Rear Window Leak and Painful Repair Process

[rschurig]

I purchased an Overland in August, noticed the leak after the first time I washed it. After reading the forums and seeing it was a common issue, I finally decided to make an appointment at the dealer for October 16th. Dealer confirmed the leak and said that a new seal was required.

The dealership said the seal was on backorder and it would take a few days. A week later they say that the entire window needs to be replaced which is also on backorder. When I asked about the seal, they say that it's not installed with a seal and "I was given bad information by the service advisor." Ok whatever, I just want it fixed.

By this point I was getting a little frustrated with the conflicting information so I contacted Jeep Customer Care to hopefully get some clarity as to whether it was held in with a seal or windshield urethane. The person I spoke with from Jeep cares wanted to know more about the situation and decided that she would create a case and contact the dealership to expedite the process. She was extremely helpful during the process, getting parts faster, putting pressure on the dealer to get it fixed quickly and correctly.

Nov 2nd, I get the call from the dealer that the glass is back in and it's ready for pickup. When I get down to the dealer, I go over it top to bottom and make sure everything is in order. Starting on the inside, some portions of the headliner are dirty, laying on the floor, not reinstalled and there's a white, dusty film over the dash, doors, and everything plastic. My guess is that it's been sitting in the body shop with the top off for weeks. Moving onto the rear window, the defroster connectors aren't connected, broken glass on the floor and behind the seat, and there's a scratch, a hole, and a broken tab on the trim piece above the rear window. Now that I'm good and annoyed, I check the outside. Luckily there's no scratches or gouges in the hardtop from removal. I take a step back and look and they've installed the wrong window. They replaced my tinted window with a non-tinted window.

I spoke with the service advisor and he assured me it was the right window and it was just because of the lights outside. I checked the part number on the sticker that they left on the glass and compared it to a JT on the lot, they installed the wrong window. I told them I'm taking my Jeep home, call me when you guys get it sorted out.

I filled out the dealer survey a few days later and almost immediately received a call from their head of customer service who happens to be the wife of the owner of the dealer. She apologized profusely and said she would make it right of which I was very appreciative.

A day later, the service manager of the dealer calls and says he's ordering a new hardtop so that it has a factory installed window. I'm very happy with this resolution but it's going to take a month to come in.

Dec 31st I get a call from my Jeep Customer Care rep who informs me the hardtop is in and she even schedules the appointment for me. I have been keeping her posted about everything that goes on as she calls me weekly with updates and just to check in. She has been 100x more responsive than the dealer and I couldn't be happier with her level of support.

The appointment she booked for me was Jan 5th so I took the vehicle in and figured it'd be a quick swap and I should have my Jeep back in a day. I call the dealer a day later (Jan 6th) and no progress. They said they have to schedule a glass installer. I asked them if they ordered a new hardtop, shouldn't the glass already be installed, hence why they ordered a new hardtop rather than just replace the glass? Apparently the glass is separate and still needs to be installed in the new top. They're also planning on trying to transfer my Mopar headliner over to the new top but I have a feeling that is not going to go well.

I love my JT but this dealer network is killing me with their incompetence. As I told the dealer's customer service head, if they had just told me that they damaged a piece of trim and would order me another one, I'd have no problem with that. I am disgusted that they gave me the vehicle back in that condition, probably hoping I just wouldn't notice a small hole in the trim. Clearly they are too busy or too lazy to do a quick once over on the repairs performed because they definitely would've noticed that the wrong window was installed, trim was broken, and the car was a mess.

Hopefully it goes smoothly this time around but I'm regretting ever bringing it in. Dealing with a little water when it rains would've been less painful than this.

Damage to trim above window

Dirty headliner pieces not reinstalled

Non Tinted Window

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[Armyman247]

Your lucky you even got the new hardtop.. I’ve been waiting for a new hardtop (due to the leak) since mid October. Finally after several calls to dealer service/parts (them getting nowhere) they told me to contact corporate. I decided to start with Jeep cares first as they have been good to me in the past. Put in a ticket on 12/30 was told I would be contacted and all I have heard since is crickets. Getting disappointed on all fronts with FCA

 

[StingGrayJT24]

That’s horrible customer service and workmanship is even worse! Why is it so hard to find people who give a shit? I keep reading the horror stories about leaking rear windows and shoddy repairs. If mine leaks, I’ll probably just deal with it. I’m stress about taking mine in for it’s first oil change. I have a couple of things I want them to look at. What a hassle. Sorry to hear what you’re having to deal with.

 

[rschurig]

It doesn't seem that anyone has had a good story to report about the leaking rear window repair. I understand your stress about even getting an oil change. Even with the free oil changes through Jeep Wave, I'm going to do my own oil changes as I'd rather not deal with the folks at the dealership.

