Title: Completely Unprofessional and Costly Experience - Will Never Return…read more
I brought my 2024 Ram 2500 with the 6.7 Cummins engine to I-20 Dodge after it was barely able to drive into their shop. From the start, Stephen and Galan were helpful and professional, and I want to be clear that they did try to assist me throughout the process. The real problem was with their management (I believe the manager's name is Brian, although I'm not 100% sure).
Because the repairs were going to take more than a day, I had to get a hotel room. What followed was a long, expensive mess:
First, they told me the turbo was bad. They showed it to me, and it was clearly bad. They replaced it.
The truck still didn't run right. Then they said it was a bad camshaft and rockers.
Still no luck. Finally, they said it was a bad motor and that the engine needed to be replaced.
By this point, I had already spent 8 days in a hotel, unable to work. I haul freight for a living, so my truck being down means I don't earn a paycheck. After waiting and waiting, I went home to Florida. From the time I first brought my truck in until the engine was finally replaced, it was about 2 months and 1 week.
Ram then transported my truck to Baton Rouge, LA, where my trailer was. That took another 2 weeks. I flew back out, picked up my truck and trailer, and started driving back to Florida.
The first day went fine. On the second day, just as I was starting out in Ocala, Florida, my truck overheated and completely cooked the brand-new engine. When I pulled over, I found the upper radiator hose off and about 18 inches of the hose's internal support spring hanging out of the hose and still in the radiator. It turns out that I-20 Dodge had forgotten to tighten the fan to the engine when they installed the new motor.
I had to get the truck towed to Phillips Dodge in Ocala at around 5:00 p.m. on a Friday. I had no money left because I'd been unable to work for almost 3 months by then and my credit cards were maxed out. I ended up in a dump of a hotel because it was across the street from the dealer. The only reason I was able to get home at all was because a very kind friend in Ocala got a rental car for me in their name. Once I got home, I had to borrow money from another friend just to pay her back.
When I called the Ocala dealer on Monday to see what they found, they told me straight out: the guys at I-20 Dodge didn't tighten the bolts when they put my engine in. That's why the fan came loose, the hose came off, and the engine overheated. Who knows how much damage it caused.
Even after that, it took days with little to no communication. When I called, I was told that I-20 Dodge was "complaining about how much it would cost" to fix their own mistake, and they delayed approving the repair for about another week. In total, it was about 2 weeks before the truck was ready and I could go back and pick it up. I live about 170 miles south of Ocala.
On top of losing months of work, I was out-of-pocket for:
Rental car
Trailer storage (about $249)
Hotel
Altogether, those expenses came to around $1,450.
For over 3 months, I called I-20 Dodge almost every week trying to get reimbursed for costs that were directly caused by their mistakes. Stephen kept telling me they were going to pay, but they never did. Whenever I asked for the manager, I was told he "wasn't there" and that they would give him a message to call me back. He never called. Not once.
The last time I spoke to them, I said that if they weren't going to make this right, I would take the time to write an honest review describing exactly what happened. This is that review.
I-20 Dodge misdiagnosed my truck multiple times, took months to replace the engine, then installed the new engine incorrectly, causing a catastrophic failure. They admitted they didn't tighten the bolts, and yet they have refused to reimburse me for the reasonable, documented out-of-pocket expenses I had to incur because of their negligence.
I will never take my truck back to them again, and I would strongly encourage anyone who depends on their vehicle for their livelihood to think twice before trusting this dealership with major repair work.
