What do you do when chrysler says one thing and the dealer says something different? On 8/1 my jeep had to be towed to the dealer. They determine it needs a pcm (power train computer module ?). There are none in the country according to them. They order the part. It is 8/20 and still no part. chrysler customer support (that's a laugher) says the part was shipped to the dealer on 8/14. The dealer says it was not. The dealer says they talked to ups and ups was told to expect the part on 8/16 but they never got it. At this point all chrysler customer nonsupport will say is part was shipped. No longer their problem. Dealer/ups says part was not shipped not their problem. I'm the one with the problem. I'v been having to rent a car during all of this. Does anyone know of anyone else as chrysler to contact?
Talk to another dealer, one who wants your future business. Dealer might have used it for another customer,(who is waiting longer than you are now) Or, are too busy now to install it.
When you say "Chrysler" is that the 800 number you are calling? I would call the 800 number and ask to meet and/or speak to the area Chrysler representative. Have him find a dealer, local to you, that will get you your car back.
It is the 800 customer service number. I tried to get the name or number of someone else to talk with but they said there is no one else and would not give me any other number. I don't think it is the dealer. It is a fairly reputable dealer. They appear to be trying harder than chrysler to find out some info.
I tried that. They say their system doesn't show any info about how the parts are shipped from the distribution center. The dealer says they almost always get them via ups. Only large parts are shipped different. The dealer says they talked to their ups contacts and ups claims they have not seen the part yet.
If not under warranty, your only option may be to go elsewhere to order the part and have the work done, i.e., you don't have much leverage, legal or monetary. The bit about the part not being available presents a dilemma. Perhaps try to find the PCM at
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If this is a warranty repair, tell them that, since the issue is between the dealer and Chrysler - that you are the innocent third party that is being damaged by their inaction, you will order the part yourself (from another dealer if necessary, or if not available new, from a salvage source), and that after you have the repair done, you plan to sue the appropriate party (dealer and/or Chrysler) in small claims court for cost of parts and labor - oh - and that you plan to rent a car for your use until you can have the repair completed, and that that cost will be included in your suit. Hopefully you have some indication in writing (sales ticket, work order, whatever) to support your future claim that they are supposed to be fixing this problem.
Notify them ASAP in writing by return receipt request letter of your intentions, stating that you will begin your process, starting with the ordering of the part, on such and such a date (give them a reasonable amount of time to respond) if they have not re-shipped the part with the full intent of following thru with the repair. And don't bluff - do not begin the process unless you are willing to carry it thru to the end if necessary (but most likely it won't be necessary once they see that you mean business and are not putting up with their b.s. any more). Worse thing that will likely happen is that you take care of the repair on your own and end up collecting all of your expenses in court. No judge in his right mind will deny your claim if you present this in a credible fashion - you can't be expected to let your vehicle sit unused while idiots point fingers at each other, which is obviously what is happening.
Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")
Yeah, I realized pretty quickly that I have no leverage. What really supprised and upsets me is chrysler simply does not care. They have done nothing to help. They refuse to provide any info other than they claim the part was shipped. So it's no longer their problem. They claim they have no control over the dealer. They have given every indication that they really just don't care if I ever get my jeep fixed. Which I don't really understand. It has an impact on how many cars they sell. I will never buy another chrysler product. No one in my family will ever buy another chrysler product. I will try to convince as many of my friends and coworkers and I can to never buy a chrysler product. I'm even thinking of putting up a web site to try to convince as many people as I can not to buy chrysler products.
Which if the dealer is telling the truth going to another dealer won't help.
I checked. They don't list it. According to the dealer it is somewhat VIN number specific. Or maybe the programming inside is not common across the part. Which is one of the reasons there are none in stock they claim.
This is bullshit. This is clearly the dealer's problem.
The dealer claims they ordered the part and it never came. Fine, they should immediately place another order for the part. If the first part was lost then it's between the dealer and Chrysler. if the first part shows up the dealer can either stock it and sell it to someone else eventually, or they can return it to Chrysler.
Dealers are supposed to be stocking parts anyway. What the hell is the point of having the dealer do the work anyway if every damn part they order from Chrysler? From Chrysler's point of view, Chrysler might as well just start contracting with private garages to do warranty work.
And the claim the part isn't available - that is bullshit also. It's the oldest line in the book. I've heard that line before plenty of times from dealers when I called into the parts counter to order some dealer-only part. Sometimes I then walk in and hang over the counter, and the parts guy "magically" finds the part to be available after all. Sometimes I call another dealer in the city and they magically find the part also. A number of times the problem has been because the factory changed part numbers and the parts guy on the phone didn't bother checking in the cross reference. Factories also often make part change revisions and will assign a new part number as well as a TSB or some such that tells that the old part is now replaced by the new part. Sometimes they will not bother relabling the old parts with the new numbers and for a while the computer will have both the new and the old numbers in it, and once the old number stock is exhausted the parts guys claim the factory doesen't have the part anymore. I've caught dealer parts guys in this twice now - both times the parts guy had memorized the old number and didn't even look at a parts explosion, just keyed in the part number and announced it's unavailable. When I forced him to pull up the parts explosion and then pointed out the different part number on it than what he had memorized, magically that part was available.
