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Ok. Heres my story, this is gonna be long, and I apologize for that. Cliff notes are at the bottom.
I bought my 98 TJ from the Joseph EZ Loan Center in Owosso. This is the same Joseph that has the Pontiac and Ford dealerships in Grand Blanc/Flint, etc.. Went to an EZ Loan center as I'm only 18, and I even though I have a high credit score, it doesn't mean anything as I haven't had credit for long enough...
"Joseph" is also the guy that has the big billboard in Flint that says "Credit Stink? Poopycredit.com" and the "Wedeal.biz" thing and he's always drinking Diet Coke in his commercials..
Anyways.. This is my experience.
I got this Jeep on June 18th, 2007. Everything was great with it, but I've known from past experiences that warranty's are a great thing. So I bought a $1000 12 months/12,000 miles drivetrain warranty (the best warranty I could get for a vehicle this old). They told me before I left that the warranty started that day and would continue until June 18th, 2008. So I left, happy.
About two weeks after I had it, I started noticing that sometimes when I stopped at lights and stop signs, that it would take almost full throttle to get my Jeep to go anywhere, like the brakes were dragging or something. After lots of inspection, I find out that its my transmission starting out in second gear instead of first gear.
This problem goes away for a few weeks. Then it comes back, not really bad at first, but it comes back. To get around this I have been manually switching my automatic into first gear and there was no issues at all with that, no weird noises, no slipping or anything.
A few days later, its raining VERY hard. I'm a pizza delivery driver, and I was out delivering pizza's all during the rain. Every road in the area was flooded with a few feet of water. Normally not a big thing, I've been in similar conditions with cars, and this is a Jeep so no big deal right?
Next thing I know I'm sitting in the middle of Saginaw Road in Grand Blanc with ATF Fluid pouring out from underneath my Jeep.
I bring my Jeep into Genesee Valley Dodge (a fantastic dealership BTW! Their service people are awesome). The next day I get a call that my $1000 warranty has not been instated yet, and that I need to call the Joseph dealership.
So heres a recap of what went on with this whole warranty ordeal:
June 18th, 2007 - They tell me the warranty is in full effect.
July 19-21 ish.. - I find out the warranty has not be instated yet. Call Joseph and they tell me that the paper work must have been mixed up somewhere along the line (even though they faxed it to the warranty company while I sat there and watched when I bought the Jeep). Said their finance lady who would normally handle these types of things is off for the day, and they'd have to try to reach her. She calls me, says she'll get to the bottom of this, and hangs up.
The next day - Still no word from the finance lady, I call Joseph EZ Finance Center in Owosso and they tell me shes with a customer and ask for my name and number and will have her call me as soon as possible.
The next day - Still no word from the finance lady, call again, and they say she's busy and to call back later. 2 hours later I call back, and they said shes busy with a customer. This time I get a little snobby with the guy on the phone. "What do I have to do to get this situation worked out? I called yesterday, you said you'd call me back, and nobody ever did, I need to talk to the finance lady." He tells me she will call me back, goes to hang up, and I say Don't you want my phone number? "Oh yea, what is it?".
The next day - Still didn't hear anything. Now I'm really angry. I call up complaining, and I get forwarded to the General Manager of the Joseph EZ Finance Center, Joel or Joe (forget which). He apologizes, claims that the money was sent out the week before for the warranty, and that he's "calling every hour on the hour to see if the warranty company has gotten the money yet." and that he wants to put me in a rental car immediately as soon as I can get there. I go get the rental car, the entire time I'm there they are making me feel unwelcome.
A couple days go by, and I call them again. Talk to Joel, the GM, again, and he is very agitated sounding, and kinda mouthy. Tells me he's still calling every hour on the hour trying to make sure they get the money, says he'll call the warranty company and call me back, but never asks for my number (and I've never given it to him). I have to force my number onto him. A few hours later, he still hasn't called, so I call him again. This time he's especially snobby with me, and says that he transferred everything over to the finance lady at the main Joseph dealership, and to call her about it.
So I call her, she says she has never heard a word about this from the Joel guy, and sounds pissed at him. She says she will call the warranty company immediately, and that she will call me back ASAP. She actually does! First time anybody from Joseph has actually called me back. She says the money is finally there, and that the warranty has been instated. I told her I will never be buying a vehicle from Joseph again, and if she could transfer that up the line a bit, that would be great. She says not to worry, that they will hear about this whole ordeal.
This was all today. I know my timelines are a bit off, sorry.
Cliff Notes:
-Buy Jeep from Joseph EZ Loan Center
-Tranny goes out
-Warranty not instated or payed for by Joseph yet a month after I had purchased the vehicle
-Joseph feeds me every excuse and wont return my calls, nobody is willing to help me in any way
-Finally talk to the right person after 3 weeks of not having my Jeep, and the warranty is finally payed for.
Now I'm just waiting for my Jeep to get fixed, and to get it back.
Now I'm wondering what I should do. I'm thinking the only reason they wouldn't have sent the money in for the warranty was that they were sitting on it, thinking that my Jeep was in too good of condition to actually need to use the warranty. So they decided to keep the money, and if I never use the warranty, then they just made an extra $1000 off of me. And if I do use the warranty, woops! they forgot to send the check in! How convenient..
I'm thinking about contacting the BBB. But I'm wondering if theres something more effective or more useful I should do? I'm sure the BBB gets all sorts of complaints, and that they probably wouldn't care or do anything for me anyways.. But I guess it offers some piece of mind...
