Ewald CDJR Oconomowoc — Local services in Town of Oconomowoc

AVOID…AVOID…AVOID. I bought my Gladiator in the middle of covid. Buying experience on a special order went smoothly. After driving the truck for a few months, it started to develop a strange sound; so, I took it there for service. They attempted to address it, but the sound came back. So, the truck went back. They tried again by replacing more parts to no avail. On the third attempt, they determined it needed an axle replacement. It was on backorder for months, which was understandable. But, it was the lack of communication that was bothersome. I was without my truck for about 4 months. I was never proactively informed regarding the status. I had to call to get any information. Finally, the axle came in and it was fixed. Over the course of the next few months, I had the regular maintenance performed at Ewald, until my Jeep wave freebies were done, at which point I switched to a different Jeep dealer much closer to me. Recently, when the other dealer didn’t honor a Mopar issued oil change coupon, I decided to take a chance at Ewald again. It took me recognizing an error at checkout to get the pricing correct. While performing the vehicle inspection, they noticed a leak coming from the rear axle and suggested I set up an appt. I asked why they couldn’t address it while it was there and they said that they would need to order parts for a new axle. Fast forward about 2 weeks…I dropped off the truck at 7:30am on a Friday. Busy working all day, I never thought about my truck…finally, around 4:30 I thought “shouldn’t it be done by now”. It took several minutes for them to figure out the status of my truck. The rep said it wasn’t done. I asked him why not. He said it needed parts, but would be done on Monday. I figured they must have run into other issues. I asked to speak to the manager. He said that she wasn’t there. I asked if I could have a loaner since I needed a car over the weekend. He said he’d have to ask his manager. After silence, I asked, “could you do that?”. He said he'd have to call her since she wasn’t there…again I asked “could you do that and give me a call back?” Nearly an hour later and about 45 minutes before closing time I was informed that I couldn’t have a loaner, but he could give me the keys back to my truck. Until then, I figured it wasn’t drivable. I asked him what they were waiting for. He said that there was a recall on the truck and that it needed a part. I asked “what part?”. He said a new axle. At this point, I am thoroughly confused. I asked him what the fix would have been if it didn’t have the recall; and it’s like he didn’t understand what I was getting at. Since they were closing, he said he could leave the keys in the truck; so, my wife quickly dropped everything and scrambled over there. When I got there, I went through the rigamarole of questioning the rep again why my truck wasn’t done to which he said it was due to the recall. I asked him what was the fix for my truck that day…again, it’s like he didn’t get it. I finally said that I had made the appointment about 2 weeks ago; and, they obviously knew what needed to be ordered and installed, and ample time to get it. My wife and I were furious at this point. As luck would have it, the salesman that sold me the truck walked into the service dept. He asked how I was doing and got an earful. He graciously tried to help by offering to have one of his salesmen pick up my truck on Monday. I told him that I expect a call from the Service Manager when she is back in on Monday along with an explanation. Monday comes…no call…Tuesday still nothing…now, over an entire week has gone past and nothing…how cowardly, inconsiderate and disrespectful? Based upon my experience with this Ewald service dept over the past 3+ years, I can only assume that it is par for the course and is a testament to how they run their business. I recommend that you look elsewhere for service. And, if you like to get your vehicles serviced where you buy them, I’d suggest avoiding buying from Ewald (for which I’ll be doing soon, as I’m in the market for a...

If I could give this a zero star option I would. I dropped my vehicle off to get the BCM programmed. I was told over the phone it would be roughly $170 dollars and that I would be able to pick it up saturday by end of day. Drove to the dealership Saturday afternoon and saw the vehicle with no one working on it. I sat in the entrance of the service area for a couple minutes while CJ was sitting in her office on her cell phone. This was my first experience with the dealership. Got her attention and got to talk to the tech that was working on multiple vehicles at the time. I was told they were having some issues with the key being programmed and that they needed the spare which I did not have with me at the time.

After going back and forth asking questions about why the key would be the issue even though the doors were locking and unlocking with the fob, I left and was told to check back at the end of the day. Checked back and was told they have not gotten any further with the vehicle due to other scheduled services. We were told they would be able work on it monday and they doubled back stating they would not be able to work on it until friday due to other services.

Now monday rolls around and I still have not heard anything. I gave them a call and was rudely talked to by CJ who simply said we do not have answers and hung up on me. Monday night I swung through the dealership to drop off my spare and grab some items from the jeep that luckily I grabbed as the vehicle was sitting unlocked on the property.

