Pinckney Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram — Local services in Putnam Township

I visited Pinckney Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM in July of 2023 to inquire about purchasing a “Last Call” Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Dodge announced a convertible option for the “Last Call” edition would be available. Excitedly, I met with Brian Carruthers, sales representative, in July. Brian was very pleasant to work with. However, the information system used at the dealership was quite dated, and there were major inconsistencies with the Dodge website when ‘building out’ a vehicle. Initially, some of the options weren’t available when Brian and I went through the build process. However, when I returned to the dealership on July 31st (the last day to order), we were able to select some of the options which weren’t available prior. I placed my order, (the dealership had allocation for 3 units). A $5,000 non-refundable deposit was due, and was paid in full that day. My vehicle order number (VON) was generated, HC225056. Over the next couple of months, I contacted Brian to see how things were going in the build process. He said that everything was uneventful. He was as excited as I was for this vehicle as he had never sold a Hellcat Convertible before. My expected vehicle completion date was approximately 6-8 months from the order date of July 31st. Fast forward to Monday, October 23rd, 2023. I reached out to Brian to inquire about any updates and his reply via text at 11:20am read “Hi Mike, I can’t see anything on my end currently! That’s strange but Jay (sales manager) is back from hunting either tomorrow or Wednesday and I will update you when he is back!!” The very next day on Tuesday, October 24th, I received this text message from Brian at 10:01am: “Hello Mike!!! I have horrible news!!! Chrysler let Jay know that that are not building your car!!! He told them that we don’t have the allocation when we clearly did! I’m texting you this so that you know. You can call me when you have time to talk. I’m so sorry and pissed at the same time.” I asked him if he was serious, and he said unfortunately yes and provided me a screenshot that my vehicle was ‘unscheduled’ and that the order could not be considered for scheduling. I told him I’d be in soon to pick up my deposit. When I inquired about this ordeal with Jay, he stated he had went back and forth with the district manager, Doug Pickens, about the mishap. He even tried to get one of the other 2 they had allocation for as my order, but Doug said he couldn’t substitute. I requested an email transcript of the conversation between Doug and Jay, and that’s when I immediately noticed that the emails took place on September 8th! Brian was copied on these emails. To say that I was extremely frustrated and upset would be a huge understatement. I immediately contacted Doug to find out how this could happen. Doug fumbled over his words for several minutes and provided no explanation as to why this occurred, other than the dealership "didn’t have allocation." When I ordered the vehicle, Brian, Jay, and myself, all confirmed the dealer had 3 units allocated to them. What frustrates me the most, is that Brian knew since September 8th, about the situation. Yet, nearly 6 weeks later on October 23rd, he did not disclose this. I understand that Jay attempted to get me the car I ordered and was working on it, but not notifying the customer of a major problem with their order, is completely unacceptable. I could have used those 6 weeks to find a similar model to the one I had built for this “Last Call” edition. Unfortunately, by the end of October, none were available and ordering was closed after July 31st. When I picked up my $5,000 from Brian, I said to him, “Brian, honesty is always the best policy.” Hard news may be difficult to deliver, but dishonesty is exponentially worse. I never received nor heard from the owner of the dealership, Dan Hall. There are far too many dealers around who actually care about their customer base to waste time at one that apparently does not. This vehicle was over $100,000. I’ll take my...

2 stars given for the price received on a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both the sales and service departments have been atrocious.

Bill was nothing more than your stereotypical sales guy. I never was given his full attention as he always was balancing two customers. He was unable to show the features of the car saying only how cool the car was. The only reason he was able to get me a few percent off on my car was due to a poor relationship with his sales manager. Bill told me he didn’t get along and the manager acknowledged Bill’s lack of attention to my sale. After viewing and arriving at my Jeep’s price on a Saturday, I returned on Monday to close the deal. The paperwork on Monday was pre-filled out with a new price, now a few thousand dollars more than what we discussed. Bill did not believe nor remember our price until I showed him the Saturday paperwork in his hand writing. Bill continued to give a song and dance including to state how he personally orders and picks out a new Jeep coffee mug for all of his customers (neglecting to say there’s a stack of mugs in the back). Bill also asked to take a picture of me next to the new car but neglected to obtain a waiver and without consent posted my picture on social media for advertisement use. Bill was also unable to file the proper paperwork when submitting my license plate through the state of Michigan and obtained an incorrect plate. When this was brought to his attention, he informed me to change the plate when I renew further deferring time and cost to me.

I also return to the dealership with only 30 additional miles on the car, the distanced from the dealership to my house and back, for defects to the windshield and roof paneling. Bill directed me to the service team and never followed up. Joe is a big deal in the service department. He was short, polite, and very unwilling to take responsibility. In a report to Jeep, he was willing to acknowledge there was an outside influence which cause a linear gouge in the windshield. He verbalized that the mark was not from driving or other natural cause and likely from the manufacturing process but failed to communicate these remarks to Jeep. The PDI inspection and delivery process must have failed to catch a six-inch gouge in the windshield as well as a color defect of four by three inches in the paint. Joe again was unwilling to show the PDI report or any other documentation on the car. Joe directed me to take the concern up with Jeep saying this was my best hope to have the problem resolved. Joe was unwilling to extend or initiate communication with Jeep nor was he able to give a cause of the gouge on the windshield. He did offer his expert opinion on the manufacturing, delivery, prep, and driving conditions stating that none of these events could have caused the damage. The Jeep team explained they could only use the dealerships information and promptly denied claims saying they were unable to speak with the service manage. Joe and his team also directed me to file a personal insurance claim on my new car with only 30 additional miles on the odometer from time of sale and 80 total miles if I wanted the concern resolved.

Neither Bill, Joe, nor anyone at Pickney Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM have followed up with these experiences several weeks...

We made the mistake of trusting our salesperson. We were told and lead to believe that we were purchasing a 6 cylinder, which when bluebooked would have aligned with what the car was priced. We, now three months after purchasing, were just looking under the hood and my husband realized it’s actually a 4 cylinder. That’s on us for not investigating it ourselves and going with what our salesperson was telling us. But because of that the car is worth about $5k less than what we paid for it. Our salesperson also talked us into buying an extended warranty and gave us a brochure that explained the coverage. After noticing our first mistake, we decided to read our paperwork more thoroughly. The warranty we were talked into buying and given a brochure on expires in a couple days. The extended warranty that we actually bought is different than what we were lead to believe we purchased. We also bought the car with the understanding that one of the buttons would be replaced because it is broken. That is in the paperwork, but we never heard anything back and it’s been about three months now. We also wanted to turn our other lease in a few months early. Our salesperson told us we would owe several thousand dollars to turn it in early. When we talked to another dealership, they told us the price this location gave us is the price if we were to purchase the vehicle and not the price if the dealer took it into inventory. Which means they were going to try to pocket a few thousand dollars from us that the other dealership said isn’t ethical. The person at the other dealership is who we got our lease from, and we have worked with in the past. They are also a friend of a friend, so I trust their input. It is my personal opinion, that when working with this business you research your lease or purchase documentation and make sure you are verifying the details yourself. You cannot trust the guidance of their staff, because they are not out to help you or help you save money. We made some mistakes and I hope sharing them will help others avoid feeling frustrated the way we do.

Editing to respond to business: The car was purchased in my husband’s name, and I don’t display my full name on here as far as I can tell. It should only be my last initial. We purchased the piece the salesperson said would be replaced on our own, so outside of that I don’t think there is any remedy for the situation. Thanks for responding though. I’ve decided to turn my lease in and go for a...