Andybody work for Daimler/Chrysler/Benz?

Triathlon Forum
1

I need to move this a little higher up the food chain. My letter to Dodge:

"I’ve got a problem. I have a factory CD player that has rarely worked in the 5 years since I’ve had this vehicle. It’s been replaced twice. The second time it was replaced it failed to work at all, and I just lived with it. I have an extended warranty, and the contract appears not to cover the CD player. However, it never worked in the first place, and I believe each time it was replaced a remanufactured item was installed, not a new one.

"I’m a journalist, and have written very favorably about Dodge Trucks, and still believe in them. In fact, I’m getting ready to sell my current Truck and replace it with a 2004, and however this turns out I’ll still buy a Dodge. However, I do have this one and only complaint. I hope you can help me with it, and I’m looking forward to your reply.

“So that we don’t trade unnecessary emails, I understand that the current extended warranty contract doesn’t cover the CD player. My concern is that it’s never been fixed, not during the two previous times when it was replaced under the original factory warranty. So, I’m less interested in what method Dodge uses to cover this CD player than I am in just having a reliable stereo. I know there is a way Dodge can do this.”

Dodge’s reply:

"Dear Daniel:

"Thank you for your email regarding your Dodge Ram 1500.

"Your request was received and reviewed by the Customer Assistance Center.

"Your concerns, particularly in view of the expense and inconvenience involved in this issue, are understandable. However, your request for consideration in this matter must be declined, because the vehicle in question has exceeded the time or mileage limitations of the original manufacturer’s warranty.

"Although a more favorable reply could not be provided, sharing your concern with us is appreciated.

"Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: Please do not use the ‘Reply’ function of your email system. If you have a need to respond to this message, please visit us at our reply form (link provided below). Our system is NOT able to accept any emails at this address."

To any Slowtwitch readers who’re wired in to Dodge, I’d be obliged of you’d pass this along. And thank you for understanding. Don’t reply to this email. And if you do, please include your service ticket authorization number, which you’ll find by typing in your user name and password, after registering, which you can do via the temporary password now in the mail to you.

2

An extended warranty? How did they get you to buy that one?

3

“An extended warranty?”

i’m a sucker for extended warranties. i always buy them. peace of mind. i try not to pay full value, mind you. i wait until the rest of the negotiation is done, then i try to get them to throw in the extended warranty. they of course don’t, and then we settle in the middle somewhere.

of course they’re portable, too, so if you sell your vehicle inside of 5 or 7 years, it’s a nice benefit to tell the prospective owner that there’s still a warranty.

4

If this is stupid obvious, I apologize.

I find it unlikely that you received three bad CD players in a row, whether they were re-manufactured or not. I think it’s more likely that there’s a problem with the connection between the truck and the CD player- no juice to the stereo, in other words. The problem is, in fact, with the truck. Which I would hope would still be covered.

How’s that?

5

Dan,

I do not work for Daimler/Chryster, however I had a similar situation with an Audi that I owned. Here is a little back ground, if it helps great, if it doesn’t sorry for the wasted time.

I had a Audi TT which after 5,000 miles developed a problem with the wheels/tires maintaining a proper balance. I worked diligently with my local dealer to rectify the problem (which they tried everything). Finally, after many trips to the dealership, we came to the conclusion that it was most likely the tires that were causing the problem. In case you did not know tires are not covered by the automobile manufacuturer’s warrenty, they are covered by the tire manufacturers warranty. Long story short I went through the normal chain of command, so to speak, with little help from the Audi Region Manager or the tire manufacturer rep (I will never by Pirrellis again). Finally, I wrote Len Hunt (President of VW/Audi North America) a letter describing my situation and the fact that I had been a loyal Audi owner for the last decade or so. I sent that letter Fedx, it was well worth the $13.00. An individual from the “office of the president” contacted me within two days of having sent the letter and asked me what how we (Audi) could make this right. I ended up with a new set of Dunlops and a certificate worth $1000.00 should I chose to purchase another Audi within the next 3 years.

I gues what I am saying here is that you might want to skip the middle man so to speak and go straight to the top. My guess is that they will take it much more seriously than the customer service organization which is going to state policy and follow rules until the situation becomes problematic and then will try to do something to ease the pain of the situation. That however, is way too little way too late.

Pete

6

“i wait until the rest of the negotiation is done, then i try to get them to throw in the extended warranty. they of course don’t, and then we settle in the middle somewhere.”

Crafty. Very crafty. I never thought of negotiating for the warranty. Car buying tips on a tri forum. Who would have thought.

