I purchased a brand new Ram Ecodiesel for DOUBLE what I was originally looking to spend on a used F-150/similar for hauling a trailer, because the promise of increased fuel economy seemed enough to justify it. About four weeks in, the trouble started and I have had 2 major and 1 minor issue with the service I've received since then. Over the course of a year:
The car died in my driveway about 4 weeks in after a couple of days of sluggish starts. I have it towed to Dealership A (there are 2 in this story), and am told they are unsure when they can look at it. I cannot have a loaner or a rental, they will call me in two days. After two days, I've paid out of pocket for an open-ended rental which should not have happened and started calling twice a day for a status update. Five days in, they've finally LOOKED AT IT and it's an alternator issue and will take another few days to resolve. I wouldn't have a problem with this kind of service if I had been provided a reliable means to get to work without spending MORE money. I thought that is what the 30% of the purchase price that falls off when you leave the lot is for- all the service bells and whistles on a new vehicle.
A plastic liner inside the wheel well came off around Christmas and was grinding against my tire. Not the end of the world, but annoying. Especially in a vehicle that isn't even a year old and hasn't been driven over anything or offroad EVER. I have pretty cushy driving habits for a truck driver, 11 mile commute to work and hauling my trailer <200mi every couple of months. So I call and get the part ordered at Dealership B almost 40 miles away (because Dealership A pissed me off and I learned my lesson) and set a date to bring the truck in. I come in at the scheduled time, and the part has been delayed, and no one thought to call me to let me know. There's a wasted 2 hours of my life. I get a phone call that the part is arrived, please bring the truck in tomorrow. I bring it in, and after sitting an hour, the part is broken in the box. That's another 3 hours of my life wasted because of shitty service practices. I never did get it fixed.
The check engine light came on about a month ago. The truck is just over a year old at this point. I went and had the code read back at Dealership A because it was close to my work. The tech said it was a "stored code" rather than an "active code" so he would shut it off and don't worry about it unless it comes back. Lo and behold, a week later (and the day I'm leaving for a two week trip to Europe for vacation), the light comes back on. I dropped it off this Monday with Dealership B after calling every dealership in the Houston Metro area and being told they are all 3-4 weeks behind as far as diesels are concerned. I am told I cannot make an appointment and they cannot promise to look at it that day, I just have to leave it for up to two weeks. Again, I am denied a rental. I have paid out of pocket another $175 for the privilege of leaving my vehicle that is still under warranty with the dealership, for them to take their time to look at it. That's not even actually getting it fixed. I called customer service and was told they probably won't reimburse me for the rental, and I am definitely not getting my car back for at least 5 days. Again, it's not the issue itself that is making me mad, it is how I am being treated by the company that should be bending over backwards to keep customers happy with their product. I would encourage anyone considering Ram to reconsider.
I have looked at Lemon Law and don't think I qualify. It's mostly been an obnoxious inconvenience. I would highly discourage anyone to buy Ram on the basis of the service alone- I expected some issues with the first-gen Ecodiesel, but I did not expect to pay more for having spent basically a year's salary on a problematic product.
Maybe I am biased, but when I worked in sales I bought a Jetta TDI and drove the warranty off of it in about 6 months. The fuel pump crapped out about a year later, and I was put in a loaner and about $5k in parts/labor for FREE despite the fact that they didn't have to because I was out of warranty; it was a defect and they're just good at customer service.
Edit to add that I HAVE called Ram and Chrysler customer service each time. They ARE aware of my issues with their local dealerships. I don't want free stuff, I want their representatives to handle my problem with their product in a professional, prompt and courteous way.
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