Stellantis Not Buying Back An Unsafe Scat Pack

[DavidKFla]

 

[drag racer]

what a nightmare for the customer . shouldn't be that big of a deal - Lemon Law?

 

[DavidKFla]

what a nightmare for the customer . shouldn't be that big of a deal - Lemon Law?

Depends on the state.

Many use the BBB but Stellantis isn't part of that so you have to hire an attorney.

 

[1971demon]

Depends on the state.

Many use the BBB but Stellantis isn't part of that so you have to hire an attorney.

NYS..has a consumer friendly lemon law...that said..an experienced attorney in these matters...is always a plus..

 

[06SRT10NR]

that brings back a long, drawnout, painful, 14+ month u-connect nightmare... right down to the noone's above me, do it my way or go fuck youself attitude. and that was just for a radio. not long after the smelly frog bastards too over

 

[Paladin06]

I’m so done with Dodge.

 

[DavidKFla]

NYS..has a consumer friendly lemon law...that said..an experienced attorney in these matters...is always a plus..

We've had to lemon law 2 cars since 2000. 1 in Maryland and another in Florida.

We were able to use BBB each time. You just have to follow their instructions and timeline. It went smoothly each time for us.

Now the manufacturers and the dealers will try to screw you around so that you will miss certain filing deadlines with lies and fake trades. Don't listen to them.

 

[MikeD1]

I will try to update this later with more details & my thoughts/observations, but I was offered a buyback by Dodge the week before T'giving. After 1 last (ridiculous) round with Jenkins Dodge (what bloodsucking fuckers they are) I accepted T'giving week & was told it would all be done by mid-Dec. It took till 2/15 to complete the process, surrender the DDSRT & get my check !

Keep in mind, I had not even mentioned buyback, they came forward with it and approached me !

 

[HWDan]

Thanks to Butter and friends, Tim K got wind of this and is making it right.

The guy this happened to has a thread about it over at challengertalk.com and actually had Tim K's office call him today, on a Sunday even.

 

[Demon Dan]

Thanks to Butter and friends, Tim K got wind of this and is making it right.

The guy this happened to has a thread about it over at challengertalk.com and actually had Tim K's office call him today, on a Sunday even.

I don't care what anyone says.....Tim K is a good guy!! Name another major company CEO who gets personally involved in these types of issues. I'll wait.

 

[DavidKFla]

I don't care what anyone says.....Tim K is a good guy!! Name another major company CEO who gets personally involved in these types of issues. I'll wait.

Why do they have these pos people working for them?

 

[MikeD1]

Why do they have these pos people working for them?

Some things I observed going thru the process:

1. they are one of the few co's. that do not participate in the BBB program (a BIG red flag IMO), thus adding to the load on their end
2. they are wildly understaffed in this area (they bought back ~11k cars last year)
3. most of the CS and even higher level ppl have very little authority to step outside the constraints/limitations imposed on them from corporate
4. the process itself and all the different steps/departments involved is a bureaucratic nightmare and needs a complete overhaul - for example (using my case), it took from T-giving week till Christmas week for them to get me the final amount of the buyback, I accepted that day, the check was cut on 1/3/24 BUT it took until 2/16 to actually arrange the surrender of the car (and me to get the check)
5. lastly (but perhaps most importantly) other than the very top (like TK or the mystery 'area managers' ) the corp folks have ZERO clout with the dealers !!!! They cannot demand dealers fix a car, submit any paperwork or even 'host' a surrender ! Hosting the surrender means allowing the Dodge rep. to have an office for 30 min to complete the paperwork & parking the car somewhere for 10 - 14 days till Dodge sends a transport for it. In my case, that too almost 3 weeks to get done and involvement with 2 corp teams + the area manager because NONE of the local dealers (Jenkins, Plaza, Philips, Dade City) would host the buyback. They finally got the Brooksville store to agree & that's where it finally occurred. I'm not sure how things got this way as it used to be the dealers were somewhat 'beholden' to corporate & stepped up when told to (or else faced serious allotment & incentive issues).

IMO, the whole independent dealers thing needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt. It's a concept from the 30's like unions that made sense at the time, but no longer serves a useful function. The days of the small, home town dealer are gone & you now have these giant dealer groups running the show - it's the tail wagging the dog.