7

I don’t work for Dodge either. But, why not just buy a Toyota? Then your odds of ever needing the warranty in the first 7 years or 70,000 miles are about as close to zero as any car could be.

8

I don’t work for Daimler/Chrysler/Benz but I do write television commercials for several divisions of General Motors. Do you mind if I use your letter in an ad as evidence of why not to buy a Daimler/Chrysler/Benz?

9

Finally, I wrote Len Hunt (President of VW/Audi North America) a letter describing my situation and the fact that I had been a loyal Audi owner for the last decade or so.

I have found this is the key to success. Write to the top. There are two possible outcomes, either the office of the president fixes your problem or they hand it down so some minion below. But even in that case, the minion will take your problem seriously because he received your complaint not from you, but from his boss.

Gerard.

10

“Do you mind if I use your letter in an ad as evidence of why not to buy a Daimler/Chrysler/Benz?”

no, i think i’ll keep this within the family. i must assume i was simply dealing with the wrong person on the other end of the transaction. the truck is otherwise too good to have to abandon the brand just because of a bad CD player. monty has the same basic truck, 4X4, etc., except bigger/better (diesel to my 360cid, extra cab, 2500 instead of 1500). we both love our dodges, and would not at ths point consider any other truck (tho my previous truck was a ford diesel F250 4X4 and i had no complaints). we’re both getting 2004 dodge 4X4 diesels this year.

in other words, the truck is very good, its CD is not so good, the service behind it may or may not be good, we’re waiting to see).

11

“I think it’s more likely that there’s a problem with the connection between the truck and the CD player”

i didn’t adequately explain this. it’s a CD/radio, and the radio has always worked fine. the CD player also works, in that it properly accepts, ejects the discs. it’s just that each one of them eventually flashes and “error” message and that’s the end of that. no more CD player.

12

Dan…when was the last time someone referred to you as “Daniel” ?

13

Skip the factory CD player. Take it to an aftermarket car stereo place. I guess you could start by asking them if they will look it over and see if they can diagnose the failure but in the time you will spend with Dodge you could get a aftermarked CD installed for $100 (or whatever you want to pay) and be done?

If you are like me you just want to make your point, but the time it takes is often not worth it especially for something as simple as the CD.

14

Daniel, I still think it could be a problem with how the stereo is wired into the truck. That would be my story, and I would stick to it. Especially if you got the same type of error message with each CD player. It’s the faulty truck that is killing otherwise healthy CD players.

15

I bought a dodge ram last year, the infinity sound system is pretty nice and the CD player works fine. Maybe I put your fears to rest . . .

16

I bought a toyota in 94, bought the extended warranty. Dumbest purchase ever and has to be a huge money maker for toyota. To this point 10 yrs later, I’ve done most of the require maintenence myself and only had to replace the altenator.

17

Since I am also not an employee of Diamler here is my take. My wife had an S-10 in which the wiper motor failed, after we paid to replace it since it was out of warranty the service manager told us to call Chevrolet since a recall had been issued for the same part. They didn’t give us all of the cost but they did cover the part and 50% of labor for ‘good will’. Since it sounds like you are a loyal customer, they may cover it just to keep you loyal. Now my wife has a Jeep Liberty so I’m hoping yours is an isolated case and not what I have to look forward to.

18

I too have one of those radio/cd players. It does the same thing that I think you are describing. I have to reinsert the cd several times for it to paly. Let me guess, if you can get the cd to play, from then on it always plays. This error message only comes up when you insert another cd into the unit…right? Try this little trick… Insert the cd and then quickly turn the unit off. If you do this right the cd stays in the unit. Then turn it back on. It works for me. '96 Grand Caravan

Either that or you may have dust/dirt/something obstructing the laser lens. Would spraying a can of air in there clean the lens?

19

I think I have a problem with the connection between my control and the changer. I got so mad at it that I ripped the control from the dash, tore it lose from the wiring and threw it in the back seat. I’ve been trying to hot wire the right wires together to make it play. So far no luck. At least it didn’t hurt my knuckles like the windshields I’ve broken.

20

Well, sorry that you didn’t buy a Toyota, not sure what you were thinking, BUT, I certainly agree that you should go directly to the top (I assume you have not been able to get any love from the dealer, they should be helping you…)

Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard is the COO of the Chrysler Group. http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/dccom/0,,0-5-7158-1-56954-1-0-0-0-0-0-104-7155-0-0-0-0-0-0-0,00.html Send him a letter!