me 3 of the 4 tries to make sure they had the parts I needed.
So I drop my truck off yesterday afternoon so they will have it first thing this morning and I tell him to call me when its done and I will pick up A.S.A.P. So I wait until about 3pm to call him just to check the status. And he tells me..."oh I dunno why but we don't have the parts we need to complete your TSB repair" And this was after I made sure and he supposedly checked to make sure ...Then the really big thing that irritated me was that he never even called me to tell me about it as it was done and ready to be picked up about 11am.
I get really disgusted with these guys....Its not that hard of a job...A little busy at times...But if you keep lists of whats what and whos who and check it off as you go it really can be done right. I am not just being smart alec as I had been in the parts and service business for a long time before I do what I do now.

On a side note: Has anyone checked out the O-rings they install on the PCM connections?..they really don't look like they will do much. As the ones installed on mine don't even seem to fit right It definitly looks like an afterthought.....Which it is I guess I would think they would make a new design connector with the o-ring built in.....Oh but wait ...thats costs money...stupid me

 

My truck has been at the dealer for 10 days now. It started to exhibit unusual shifting patterns, then would not shift into OD at all. Finally the check engine light came on. It took them 5 days to tell me that they had to order a complete new computer module and wiring harnesses. I am wondering if it had to do with the leaking PCM connector, corroding or allowing water to short it out. I am not very happy right now. I am also having the A/C HVAC TSB taken care of as well as some other minor issues.

 

Had mine done this week, a little sketchy at fiirst,they told me an initial visit was required to itemize parts needed. They called a couple hours later and said 100 % complete. Here's the parts that were changed;
CEH1CC420 / WIRING / POWER 1
5013781AA / GREASE / DIELECTRIC 1
C42
CBLAC441 / TUBE / OIL 1
5013457AA / QUART / TRANS +4 1
C44
I reall that the pcm was an o-ring but not excluding harness and/or pcm if corrosion was bad,and replacement hose not excluding cooler and/or connection fittings if leaks wre bad !!!!! The weird thing is I had the top hose and a valve changed just a month ago due to a leak and it appears that this hose was changed again.......
Mark T.

 

I work at a dealer, I think that you got poor service and you are an *** for going off on someone like that. Maybe you have issues that have nothing to do with your truck. What gives anybody the right to treat another person that way, in any place of business ?? One time a customer got so angry over missing the promise time by 30 minutes, after swearing and yelling, he picked up the credit card reader/printer off cashier counter an threw it on the floor. 10 days in jail and $1800 for replacing the reader. At least the ten people who witnessed your tantrum can relate to the bumper sticker " mean people suck" Ask most people who work in a retail environment they will have similar stories. Clients have the right to complain but not to explode.

 

Dont hold it against Dodge! like any franchis some places are beter than others. I've been treated like a king by my dealer, Last time I took in the chivy I traded to get my CTD the service guy went for a ride with me and said "Yeah, this thing knocks like there's a box of rocks in the motor!", I left the truck over night having been told they were going to replace the motor because it was a known defect.
They called me the next morning and said. "You can come get your truck now, my supervisor told me I didnt hear that noise the other day."!!!

 

Amen. Don't act like a child and lose your cool. Remain professionally behaved at all times...its called being an adult. I would be extremely frustrated too given the circumstances though. Thanks for the post. I'll be sure my dealer has the parts first. They are great - sunset dodge in sarasota. Some are awful. Avoid bob boast in bradenton like the plague! =]

 

Also depends on what is involved with this recall. Some trucks may need some parts, others may not. I really don't know, as I have not read the tech instructions. When I was at Ford they would not allow us to preorder some recall parts. They were drop shipped on an as needed basis. Other parts (DRL, PCV recall, rotors, Tranny park pawls etc) we tried to stock. Ford would only ship so many parts per dealership. Some of these recalls affected 100's of thousands of vehicles. And everybody wants it at once. Then they decided (Ford that is) not to release parts until they had a sufficient stockpile so we would not run short. This seemed to work a bit better.

 

i don't know, i agree with him getting PO'd.

if you're a service writer, and you're too stupid to:
a.) know if you have the parts on hand
b.) tell the customer you don't have the parts.
c.) call him immediately and tell him when you don't have the parts,

then here's your choice:
a.) take your butt-chewing like a man, cause you are stupid
b.) get a job where your ignorance is not immediatly revealed to the customer, i.e., somewhere they super size, and you can compensate the customer with free fries.

it's a 40k investment, and if you can't fix it, don't make me do without it.
my GM was in the shop ~15 times within 13k miles. it was clearly a lemon law recall, but I PO'd too many people by calling GM cust svc EVERY TIME the SES light went on, and sometimes, it would come on twice in one day. i had 10 pages of notes & documentatoin on it.

AFAIK, i'm blacklisted for all GM warranty matters for the rest of my life,
they even CANCELLED my warranty on last GM truck for making a few passes down the 1/8 mile strip in town.

they even have to call to get permisson to do work on my GM car now.