 

[Gatorized]

Your lucky you even got the new hardtop.. I’ve been waiting for a new hardtop (due to the leak) since mid October. Finally after several calls to dealer service/parts (them getting nowhere) they told me to contact corporate. I decided to start with Jeep cares first as they have been good to me in the past. Put in a ticket on 12/30 was told I would be contacted and all I have heard since is crickets. Getting disappointed on all fronts with FCA

What dealer are you working with?

 

[ShotCaller]

sorry to hear this. if you post the dealer name, maybe it will save someone else from getting bad service.

The service writer should have inspected the repairs before calling you and telling you its ready.

Hard to find good dealers these days...ford, chevy ,toyota....makes no difference.

 

[rschurig]

Finding a good, honest dealer is getting harder and harder. The dealer I am working with is Laethem in Detroit.

 

[Jrucker4]

I had a similar experience getting my rear glass replaced. Long storry short, the dealer caused over $4,000 in damage to my Sport S AND gave it back to me without saying anything. I found all the damage later that night and ended up fighting the dealership for weeks to get it taken care of. It ended with me taking my gladiator to an autobody repair shop and having them pay to get all the damage repaired and the glass replaced for the 2nd time. If you are looking to do business with Heritage auto in Logan Utah DONT! Horrible customer service and experience with them. I still have a broken trim piece that they broke the clips off of and tried sticking window sealant on to stick it back to the hardtop. Absolutely piss poor unacceptable work by them.

 

[rschurig]

I had a similar experience getting my rear glass replaced. Long storry short, the dealer caused over $4,000 in damage to my Sport S AND gave it back to me without saying anything. I found all the damage later that night and ended up fighting the dealership for weeks to get it taken care of. It ended with me taking my gladiator to an autobody repair shop and having them pay to get all the damage repaired and the glass replaced for the 2nd time. If you are looking to do business with Heritage auto in Logan Utah DONT! Horrible customer service and experience with them. I still have a broken trim piece that they broke the clips off of and tried sticking window sealant on to stick it back to the hardtop. Absolutely piss poor unacceptable work by them.

That is awful, it sucks having to go through this. Honestly, I love my JT but the dealer experience is enough to make me think twice about buying another FCA/Stellantis product.

 

[rschurig]

It's been a while and I haven't had the time but I wanted to post an update.

I did receive a brand new hardtop and they installed the correct glass this time. Overall the install looks pretty factory so I'm happy with that. However in the process, they damaged another piece of trim, which they did make me aware of this time, so they ordered it and replaced it a few weeks later when it came in. The new trim does have a scratch in it but I was so over this entire process that I didn't even bother to bring it up with the dealer.

One thing I didn't catch since I got my Jeep back in January, they busted one of the Freedom Top latches so it was spinning freely. I found this when I went to take the tops off in March once it started to warm up. I sent a text to the service advisor, he acknowledged the issue and told me to bring it in to get it fixed but it was going to take a few days. I told him that I was not going to bring it in and go through another three days of a stinky enterprise rental when the fix can be done in 5 minutes. I offered to just pickup the part and do it myself. He was going to "look into it" and get back to me. A week goes by and no response to any further messages.

I was extremely annoyed by this dealer and advisor so I ended up posting a review on Google for the dealership. Within a couple hours of posting it, the owner of the dealer called me saying he had read the review and was disgusted. He offered sincere apologies and was going to look into the whole history and get back to me with options. He called the next day and offered me compensation and said he would send a tech to my house to repair the broken latch. I assured him that the compensation was not required but I would take the new latch. He insisted and I told him I'm honestly never going to come back to his dealership again but he sent the check anyway. I really appreciated his call and his gesture to make things right but it was too late.

I had taken my Jeep in prior to Halloween and didn't get every issue resolved until halfway through April. There is still an issue with the headliner, the dealer transferred it to the new hardtop and used the old velcro. It's starting to let go as I expected but this is something I'm going to fix myself as I don't want to deal with these guys again.

 

[pbrevo64]

Sorry to hear about your experience dealing with that, but it seems to be on par with the experience a lot of us have had with leaky rear windows. Personally I brought mine in, and they replaced it in about a week but scratched the snot out of the hard top and tried touching it up with a paint pen (scratches is being generous, more of gouges), scuffed up the interior, glass, silicone trim and dust everywhere, and even trash in the bed. Brought it back as soon as they opened the next day and expressed my frustrations. Tried getting Jeep Cares involved, but they essentially told me its a dealer issue and I need to take it up with the dealer myself. A month later it was finally done and I got my JT back, and the only times I got updates was when I called in myself. Ended up sitting complete on the lot for 2 days before they finally called me. Still had some minor marks and dirt, but didn't want to wait another couple days for them to clean it. No leaking finally, but it is back at the dealer to reattach one of the defroster cables that came off. Not a fun experience.

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