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[2Shay]

Can anyone recommend a decent service dealership in the San Jose, CA area? My first experience with the Chrysler service department has me wanting to sell my 300C and buy a Toyota that doesn't ever require service!

Here is my story:

Bought my Midnight Blue 2005 300C with all options used from a private party. Car was 11.5 months old with 1,241 miles on it. Perfect shape no major issues.

Issue 1: Owner said car pulled slightly to right, might be tire pressure. After reading everything here, I decide to have dealer look at it per the TSB's.
Issue 2: Sirius radio shows Channel 184 with no signal. Previous owner said he didn't care about it and never tried to activate. On way home we call Sirius and try to activate, and are told that antenna is probably not connected, take to dealer.
Issue 3: After a week or two, passenger airbag light stays on.

I decide to take in car for 3K mile oil change. I choose a 5 Star dealer in San Jose and use the web to request an appointment. List all details of car and service needs. 3 days go by before getting a response saying someone will call me soon. End of day I get a call to schedule. Person asks again what type of service I need and I repeat everything that is on the web. Am told at this time there is an Anti freeze recall on vehicle and it will be done at same time. OK. Other than waiting 3 days for a response, dealership seems pleasant.

Dealership Day 1: (Tuesday)

I bring the car to the dealership for my 7:30AM appointment. Someone waves me right into the service bay and says they were waiting for me to arrive. Alright! This is going good. Then they start filling out a blank form with all of my information again. I tell them the list of stuff to work on a 3rd time and figure things are all set now. I mention to the service rep that the car pulling to the right seems to have a couple of TSB's out and should be checked. He tells me that unless the car is less than 12 months old, it is not covered and will cost $90. Car is 1year 8days old with 4K miles. I argue the point but agree to the alignment at $90. It has to be done. Service rep says car will be ready that afternoon and offers me a shuttle to work. OK, not bad, beats walking 1/2 mile to the bus stop...

At 2:30 I get a call from the service rep. States that he just found out a mechanic called in sick, so my car would not be ready. Offers to pay for a rental car for 1 day. I have been having second thoughts about the alignment after reading posts about "re-aligning" the centering of the steering wheel and figure if that is all they didn't do, I would skip it. I ask how much have they gotten done and am told, "Actually, we haven't started on it yet" WTF??? I make a 7:30 appointment and you don't realize until 2:30 you haven't got time to work on it at all today???? I express my dissatisfaction with the Service Director about the car sitting all day with nothing being done, as well as with the 1 year policy on alignment. He offers to go to bat on the alignment since the car has such low miles, but I would have to pay for it up front. He'll let me know if Chrysler covers it. I should have taken the car home that day, but I'm generally a pretty calm person and I know that sh#t happens sometimes. I get the rental, a stripped minivan, and say to myself, "It's only 1 day....Tomorrow will be better"

Dealership Day 2: (Wednesday)

I get a call from the dealership at about 2:00PM stating all is done with car except for Sirius radio. They are having problem diagnosing it and have called in a specialist. ??? They assure me the car will be ready today and will call me as soon as it is ready. I decide to go to the dealer at 4:30PM to check on things and return the minivan. As I pull up, I see a van with Stereo installation markings on the side pulling away. I think to myself, "Alright, will be back in my 300C tonight!" As I'm getting out of the rental, my cell phone rings. It is the service manager, He tells me that my car will not be ready until Friday, 2 more days! He informs me that my factory installed Sirius radio, does not have the correct wiring harness between the unit and dash. (How can you install the radio and not install the wiring harness?? Has Chrysler ever heard of Quality Control?) He has ordered the part and it will be in Friday morning. He offers to cover the rental car until Friday. I ask about taking the car and bringing it back on Friday. He tells me the dash and trunk are taken all apart and it will take more than an hour to put it back together. It's already 4:50PM so they couldn't do it. I begrudgingly agree to leave it until Friday. I ask, is there any chance that the part will not be in on Friday? "Oh, it shows it is in stock in Los Angeles and I have ordered it. It WILL be here on Friday." I go back to the rental company and ask to trade the minivan for something with a hood. I am given a gas swilling Dodge Durango. Key remote is broken, shift lever has a TOW/HAUL button that I accidentally hit every time I put it in drive...

Dealership day 4 (Friday):

Service Manager calls me about 10:00AM and tells me car is ready to pick up. However, Sirius radio is not working. They forgot to specify how to send the wiring harness and it got sent UPS ground and has not arrived. They put my car back together since the part probably will not arrive until Tuesday. I am happy to get my car back and at this point could care less if the Sirius radio ever works! I pay the $127.00 and wait for my car. They drive it up inside the dark bay and I see my filthy car waiting for me. It was clean when I dropped it off! I drive it outside, park it and drive the rental next door to return it. When I come back I decide to do the once around to check for dents, etc. I don't see any dents, but there is anti-freeze? or oil on the headlights, front of hood, and something sprayed and running down the side below the drivers side mirror. I drive it to the service entrance and bring it to the attention of the guy who drove the car out. He says "I can take it to the back and get it washed off for you if you want" I'm worried about what antifreeze or oil will do to the paint so I tell him that would be great. I wait about 10-15 minutes for him to bring it out. I check the lights and drivers side areas and they look clean, (car is in service bay so a bit hard to fully inspect, besides, by this time I am late for picking up my daughter from school) I notice that they didn't wash the whole car, just the front 1/3! I get in and drive home.

It's dark by the time I get home and park the car in the garage. I don't think anything more about it until I back it out of the garage the next day to work in the garage. On the center of the hood I notice a 12" arcing scratch in the paint. It's not a deep scratch, but it's there! I didn't notice it at the dealership when I picked it up, but I know it wasn't there when I dropped it off! Did he just pick a rag up off the ground and dry the car off with it??

The Service Director and probably the owner are going to hear an earful from me on Monday morning. I don't know if the scratch is something that can be buffed out, or if the hood will need repainting. At the very least, I think the dealership owes me a detailing to try to fix the scratch! I have never thought that a re-paint was the same color and quality as factory, and will probably not be happy with it being repainted. I would just as soon sell the car and buy a new one than drive one that was "patched up"

At this point I am so thoroughly disgusted with Chrysler that I want to sell the car and be done with them for good. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed driving this car for the 4 weeks that I have had it. Is this the normal type of service I can expect from a 5 Star Chrysler dealership? Do you have any recommendations as to what I should ask of the dealer regarding this set of problems. Can you recommend a dealership that takes pride in it's service department and will not allow this kind of stuff to happen?

Sorry for the long post, but I had to get this off my chest.

Thinking of selling....

Ken