North Pointe Automotive

Review: My daughter is driving my 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. She had called the service department to have new keys programmed becsuse her key for the ignition was falling apart. She was given an appointment for November 19. However, on November 6, 2014 I received a call from her stating that her key had fallen out of the ignition and was completely broken apart. She was unable to get the car started. The car was towed to North Pointe Chrysler Dodge Jeep. She called them on November 7 and was informed that they were very busy and they did not know when they would get her key programmed but it would definitely be before the 19th. She called again on the 10th and was told that they would try to get the car done that day or the next day. She called and spoke with the service manager on the 11th and he assured her that the car would be done either that day or the 12th. She went to the garage on the 12th and was told that they were not sure when her car would be ready. There were 8 factory recalls on the car. They had ordered all the parts and they had just come in but hers was the third car towed to them and they were very busy with appointments. They only had one technician and 2 trainees working and didn't know when they would have her car repaired. My daughter is a single parent and a full time college student. She depends on that car and to be without it is a great inconvenience. She has been trying to find rides to her college classes and to her appointments.In the 2.5 years I have owned this car I have had over $7000 done in repairs. There were no phone calls from the service department telling my daughter there would be a delay in receiving her car nor that there parts that needed to ordered, nor that there were factory recalls on the car.Desired Settlement: My daughter's car needs to be repaired and she needs to be given a loaner vehicle until the car is repaired. There needs to be clear communication between the service department and my daughter. Being told that they don't know when the car will be fixed is unacceptable.

Business

Response:

Re: response to letter referencing case ID# [redacted]As stated in your letter, every story has two sides and although we look at each customer' s experience as a collaborative effort between us and the customer, sometimes circumstances can lead to confusion or misinformation. The appointment was set for November 19th for this customer. This was in no small part due to a very busy schedule in our service department. We are fortunately experiencing a time of growth but with that blessing comes the need to add additional staff to meet the needs of our customers. It is for that reason we use the appointment system so as to give our guest customers a realistic expectation as to when their needs can be met. It also affords the customer the option of seeking service elsewhere should it be necessary to align with their schedule. Of course we would prefer they were able to wait for us but in this busy world we realize that's not always the case.To complicate matters, this vehicle was towed in to the dealership with only a name, [redacted], written on the drop off envelope and a key inside. There was no phone number on the envelope. We had no active or inactive customer by that name in our data files. We also checked the Vehicle Identification number with our files to ascertain if it matched any of the vehicles we have on record as having been serviced here at Northpointe. This left us with many questions and no one to answer them.The original appointment was for us to program keys for the vehicle that the owner had purchased at a different facility. This fact only came to light after the van had been here a couple of days or more and Ms. [redacted] called into the service department to inquire about the vehicle. At that time she advised our service advisor that the key she had been using had fallen apart and was no longer usable. Upon being made aware of this new circumstance the service advisor told Ms. [redacted] that he would try to get her van in sooner than her scheduled appointment on November 19th if someone cancelled their appointment or if time permitted. He made no additional promises to her regarding her van at the time of this phone call. The service advisor began the write up process for the vehicle and found a large number of open recalls (8) that needed to be performed on her vehicle, including a recall that would provide replacement keys to the van at no charge to her. The parts were ordered for all of the recalls including the replacement keys at that time. The second contact with Ms. [redacted] was on or about Nov. 12th when she came in to the service department, with her friend [redacted], to check on the status of the repairs to her vehicle. Her friend commented that Ms. [redacted] was in need of the vehicle, as she was a single parent, and asked if we could possibly put her van to the front of the "line" given the circumstances. The service advisor explained our policy to both of them and informed them that there were other vehicles here to be worked on that were scheduled before hers. He also stated that it would not be fair to "jump the line", but would do everything he could to try and get it in before her scheduled appointment on November 19.On November 17th we began the repairs on the vehicle, 2 days ahead of the scheduled appointment. I received the letter of complaint in my mail box that same afternoon. Everyone that has a mechanical break- down suffers in some way through the loss of use of the vehicle, lost wages, and the potential of unexpected costs for the repairs. As stated in the letter sent to you by Ms. [redacted], she has spent $7000.00 dollars in repairs on this vehicle. I have no way of knowing what the repairs were as they were not performed here, however I do sympathize with her situation. It would be unfair or even unethical for me to cause further delay to another customer that had and kept a scheduled appointment with our service department to push this vehicle in first. Communication would have begun sooner if we had been provided with the contact information when the vehicle was towed in and dropped off. This is not a placement of blame only a statement of fact.Every person that comes in for unexpected repairs has experienced disruption in their lives. We also are consumers who deal with all of the same issues in regard to transportation, housing, and life's challenges. Because we are aware of these challenges we do all that we can, when we can, to assist all who enter our establishment in a professional, courteous, and compassionate manner. I would like very much to offer same day service solutions to all of the guests who have vehicle problems, but in reality not all situations can be resolved in a day, or even two.It really is a team effort, the customer providing the necessary information and us effecting a quality repair in a timely manner. We are working on our ability to bring timely in line with our values. The person that lodged the complaint in this case has never been in contact with myself or anyone on my staff. It is important to note that as I write this letter her vehicle is in fact repaired and ready to be picked up a day before her originally scheduled appointment.Sincerely,[redacted] Service Manger[redacted]