-Brandon
I bought my 98 TJ from the Joseph EZ Loan Center in Owosso. This is the same Joseph that has the Pontiac and Ford dealerships in Grand Blanc/Flint, etc.. Went to an EZ Loan center as I'm only 18, and I even though I have a high credit score, it doesn't mean anything as I haven't had credit for long enough...
"Joseph" is also the guy that has the big billboard in Flint that says "Credit Stink? Poopycredit.com" and the "Wedeal.biz" thing and he's always drinking Diet Coke in his commercials..
Anyways.. This is my experience.
I got this Jeep on June 18th, 2007. Everything was great with it, but I've known from past experiences that warranty's are a great thing. So I bought a $1000 12 months/12,000 miles drivetrain warranty (the best warranty I could get for a vehicle this old). They told me before I left that the warranty started that day and would continue until June 18th, 2008. So I left, happy.
About two weeks after I had it, I started noticing that sometimes when I stopped at lights and stop signs, that it would take almost full throttle to get my Jeep to go anywhere, like the brakes were dragging or something. After lots of inspection, I find out that its my transmission starting out in second gear instead of first gear.
This problem goes away for a few weeks. Then it comes back, not really bad at first, but it comes back. To get around this I have been manually switching my automatic into first gear and there was no issues at all with that, no weird noises, no slipping or anything.
A few days later, its raining VERY hard. I'm a pizza delivery driver, and I was out delivering pizza's all during the rain. Every road in the area was flooded with a few feet of water. Normally not a big thing, I've been in similar conditions with cars, and this is a Jeep so no big deal right?
Next thing I know I'm sitting in the middle of Saginaw Road in Grand Blanc with ATF Fluid pouring out from underneath my Jeep.
I bring my Jeep into Genesee Valley Dodge (a fantastic dealership BTW! Their service people are awesome). The next day I get a call that my $1000 warranty has not been instated yet, and that I need to call the Joseph dealership.
So heres a recap of what went on with this whole warranty ordeal:
June 18th, 2007 - They tell me the warranty is in full effect.
July 19-21 ish.. - I find out the warranty has not be instated yet. Call Joseph and they tell me that the paper work must have been mixed up somewhere along the line (even though they faxed it to the warranty company while I sat there and watched when I bought the Jeep). Said their finance lady who would normally handle these types of things is off for the day, and they'd have to try to reach her. She calls me, says she'll get to the bottom of this, and hangs up.
The next day - Still no word from the finance lady, I call Joseph EZ Finance Center in Owosso and they tell me shes with a customer and ask for my name and number and will have her call me as soon as possible.
The next day - Still no word from the finance lady, call again, and they say she's busy and to call back later. 2 hours later I call back, and they said shes busy with a customer. This time I get a little snobby with the guy on the phone. "What do I have to do to get this situation worked out? I called yesterday, you said you'd call me back, and nobody ever did, I need to talk to the finance lady." He tells me she will call me back, goes to hang up, and I say Don't you want my phone number? "Oh yea, what is it?".
The next day - Still didn't hear anything. Now I'm really angry. I call up complaining, and I get forwarded to the General Manager of the Joseph EZ Finance Center, Joel or Joe (forget which). He apologizes, claims that the money was sent out the week before for the warranty, and that he's "calling every hour on the hour to see if the warranty company has gotten the money yet." and that he wants to put me in a rental car immediately as soon as I can get there. I go get the rental car, the entire time I'm there they are making me feel unwelcome.
A couple days go by, and I call them again. Talk to Joel, the GM, again, and he is very agitated sounding, and kinda mouthy. Tells me he's still calling every hour on the hour trying to make sure they get the money, says he'll call the warranty company and call me back, but never asks for my number (and I've never given it to him). I have to force my number onto him. A few hours later, he still hasn't called, so I call him again. This time he's especially snobby with me, and says that he transferred everything over to the finance lady at the main Joseph dealership, and to call her about it.
So I call her, she says she has never heard a word about this from the Joel guy, and sounds pissed at him. She says she will call the warranty company immediately, and that she will call me back ASAP. She actually does! First time anybody from Joseph has actually called me back. She says the money is finally there, and that the warranty has been instated. I told her I will never be buying a vehicle from Joseph again, and if she could transfer that up the line a bit, that would be great. She says not to worry, that they will hear about this whole ordeal.
This was all today. I know my timelines are a bit off, sorry.
Cliff Notes:
-Buy Jeep from Joseph EZ Loan Center
-Tranny goes out
-Warranty not instated or payed for by Joseph yet a month after I had purchased the vehicle
-Joseph feeds me every excuse and wont return my calls, nobody is willing to help me in any way
-Finally talk to the right person after 3 weeks of not having my Jeep, and the warranty is finally payed for.
Now I'm just waiting for my Jeep to get fixed, and to get it back.
Now I'm wondering what I should do. I'm thinking the only reason they wouldn't have sent the money in for the warranty was that they were sitting on it, thinking that my Jeep was in too good of condition to actually need to use the warranty. So they decided to keep the money, and if I never use the warranty, then they just made an extra $1000 off of me. And if I do use the warranty, woops! they forgot to send the check in! How convenient..
I'm thinking about contacting the BBB. But I'm wondering if theres something more effective or more useful I should do? I'm sure the BBB gets all sorts of complaints, and that they probably wouldn't care or do anything for me anyways.. But I guess it offers some piece of mind...
-Brandon
