The saga continues... Why can't anything just be simple?
I get a call Tuesday morning from the dealership, the service writer tells me "hey good news, we got everything pushed through under warranty, however the tech said you need a new serpentine belt, that's going to be $360 installed."
At the time I was driving and didn't have anything in front of me, like the notes I had on the cost of parts for the TSB in case I opted to do it myself, and I didn't have the TSB in front of me to know what was included in it. Although even without my notes, this didn't make sense to me, if everything is covered under warranty, as in my Harmonic Balancer TSB, and leaking timing cover, why was I getting charged for labor to change the belt when they would have to pull the belt anyway to do the warranty work. I was also unclear about having to pay for a new belt as well, but at this point it's going on 2 weeks without my truck and I need it back so I figure I'd meet him in the middle. I told him if the truck needs a new belt it is what it is, I'll pay for the belt, but why do I have to pay you to install it when that's involved in the warranty job?
He said, oh yea I see what your saying let me call you back on this. 5 minutes later he calls back, tells me I'm right, and all I have to pay for is the belt itself which is $168 + tax. Initially I thought he said $68 + tax, but that was clarified and he was indeed charging me $168 +tax for just a belt, a belt that is part of the TSB. I ultimately agreed to pay for the belt because I've got too many other things going on in my life to continue to have to worry about this and when I'm getting my truck back.
When I finally get back to my shop, I'm still thinking about the cost of the belt, $168 + Tax for a belt? That seems way high, so I look back in my notes, and sure enough when I had calls parts last week they quoted me somewhere around $64 for the belt + tax, that's it. Just in case I googled the part number 05281817AA to see if maybe the parts guy was giving me a good discount, and he was, list price on that belt seems to be $91, but $91 + tax is still a far cry from $168 + tax. Now even after all the previous BS, this is what finally pissed me off to the point where I felt like the service writer is trying to screw me any way he possibly could to get some extra money for this repair and I felt the need to go over his head.
When I bought the truck, my sales guy happened to be an immediate family member of the dealership owner, and he told me if I ever needed anything reach out to him directly and he'll take care of it. I honestly believe that and I do think he's a very nice guy that does mean it, so I reached out to him via Email, and he got back to me immediately and we had a conversation on the phone. I told him I wanted to give him the chance to make it right instead of throwing them under the bus directly to Stellantis, then I voiced my concerns, basically explained everything from this post and my last post. He said he'd look into it and call me back. A few minutes later he called me back and apologized, saying the service writer I had was brand new and some of my concerns were due to his inexperience, he also said the parts guy had given me a wholesale price on the belt, which they would honor and that's all I'd have to pay for. He also said he would have the truck delivered back to me so I wouldn't have to have the hassle of getting a ride to pick it up, which I felt was a very nice gesture.
That all did make me feel a little better, but he's mainly on the sales/management side of things and knows very little about the service side other than what his minions tell him. So I still feel like my point was missed, that, A: the belt itself is still part of the TSB that's supposed to be covered under warranty I shouldn't have to pay for it at all, and B: even if the belt wasn't covered, why was the guy charging me almost double the list price for said belt?
It seems these are questions I will never know the answer to, but hopefully they'll have the truck back to me by Friday, which would be great since I'm supposed to take my Son to his first monster truck show, along with my Wife, my Father and a good friend. Fitting 4 full grown adults and my sons car seat in my wifes Equinox is going to be a tight fit if my truck isn't back in time.
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