Being denied warranty work because I didn't buy there

[aceinfinity]

That’s super odd. Dealerships get paid from JEEP to do warranty work. Why the push back and refusal? I guess they don’t rely on positive reviews or repeat business? ??

I too brought my 21 JTR in to a dealership (I didn’t buy my truck there) for the same corrosion issues just before my warranty expired. It was clear when I brought it in, the purpose was to document it and for photos to be taken. There was no rush and it was just before Christmas so I knew there was holidays to wade through.

6 weeks later, I had not heard any news and enquired into what was going on. This is when I found out Chrysler had put a “complete warranty restriction” on my VIN # which can not be removed. However, warranty has been granted on a case by case basis by the one that restricted my warranty in the first place. The restriction was put on my VIN # for simply using AMSOIL.

The dealership was fighting for me all those weeks to have FCA corporate reconsider approving the corrosion claim because my previous use of AMSOIL had nothing to do with “paint” and exterior corrosion.

At about 8 weeks and way over my time limit for the corrosion claim, warranty was approved. All my doors and full hood are being redone at their auto body shop. $8700 cad.

For the life of me I do not know why people keep using stuff that voids their entire warranty.

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[aceinfinity]

Well, making this very brief because it was a long battle for using it, the short story is the transmission developed a whine at highway speeds at 20k kms. Oil analysis showed glycol contamination and the book says to change the oil if contaminated with “water, etc”.

Service manager said I’d have to pay for 2 pan drops because “Chrysler doesn’t see this as broken” (it still works). The two pan drops would cost me $3400. I said no and had it flushed AND after consulting AMSOIL and was shown their data spec sheet approving their oil for my transmission, I “upgraded” from the factory Mopar 8/9 Speed ATF to Amsoil’s recommended ATF.

So when the transmission tanked 8k kms later, the tech saw that the oil was red as a pose to green and Chrysler was immediately informed. DSM restricted the warranty on the tranny and I was told by email from the service manager that he will in fact restrict the entire warranty “if Amsoil is used in any other component”. There was no discussion about it after this and all this time later to the corrosion claim at 88k kms, this is where I was informed by FCA customer care that my whole warranty was restricted.

FCA lady first said there was no warranty issues. I told her to dig deeper as I was told it was completely restricted. She then dug deeper then came back on the phone to say the vehicle was written off. I said it’s never been in an accident and I’m driving it!

She then asked what mod did I do to restrict the warranty? Full restrictions are due to accident or some mod I did. I told her I went from stock 33” to 34”. She said that’s not it. I said, I don’t know then.

Later I recalled the email concerning the use of AMSOIL and put it together, the DSM personally restricted the warranty on his own volition assuming I had it in all the components.

After my insurance company replaced the transmission and faulty misfiring and coolant consuming engine at 32k kms, AMSOIL has direct knowledge their data sheet is a false document that voids warranties up here in Canada. They never refuted me. In fact AMSOIL said I should not use their oil if I have a warranty.

Why do people insist on fixing things that aren’t broken?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

A franchised dealer can't deny warranty service because an owner did not buy from them. First, contact Jeep Cares and report the matter to them. It is a violation of their franchise agreement to deny service for this reason. If that doesn’t get some action contact your State attorney general's office.

Almost sounds like not "denied" but "you are at the back of a very long list" sort of thing.
And I can believe that. For a while, even paying customers and those who purchased vehicles from dealerships around here were waiting 2 months for things like leaks and misfires. That's if you bought from them with no discount. They are just that busy.
Even today, if I had my JT actually "break" and make it either difficult or impossible to drive, I might be waiting weeks.
It's gotten better.......... but we did wait all but 2 months for our 4xe transmission leak to be looked at for the 3rd time. Once it was in - things went fairly quickly (slowed only by Jeep and STAR not getting back to the dealership).

