Griffin Motors Company — Local services in Vernon Township

I have an ABS safety recall on my 2022 Ram. I set it up to be taken care of at Griffin. Their service dept said it would be a 1 1/2hr update. I told them that I would have to wait, so I would be wandering around their neighborhood trying to find something to do on foot. After an hour, I went back to check on things and they told me they couldn't do the recall because the remedy wasn't ready for my vehicle yet. I'm not sure why they couldn't tell me that when I called them to schedule the appointment or why they couldn't call me when they knew I was waiting around in the area. That was on October 31, 2024.

Today is December 16, 2024 and I hadn't heard anything on my recall so I called them. The service manager stated that I would have to take my business elsewhere because of a negative customer satisfaction survey that I filled out. The one the dealership repeatedly mails you until you fill it out. That was over a year ago and they are using it as an excuse to refuse fixing a safety recall issue with the Ram truck that I'm still paying off?

That entire negative customer review episode was because I asked for my tires to be balanced and rotated when I took it in for an oil change. All they did was the rotation and when I got on the interstate, my truck was vibrating uncontrollably. When I called them to ask them about it, they said they didn't do the balancing but I could bring it back in and they would do that. But they wanted to charge me another $50 to take the tires back off to do the balancing and then back on. When I set the appointment up, I expected it to be done when I asked for it to be done. Not separated into the two appointments where they're going to charge both times to take the tires on and off.

Everywhere else I've taken my vehicles to for over 35 years had it as just a part of the rotation process. I mean, you had to pay for it but you didn't get charged twice for taking the tires on and off in 2 appointments. I sold cars at Honda Meadville, our service department didn't just rotate tires without balancing them. They ARE going to vibrate to some extent and any mechanic you ask will agree. I wanted people to know that this service dept expects you to know that ahead of time and that most people don't know anything about it.

BUT it was a moot point because I asked for it to be performed when I scheduled the appointment, so it should've gotten done. After complaining, they did the balancing without charging me extra to take the tires on and off. Just like they should've looked up my trucks info to know that the recall wasn't ready for my truck. They made the mistakes and I made the complaints and now I can't even get my truck recalls there anymore?

What was the comment in the dealership customer survey that the service manager did not like? I explained to the dealership in their survey that I felt they should inform customers on the possible need to have the tires balanced while they're being rotated instead of waiting until they have to come back and get charged again for taking the tires on and off and the need for scheduling a second appointment. I stated that I felt they were "setting customers up for failure". Meaning the customers would fail in their attempt to get everything addressed at the same time and only one charge of having the tires (in this case) taken on and off.

They had no problem since that bad survey over a year ago to take my money for other things like $87 oil changes. When it comes to them not making much (if any) to do a recall, they're going to pull the bad survey out of the garbage from over a year ago and use that as ammo against me? So that they don't have to do the work? I have a complaint in with Ram also. They're NOT happy and have opened up an investigation. They said the service department cannot turn me away for a safety recall. Regardless, I scheduled the recall at...

Our experience with Griffin Motors Service Department was absolutely despicable and I cannot believe the Joe the service manager speaks to customers the way he spoke to me. This is a lengthy review but please take the time to read it in order to fully understand the situation.

A little background information: My new company vehicle (2023 Dodge Promaster 2500) broke down in my driveway and I had to have it towed through MOPAR warranty which was a great experience. I was given the choice of which dealership to have it towed to for repairs. Working for a local business myself, I chose Griffins Motors to support a fellow local business. When it arrived at Griffins I was notified by the girl at the front desk that it would be a "few days" before they could get it in, which was quickly amended by I am assuming her supervisor to "2-3 WEEKS"

At this point I was falsely optimistic. I called and asked for permission to send our employee up to check the fuses, in case it was a simple issue, I wouldn't have to wait for weeks for Griffins at least diagnose it. They politely allowed my mechanic to take a look and it was not as simple as a fuse, however what I didn't find out until I went in person after week 3 to ask what the hold up was, is that Joe the service manager pushed us to the back of the line just because I had someone else look at it. That in itself is a despicable practice, but wait it gets better...

At the end of week 4, I called and politely asked the girl in the front office if they would be getting my vehicle in to be looked at this week. Immediately I was transferred to Joe the service manager, I politely asked him also if they would be getting my vehicle in since we were now at 4 weeks since drop off. He explained that they only have one lift for high back vans and there was a van on it waiting for parts that were backordered. I simply and politely expressed my confusion of why they could not move the van waiting for parts off the lift and AT LEAST look at mine. This obviously hit a nerve and led to him sarcastically asking "Have you ever replaced a transmission on a Promaster?" to which replied "No" in shock of the tone he used to speak to a customer. Joe then felt the need to explain the anatomy of a vehicle to me, again sarcastically. Then Joe asked if we had contacted the dealership we purchased the vehicle from to do the warranty work. I remained polite and explained that we would rather support a local business, and that we bought the vehicle from an out of state dealership because they offered a better deal. Joe then educated me with the shocking statement "Actually warranty work doesn't support our business at all, that's a misconception on your part."

At this point I had enough, I said "Thank you." and hung up the phone. The following week they got my van in, repaired, and back to me. I sincerely hope that this isn't because I was the "squeaky wheel" and that Joe will learn to speak to customers in a polite and...

We found Griffin Motors, Meadville, PA in October 2017 while searching for a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica in the dark gray color. Our salesperson Greg Davis was quite helpful and we felt the hour plus drive was worth it. When we picked up the van we were sold an extended Zurich warranty by the finance manager Ron. At that time, he told us what a great value it was and if we took it to any dealer other than Griffin it was only a $100 deductible, but if we brought it to them that deductible was waived. He reiterated this several times during our paper signing. Boy were we gullible! At about 18000 miles the Uconnect radio system locked up and we had to take it to Griffin twice for repairs. On the 3rd occurrence we decided to take it to a local dealer as it was under regular warranty. Surprise! They couldn’t duplicate it – not that time or the next 2 times. Looking back we believe it was because that would have classified it as a lemon. We also experienced issues with the USB drive on the dash and was told it wouldn’t be covered under the extended warranty unless they could find the problem. We decided to call Griffin to see if they could help us – we were told at that time that we hadn’t checked the box (that we weren’t told about) for the $100 deductible to be waived. After more issues, we traded the van in for a different make and was told by that vehicle manufacturer that we would be entitled to a refund on our extended warranty. We started the process in late September and got the run around by Griffin and were finally told we would receive our refund check in mid-December 2020. On December 28 we called as we still didn’t have it. We were told it was mailed December 21, 2020 and could we please give it until January 4, 2021 due to ongoing USPS issues and if we hadn’t received it they would stop payment and overnight a new check. We agreed. We called January 4, 2021 and were told at first that we would have to incur the charges to stop payment and overnight. We protested and were told they would handle it. January 7, 2021 we called as we still hadn’t received it and had to leave a message. We called again on January 8, 2021 was told it was sent next day air saver on January 6, 2021. We were given a tracking number and surprise again – it didn’t exist in the UPS system! On January 9, 2021 it shows up in the system stating it was shipped January 8, 2021 will arrive on January 11, 2021. We received the check on January 11, 2021 but it was dated January 7, 2021 – one day after it was originally supposed to have been sent via UPS Next Day Air Saver. Once again we were lied to! Please be very careful when dealing with...