New Dealership Experience Long Read

[Identity Crisis]

Well just moving to Edmonton I had no idea where all the Local Dodge Dealerships were located.

We (wife and I) saw one way down on the south side near the calgary trail and I think maybe one over on the east side near Fort Road. But we found one in St Albert that was somewhat convienent.

We stopped in at the St Albert one in the spur of the moment last week on a wednesday and asked if they could fit us in for an oil change as it was already 500Kms over due. They infact fit us in right away. (Now that is what I like)

So after the change I book an appontment for the codes to be checked as the car stalled twice on the trip from Ontario and the battery light kept coming on. And an out of Province Inspection. They rebooked us for the following week (Wednesday), I told them that me and my wife would wait for the car as the service writer informed me that we would be the first job of the day and it would only take us 2 hrs MAX.

Well we arrive at the Dealership at 725am. Infact we are so early that no one is even there to open the service bay doors. We get MAGNUS in and I reiterate to the service writer that we are still the first of the day and we will be waiting in the customer lounge or me and my wife will walk to the nearest coffee shop. But we will be back in 2 hrs. "No Problem" said the service writer.

Tick Tock tick tock 2hrs later. We come back and I check on the car. "Not done yet." Service writer says. I ask if it has even been looked at yet. She hesitates and says no not yet. in my mind (GRRR WTF!!!!!).

"How much longer?" 2hrs she replies. Two hours? I go to the lounge to inform my wife. we sit there for two more hours.

While there the assistant service manager takes notice of my wife falling asleep and come over to talk to her. The assistant finds out whats going on and then says she will get back to us. She appologizes for the service dept, then leaves. Comes back an hour later and informs us that there was a sudden change of staff and there is only one person that can do the work. She says that she is going to follow up on us reguarding our wait.

after the extra two hours go by I go and check. Guess what? Still not even being looked at yet. Now I am pissed. I do not blow off the handle but point out the facts.. The service writer says that she will have the tech on the car in the next 15 min and that he will work through his lunch to finish.

All in total the car that should have been done in an hour and 45 min took us 6 hours to get back.

I went and talked to the assistant Mgr as soon as I got the car back and showed the book in time and the finish time as well as the spent time on the car. She apologized again. I expressed it was not her fault but those times really are not acceptable.

Yesterday I get a phone call from teh asst expressing how deeply sorry her and the mgr are and that they hope that we will consider the dealership again. They want to present us with a gift on the 13 and were hoping we would accept. I said sure I will come in.

Now if it were not for the assistant mgr coming over and talking to my wife I would have been explosively pissed off that day. And if she had not called the house (forget about the gift) and followed up like she said she would i would most likely gone to another dealership.

But we will be back one more time to give them a chance.

Now if the Dealership was not worth it I would not say the name but they have gone the distance to make up fo rthe inconvienence. So St Albert Dodge gets a nod.

[fnkychkn]

unless you're in for an oil change or minor maintenance, i would recommend against waiting. all kinds of problems can occur to make the wait much longer than quoted. from employees off that day to parts not being in stock to additional repairs required. especially for a driveability issue or electrical fault. properly diagnosing these concerns have a way of eating-up time in a hurry. i would recommend arranging for alternate transportation instead.

[Identity Crisis]

unless you're in for an oil change or minor maintenance, i would recommend against waiting. all kinds of problems can occur to make the wait much longer than quoted. from employees off that day to parts not being in stock to additional repairs required. especially for a driveability issue or electrical fault. properly diagnosing these concerns have a way of eating-up time in a hurry. i would recommend arranging for alternate transportation instead.

Ohh I know the problems that can occurr. I used to run a garage, and work for a GM dealership.

The main issue was not the wait. But the promiss of being first in. And then being told it will be in soon then 6 hrs later it is done, for a 1.8hr job. That is my major concern here.

If we were told when we made the appointment that it would take the better part of the day to complete then I would have went home right away and or made other arrangements to and from, but that is not the case. I as the customer expressed on the day of booking that if it was only a quick job 2hrs or less and if we were first in then I would wait and that is acceptable, but to go from we have two techs that can work on it at 730am to 2hrs later there was only one tech and I was no longer first in the bay.

This was not a BASHING issue on the dealership it was a, "They messed up and They were good enough to want to keep my business so They are fixing it," issue.

Also I want to note that I was able to talk to the tech that worked on my MAGNUS and he is a good person to deal with. Thats what I like. I am able to talk to the person that is working on my baby and they care to take the time to discuss with me my issues.

BTW do you suggest another dealership in the city?

[fnkychkn]

BTW do you suggest another dealership in the city?

sorry, i don't know any dealerships in edmonton, but if you're ever in ottawa....

[smokin]

that kind of **** always happens,i called the dealer yesterday to see if i could get a cat back done today and they told me it wouldn't be a problem.so they book me for 9am this morning and when i got there they told me it would be an hour or two before they could touch it and would take the better part of the day just to do it.to bad they couldn't tell me that on the phone

[Identity Crisis]

sorry, i don't know any dealerships in edmonton, but if you're ever in ottawa....

haha for some reason I thought you were in Edmonton.

[formerice]

I ask to try out a new vehicle, example last visit, 2500CTD QC 4x4 Ram. Figure you can hold it hostage in worst case. lol That might have been a bad idea, because now I can't stop thinking how nice that truck was!

[Mikeyjohn]

We have about 10-12 dealerships here in Calgary and I suppose there are about the same in Edmonton and surrounding areas. I suggest you stop in at one or two and talk to the service manager and ask him or her if they want your business and see what reception you get, also they put out these dealer surveys and DC really does take then seriously and they don't like negative responses.

[Identity Crisis]

We have about 10-12 dealerships here in Calgary and I suppose there are about the same in Edmonton and surrounding areas. I suggest you stop in at one or two and talk to the service manager and ask him or her if they want your business and see what reception you get, also they put out these dealer surveys and DC really does take then seriously and they don't like negative responses.

Well on my service copy it states in BOLD that when I recieve my dealer survey if I can not put them at 10 for the whole thing to contact the GM of the dealership. That caught me off guard to see.

[Identity Crisis]

I ask to try out a new vehicle, example last visit, 2500CTD QC 4x4 Ram. Figure you can hold it hostage in worst case. lol That might have been a bad idea, because now I can't stop thinking how nice that truck was!

Why not hold it hostage. lol