It isn't. What you don't seem to understand is that this isn't your problem. It's the dealerships responsibility to get the part, not give you a boatload of excuses.
Yah, right. If you were a member of my family I'd tell you to butt-out of the relationship between the dealer and Chrysler and tell the dealer to try ordering the part again, and if it gets lost a second time, I go to another dealer. I would definitely not base my own vehicle choices just because you are sticking your nose where it doesen't belong.
There is no law saying the dealer HAS to fix your car. They can refuse to fix it and send you elsewhere. Or they can just string you along with excuses until your clue phone rings and you go elsewhere. Usually the second thing is what they do because it's harder to prove to the automaker that a specific dealer is being a jerk.
When Chrysler signs up a car sales company as a dealership, they do what due dilligence they can. But with the number of dealers they have signed up it's inevitable that some of them are going to be bad apples.
What incentive does the dealer have to tell you the truth? If the truth is that the part is easy to get, if they tell you this your going to go elsewhere.
Your just not going to know either way unless you start calling around.
Then why are you wasting time with the dealership in the first place?
Dealership service departments really don't want to see old cars that much. For starters the factory does obsolete parts on schedules, and so an older car is the more the risk that it's going to need an obsolete part. Which means the mechanic is going to have to go to a wrecker and get a replacement of unknown history. The failure rates on these kinds of replacements is much higher than just new parts, so the risk your going to bring it back is a lot higher.
Secondly, the mechanics forget many of the speed tricks with cars that are older and older, so the repair jobs have a much higher risk of exceeding the quoted value.
Another thing you can do is find the part on the internet thru a dealer that has a drill-down parts finder. One you can try is
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Go to the parts link, identify the year and model of Jeep, and use the index to identify the part - the list price and their discounted price will pop up indicating that they have it or can get it. Price will probably be significantly cheaper than thru your local dealer even after paying shipping. There are several dealers who have such a drill-down part finder on their web site.
If that particular part does not show on the drill-down, then call them at their toll-free number listed on their site (or use their e-mail inquiry) - ask for internet sales to get the best price.
You could also go into a Jeep-specific forum and probably someone there will be able to tell you the part number and can confrim that it is indeed available.
Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")
Then why on earth did you take it to a *dealer* of all places, and why on earth do you feel Chrysler has any obligation to do anything for you? It's probable your PCM doesn't need replacement at all -- they seldom fail.
Well, when I looked at those they say ECU. If I'm understanding the dealer correctly I need a PCM (powertrain control module). Based on my limited knowledge those are different parts right ? I've also read several other places that the PCM is vin number specific. Does that mean it has to be programmed by chrysler and can come only from them?
as an example. From their home page, hit the "PARTS" link. On the page that comes up, hit the "Go" button on the box that says "Buy OE Parts On Line Today" with the picture of the guy holding the giant spark plug. From there, select the year and make (Jeep), and check "Collision" or "Mechanical" as appropriate (in this case, check "Mechanical" - although I'm not sure that makes any difference), after which a box will appear from which to select model (i.e., Cherokee, Wrangler, etc.). Then you will get the system/category/subcomponent-type drill-down. Other dealer's sites may work differently, but usually they are very similar, and you can figure it out. Each dealer has their own pricing structure although the software that drives the selection menus appear to be the same from one dealer to the next. Sometimes the organization of the components within systems or categories is pretty stupid, but ususally you can find a given component with a minute or two of experimenting, and sometimes the nomenclature is ambiguous and you're not sure if you have the right part or not. Again, you can always call the place during their normal business hours and ask for internet parts sales - the fact that they have that feature (vs. the simple e-mail inquiry form) on their web site is usually a good indicator that their pricing is better than you will find from your local dealer (or even the same dealer if you were to walk in as a local yocal).
Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")
as a dealer tech we are seeing this more and more and it's getting worse i ordered a tach for a covert. sebring and it was shipped from another dealer to us and guess what it had been already installed and was no good so i reordered another one and they showed have none in stock anywhere now the customer has to wait another month or. so make dc pay for your rental
That is even dumber than their strategy in 99 to take parts from new cars if necessary. Couldn't believe it when they took apart a new 2000 300M to replace the door panels in my 99 300M. Then they discovered the rear panels didn't fit so they had to put them back on both cars and order ones for me. (Speakers moved in 2000 rear panels.)
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