| Buying Process |
N/A |
| Sales Associate |
N/A |
| Vehicle Selection |
N/A |
| Finance Department |
N/A |
| Trade-In Process |
N/A |
| Service Department |
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20% |
| Sales Pressure |
N/A |
User: CharlieOrlando
Date: 04/08/2007 22:47
Comment: A word to the wise: Stay away from Arrigo Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep (DCJ). Why? Well, Arrigo DCJ completely misdiagnosed what was wrong with my car, a 2002 PT Cruiser. As a result, a simple repair that should have cost about $350 ended up costing me upwards of $1000. Indeed, the cost actually turns out to be much more, actually, when I include auto rental and multiple towing fees that I had to pay due to the mis-diagnosis. So, what happened? Read on...
In early 2006, my 2002 PT Cruiser started showing signs of an ignition problem. By June 2006, the car wouldn't start at all on some occassions. So, in June 2006, I took my car to Arrigo DJC in West Palm Beach, FL. Arrigo's technicians replaced the battery and the starter. For a few weeks the car's problem seemed fixed. However, over the next 6 months, I had to take my car back into Arrigo five (yes, FIVE) times as the ignition problem recurred over and over. Needless to say, it became clear to everyone involved that Arrigo had only assumed that my battery and starter were the causes of the ignition problem. The ignition problem was clearly caused by some other component in the car.
As it turned out, on my final visit to Arrigo (in early January 2007), Arrigo determined the ignition problem was, in fact, due to a faulty ignition cable. This means that, several months earlier when Arrigo replaced my battery and starter, there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL wrong with my original battery and starter. In other words, they replaced a good battery and starter with... a good battery and starter. And then charged me hundreds to do so. So, of course, I wanted a refund for the cost replacing my original battery and starter as those two items never should have been replaced in the first place. That's only fair, right? I mean, There was nothing wrong with my original battery and starter -- so why pay for a "repair" that repaired absolutely nothing? That is, back in June 2006, Arrigo did nothing more than replace perfectly good auto parts with other perfectly good auto parts. There's nothing fair about that. So, I contacted Arrigo and requested that the give me a refund for the work on my car that wasn't necessary. Well... despite contacting Arrigo's service director, Mr. Corman, by certified mail and by e-mail over a three month period, I haven't heard a peep back from him or from anyone else at Arrigo (at the time of this writing, its mid-April 2007). It seems that Arrigo's standard operating procedure regarding customer refunds is to just ignore the customer's grievances altogether and hope the customer just goes away out of frustration. How low can this company go? Well, let's just say that Arrigo's Service Department is setting bar very, very low indeed. First they botched the diagnosis of my car's problem. Then they changed out parts that didn't need to be changed out. Then they don't bother to answer my requests to discuss my grievances. That's pretty low, ladies and gentlemen.
Because Arrigo isn't lifting a finger to address my (very expensive) grievance, I definitely get the impression that Arrigo DCG has no intention of refunding me for the parts (and labor) that never should have been charged to me in the first place. I simply can't believe that a dealership -- or any company for that matter -- would be so utterly contemptuous of its own customers. I also find it amazing that a Service Department could be so arrogant as to not even bother to contact a customer who has a clearly legitmate complaint. Yes, folks, this is what Arrigo Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep -- once an honorable company (at least in my eyes) -- has become. The Service Department at Arrigo is truly an embarrassment to the Chrysler Corporation. And that's a darned shame as Jim Arrigo -- the Arrigo's owner -- is one of the most respected businessmen here in South Florida. I know that he spent a lot of time and effort building his dealership. Yet, it seems that Mr. Arrigo may now be completely clueless as to how customer complaints are being handled by his own dealership's Service Department. I'm sure if he knew, he'd be very disappointed in how they are handling customer complaints.
So, if you have a problem with your Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge, stay away from Arrigo DCJ at all costs and take your business to another South Florida Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealership. From what I can make of it, Arrigo DCJ just no longer cares about rectifying wrongs that they -- either intentionally or not -- imposed upon their own customers. At least that's my opinion about it all.
