Dealership Review - Cochrane Dodge
So I recently purchased a vehicle (2010 Ram 1500) from Cochrane Dodge and thought it would be prudent to post a review.
I had been looking for a 2009+ Ram 1500 with some very specific features I had researched so there wasn't really anything for the dealership to do other than supply the vehicle & deliver. After monitoring inventory at most Dodge dealers in Southern Alberta I finally found the right truck at Cochrane Dodge. I contacted the dealership and chatted with a random salesman by the name of Jamie. Pleasant enough fellow. I confirmed the options on the truck and made arrangements for a test drive.
Later that day I went out to the dealership to drive & inspect the vehicle. The truck was as advertised with respect to options. After a fairly short test drive we negotiated a price & shook hands. Total time from first finding the listing to shaking hands was about 5 hours.
This was all on a Thursday and since I was heading out of town on the weekend I asked to have the truck ready for delivery on Monday after work (6:00 PM). There were a few items that needed attention that were all listed on the purchase agreement:
- New windshield
- PDR a couple of door dings
- Full detail of the interior
- Repair of a small plastic trim piece on the interior
- Wheel alignment (slight pull to the right).
Monday morning I contacted my salesperson to confirm that the truck would be ready as scheduled and he assured me it would be. I showed up after work to pick up the vehicle and that's when the problems started.
Upon arrival the salesman was just drying off the truck from it being washed. Apparently that's what passes for a "full detail". The interior had been vacuumed out but nothing had been wiped down. Because the truck only had 23,xxx KM on it, it was pretty clean anyway. But still, not what we had agreed to. The door dings had been removed and I couldn't even see where they had been. The windshield however had not been replaced. I was told that the guy was on his way and it would only take another 45 minutes. The windshield guy did in fact show up, half an hour later and took the truck back to his shop. He returned about an hour later but by this time it's getting close to 8:00 PM and the truck was supposed to be ready at 6:00. The broken interior plastic trim piece was repaired as agreed.
Wheel alignment. My salesman insisted that it had been performed and was as good as new. He took me through the vehicle and showed me the features. After about 20 minutes or so he handed me the keys and away I went. I got about 30 seconds down the road before I noticed the pull to the right. I was already late to get out of there so I just drove home.
The next morning (Tuesday) I called Jamie back and said the truck was still pulling. He apologized and said he would look into it. He called me back in a few minutes and asked me when I could bring the vehicle back for them to have another look. This wasn't very convenient because from my house in South Calgary to the dealership is about a 45 minute trip. I made arrangements to take the truck back at 3:00 PM that afternoon. I was assured that a mechanic would be waiting for the vehicle upon my arrival and would work on it right away. I arrived at 3:00 and the truck sat out front until about 3:30 when someone finally took it around the back.
About an hour later the mechanic (nice guy) came to find me and said it was definitely out of alignment but it's all fixed up. I asked him how that could be since it was just aligned yesterday. He said that was impossible as he does all the alignments and he wasn't working the day before. So the shop outright lied about doing the alignment in the first place. Whatever. I get the truck around the block and it's still pulling to the right. I take it back and the mechanic appears to be honestly confused. He takes the truck back and works on it for about another hour. I drive it again, still pulling to the right. By this point its closing time for the dealership and he asks me if I can bring it back again tomorrow.
Now I'm back talking with my salesman again and he offers to come into Calgary in the morning & pick up the vehicle, drive it out to the shop and let them work on it all day. A few minutes later the mechanic comes back with word that he just found out that the alignment machine is busted and needs to be calibrated. That's why they can't get it straight. We wait for a few days, the salesman comes to get my truck, takes it to the shop, does a proper alignment and returns the vehicle to me by the end of day. The pull is gone.
Overall I would rate the experience about a 5/10. I don't expect much from dealerships. I expect they will cheat & lie about pretty much anything they can but when it's in writing (list of things to fix), then stick to it. I don't think these guys are really any worse than any other shop but I'm not going to run back to them for my next vehicle either. All they had to do was live up to their (written) word and they would have had a repeat customer for years to come who would send referrals their way. Now, they get nothing.
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