I call back tuesday and was met with the same harsh answer and response with a phone hang up. We turned to having someone else call the dealership Tuesday at which time we found out the dealership had me up to $400 in diagnostic fees which I did not agree to having done ( I agreed to $200 cap for service to cover the programming and their estimate that was emailed to me was for $0.00). Our contact who spoke with the dealership argued the fact that we did not give permission to run diagnostics. When asked what their next steps were, we were greeted with "We are going to start putting in new modules to figure out which one is bad." We were also told that had they known the vehicle was flooded they never would have agreed to work on it, understandable. However, I was up front with them when I called and talked to them that the vehicle was flooded and they even had it written on the service paperwork that it was flooded.

I called up there Wednesday morning and went straight to voicemail. Left a vm stating I would be picking up the vehicle friday and asking for them to call me back to tell me what my total bill was as I still have not heard from them regarding my vehicle personally.

We showed up at the dealership Friday morning to pick up the vehicle and tow it back to a different shop. Once there, I was greeted by a gentleman in the service area, but they did not have my spare key attached to the paperwork. When I was checking out the lady working with me chuckled when she heard that they were looking for my spare, which to me seems like it is a common occurrence with this service area.

All said and done, they charged me the $200 I agreed to, and I went on my way. Other shop worked on it for a day and had it up and running and better yet, driving down the road under its own power. All it took was two new batteries.

I do not recommend anyone ever going to this dealership for service. CJ, the service manager is very rude and knows nothing about what they are doing back there and very poor communication. They also failed to tell me that the whole time this vehicle was there, it was leaking oil from the rear main seal, an easy look when it is sitting in their lot leaving a giant oil spot under the vehicle.

I do thank the parts manager for providing me info on the key and telling me that a key is not the issue before I spent $300 on a new key...

Do NOT take your car here for service. They had my car from July 1st to July 23rd and the amount of lying and dishonesty from the service manager was shocking. I will never go to this dealership again.

Background of my situation, I dropped my 2017 Grand Cherokee off on July 1st because I had a light that said "service electronic stability control" and something about servicing 4 wheel drive. The service manager, CJ, accepted the car and called me on July 2nd to inform me they needed to perform wire tracing with an estimate of 3 labor hours @ $200 an hour. The following day, July 3rd, she texted me the "We found chewed, damaged, and corroded wiring. This could be an insurance claim if need be.", no issues here, I appreciated the update and asked for an estimate and/or summary of the situation so insurance can decide if they will cover it. To which she responded "yes it will just take a little while. I only have half the computers at this point." This is understandable due to the ransomware attack but to me "a little while" means a few hours or so.

I followed up on July 6th, no response.

I followed up again on July 8th, she responded "give me an hour. I didn't have computer access until 10 minutes ago". Strange that there was computer access on July 3rd but not on the morning of July 8th but that's besides the point. I did not receive any further communication on July 8th.

I followed up again on July 9th with a phone call, Wayne answers but CJ advises she can do an "internet estimate" and asks for my insurance agent's email. At this point I'm very frustrated because she lied about when she will send the estimate and she never asked for the agent's email in the first place which tells me she had no intention of doing it any time soon.

I followed up again on July 11th with a phone call asking about the status of this estimate to which she responded "you will have it within 10 minutes". I finally received two estimates, one for $875.45 and one for $2242.03. What I find strange is there is no detail on the estimates, the line item just says "driveability". So this tells me she threw something together with no thought put into it. She also sent the estimates to my insurance agent stating the work will be done by 7/17/2024. My insurance adjustor reached out to her on July 12th asking for additional pictures and information so he can make his assessment.

He did not hear anything from her so I went to the dealership on July 18 asking if my car is fixed and if everything is figured out with my insurance. She said the work is complete and she spoke with my insurance adjustor and he approved everything but the oil change (that I did not ask for) and that I should be getting a check in the mail from the insurance to cover the cost of the repair minus the deductible. I relayed this information to my insurance adjuster and he said "I did speak to her on July 18...We have not approved anything yet. We never received their estimate and photos".

At this point I'm extremely frustrated with the dishonesty of the service manager CJ, most of the things she has told me are flat out lies. This is extremely disappointing that this is how customer service is handled at Ewald Chrysler.

On July 19th, CJ finally got my insurance agent the information needed for his assessment. I went to the dealership on July 22nd to check in on the car because the claim was approved but I did not hear anything from the dealership on when the work would be complete. CJ tells me the work will be finished by noon the next day. Which is also strange because they quoted 10 hours of work and finished the work in about 3.5 business hours so it seems like they overcharged for the work that was completed.

Overall, the dealership had my car for 23 days and refused to provide a loaner vehicle. This was the worst customer service I have ever...