I just returned from my dealer and i'm not a happy bunny.

My dealer is a mixed Mercedes- Chrysler- jeep dealer, I had to wait 2 Hours for my KJ to be repaired, next to me in the waiting area was a couple who where obviously not from this area who broke down with there Merc on a holiday trip.
When their car was ready they where told that it was cleaned and ready to go, and indead it was nice and shiny and they where quite happy.
When it was time to collect my KJ, it was as dirty as it was when I handed it in and it had a paint smudge on the driver seat, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!

My KJ was in the workshop under warranty because the rear axel blocked up when driving at low speeds, the reason for this was that the oil in the axel was so dirty, it did not lubricate anymore, strange because it had the 25000 Mile service 3 months ago and I was billed for flushing the rear axel and changing the oil.

When I asked if it was normal that the oil was so dirty within 3 months I was told that it was maybe a bad batch of oil they got in.

Oh and I was billed £75 (125 USD) for cleaning the front brakes as they where beeping terrible (a known Chrysler problem) which was not under warranty.

I kept my calm and friendlyness but on my way home again I had plenty time to think (1 hour drive) and as I arrived home I was really pissed off.

We had an extremely bad Jeep dealer up here until 2 years ago and when they lost the dealership after many, many complaints I had high hopes for the new one, but maybe the new one took over too many of the old staff.

I'm really dissapointed.

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The most repeated sentence I heard from my dealer was "I'm sorry YOU are not happy with our service" so it was still my fault.

call the main jeep head quarters for your area (i'm assuming you're somewhere in europe, they should have a european branch). i had to several times to get some under-warranty problems fixed.

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--Polly

99 Wrangler Sport, Amethyst *~* 9500 lb Mile Marker Winch *~* Bestop Mesh Windows *~* Michelin LTX M/S *~* Custom Rock Shift Knob *~* Cobra 75 WX ST *~* 3" Boulder Bars *~* Full Husky Liners *~* Aiwa Deck *~* JKS Disco's *~* Garmin 60 CS *~* Kilby Gas tank skid *~* Poison Spyder Diff Ring

They fixed it under warranty, this was not the problem, they should have changed the axel oil 3 months ago when I paid for it.
Now I'm left wondering if they have changed the other fluids like the gearbox and transfer case, when will I find out? probably just after my 3 year warranty is over!

Before this episode I was thinking of getting a new KJ for my wife and keep this one for fun but now I'm thinking, why the h... should I pay 20.000 Pounds (36.000 USD) for a second CRD sport as I'm treated like an idiot.

I will keep this KJ for my wife to drive, she needs a safe car with the weather conditions and deer up here in the Highlands of Scotland and have it serviced at a local independent garage and I buy myself a used Toyota 4x4 pick-up.

This way I will safe a lot of money and a lot of stress and from the money I safe from Jeep service bills we can spend a couple of weeks extra in Italy this year.

Why is the experience of owning a great car so often ruined by the dealer which comes attached?

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The most repeated sentence I heard from my dealer was "I'm sorry YOU are not happy with our service" so it was still my fault.

Dealers make or break the ownership experience, don't they?

Not knocking the Japanese brands, but here in America, they are are considered to be the quality leaders. But when you actually compare hard numbers, Honda is only a few percentage points in the lead and Toyota trails some American makes. What is the difference? SERVICE! Both Honda and Toyota require strict dealer complaince in service/repairs, and most others do not. I read where, from 1990-1995, Honda took away more dealership licenses due to customer complaints than GM had from 1960-1995, a telling figure. They also pointed out that Honda's return rate to repair the same warranty items was 10% of GM's numbers.Not exactly current numbers, but it does open your eyes.

So, does the fact that that MB you saw was no doubt more costly than your KJ make it a better car? Obviously not. But it apparently tells your dealer ( or the MB branch of DaimlerChrysler) that they are more worthy of quality service... and that is a crying shame.

As you pointed out, your rear axle problem is not a KJ problem, but a poor customer service problem. But it will still cost DC a new sale in the future. I am surprised to see that the problems exists there, too...

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LOST # 633
'05 KJ 3.7L/6spd/241 245/75/16 MT's
'88 MJ 4.0L/AW4/231 SWB HPD30 & trac-loc D44 w/3.73's
A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep

"Dealers make or break the ownership experience, don't they?"

Yes they do, I used to drive VW cars for 14 years, bought a new one every 2 years and never experienced much trouble until I got the last VW I owned, oh boy! a real lemon.
So for the first time in 14 years I needed the VW dealer and VW customer service real bad and guess what? they treated me like sh..
So once I discovered that loyalty was a one sided thing in my relationship with VW I decided to turn my back on them and I swore I would never ever buy a VW product again.

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The most repeated sentence I heard from my dealer was "I'm sorry YOU are not happy with our service" so it was still my fault.