So is it:
he's being denied warranty,
or that dealer says "no, we will not work on YOUR Jeep because you didn't buy it here, go away" or is it "we are so booked, we can't get to it, you'd be better off going elsewhere for more expedient service"

I didn't read EVERY message/post, but sometimes the deeper truths get lost in the frustration or lack of the whole story right up front.

 

[Malachi23]

maybe it doesn't apply, but I pulled on that string with a BMW. I threaten to report them to BMW Corporate and they immediately back off and gave me a huge discount. I was later told that the dealership could lose out on a "bonus" or worse, if they treated me differently because I bought at another dealership.

 

[REDBEAST]

I don't think they're made from aluminum based on the thickness of the metal

My 2020 LE Rubicon definitely has an aluminum hood as are all the body panels forward of the bed which is steel except for the tailgate which is aluminum and oh yes, the fuel door is plastic.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

the fuel door is plastic.

Good, one less thing to worry about as far as bubbling paint or corrosion. ?

 

[V8flooz]

I have some rust bubbles on my hood. I brought it into a dealer to get it warranty replaced. I was told it would be about January when I brought it in in September. They have never called with any info about getting an appointment. I have left a dozen or so messages with zero response. I decided to call another dealer to see if they would have work done on warranty. I got told they wont accept anyone if they didn't buy from them originally. I then got on a chat with an agent with Jeep Wave. I was told I would have a specialist reach out to me within 24 hours.....and that didn't happen. My original dealer is across the state, so its not like its just something I can just drop off and pick up at leisure.

Im pretty irate at this whole experience. I am also given this line from two dealers that yeah, Im under warranty now, but thankfully when I would likely get the work done I would still be under warranty because I would not have gone over miles. What kind of bs is that. I am putting in a warranty claim now, the miles/time at the time of the actual work should never be a factor if you are delaying me getting work done.

WTF is jeep/fca thinking. This has really soured me on ever buying anything new from this company ever again.
[/QUOMy local dealer said they don't have the capacity to do warranty work on a Jeep I didn't't buy there, even though I bought another new Jeep there too. Not right, and, luckily I haven't needed warranty work on the other one I didn't buy there. Just bad business IMO.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Why do people insist on fixing things that aren’t broken?

So if you,@Hootbro and @ShadowsPapa found glycol in your transmission oil, you all wouldn’t think something wasn’t broken? That comment from the service manager that ‘Chrysler doesn’t see this as broken’ was his assumption and it was a lazy ass comment that directed my own path. Hind sight is 20/20. First time ever in all my 40 years of driving I had to deal with what the chemistry of glycol does to transmission clutch plates.

There certainly was a lot of private discussion with senior members here about what I was going through and I don’t recall anyone sharing their learned experiences with glycol contamination and clutch plates and what the inevitable results would be. Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done what I did.

FCA blamed Amsoil and Amsoil blamed the glycol contamination and I blame FCA for not standing behind their product and I blame Amsoil for destroying my warranty and publishing a false data sheet which was also void of disclosing warranty restrictions for Canadian warranty holders of Chrysler vehicles if their oil is used.

So there’s a lot broken here. It’s food for thought.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My first transmission service will be at a normal interval - likely not under ~50K miles.
Note I used the ~ which means "about" because what I plan today may change or morph with time. I hardly ever have a set in stone approach to these things.
As I gather information from my vehicle or my own driving, put all things together, such as if I do a lot of heavy snow plowing, or maybe towing, it may change - or I might go out further if winters are light and I don't tow a lot, but currently - my "plan" if it even is that, more like "thinking forward based on information gathered over time" - would be about 50K. I've gone out a lot farther with transmissions I've used harder than this one will ever see. So there's that, but I won't be taking it 80K like I have done in the past.

The only thing that could cause me to do anything like a transmission service any earlier would be a malfunction or "something just doesn't feel right" (comes from experience with others, and with this one, being tuned to how it behaves now vs. how it might behave in a year).
If there's a malfunction - it's going back to Jeep dealer because it's got a warranty - if that malfunction falls in that warranty period. And then there's - will I put enough miles on it while there's still warranty to cause me to want to do a filter/fluid service?

