wayoflife

A few months back, our new Sunburst Orange Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited X started to experience issues with the ever dreaded death wobble. And, after going through the standard checks of making sure that the track bar bolts were tightened to the proper torque specs, the mounts and bushings were in good shape and all of them coming up clean, I decided to give other things a look like the ball joints. Sure enough, even though our Jeep at the time was only several months old and only had about 7,500 miles on the odometer, a quick inspection revealed that the ball joints may in fact be toast. Needless to say, I thought it might be a good idea to get a second opinion at a local dealership called Tuttle Click Jeep in Irvine, CA and with any luck, maybe get them replaced under warranty.

Now, I should point out ahead of time that I chose to go to Tuttle Click Jeep as they came recommended by a friend who said they were really friendly towards modified Jeeps. And, being that I’ve had things warranted like a steering box and even a rear locker replaced under warranty and on a built up Jeep at Orange Coast Jeep in the past, I figured that a pair of ball joints wouldn’t even be enough to raise an eyebrow. How little did I know that this particular dealership would give me the grief that they ultimately did.

After dropping off my Jeep, I was told that I would receive a phone call that afternoon to let me know what’s going on. And, much to my disappointment, the day came and went without a call and being that I was busy with work, I never got around to calling them before their service department closed. Needless to say, I was without a vehicle that evening which was annoying but, what are you going to do. The next morning, I still don’t get a call and so I call them and I’m promptly told that the ball joints are in fact bad but that they will not replace them under warranty. When I asked why, I am told that it’s because my Jeep has been modified with a suspension lift. I in turn explain that there are countless people with JK’s that have had ball joints fail prematurely and with lift kits installed and have had them replaced without any issue but, as you can imagine, this results in nothing.

Frustrated, I decide to call up the Chrysler complaint line and see if I can get them to assist me. After explaining the situation at hand to the Chrysler rep, I get put on hold and he calls up Tuttle Click Jeep to find out what their story is. After a few minutes, the rep explains to me that the service manager at Tuttle Click Jeep will not replace the ball joints under warranty because I “did not have a heavy duty steering stabilizer installed” and that caused them to go bad. Yup, you heard it right - the Jeep JK Wrangler experts in the service department at Tuttle Click Jeep was actually blaming the premature failure of my ball joints on a steering dampener that technically doesn’t even need to be installed. As calmly as possible, I try to inquire about how this would cause my ball joints to fail but no reason is given other than the fact that it was decided that Tuttle Click Jeep would not be willing to help me. I explain to the Chrysler rep how I’ve had other more expensive parts replaced in the past and without any issues on my other Jeep JK Wrangler and he explained how each dealership is independently owned and operated and that it might be a good idea to try another one instead. I in turn let the Chrysler rep know that I may just do that but wanted to make sure he knew how annoyed I was with the situation and how I was told that I would get a call back but never did and how it took me calling Tuttle Click the next day to get any news at all. At that point, the Chrysler rep informs me that while not getting my ball joints didn’t amount to a legitimate complaint, the fact that I never got a call back was and if I wanted, he could file that as a formal complaint and so, I agreed to have him do as much. He explained that a filed complaint helps them to encourage better customer service from their dealerships and that my voice would be heard. After getting a ride back to Tuttle Click Jeep, I picked up my Jeep without incident, talked to my service advisor briefly who was very apologetic about the whole thing and decide to just replace the ball joints myself. Being that they’re cheap and easy to swap out, I kick myself for even bothering to take my Jeep to this dealership in the first place.

Fast forward to almost five months later to the day, I made the mistake of taking my same Sunburst Orange Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited X back to Tuttle Click Jeep to have a pair of factory fog lights I recently installed turned on and, while there, have the exhaust manifold looked as as it recently started to make some noise that sounds a lot like an exhaust leak. As I started to explain to the service advisor what I’d like to have them do, he gets interrupted by a phone call from someone who proceeds to ask him a series of questions about me and why I was there. After the service advisor gets off the phone, he starts to interrogate me as to why I gave them a “zero” the last time I was there. Unsure of what he means, I ask him to clarify his question and he explains that I gave them a negative review and wanted to know why. He further explains that Tuttle Click Jeep does not warranty any suspension components on a modified Jeep and that’s when I ask him who called him and why was he now harassing me. He informs me that it was his service manager and so, being that this guy apparently was too much of a coward to come out and harass me in person, I ask to see him.

After being lead to his office, the service manager comes out, says hello and I ask him what his problem is. I ask if he would prefer that I go to another dealership and he responds by saying no, he’s more than happy to service anything on my Jeep but will not warranty anything suspension related. I say fine, I’m not there for my suspension and that if he wanted to get technical on me, the last time I was there, I was looking to have a “STEERING” component warranted. After rolling his eyes and not having any response to that, I then ask him if it’s the policy of Tuttle Click Jeep to tag certain customers and harass them in the manner that he was and he responds by saying, no, he just happened to recognize my Jeep and wanted to know why I “dinked” them. He explains that I caused them financial hardship and I let him know that while I did agree to have a formal complaint filed against them, I was unaware that this would “dink” them and for what it was worth, I had no idea of what that really meant. Annoyed, he informs me that he knows who I am and that I know exactly what I did (let me just say for the record that this is the first time Project-JK has ever come into the conversation) and that he had me on tape to prove as much. Surprised by this claim, I ask to hear this so called tape but, as I suspected, no such tape exists. And, that’s when it all hits me… why should I even care? Last I checked, I was the customer here and my well being was supposed to be their responsibility and concern and NOT the other way around.

