Jeep Wrangler JL drifting issue

[Tad121819]

I never thought I would come on here but I am desperate pretty much for advice. Starting mid July into August I noticed my new 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL had an issue of randomly and severely drifting to the left by itself. Meaning I constantly had to adjust the steering wheel to prevent it from going into the other lane. Thats when I decided to take it the dealership on 9/11. I went ahead and duplicated the problem to the dealership and the service guy said oh thats just a wheel alignment issue. However, after 4 days of inspecting the car it turned out not to be a wheel alignment issue. So I was advised to take it to the original dealership where I signed my contract with.

I drove 40 miles to the dealership where I bought the car from. They asked me to drop off the car and they would inspect it. Then a couple days after they asked me to drive down again to duplicate the problem to them, as if it was not clear enough to them. However, I did not mind I drove down and duplicated the problem to them. I drove the car with one of the service guys he took me on a clean road with new paved streets. He said he sees the problem, then while still on the road he tells me that the car is driving normal. So I asked him to sit in the passenger seat and have him drive instead for me to see how the car is performing normal from his perspective when a couple minutes previously he said he notices the problem. Moreover, the car has been at the dealership now for a couple of days. The dealership opened a star case Chrysler got involved in this situation. I was frustrated because they kept telling me they were not able to duplicate the problem like 4 times. Then finally a technician came down to investigate the car. The technician guy rebooted the software specifically Power steering control. After, I took the car from them I asked for documentation that the car used to be at 0.4 and now its at 0.2. They provided me with no proof of the before and after. They said the technician did not print out the records. Anyways, I still noticed the car was still drifting and whats even worse now my start/stop engine function no longer works. Now I have been completely fed up with Jeep and my case manager no one is assisting me and neither was my case manager returning any of my calls after he offered a "buy out opportunity."

Finally, I drop it off to another dealership (my third attempt). I go ahead and tell them all about the problems that my car has. They keep it over the weekend from Saturday until Friday. On their notes they note "Internal Battery System failure" and they note that the "start/stop engine function works ok at this time." In addition, I mentioned my drifting issue to them and they tried to convince me that the problem is wheel alignment. Keep in mind they had the opportunity to view the other dealership performing the wheel alignment and coming to a conclusion that wheel alignment is not the issue to the drifting.

Currently, I am in a big problem where my case manager is not calling me it has been more than 48 hours which is there maximum requirement (it has been a week now). This is my second case manager who does not call or even acknowledge my case. My car started out with one problem now it has two. I am shocked by the kind of customer service Jeep has. It sincerely made me not want to even consider being replaced in a different car just because of the way I have been dealt with. I was wondering if anyone has similar issues whether with the car or customer service and knows a way to get this situation fixed ASAP? because it has been over a month now and I am irritated of the whole situation.


I completely apologize for the detailed story but really any feedback would be great. Thank you very much!!!!

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[FWB FL]

Just saying I bet with all the issues they are over whelmed.

 

[Tad121819]

Just saying I bet with all the issues they are over whelmed.

Completely agree! But they’re the ones who created the problem in the first place

 

[Neanderthalman]

Just saying I bet with all the issues they are over whelmed.

You know - that’s OK. If you are open and honest with your customers.

“We are experiencing a large number of reports related to steering concerns and are actively investigating. We thank you for your patience as we work to understand these concerns”

That one’s free FCA.

Not even a commitment that a problem exists. Not a commitment to fix it. Recognition that they are swamped and are trying to figure out what’s going on - if anything at all - would go an enormously long way for customer service.

But hey, @JeepDoesntCare. Amiright?

 

[Carlton]

I've had problems with jeeps before and dealerships as well. Jeep does not stand behind their products and will side with the dealership every time. Customer care will act like they are doing something, they will say it needed to be escalated to someone else etc, after a bunch of time waiting around they will come back with support for the dealership and ignore you.

 

[bmac]

If they offered a "buy out opportunity" take it. Let them deal with it on their own time. The only thing you have to deal with then is what's next.

 

[Tad121819]

If they offered a "buy out opportunity" take it. Let them deal with it on their own time. The only thing you have to deal with then is what's next.

My first case manager offered a buy out and then stopped returning my calls. He said he would call me once he got all the information from dealership #2 (the one I signed the contract with). Until today he has not called me to continue the process and neither did anyone from above call me to continue the process also. But at this time I am ready for a buy out. In the future I do not want to deal with this kind of customer service and dealership service overall.