See, it's not a simple "i will do this" or "I always do this".
It's going to depend on use, miles accumulated, a lot of factors.
But if I'm under the real service recommendations on these and it misbehaves and there's warranty - it's off to the dealership. FIX IT.
If I get over that in the constraints of the warranty - then I'd service it using genuine MOPAR parts bought at the dealership so there's full record of everything.

i guess I approach so many things, including maintenance and intervals with a more pragmatic approach, and it's filled with "what-ifs" and keeping track of how i have used my vehicle.

There's no reason for me to take any fluid samples from the transmission for testing.
Oil, yeah, sort of........ because of certain factors like it's super easy to do, I can have a baseline to go by, is the oil I'm using (which is the spec'd stuff by the book) doing ok, can I take it out farther, and just plain information gathering over time, comparing test results with the oil life monitor and my memories of how it's been driven and under what conditions.

i just don't approach things like anyone else out there. So perhaps I'm not a good litmus test.
I also know my vehicles rather intimately so know in greater detail how things have gone, so what I do with mine will not be what I recommend for others. I'll never know the full or even true or accurate history of anyone else's vehicle.

 

[aceinfinity]

Why are you sending that stuff off to start with. Leave it alone.

 

[Brokenpinata]

I had a similar experience with my leaky rear window. I took it to the dealership close to my work, not where I bought it, and was told that is a body shop repair Since I didn't buy it from that dealership, I'd have to be put on a wait list to get the work done, as their immediate customers are priority.

It wasn't a flat out denial, but it was a blatant brush off since he couldn't even give me a time estimate other than "weeks."

I ended up taking it to the dealer I bought it from, who gave me a loaner for the week+ it took to get the replacement window and install it.

 

[Hootbro]

So if you,@Hootbro and @ShadowsPapa found glycol in your transmission oil, you all wouldn’t think something wasn’t broken? That comment from the service manager that ‘Chrysler doesn’t see this as broken’ was his assumption and it was a lazy ass comment that directed my own path. Hind sight is 20/20. First time ever in all my 40 years of driving I had to deal with what the chemistry of glycol does to transmission clutch plates.

There certainly was a lot of private discussion with senior members here about what I was going through and I don’t recall anyone sharing their learned experiences with glycol contamination and clutch plates and what the inevitable results would be. Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done what I did.

FCA blamed Amsoil and Amsoil blamed the glycol contamination and I blame FCA for not standing behind their product and I blame Amsoil for destroying my warranty and publishing a false data sheet which was also void of disclosing warranty restrictions for Canadian warranty holders of Chrysler vehicles if their oil is used.

So there’s a lot broken here. It’s food for thought.

Your case was always a weird one to most people here who are not from Canada. Most data analyst would not even include your situation or if they did, was with an asterisks next to it and a footnote.

Nothing you did was wrong other than not having a crystal ball that it would play out in a three way pointing game of blame between you, FCA Canada and AMSOIL. The piss poor lack of strong consumer protection laws in Canada did you no favors.

So every time you bring up your situation, it is easy for many others to armchair quarterback and second guess your choices not understanding your particular situation was not something most here south of you would have to deal with in any similar fashion.

 

[Chunky White]

I have ran into issues getting work done on multiple vehicles of different brands and traded some of those vehicles that they would not fix just to the same dealerships. If they won't fix a problem I have zero shame in trading them the broken vehicle and have been called about it afterwards twice. I told them if their service department would have fixed the vehicle I probably wouldn't have traded it then. I have traded so often I am on a first name basis with salesman, managers and service writers at most of the local dealerships.

I hope you get your Jeep fixed under warranty but I am not too optimistic on getting anything fixed at an dealership where I am not paying for the work

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Why are you sending that stuff off to start with. Leave it alone.

Great question to throw out there! Start a new thread so we don’t totally highjack this one.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Why are you sending that stuff off to start with. Leave it alone.

That's 3.

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