As it was explained to me by Chrysler, the point of having a customer complaint line is to help them encourage good customer service. They do this through the “Five Star” rating they give to exceptional dealerships and as I have come to find out, penalize those who do not perform to the standards that Chrysler hopes to have. Of course, the last thing I expected from my call to Chrysler was to get red flagged by the service manager at Tuttle Click Jeep and be harassed for an honest evaluation I gave regarding their service. Again, I WAS NOT able to “dink” them or give them a “zero” for them not replacing my ball joints under warranty but, them not returning my call as promised was a legitimate enough of a complaint and one that apparently resulted in real consequences. However, had I known that my honest evaluation of Tuttle Click Jeep’s customer service would have resulted in the subsequent service that I received today, I hate to say that I may not have said anything at all and that’s a real shame.

I know that there are other Jeep owners out there who have told me that they received great service from Tuttle Click Jeep in the past and for whatever it’s worth, who am I to say that they didn’t. My only point in writing this article is to share my personal experiences with them and to let you know that your customer evaluations are shared with your dealership. Of course, if you “dink” them or give them anything less than a stellar review, you may find yourself wanting to find a new dealership to get your Jeep worked on.

JK-Tex

Remember the golden rule: dealerships can do whatever the hell they please, and customers are just supposed to take it in the #%* and smile. How dare you give honest feedback!

If dealers want good ratings, they should treat people right. End of story.

highoctane

Its good you posted thye review about them here, where everyone can read it and take it for what it is. It really does sound like piss poor customer service to me. And if their techs reallt think a lack of hd steering stabilizer is what caused your ball joint issues, then they have bigger problems than just customer service. Hopefully some people in your area will think again about going therer, and give them the service the apparantly deserve, none at all.

motorvated

I suspect that Tuttle Creek Jeep would learn a "real" lesson, if Chrysler were to become aware of how that dealership discriminated against and harassed you after they became aware of your "negative", telling-it-like-it-was, feedback.

JK-Tex

JdTms11

yeah i agree, had it been me i would have lost it if a manager came at me the way he did to you WOL.

this kind of service is actually why i don't take my jeep to the dealership it was bought at. i was sick of the service manager at mine telling me what i could and couldn't do with my jeep, got real colorful with my language one day, demanded my keys back and haven't bee back since.

Marine

Really sorry to hear that Eddie, its a real shame how the dealerships have gotten over the years.

For this reason I now do all of my own maintance and all the work I can in my garage. For those things that I can' do in my garage (not many) I would seek help from a mechanic shop, not a dealership.

Hope you got this resolved ok in your garage!

Power to the garage mechanic, and may we put a hurting on the stealerships!!

What I don't understand is that warantee work costs the dealership nothing right?? they are reimbursed for the labor and parts from corporate...so why would they EVER deny wanrante work??? Looks to me like they would get more money by selling parts and labor that way?

john smack

You just have to find a dealership that is almost at there 5 star like we have here in FSJ they will warranty anything just to get a good review... I hope it doesnt change when the achieve there 5 star status..

wayoflife

you would think it'd be that easy. had they just told me from the beginning that they DO NOT work on modified jeeps, i would have been annoyed but i probably would have just left and left well enough alone. the fact that they strung me along for a day, inconvenienced me by not calling when they said they would and then made me call them the next day to get any answer at all about how they weren't going to help me - that's what prompted me to call the chrysler complaint line. of course, instead of saying that they don't warranty jeeps that have been modified, they acutally said that my ball joints went bad because i "did not have an aftermarket HD steering stabilizer installed" and i should point out for the record, them not replacing my ball joints under warranty IS NOT what gave them the "dink" - it was them not calling me back when they said they would. ultimately, it was their customer service or lack thereof that caused chrysler to lean of them. guess they conveniently chose to forget that part.

you ain't kidding. when i heard that, i wasn't even sure if wanted these clowns to work on my jeep. and, as i said before, that's not even why chrysler "dinked" them - it was in fact them not calling me back when they said they would. ultimately, it was their customer service or lack thereof that caused chrysler to lean of them.

well, if they do learn their lesson, it will be to the benefit of others. i will not be going back to this place again.

wayoflife

technically, he didn't come at me - he had one of his minions do his dirty work. i'm the one who made the coward confront me in person.

yeah, i do all my own work and what i can't do, i have off road evolution do as i know i can trust them. my frustration for dealerhships is in fact what started my old website www.4x4xplor.com and what ultimately got www.project-jk.com going as well.

yeah, i think you might be right on this one. a friend of mine suggested a place a bit further away from me but, they are in this position now.