I just found this forum, and wish I had known about it earlier. We just bought a brand new 2010 Dodge Journey in Dec. 2010, from Southbank Dodge, in Ottawa.
Dealing with this dealership has been "horrendous". It has been the absolute worst car buying experience I have had in many, many decades.
To start with, they sold us a car that they didn't actually have, without checking first. When they located one for us it had an extra option package on it. They tried to charge us more than $1000 for the extra option package, that we hadn't wanted or ordered.
We were back to the dealer basically every day for the first two weeks. It was for things that should have been right the first time. I thought that "dealer prep" was supposed to make sure everything works, and is connected before they give you the car. For example, fuses that disable the dash lights and key fobs. They told us that they always disconnect these fuses when they leave the cars on the lot. So if this is so common that they knew exactly what was wrong, then why don't they connect them before they deliver a car to someone? They never should have let us drive it off the lot like that. We remote started the car, then the key fobs wouldn't let us unlock the car to get in, because a fuse in the fuse box was disconnected.
We were there for things that didn't work, things that were missing, to pick up accessories that were promised and then weren't there yet.
We waited about 6 weeks for our spare key fob. Three times we were told to come get it, got there and were told it wasn't there, that it was on backorder. The forth time, the parts guy held it in his hand, showed it to me, said I have your key, and said let me know when you can come back to get it programmed. I called to say I was coming, only to be told it wasn't there, that it was on backorder. They gave ours away to someone else (which we were told is common practice). When they got a very large (but polite) piece of my mind they "magically" found me one in two hours.
They put on our snow tires before delivering the car to us. I checked for the lock-nut key and couldn't find it. They had to have it to swap our new summer tires for the winter ones, but never put it back in our car. Three people refused to believe that the key wasn't "really" in the car somewhere, and had to search for themselves. Once they finally believed me, they took the old lugnuts off and gave us a new set with the lock-nut key.
The long saga continues. They were told at least 10 times before we chose to buy this car that it had to pull a 3500 lb trailer. After we took possession of it I found out that the trailer hitch won't pull our trailer and the wiring they installed was ILLEGAL. We ordered a special 3500 lb
trailer hitch. It took 6 weeks to "special order" it. When I got home I took it off to check, and found that it was only rated for 2000 lbs. They would have had us pulling a 3500 lb trailer with a 2000 lb hitch if I hadn't checked! They said it was the one that they "special ordered" for us, so
they couldn't even got the order right. Then we were told he would have the right one the next day. So why did the first special order take 6 weeks if he could get us one in a day? We ordered trailer wiring to pull 3500 lbs. A 3500 lb trailer "legally" requires a brake controller. They put on 4
pin wiring, which is not compatible or legal. Then their service department said go get an after-market conversion adapter to convert it to 7 pins to connect to the trailer. This doesn't work and is not even legal. The extra pins are required to control the trailer brakes. They would have had us
pulling a 3500 lb trailer illegaly because the wiring would be running the lights but not controlling the brakes (which is illegal). Shouldn't their service department know that a Canadian Tire adapter would not have any connection to the extra 3 pins on the trailer?
Once we eventually got our spare key fob he said it could be programmed in a matter of minutes. I waited 2 1/2 hours for it.
The trailer wiring that they installed was hanging down under the car. If I had hit a large pothole or run over anything that was high (like even one of those huge speed bumps) I could have ripped the wiring right off the car. I had to tie it up. I also had to tie up the brake controller wiring inside the cab. We kept hitting it with our leg (or getting our knee caught on it) everytime we had to move a foot from the gas to the brake. Is this the best work they can do?
We took it in to get the 7 pin wiring installed, and the trailer hitch receiver installed. They handed us a bill for $1500 (when this was stuff we had already paid for when we bought the car). We "finally" got the new 7 pin wiring installed and the right trailer hitch reveiver installed. The first
time we tried towing the trailer, the ball was about 6 inches off the road. How many 3500lb trailers do you know that can be towed with the ball 6 inches off the road? They had put the ball on the receiver "upside down".
We bought the car in Dec. 2010. We "thought" we had lots of time to have it ready to tow our trailer for the next summer's vacation in July. The second week of July 2011 they were putting the trailer ball on rightside up. It was a full 7 months later, and ONLY one day before our vacation
started. I took them 7 months before they had everything on and connected properly, only one day away from ruining our vacation.
They never provided me with any instructions or guide for the brake controller. I only learned this past August (and AFTER out vacation) that there is a manual control on our brake controller.
Just before we left on our vacation we took it in because the windows squeaked when they were rolled down. While we were there they said, "Oh by the way, there is a recall notice on your brake rotors". They replaced two, but had to order the other two. When we got back from vacation they called us to say the brake rotors were in and to bring the car in and have them replaced. We dropped the car off and came home. They called us to say they couldn't do it because they didn't have the brake rotors, that they were still on order. So we left it there for nothing. A few days later they called to say the rotors were there, and to rebook. We asked them to go check, and sure enough they still didn't have them. They would have done it to us again, (twice)!
When we finally made the appointment and got the brake rotors replaced, they said "oh, by the way, there is a recall on your door hinges". I understand that cars have recalls. However, couldn't they have told us that before, and done all this in one visit. So we had to go back again for
the door hinges.
They also tell us to call them to see if the work is done. Why do we have to keep checking in with them? Shouldn't they be the ones to call us and
tell us they are finished and it is ready to pick up?
I don't trust anything that this service deaprtment tells us, or does for us.
