In June, I bought a brand new Dodge Charger R/T. I have never been a Dodge person per se; however our business involves the upfitting of police & emergency vehicles. Because of this, I had the opportunity to test drive one of the police package Chargers, and then subsequently decided to begin to look for one of my own.
Living in North Carolina, this past month was the first month that I have had to use the heat function. The Charger as you are aware is outfitted with the driver/passenger dual climate control. My settings are set to 'sync' so that they are the same all the time.
When using the heat for the first time, I noticed a cool draft coming from somewhere. I thought this odd, but after putting my hands in front of all the vents, I noticed that the air coming from the passenger side was substantially cooler than the air coming from the driver's side vents.
Obviously I am distressed because this is a brand new car that I have paid a lot of hard earned money for; however it is under warranty and I am hopeful that the service department has a solution.
We did NOT purchase the car from Riverside Dodge in New Bern, NC, however New Bern is the closest dealership to our home for service. When we finally get an appointment at Riverside Dodge in New Bern, NC, a service tech comes out - puts his hands in front of the vents just as we had done and agrees that there is a substantial difference.
We leave the car to be looked at and I hope for the best.
At the end of the day, we get a call from an uninterested, lackadaisical service manager that tells us that there is "only a 3.5 degree difference in the temperature on the passenger side" and then adds "we pulled a brand new one in off the lot and it is doing the same thing so there is nothing wrong." This is apparently just how Dodge products work.
I have several problems with this. There was more than a 3.5 degree change; otherwise I would not have felt a draft while simply driving my car. I also suggest that if you can put your hands in front of the two vents and tell a substantial difference - there is a problem. This can't be "just how Dodge products work".
Secondly - where is the customer service? Is this really how you train your service departments to treat customers after they have laid down well over $30K for an investment in your products? I would think you would make even more money after the sale by making a customer happy to come back to a service department for oil changes and other tasks that have to be done over the life of a car.
I would be much happier today had I been told; "Ms. White, we understand there is a problem, we feel the temperature difference too. We have checked for recalls and there are none, but rest assured we want you to be happy and we will look into this and find out if we can get this fixed to your satisfaction. Please stick with us and we will try to fix it for you."
Seriously - you could have kept me happy for YEARS with that explanation. But to be told that there is nothing wrong (When there SO OBVIOUSLY is) and to be blown off as if my business and my money doesn't matter has created a very unsatisfactory situation for me.
I am torn between being angry about being treated like an afterthought and doing the right thing for myself. I do plan to check with another, larger and less hillbilly Dodge dealership so that maybe I can get better customer satisfaction. Up until now, I have liked the car. However if the service department at Riverside Dodge in New Bern, NC is any indication - I will not be keeping any sort of Dodge product for long. If I do get a better answer from another dealership, rest assured I will follow up and let you know and give the proper accolades to the right people.
However, because of the extremely pathetic customer service I have been exposed to so far, I do not have high hopes of this problem getting fixed. I am also looking into trading it for anything else right now. I no longer want a Dodge product because such a poor taste has been put in my mouth. Your service department in New Bern needs to learn what customer service is and how to actually keep customers coming back. All they have done now is ensure that I wouldn't buy a Dodge keychain if I had the opportunity.
I understand that like your service department, you may not care about one person and what he or she thinks; however do know that all the police departments that our company services buy police cars every year. They all know what I recently bought, and they will all notice shortly that I no longer have it. When they ask why, I will certainly tell them that they are better off buying Ford Interceptors or Chevrolet Caprices for their fleet needs. read more