Review: My wife and I were contacted through the mail by Northpointe Auto advertising that we were preapproved for an automobile loan. The instructions stated we had to visit there website (AutoCreditProgram.net) to see if we qualified for a loan and for how much. After visiting the site and entering the information, we were told we qualified for a $27,000 loan. We were then contacted by a woman claiming to represent Northpointe, verifying our info and setting an appointment to visit the dealer. Upon visiting the dealership, we were told we had to fill out more information, and after 2 hours of waiting, we were informed that we were not approved for a loan in that amount, that our trade in was insufficient and that we must have $5000 dollars down to purchase the vehicle we were interested in. Chad (the salesman working with us) then told us what he could do is to sale us something we didn't want, we could pay on it for a few years, then bring it back and trade it for something we did want. We used to call this bait and switch when I worked for a dealer in Va. I do not appreciate this treatment. I know something was wrong when Chad started off by telling us we may have to buy a vehicle other than what we wanted. We informed him up front that we were not going to do that, we were looking for something specific. There website lists may vehicles for we were interested in for the price we were approved for. I am not sure why we were treated this way.Desired Settlement: This business should be made to honor there pre-qualifications or be made to discontinue this program.

Business

Response:

Jenifer * D[redacted] received a marketing letter offering "the possibility of purchasing a NEW or PRE-OWNED VEHICLE" with terms and conditions disclosed on the letter. Northpointe can still honor this offer with the same terms and conditions as previously disclosed.Unfortunately, while respecting privacy laws Northpointe cannot disclose any specific part of the consumer's credit, trade equity, down payments or income situation, but these factors do affect the overall outcome of any possible transaction.We believe that no part of our interaction with Jenifer * D[redacted] in any way conflicted with the "*TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF OFFER:" section on the bottom of the letter she received. We have highlighted this portion of the letter to allow for your further review.Sincerely, [redacted]

Review: I took my 2015 jeep to Northpointe to have the remote starter activated. It had already been. Installed elsewhere. They said they could activate it. A half hour later the technician told my husband that my Jeep would not start and he would need to call for a ride because they were closing get and they didn't have any loaner vehicles. The next day we went and talked with the general manager Jim C[redacted]. He was rude and degrading get to us. After he went and talked to the technician he came back and was extremely nice to us. Their computer had ruined the module in the remote starter. He told us that they would fix it. I told them to just remove the remote start and I would just deal with not having one. He told us that he would handle it and I would have a remote start. My husband asked how much it was going to cost and the gm said "don't worry about that." We took that to mean they were going to fix it at no cost to us. When we went back 2 days later, we were charged $338. We told the gm that this was unacceptable. He just said too bad. He blamed the person who installed the remote start. If there was an issue with the installation, they should not have connected their computer to my Jeep. The Jeep ran fine for 5 days with the remote start installed. There was an issue when they hooked their computer to it.Desired Settlement: They originally were going to charge $250 to install the remote start. Refund $88 and I will be satisfied.