Stranded deep in Canyonlands NP, had to call Matt's Off-road Recovery (24 hour rescue)

[Overwatch]

Why the insurance fraud? I have read through this thread twice and watched the video. What is fraudulent?

It’s what he was charged with, and pled guilty to. AAA is a form of insurance and he defrauded them. I love the show, and he is a cool guy. However he’s a criminal now and I’m amazed they let him plead out to less than a felony charge.

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[Dyolfknip74]

I read an article a few years back that car warranty in Canada is more of a courtesy, than a real warranty.

It had to do with a police that owned a vehicle, and the manufacturer basically told him to take a hike.

Fortunately we do have actual warranties. And for the most part from what I can tell, a better dealer network. We just don't have any Lemon Law protection.

 

[ConqSoft]

Why the insurance fraud? I have read through this thread twice and watched the video. What is fraudulent?

Not related to this recovery. Past actions by MORR, which have run their course in court.

 

[zouch]

my plan C used to be to carry one of my Mtn Bikes and be prepared to ride out.
that all got more complicated with the addition of a wife,...

now, i also plan to be able to overnight wherever i go.

I agree. I have been in the desert with clear view to the horizon in all directions and experienced GPS and satcom issues. And on the ocean for that matter. Radio is never 100%.

My plan C is I always travel equipped for a night or two in case I have to camp until the family gets worried and sends the cavalry.

 

[davewald]

Unfortunately, my Jeep was the subject of Matt's latest video. You can learn the details of my reoccurring starter issues here on this thread.


Matt's video:




This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip with my father that turned into a worst-case-scenario event in one of the most remote places in the lower 48.

I had initiated a buyback process after this trip that went more poorly than my actual Jeep excursion. It was 10 days before my first call back which I was told would happen in 2-3 days. Then another 10-days before my next call back. I called, called, called, called, sent certified mail, emailed, emailed, and even contracted @JeepCares here. Not to get a resolution, but to just get ANYONE to talk to me to begin the case process. They wore me down and I was so defeated I sold this jeep back to the dealership at a huge loss just to be able to go on with my life. I extrapolated out the pain of the buyback process based on what I had experienced so far and I knew that I just could not absorb that into my already stressful life. I could tell that the process was designed to just wear me down.

In case you're wondering Jeep (Chrysler customer service) did not care one bit that my Jeep would be featured on MORR. I thought that they might take me a bit more serious due to the pending publicity but no, they simply did not care. I begged to be connected to corporate communications, social media team, PR, or anyone else except the very junior folks who would not return my calls. They didn't care that my jeep was literally catching on fire repeatedly and that I would soon have a platform to tell my story after the video vent live.

I was a life-long Jeep fanboy until this experience and owned 3 Jeeps at the time of this video. My goal is to get that number to 0 very soon. I'm way less upset about the repeated mechanical failures than I am with the customer care. I was stranded twice, if you catch my drift. I'm still pleading with Jeep to help me recoup the remaining out-of-pocket money for the tow but the odds are slim now that I have lost my buyback leverage. I won't be discussing those amounts publicly. I was really looking forward to a 3.0 Gladiator someday but I just can't drop that much coin with Jeep again until the trauma from this one wears off.

Here is a Second Video of the recovery that is actually better than Matt's Version.

Bummer that you got stranded, but cool that you made it into one of Matt's videos. My JL caught fire, and I had a somewhat different experience with LCA/Stellantis (www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/lessons-learned-from-8-month-old-21-jlr-2-0l-catching-fire-fire-extinguisher-buy-back-insurance.85915/). While it took longer than I thought it should, they eventually made it right. JeepCares is a joke. Don't waste your time. I suspect that part of my success is that I immediately filed a report with NHTSA since the engineer that came out from Detroit was the senior engineer responsible for interacting with NHTSA.

 

[SH556JL]

It’s what he was charged with, and pled guilty to. AAA is a form of insurance and he defrauded them. I love the show, and he is a cool guy. However he’s a criminal now and I’m amazed they let him plead out to less than a felony charge.

