I DO NOT TRUST JEEP TOKAI! BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WORKMANSHIP

I bought a 2009 Jeep Cherokee Sport KK 3.7L V6 on the 26 February 2015 for R154,800.00 cash at William Simpson Claremont.

The vehicle was serviced annually at the Jeep Service Centre in Claremont and in Tokai when the Service Centre relocated.

On the 5th June 2018, I couldn’t start the vehicle. Various warning lights appeared with a rattling engine noise. I immediately contacted Jeep Tokai and spoke to Garth Farrell. He advised me to deliver the vehicle to the service centre as soon as possible to carry out diagnostics. The diagnostics showed that valves were bent, and the cylinder head will be sent to the engineers for further assessment.

On the 19 of June 2018 I accepted a quotation of R 51,701.17 to overall the engine. I collected the vehicle after the engine overall on 3rd July 2018.

In just over a month on Thursday 16 August 2018 the vehicle broke down on Ou Kaapse Weg. The vehicle stuttered, and light smoke poured out of the bonnet. I immediately stopped the vehicle and contacted Garth Farrell.

He instructed me to deliver the vehicle to the Tokai Service Centre because they do not have access to a towing service. I then arranged for a towing service at a cost of R1437.50 to take the vehicle to the Tokai Service Centre.

Garth notified me that they had to perform a diagnostics again and that I would be liable for any costs resulting from new problems. On 20th August 2018 I gave Garth the go ahead to proceed with the diagnostics.

For a period of 3 weeks, I called and emailed the Dealer Principal of Jeep (Justin Horné) and Garth on numerous occasions to request feedback on the cause of failure. Justin never took responsibility as the dealer principal and manager of this branch. Justin, kept referring me to Garth. The perception he projected was that he didn’t take an interest in my situation as a paying customer. He never once responded to any email or returned my calls during the entire process.

At this point, we had no idea as to what the problem was, what the progress was, when I would get my vehicle back and what the costs would be. This is by far, the worst communication I have ever experienced from any manager.

In the meantime, I was incurring car rental expenses while Jeep wasn’t interested in offering me a courtesy vehicle or any form of compensation for the inconvenience. Not one courtesy call or mail. Absolutely nothing.

On 30th August 2018 Garth mailed me to inform me that their engineers were in the process of sourcing another cylinder head and he assumed that they would take responsibility for the second engine breakdown.

On 13 September 2018 I mailed Justin and noted that it has been 4 weeks since the Jeep was booked into their workshop for an assessment and we have yet to receive a detailed report on the cause of failure. The only feedback we received was that they were waiting on their engineers to give feedback on the cylinder head. At this point I wanted the problem to be resolved as soon as possible. We demanded action.

I mentioned that it is completely unacceptable that we had to carry all the cost of arranging the towing service to take the vehicle to the workshop as well as the car rental for this entire period since the vehicle broke down. We were expecting to be reimbursed for this.

Once again Jeep was silent and non-responsive.

On 2nd October 2018 Garth notified me that the Jeep is ready for collection. Since the second breakdown Jeep have been avoiding communication and responsibility for 6 and a half weeks. This was a very painful and extremely frustrating experience.

On 04 October 2018, I sent the following mail to Garth:

“Before we collect the Jeep, there are a few items for which we require clarification: - Please send us a detailed report of all works/labour carried out on the Jeep from the time it was booked into your workshop till 02 October 2018, - Please send us your warrantee for all the works/labour which was carried out as well as the parts used (including all folios we will require should future failures occur), - Vehicle service book with stamps of all previous services and write up at the “***xxKm” when this and the previous failure occurred, - Please send us confirmation on when we will be reimbursed for all the expenses we have incurred to this stage.

Please note that we are not willing to collect the Jeep until you have provided us clarification on the above-mentioned items. We urge you to address our requests asap because car rental expenses are ongoing. We will be obliged to send these invoices to you for reimbur*****t.”

Once again Jeep did not respond to the mail above, proving to be totally none responsive, unprofessional and ***********.

22 & 23 October 2018 I called Garth to enquire about Reimbur*****t of hired vehicles and Towing costs. Garth mentioned that he sent the towing service and vehicle hiring invoices to the finance manager Gadija and Justin. He was waiting on feedback from them.

At this point, I wasn’t concerned and didn’t care where the paperwork was. I was irritated at being tossed from person to person while Justin should have coordinated all logistics and report to me.

As a loyal customer, I believe I should be dealing with one contact person and not hear about the incompetency of Jeep’s engineers.

On 26th October 2018, I went to collect the Jeep. When I arrived, Garth mentioned that the engineers recalled the vehicle to check the injectors. This was done without informing me. Once again, the communication was extremely poor and immediately raised doubt about Jeep’s workmanship and what was happening to the vehicle.

I eventually received the vehicle on 31st October 2018. This means that the vehicle was in their workshop for 2 months. To date I have not been reimbursed for the towing service and car rental expenses nor received a status report on the work done on the vehicle. Once again Jeep is non-responsive.

I have the car in my possession for 6 weeks and once again there’s a rattling noise on the engine with warning dashboard lights. I am at my whits’ end and totally frustrated with their workmanship and do not trust Jeep as a services provider.

I DO NOT TRUST JEEP TOKAI! BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WORKMANSHIP