Mexstan

Over and over on this site (& others) folks are ranting and raving about the lousy treatment and service they receive at dealers. There are very few praises for dealers. Well, for what it is worth, I want to publicly praise my Dodge dealer. This is the same dealer that gave me the best price in five states (& over 30 dealers) when I bought my truck. Have been back a few times for service (mostly warranty stuff) and every time the service there has been outstanding. In fact, I would go as far as to say that La Grange Dodge in La Grange, Texas provides the best service I have received to date from any dealer of any brand.
Earlier this month I took my truck back to them for various ailments typical for the Ram. Problems were; death wobble, A/C problems, broken drivers side grab handle, broken sun visor, switch problems with the electric windows and a code that recently popped up.
I had told them ahead of time that I was driving up from central Mexico and needed to get back on the road ASAP. As I anticipated that that the repairs and obtaining of parts would take more than a day I checked in to the local motel for a night. They even loaned me a car free of charge to drive around in while they worked on the truck.
The death wobble was rectified by changing all four ball joints but using after market parts with grease nipples. They found a pin hole in the condenser and consequently the A/C was down a pound in frean. A new condenser was installed. A computer check also disclosed problems with the A/C control head, so a new head was installed. The problem with the windows was a bad drivers side master switch, so a new switch was installed. Some parts were on hand and obtained locally, but the rest had to be ordered and arrived on an overnight shipment and were installed the next morning. The truck was ready to roll by 10 a.m. the day after I brought it in.
Twice while doing the work they hit a snag which meant they needed to talk to me before they could proceed. The service manager knew where I was staying and personally drove down and located me to fill me in on the problem and get my approval to speed up the work. This is going the extra mile and more for your customer! So is obtaining the parts as fast as they did.
Congratulations to La Grange Dodge for outstanding work and for going the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction. Yes, they are out of the way for me, but I return as I know that they will do the job right and without giving me any grief. It is a fairly small service area and the mechanics are accessible and more than ready to talk to the customer and explain everything.
Great job guys and thanks for getting me back on the road as fast as you did.

Grit Dog

I can add a past good experience w/ a DC dealer.
It was Billion Chyrsler/Jeep in Soiux City, SD.
Pulled my new '01 Ram 1500 in there, trailer in tow, about 1k mi on the truck, already had the rear axle replaced the previous week when the truck had 200mi onit. Rear axle was burned up AGAIN!
The local Dodge dealer wouldn't even talk to me on this Fri afternoon, said come back Mon. I was enroute to Denver, starting a new job on Mon.
The nice folks at Billion broght the truck in, and stayed late Fri night trying to reset the ring/pinion to get the truck on the road (no 9-1/4", 4.10 axle on the shelf). Couldn't get it fixed. Got me a car for the night and paid my hotel bill. Next day, they pulled the axle and ordered one to arrive on Tues.
The service mgr called every rental place in 50 mi to try and find me a vehicle to continue to CO with my trailer. Couldn't find anything w/ a hitch, no fullsize trucks or suv's avail, even w/ a bumper hitch.
They rented me a van to carry what was necessary, and I left my truck there and headed to CO.
Before I left, the owner of the dealership called me in and gave me a 100k mi bumper to bumper warranty on the truck, free of charge, and offered me a one way plane ticket back to SD to pick up the truck/trailer the following weekend.
Truck was repaired w/o issue and the dealership went far beyond what they had to do to help me out.
Turned out, I only used the warranty once in 120k mi before selling the truck and it was about a $200 repair, so DC didn't really lose any money comping me the warranty.

bigfoot

Thanks Stan, I will file this away and give them a call when it is time to trade.

dssimecek

Hi Mexstan,

Good to hear from you, thanks for the info in the Dodge dealer, I am in Houston right now, so it is always good to have a name of a dealer that is not too far away.

Grit Dog, way back in 1964 when I drove my 1960 Dodge from CT to Seattle, was having problems starting when hot, and at WOT the speed would speed up and slow down. Stopped in Soiux Falls SD at the Dodge dealer. Got fix up and on the road again in short order. Problem, hot start, needle valve leaking in the carburator, and would flood. Speed drifting, warn bearings in the distributor. Timing would change. Don't remember the name of the dealer, but excellent service, at a reasonable price.

gomerpile

well its good to know some people still look out for the customer. a friend of mine whos a mechanic now for honda, before he worked there he was working at a certain dealership that i will not disclose, but there was a frequent problem and the fsm said just to grease it,but the dealership made them replace it just to make more money, and he almost got fired for arguing with the service manager.

aggie06

I bought my previous, and current truck from them. Ive had a few minor problems with there service at points over the past few years, but it seemed like they always went out of thier way to resolve any issues.

Nate-03 D

I agree with you Mexstan, there are truely some great dealerships throughout the country. It seems like one bad apple tends to spoil the rest of the bunch.

My father and I both bought our trucks in Sacramento, Ca at the Folsom Lake Dodge dealer these guys bent over backwards for us many times, great place.

My father and I and the rest of our paintball team took a trip to Los Angelas, Ca for a paintball tournament. As we were heading home the lift pump on his 03 quite. We had it towed to the nearest dealer(it was almost a hole in the wall) in Valencia, Ca. The dealer knowing that the truck was moded(air intake, exaust, performance box) still warrantied the truck with out any questions. They rented us a Ford Freestar mini van to get home and we returned with in a day to pick up his truck.

Another great experience we had was with a dealer is Hays, KS(I can't recall the name of the place). Anyways we were moving from Ca to Mn and we were both towing large trailers full of our goods. He called me on my phone saying that he can literally turn his steering wheel 360* and the wheels would only move about 4-5", power steering box bit the dirt. We creeped it to the nearest dealer to get it fixed. They did not have a PS box in stock so a parts runner ran to the next state over and picked one up, we were back on the road the next afternoon by 11:00.

The current dealer we go to now is just superb. They know our trucks are moded and they do not hassle us about it one bit, if I took my truck in there because I snapped the shafts in my tranny I would not expect them to warranty it but the little things they let us slide on.

Out of all of the Dodge dealerships i've been to only one has been unworthy of going there again. That was due to their salesman, he must of assumed I was a young punk looking to buy a Cummins. He would not give me the time of the day so I tossed the keys at him and left. They won't see me again. But the good dealers are out there, you just got to locate them.

Justwannabeme

up here in central New York STATE, you can drive to most anywhere for a dealership (Canada too) to purchase your dream truck. I am on the road a LOT and use an oversized rig for our boat needing permits. we do not need any further problems or hassles, believe me.

Had a load the next day and felt something amiss with the front end wandering (pittman arm, aframe suspension arms, bearings, who knows?)
went to MAPLECITY DODGE Hornell, New York and they said they would get right to it, after lunch. they told me a place in town to eat and had me give them a ticket for a reduced price lunch special. the mechanic overheard and said he was going there and driving another customer's car for a road check. I am NOT a pretty blonde, skinny chick so they just must be nice folks.

good jokes, great cheap lunch and my truck was done when we got back by the second mechanic who saw that the truck was 'sitting funny' before he punched in. took me in the work bay to show me the problem(defective wheel bearing came apart but jammed), damage and new parts installed. he felt it should be a warranty item and had the service manager approve it, no charge 'when you are ready to buy the next one, c'mon back and see us. We'll bring your lunch to ya then.' man, what a difference from the place I BOUGHT all my trucks from!! wish I'd have known...yada yada

Heidi
Hall of Fame in my book!