Dealer REFUSED to perform Recall

gsmith35 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:02 pm

This is taken from local consumer advocate Clark Howard's web forum:

I am furious after my experience today regarding a Chrysler "Five Star dealership. I received a factory recall notice for my 2002 Jeep Liberty concerning the replacement of the lower ball joints. This is the SECOND time the vehicle has been recalled for this issue. The ball joints are subject premature wear and or failure. I called and made an appointment with Hayes Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Lawrenceville, Ga to perform the recall. I arrived there this morning and was told there was a slight "problem". I was informed that the dealer could NOT perform the factory recall because I did not purchase the vehicle from them. I was told there was a "limited" number of parts available, and that I would have to travel over 50 miles to the dealer I bought it from. I called another dealer to inquire about this "policy" and was directed to report it directly to Daimler Chrysler.
I have contacted Jeep about the issue I had, and they are "investigating".

Buyer Beware at Hayes Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Lawrenceville GA!!!

I have filed two complaints with Diamler Chrysler and one with the NHTSA. Has anyone else experienced this "policy"???

corwyyn · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:12 pm

As far as I know that is completely bogus. I bought my KJ at a dealer in Albuquerque, and when I got the recall done last week it was at a dealer here in the Phoenix area. they gave me no hassle about it, I even still have my NM license plate on it (need to get that taken care of next week

) so I would say they are givign you the run-around. I don't think they can legally refuse to do recall work but I am NOT a lawyer so take that with a large grain of salt.

mdrsteve · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:17 pm

Sounds like total BS to me! I bought my CRD used in Dallas three weeks ago, and just had the recall done here in SoCal with no problem!

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:28 pm

The dealer screwed up as I am sure DC wouldn't support that policy.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:52 pm

Would have been great if you had an accident traveling the extra 50...you would own that dealership.

saxdogg · **Joined:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 7:26 pm **Posts:** 199

yeah that's BS

VTNomad · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:42 pm

I got mine fixed at a different dealership than where I bought my Jeep. No problems, no questions whatsoever.

NU ARTY BOY · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:22 pm

Report it to DC. Tell them exactly what the service dept. told you. I guarentee you will get a call back from the dealer asking when it will be convienient for you to have the KJ serviced!!!

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:23 pm

Yea, thats crap. The dealer I bought my jeep from is 1.5hours away, its an awesome dealer too! I cannot drive to that dealership everytime I need something and go to one that closer to home and theyve never said anything to me. :wink:

They seem to have good service too.

KJ-BOL · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:24 pm

VTNomad wrote:

I got mine fixed at a different dealership than where I bought my Jeep. No problems, no questions whatsoever.

same here - no questions asked

priell3 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:57 pm

I had the first ball joint recall work done at a different dealer than the one I bought from and also warranty work.

MattyMac1 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:04 pm

I would go back with a smile on my face while killing them with kindness and have them put it in writing why they are not performing the recall and have then sign it. If it's policy they shouldn't have an issue doing that. Then i would make a copy and send it to DC and that dealership with a nice little letter stating your dissapointment. If they call you after that asking if you want it done i would say I'm not able to do that due to a pending judgement. (that will really make them wonder and make the guy pee his pantz and prob wreck his whole day nevermind his month)..
I can see him sweating now.. :twisted:

Then just because I would travel to the other dealer and get it done just to spite them..
I bought mine used from a Caddy/Hummer dealer. wheni read about the recall i called my closest Jeep dealer on the phone and they made an appt right then and there w/ no questions asked. they didn't even ask if I had the recall notice which i didn't. It was performed the next day in 2 hours free of charge..

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:14 pm

I worked for a Yamaha MC dlr for a while. A recall is company wide and any dlr is obligated to do it. If a dlr refuses to do recall/warranty work he could lose his franchise.

Elwenil · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:26 am

While it is common for a dealer to send you back to the selling dealer IF you are within 100 miles of the selling dealer this normally does NOT apply to safety recalls. I can't imagine what the dealer was thinking. True, there are a limited number of recall parts available in the system at this time because this is the start of the recall and production has to be done on the parts and the media leaked the whole deal too soon and caused DCX to step things up a bit I think, but at the worst the dealer could have said that all the recall parts they have at that time were reserved by other customers with recall notices and that they would put you on the waiting list. Another point is that the selling dealers do get slated for a certain number of recall parts initially according to the number of affected vehicles sold so it is possible the selling dealer could have been able to get you in quicker. We make it our policy to explain these things to the customer to help them better understand what it takes to get this stuff done sometimes, but just to send you packing is ridiculous. Complaining to DCX is the right thing to do.

Skipperb · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:45 am

Checked with dealer and they said they were on back-order.A friend called about them and they said the same. they do them for anybody
any where for that type of recall.
they even did my 05 LJ recall on the parking brake on a walk in ,did not need an appointment.

gsmith35 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:54 pm

Thanks for all of the feed back, I'm still pissed and have filed a third complaint with DC. I get the feeling my complaints don't mean much to DC. I'm far from a lawyer, but it would seem the dealership assumed a huge amount of liability the minute I drove off the lot. When I made the appointment three days before, the service tech did NOT ask If I purchased the vehicle from them.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:11 pm

gsmith35 wrote:

Thanks for all of the feed back, I'm still pissed and have filed a third complaint with DC. I get the feeling my complaints don't mean much to DC. I'm far from a lawyer, but it would seem the dealership assumed a huge amount of liability the minute I drove off the lot. When I made the appointment three days before, the service tech did NOT ask If I purchased the vehicle from them.

it's one thing for a dealership to say 'we don't have the parts to do that recall" but it's another thing entirely to let you make the appointment and then wait until you bring it in to tell you.

There is a limit to how many LBJ each dealer will be receiving to perform recalls with, so I imagine the popular dealerships have to stick to the list of people they sent cards out to. The number of recalls they have to do on a national scale is HUGE, so it makes sense that they would just be able to immediately come up with all the needed parts. I'm going to have mine done the next time I'm in for an oil change or as soon as they tell me to. I figure I waited this long, i can wait a little longer.

gone_jeepin · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:41 pm

if u would of gotten what they said in writting u could go cut a whole in ur LBJ and sue them when your wheel collapses, however this is really dangerous cause u never know when it will actually fail!!! But u would own that dealership!!! :twisted:

Dealer REFUSED to perform Recall

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