Backstory - I bought my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee (now 90k miles) as a certified pre-owned in 2017 and have never had any check engine lights or issues outside of routine maintenance. I have also been a AAA customer since I had my first car in highschool, so 10+ years, despite not being a AAA member.
I will start with the positives:
1. Damon Gethers - store manager has been very nice and understanding about all of my issues. He has gone as far as to pay for every repair since my first visit.
2. The store has always taken my car in the next day or the same day when I call them and get my car back to me within the same day of dropping it off.
Those are the only two positives warranting the one star review.
Here's been my experience thus far:
I've had my Jeep into the AAA on Kildaire in Cary on 5 separate occasions in 5 weeks since 7/12/2023.
Upon my first visit, I received a seemingly trigger-happy diagnostic, when only bringing it in needing a brake job. I was upsold on an Engine Cooling System Service ($169.99), "Remove and Replace Thermostat" ($416.97), Tune Up ($660.93), Platinum Fuel Service ($199.99), and Remove and Replace Oil Filter Housing & Or Gasket ($900.98). My initial visit to what I was expecting to be a routine brake job turned into a $3,363.37 bill.
To my surprise - driving my Jeep the next day, I was still having issues with my brakes, which clearly shows not only did they get trigger-happy with my diagnostic, they didn't actually test drive my vehicle to see if they fixed the problem I came in with originally.
I called them up after a few days of debating what to do, spoke with Damon, and brought the jeep back 8 days later on 7/20 (thurs) where Damon happily fixed the issues with the brakes and didn't charge me for it.
4 days later, after a long weekend out of town and not driving the vehicle, I crank up the Jeep on Monday 7/24 with a check engine light on. Brought it in on Tuesday 7/25 and Damon again happily fixed the issue. I received a "Remove Replace Purge Hose" which solved the issue temporarily.
Another week later, another check engine light. Again, Damon, slightly more disgruntled, understandably, fixed the issue at no charge to me. I received a "Diagnostic Service - Fuel Vapor Leak Detection Pump". Damon showed me the part that was broken and assured me that this would solve the problem. I joked with him that "I'd be a paying customer the next time he saw me", to make light of the situation, assuming this had to be it.
I now sit here on 8/8 with another appointment scheduled for Wednesday 8/9 for my 5th visit in 5 weeks with another check engine light.
The issue I am having is obviously not with money, because they've done the right thing up to this point. The problem I am having is there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The issues still have not been resolved and I do not feel like it's fair to me to have to bring it somewhere else (Jeep) and be charged diagnostics and additional costs to fix problems that didn't otherwise exist.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time that they will no longer take me as a customer and leave me with, what I am assuming will be, a large bill to overhaul the evap/emissions system entirely, since they are not been able to identify/diagnose anything properly, not even my brake job to start with.
I hope someone from higher up steps in to help Damon because I'm sure he is sick of dealing with me. I hate writing this review in the first place because I know this is exactly what he's trying to prevent but I feel like my hands are tied.
My preferred solution would be if AAA would take my car for as long as needed to ACTUALLY fix it. It would be appreciated if it would be covered considering the hassle I've now gone through, but I really honestly wouldn't mind covering some of the costs. I just want my car fixed. As the slogan on my receipts say - "ONE TIME, ON TIME, COURTEOUS HONEST REPAIRS". read more