I’m amazed in general what gets allowed to plea down to lesser charges, even slam dunk cases… I had an old high school buddy who went down a dark path and got into drugs; combined with schizophrenia isn’t a good combination. He got ripped off by his drug dealer. So his roommate and him decided to to confront the dealer about it and the roommate pulled a gun to get the money/drugs. It was a slam dunk case; confession, witnesses and surveillance. He was charged with armed robbery and was later allowed to plea down to a misdemeanor battery with time served…

I mean, that’s a pretty violent charge to allow to plea down. May as well allow nonviolent criminals off with a plea deal while we’re at it.

 

[4x4snowmachinejeep]

do these recovery guys pay the talent? aka the red Jeep.....

 

[txj2go]

do these recovery guys pay the talent? aka the red Jeep.....

The red jeep didn't have a speaking part so its salary was pretty low.

 

[zouch]

technically, he pled "No Contest", not guilty.

i'm not surprised he was able to plead this one down; who doesn't dislike Insurance Companies? and what jury would have believed it was better to let someone languish out in the Dez than to all someone else to use their AAA card?

It’s what he was charged with, and pled guilty to. AAA is a form of insurance and he defrauded them. I love the show, and he is a cool guy. However he’s a criminal now and I’m amazed they let him plead out to less than a felony charge.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Does anyone know if he was convicted? Most first offense, non violent charges will get a deferred adjudication, which means don’t screw up in the next few years and it all goes away. It is not a conviction. Don’t know what he got, but DA would usually be the norm.

Don’t know him, never met him. He seems to provide a service few others will and has a clean, fun to watch show. Don’t know why so many want to bring him down.

 

[zouch]

sorry to hear about this.
buckle up for a ride.

when the High Pressure Fuel Pump went out on my EcoDiesel (at 4100 miles) they had to replace the entire fuel system. (yes, it turns out the CP4 pump is a known culprit.)
though they didn't give me any grief about it, it still took 2.5 months to get it back because of alleged lack of availability of one of the simpler parts that was required.

JeepCares was able to get me a rental (but i had to ask about it) and made my (small) payments for me while it was in the shop (but i had to ask about it). see a pattern here?

good luck. be prepared to stay on them!

Not good. My Willys broke down and now needs new motor. another Member and I have same problem.
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...t-fca-to-honor-a-buy-back.95941/#post-1988321

I just want my motor installed and home. I’m not looking for buy back. I hope mine goes smooth, but I’m stressing out for sure.

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[Mocopo]

Does anyone know if he was convicted? Most first offense, non violent charges will get a deferred adjudication, which means don’t screw up in the next few years and it all goes away. It is not a conviction. Don’t know what he got, but DA would usually be the norm.

Don’t know him, never met him. He seems to provide a service few others will and has a clean, fun to watch show. Don’t know why so many want to bring him down.

My understanding is even the illegal activity was rooted in him being a good guy. He was trying to look out for the customer, and (correct me if I'm wrong) would allow people to sign up for insurance after he recovered them, but before he charged them. He would also claim SxS were covered vehicles when they weren't. So the end result was the customer paid less, his company got paid the same amount, and AAA was who got "screwed."

 

[Overwatch]

I’m the Guy who brought up The criminal charges, and I really didn’t want to hijack this thread. The OP has a legitimate issue and Jeep should listen. If we want to talk about the criminal charges and whether or not it’s okay to defraud AAA let’s start a new thread….

 

[ratherbskiing]

Crickets from Jeep. I'll update this thread if I hear anything else.

On a side note, I was able to speak directly to Matt by phone a few times when this was al playing out and he was great to work with. Since that part of Utah is not really his patch, I went out of my way to encourage him to NOT take the Flint Switchbacks and to bring lots of fuel! The remoteness of the Maze District is hard to characterize to anyone who has not been there. It's not that it's technical, but it's continuously tedious, and sooooo slow.

 

[NBB]

Did the cost of this come out? I'm going to guestimate $15k.

AAA? Lol!

In 20-20 hindsight - what about leaving the motor running and having the presence of mind to just let the starter blow up? Seems like your only other option, other than dropping the starter with whatever tools only to find out you can't fix a shorted solenoid - or some such.

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