 

[DavidKFla]

Somethings I observed going thru the process:

1. they are one of the few co's. that do not participate in the BBB program (a BIG red flag IMO), thus adding to the load on their end
2. they are wildly understaffed in this area (they bought back ~11k cars last year)
3. most of the CS and even higher level ppl have very little authority to step outside the constraints/limitations imposed on them from corporate
4. the process itself and all the different steps/departments involved is a bureaucratic nightmare and needs a complete overhaul - for example (using my case), it took from T-giving week till Christmas week for them to get me the final amount of the buyback, I accepted that day, the check was cut on 1/3/24 BUT it took until 2/16 to actually arrange the surrender of the car (and me to get the check)
5. lastly (but perhaps most importantly) other than the very top (like TK or the mystery 'area managers' ) the corp folks have ZERO clout with the dealers !!!! They cannot demand dealers fix a car, submit any paperwork or even 'host' a surrender ! Hosting the surrender means allowing the Dodge rep. to have an office for 30 min to complete the paperwork & parking the car somewhere for 10 - 14 days till Dodge sends a transport for it. In my case, that too almost 3 weeks to get done and involvement with 2 corp teams + the area manager because NONE of the local dealers (Jenkins, Plaza, Philips, Dade City) would host the buyback. They finally got the Brooksville store to agree & that's where it finally occurred. I'm not sure how things got this way as it used to be the dealers were somewhat 'beholden' to corporate & stepped up when told to (or else faced serious allotment & incentive issues).

IMO, the whole independent dealers thing needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt. It's a concept from the 30's like unions that made sense at the time, but no longer serves a useful function. The days of the small, home town dealer are gone & you now have these giant dealer groups running the show - it's the tail wagging the dog.

I noticed no BBB affiliation. They're screwed up.

 

[ButterDaGreat?]

It shouldn't take the CEO of Dodge to fix a simple buy back but I guess we'll keep collecting W's for the Brotherhood

 

[MikeD1]

It shouldn't take the CEO of Dodge to fix a simple buy back but I guess we'll keep collecting W's for the Brotherhood

As I said, the entire process needs re-engineering, beginning with their refusal to work with the BBB.

There is a huge disconnect (or they simply don't care any longer) between corporate, the dealers & the customer. Dodge put up & promoted the Power Finder Pages & says go get 'em, but dealers (at least the ones here) only want to service cars they sold (and got their ADM +++ on).

As I moved thru the process more than 1 player lamented:
1. we are told to tell the customer each step will only take about 2 weeks, but it's always at least twice that. The entire process takes 3 - 4 months (that's just crazy), longer if there are 'disputed items'. This causes angst on both sides and could be avoided if they were allowed to be honest up front with the estimate of how long it's likely to take !
2. there are areas (mine is 1 of them) where the dealers are notoriously difficult to work with! Sooooo - this implies colusion between the dealers (which was apparently in full view at the 170 reveal) + corporate KNOWS which dealers are ass yet nothing is done to address either issue. The $64M question is why ??

 

[ButterDaGreat?]

As I said, the entire process needs re-engineering, beginning with their refusal to work with the BBB.

There is a huge disconnect (or they simply don't care any longer) between corporate, the dealers & the customer. Dodge put up & promoted the Power Finder Pages & says go get 'em, but dealers (at least the ones here) only want to service cars they sold (and got their ADM +++ on).

As I moved thru the process more than 1 player lamented:
1. we are told to tell the customer each step will only take about 2 weeks, but it's always at least twice that. The entire process takes 3 - 4 months (that's just crazy), longer if there are 'disputed items'. This causes angst on both sides and could be avoided if they were allowed to be honest up front with the estimate of how long it's likely to take !
2. there are areas (mine is 1 of them) where the dealers are notoriously difficult to work with! Sooooo - this implies colusion between the dealers (which was apparently in full view at the 170 reveal) + corporate KNOWS which dealers are ass yet nothing is done to address either issue. The $64M question is why ??

Interesting. I remember when I had a buy back with GM back in 2004, the process was quick. But it seems with Dodge, I've had to go over the head of those departments multiple times to even get people claims approved even for a Demon that had issues

 

[DavidKFla]

Interesting. I remember when I had a buy back with GM back in 2004, the process was quick. But it seems with Dodge, I've had to go over the head of those departments multiple times to even get people claims approved even for a Demon that had issues

Our lemon law experience with GM for a 2016 Cadillac wasn't a good experience. Between GM and the dealer they really tried to rip us off.

Offering fake trades, challenging the validity of our claims even though the attempted service work was done at their dealer service department and just being real assholes like it was our fault that the car was 100% unsafe to drive.

Thankfully BBB was able to get it done and get us our money back.

I'm running out of manufacturers that I would consider buying from these days.

 

[MJS73]

Some things I observed going thru the process:
they are one of the few co's. that do not participate in the BBB program (a BIG red flag IMO), thus adding to the load on their end

The BBB and Yelp pretend to be consumer protectors and review sites (respectively) but in reality they badger businesses to pay to become "verified" partners. Don't pay and see what happens to your "ratings".

 

[DavidKFla]

The BBB and Yelp pretend to be consumer protectors and review sites (respectively) but in reality they badger businesses to pay to become "verified" partners. Don't pay and see what happens to your "ratings".

I don't belong to either one of their verified programs and never will.

The lemon law program they have worked really well for us. I'm not sure who is paying them but I don't think it was us.

 

[MikeD1]

I don't belong to either one of their verified programs and never will.

The lemon law program they have worked really well for us. I'm not sure who is paying them but I don't think it was us.

2nd that, I LL'd 2 cars thru them and it was a smooth & relatively painless process. Dodge by comparison was a monkey f@#king a football !!