Rudig Jensen CDJR — Local services in New Lisbon

I called Rudig on 2/15/23 to schedule a coolant flush and a coolant overfill reservoir replacement. I was told the part was ordered, but after almost 2 weeks of not hearing back, I called them. I was told OEM parts are special ordered and take time. Almost 3 weeks later the part was in and service scheduled for 3/24. Service completed 3/24, I paid $433.00 for a flush and new coolant reservoir, left, and drove home 8 miles. The following day (Saturday), after driving approximately 20 miles, the low coolant light came on. We stopped the car, checked the reservoir, the coolant wasn't low, and nothing was leaking, bubbling, etc., so we got back in and drove on. The coolant light flashed on and off a couple more times that day. The service department does not work on Saturdays, so I contacted a retired Saturn technician, who said it sounded like air in the system. We did as instructed and purged the air once we got home and our car had cooled down. We explained that when the service work was done, we had noticed the coolant was filled quite a ways above the max line for cold coolant (the engine was cold, and so was the coolant). We noted that after we purged the air, the coolant level in the reservoir dropped to where it was supposed to be for the max line for cold coolant. Unfortunately, that did not fix the issue with the coolant light going on. My friend asked what the part number was for the reservoir, and when I told him, he informed me that it wasn't an OEM part but rather a Dorman 603097 that has known issues with the coolant light going on after installation. I called the dealership right away on Monday and went over the coolant light issue and the air left in the cooling system. I also asked why I was told that we were waiting on an OEM part when a Dorman 603097 was installed instead? I let this advisor know that I was disappointed at being lied to and having these issues with our car right after it was serviced. This advisor stated he too would be disappointed and upset and he agreed that the ball had been dropped with scheduling. Yet, he offered no remedy. I encouraged the advisor to look into the bad reviews for the reservoir they had installed and consider that our reservoir's sensor might be bad, but was met with "wait and see" advice. I was told to drive the car around a few more days and let them know if the light continued to come on. The light continued to come on, so I called the advisor back to see what could be done. I was given an appointment at the end of the week and told they'd check for any air left in the system and do some tests. At the end of the week, we took the car in and were presented with paperwork for a $190.00 diagnostic test. When we asked why, we were told that we reported coolant leaking. When we said that we had never reported that, but rather possible air left in our system from a recent coolant flush (15 minutes to purge), and a test on the coolant reservoir sensor (3 minutes), we were told it was "policy" to charge this fee. We refused and left. I would not recommend Rudig for service work because they do not stand behind their work. Protocol at other dealerships is to bring the car back in and remedy the issue right away. Why this dealership acted the way that it did is troubling. It would have cost them about 25 minutes of their time to correct and resolve the issues from the coolant flush and installation of new part. The defective part was still under warranty, we would have ordered a new part and if need be paid them to install it for us. Instead, no acknowledgment of wrong-doing or circumstance, they ignored voicemails, tried to charge a diagnostic fee, and then hoped we'd go away. So we did. This was basic maintenance with an easy fix. I went ahead and ordered the OEM part and received it in 2 business days. With help from a friend we purged additional air from our cooling system, tested the Dorman tank and confirmed it had a defective low coolant sensor, and installed the new coolant overfill...

My first experience dealing with Rudig. I drop my car off. I tell the mechanic, I'm pretty sure it's the high pressure hose line, he kinda side eyes me like im not mechanically inclined. 2 hours, $185 later, Rudig calls. Umm...it's the high pressure hose line. So, $185 for you to tell me what i told you, before they diagnosed it. They gave me a $1,000 quote over the phone to fix it. I set my appointment to fix it for the following Monday.

I show up to get my car, and everyone just seems confused and disorganized. They finally find my paperwork. I pay my $185 bill for telling me what I told them. They give me my paperwork and I leave.

I got home and went through my paper work to look over the quote. I realized I never got a physical copy of the quote. I call Rudig, again everyone seems confused and disorganized. I wanted to know how many hoses were going to be replaced. If it's 5 hours of labor, and you have to remove the sub-frame, i want all the hoses replaced. The guy on the phone, has no idea whats going on. He has me on hold while he looks it up in the computer, he says he cant find it. I tell him it was written on one of the orange packets. So he puts me on hold again. So I hang up.

Someone calls me back a few minutes later. I ask them if they figured out their job? I told him I never got a physical copy of the quote! I need to know what parts are you replacing? one hose or 2? I said if you gotta remove the sub-frame then you should replace all the hoses wether they are good or bad. He said he will take care of it.

I got a verbal quote for 1,000$. But I still have no clue what I'm paying for, I just know I'm paying 5 hours of labor and I get some parts. Whether that's one hose or 2, nobody knows! The more hoses the more $ for parts and labor!? So I would really like to know what exactly does the $1,000 cover!??????

Needless to say, they lost a customer that was going to pay $1,000 to fix my car, plus put new tires on and a alignment . I will also be looking for a brand new truck this year, I know one place I won't be purchasing my brand new Ram from.

They do have the best car wash around though. So you will continue to get my 13$ weekly for a car wash.

P.s I fixed my car by...

We bought a Ford 2011 F-150 from Derek back in October 2020 - the entire process was VERY smooth - Derek even arranged the pick up and delivery of the vehicle when we wanted a local mechanic to give it a look before we purchased it. We made a reasonable offer and it was accepted, we were very impressed overall with the professionalism of everyone we dealt with. A couple years later (April 2022) when we purchased an RV, we were trying to figure out what the vehicle could tow and had some conflicting information. Derek was still there thankfully (and has now purchased the dealership with a couple other people!!) He was able to help us figure out what the vehicle could tow, after pulling up the window sticker from Canada (which was in FRENCH!!) and verified for us that our vehicle had Ford's "max tow package" (after some translation of course) and even emailed us the window sticker for our records. That was super awesome news because we were finally comfortable knowing what we could tow EXACTLY, and not be so "Loosey goosey" about it. There is so much more that goes into the towing than we realized!! Derek spent a considerable amount of time with us over the phone to educate/confirm the towing limit of our vehicle (and he certainly didn't have to do this - it was the end of the day around 5:30 pm to boot) - we think this shows the OUTSTANDING level of service that was provided - he really cared that we were happy, and knows quite a bit about towing also (took some special classes). Anyway, just wanted to highly recommend this dealership as really going above and beyond, thanks again Derek and Rudig Jensen!! We will recommend the dealership whenever we have the...