 

[Torero]

If I understand correctly, the car is still at the dealer. In this case that could be a good thing. Review the lemon law in your estate.
If they give you the car back, first thing, I would have them ride with me prior to accepting the car back. If problem still there, do not take the car back. If it seems ok but later develops the problem again then it will be time to take the car to a reputable third party shop and have them diagnose the problem. Not fix it, just diagnose and record. Then I would try with that diagnosis one more time with the dealer. Then I would let them know that I have notarized and informed the insurance company and the lien holder if there is one. That will get their attention for sure.
That’s what I would do.

 

[Tad121819]

You know - that’s OK. If you are open and honest with your customers.

“We are experiencing a large number of reports related to steering concerns and are actively investigating. We thank you for your patience as we work to understand these concerns”

That one’s free FCA.

Not even a commitment that a problem exists. Not a commitment to fix it. Recognition that they are swamped and are trying to figure out what’s going on - if anything at all - would go an enormously long way for customer service.

But hey, @JeepDoesntCare. Amiright?

You made my day! I know Jeep does not care and neither does anyone. The only way I found out my car has an issue and other similar models are experiencing the same issue from threads similar to this. It's kind of sad that they're not acknowledging there is an issue with the JL models.

 

[RubiZ]

Very sad to hear that FCA don't give a crap about customer service. Remember we don't need them, they need us! Without customers they have nothing. They should take ownership of the problem and have it resolved before pushing forward how to make these Jeeps in less time. Seems to me that they only focusing on how to make a Jeep in 10 second per unit and not quality control or customer satisfaction.

Keeping customers happy/satisfied with your product is key in business. Without them they be asking for a government bailout like GM did in 2009. Seems to me these FCA executives need some training on this.

 

[old8tora]

I never thought I would come on here but I am desperate pretty much for advice.
I completely apologize for the detailed story but really any feedback would be great. Thank you very much!!!!

If you are in Northridge , Cali., you are lucky to have a very consumer friendly lemon law in Cali .

Nevertheless you need to document everything , every visit , every symptom , and everyone you spoke with at every stage . Just take a few minutes and write it all down , including dates and time vehicle was in the dealer .

Then you need to contact your Regional Customer Service Manager . He or she will be Key .

If your dealer won't give you his name and phone number , then you contact ( [email protected] ) , and when they reply , ask them for your Regional Customer Service Manager .

Your last step will be the Cali lemon law procedures .

Good luck .

 

[Tad121819]

If I understand correctly, the car is still at the dealer. In this case that could be a good thing. Review the lemon law in your estate.
If they give you the car back, first thing, I would have them ride with me prior to accepting the car back. If problem still there, do not take the car back. If it seems ok but later develops the problem again then it will be time to take the car to a reputable third party shop and have them diagnose the problem. Not fix it, just diagnose and record. Then I would try with that diagnosis one more time with the dealer. Then I would let them know that I have notarized and informed the insurance company and the lien holder if there is one. That will get their attention for sure.
That’s what I would do.

So I had to take my car back on Friday from the last dealership to see if they have fixed my auto start/stop, they stated on their notes they did or in exact words "seems to be working OK at this time" but I drove off from the dealership it still did not work. Regarding to my drifting issue they just did another wheel alignment so that did not help at all. For my next step, I was thinking of taking it a 3rd party shop for diagnosis but I would assume Jeep dealerships would know better since they fix these cars on a daily basis.

 

[old8tora]

If they give you the car back, first thing, I would have them ride with me prior to accepting the car back. If problem still there, do not take the car back. If it seems ok but later develops the problem again then it will be time to take the car to a reputable third party shop and have them diagnose the problem. Not fix it, just diagnose and record. Then I would try with that diagnosis one more time with the dealer. .

STEP ONE FIRST I would get the Regional Customer Service Manager directly involved , BEFORE you take the Jeep back .

 

[Torero]

I was thinking of taking it a 3rd party shop for diagnosis but I would assume Jeep dealerships would know better since they fix these cars on a daily basis.

That’s a big assumption.

 

[RubiZ]

I don't think I'd bother with a 3rd party shop on this. They might be clueless and your car is under warranty

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