Gurley-Leep Dodge - South Bend, IN

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The most recent reports are at the top of the list; the oldest are at the bottom.

Sales=Fair, Service=Poor, Parts=Poor, bought there=Yes, scv_there=Yes, Buy_DaimlerChrysler_again=Maybe,
I bought a used 2000 Dodge RAM 1500 in September 2003 with 45k miles on it. Bright Yellow with custom graphics, loaded with leather seats, hard tonneau cover, it was everything I wanted and more. In Feb. 2005, I had an oil pressure problem, and i took it in. I was told that there was a sludge problem, and that caused the oil pump to go bad. It ended up being covered by the extended warranty that I bought. Before the warranty inspector came out, I went in and was shown the problem. I took pictures of the sludge in the bottom of the oil pan, and sent them off to mechanic friends of mine to get their opinions. After the warranty claim had been allowed, I talked to the service guy and he suggested that I have a chemical bath done to ensure that the engine was free of sludge. I got the truck back, and was fairly satisfied... until 8 months later! In Dec. 2005, I had the same oil pressure issue and I took my truck back into Gurley Leep. I was told that the same sludge issue was the problem, and that the extended warranty that was sold to me by Gurley Leep may or may not cover the problem. After talking with Nathan Johnson, he explained the problem to me, and even took me back to show me the problem. He told me that the warranty company may deny my claim, because the problem was caused by the sludge build-up in the engine. He explained to me that it might take up to 48 hours to get a warranty claims inspector out to the site to examine and either accept or deny the claim. He suggested that I get all my oil change receipts together to prove that I did my due diligence in having my oil changed regularly and on time (included in the supporting documents). The next day, he called me and told me that my truck was finished, that the technician had cleaned it all out and put it back together. Elated, I went and picked up the truck and paid over $300, including my deductible and other misc items they replaced. I left the Gurley Leep parking lot, and got 1.2 miles down the road, when the problem happen ed again. Nathan had told me that the technician had taken the truck out and driven about 50 miles, but I noticed that it still had the same 1/8th tank of gas it had 3 days earlier when i dropped it off. I called Nathan and he told me to bring the truck back. He told me that it would be another 48 hours for the warranty inspector to come back out, as he had cancelled them when the technician stated he had fixed the problem. He told me that he was going to try and get them to put another engine in the truck. 48 hours later, the warranty claims inspector had come out and denied the claim on my truck. I went into the Gurley Leep GMC store (Owned by the same people), and explained the situation, and that the truck was in their service bays, and I asked them to work with me to get me into another truck. After many conversations, the sales department had told me no, that there was nothing they could do. I found that I could get into a new Dodge Ram 1500, at Downey Dodge in Wakarusa, IN and trade in my truck toward the purchase of a new truck. I called and told Nathan to pack up all the parts to my 2000 Ram, and that I would have it towed. He then told me that I had an outstanding balance of $500, due to having to tear the engine down a second time for the inspector to review it, even though they had it torn down, waiting for the inspector, and it got put back together without the inspector seeing the truck, and didn't work more than 2 miles down the road. I found a Technical Service bulletin that stated that their may be a sludge problem in the 318 engine.
I am now getting ready to take them to small claims court to try and get some reimbursement for my expenses after the Feb, 2005 incident, since they failed to correct the problem properly the first time, and that ultimately caused my engine to be useless.
While dealing with all of these issues, I have talked to many, many people, all with similar types of problems with the service department. Don't get me wrong, Nathan is a great person, and so is Lyn, and they will go out of their way to help you out when they can, but the "higher-ups" don't care
about anything but making money.
Dodge is a great truck. I traded in my 2000 for a 2005 and have had no problems for over 10 months. I have numerous other friends that also have Dodge Rams, and they are as satisfied as I am with the dodge product.
Submitted by: =Ryan Schmeltz
Number of dealership visits=more than 10, Last visit date=Dec. 2005, Date report submitted: Oct 11 10:22:18 EDT 2006

Dealership Rating:
	Good sales department, good service
	Fair sales, fair service
	Conflicting or not enough information
	Poor Service or Poor Sales Department
	Avoid like the plague!!
	Don't Know / No Experience

This page was edited on: February 23, 2007