For the past month or so before I went on vacation to the Philippines on June 17th of 07', I've been driving my car without A/C.
When my A/C broke, it happened about 20 miles before I hit 36,000 miles (coincidence huh? My warranty ends there!). The bad thing was that I was still about 100 miles away from Fort Wayne. Crap. So as soon as I got home, I unloaded all my stuff for the Philippines into the house and went straight to Dodge so that I could hopefully have it fixed for free. I walked in their service department and talked with the guy at the front desk and told him about my situation. As soon as I brought up 36,000 miles, he ignored everything else I said and said that it's not covered, so they won't fix it. Though he WAS glad to tell me about how much it would cost me to fix it. So as soon as he said diagnostic costs one-hundred and ... I cut him off and told him that I'd just go somewhere else. Dodge dealerships suck.
I went home and my Mom told me that there's a guy that she knows named George that's good at working on cars. So I took my car in and had him take a look at it. I waited for about a couple hours while he tried to find out what the problem was with my A/C. He checked the entire A/C unit (compressor ... etc.) and they all checked out to be good. Afterwards, he checked the electrical unit. He jumped the A/C through a fuse and all of a sudden, my A/C started blowing out cold air! He told me that the fuse was bad and that I'd need to get a new one. So I went to Dodge Parts Department and got the part. Luckily, they had one left in stock. It cost me about $30. Afterwards, I walked to my car all anxious to see what happens and put it in myself. I started my car ... and still ... no cold air.
Frustrated, I brought my car back to George to have him look at my car one more time. He told me that he couldn't work on my car unless I left my car in his shop. I only had a couple more days left and I still needed to go back to Bloomington to get some more things for the trip, so I decided to just wait until after the trip to bring my car in. Sucks. I didn't even know whether or not I could trust him after wasting $30 already.
After I recovered from the week-long jet-lag from the Philippines, it was Monday. So I decided to bring my car in to George again.
Two days later (Wednesday), he called me and said that the expansion valve was broken and that I'd need to replace it. When he said that, I didn't know whether or not to trust him after he already screwed up once. But I bought the part anyway and it was expensive ... $80. All I could think was that he better be right. I ordered the part at the Glenbrook Dodge Parts Department because they didn't have anymore in stock. They said that it would probably arrive on Monday, but also said that they would call me if it comes in sooner.
Two more days later (Friday), I woke up to a call at around 12pm and was surprised that it was Glenbrook Dodge! So I jumped off my bed and answered the phone before I lost them. They told me that the part just came in and that I could pick it up.
Afterwards, I brought my car back in to George only to hear bad news. He couldn't install the expansion valve because he didn't have the vacuuming machine needed to drain the A/C system's refrigerant. He referred me to another shop where he knows the mechanic (Jim) and also has the machine. I got a quote on my car at the shop and he said that it would cost me $95 or more. Bull. I told him that I had things to do today and that I'd just come back later.
I went home. Then my mom told me to give the Jeep an oil change at Kwik Lube. So I took the Jeep there and while I was waiting, I asked one of the mechanics if they do A/C service like vacuum/ recharge. They said yes, so I got a quote for $49.99 (vacuum/recharge) and whatever it takes for labor. That's way better than George's friend and on top of that, I know the people at Kwik Lube.
So after the oil change, I went back home, switched cars, and went to Kwik Lube to have my A/C repaired. It took them two and a half hours to fix it and they only charged me $30 for labor. I left only paying $82.99 for everything. But the total run-around cost me about $190, so I still had a lot of wasted money. Oh well, at least my A/C is fixed after over two months of it being out of commission! It felt SO good to finally have cold air!
When my A/C broke, it happened about 20 miles before I hit 36,000 miles (coincidence huh? My warranty ends there!). The bad thing was that I was still about 100 miles away from Fort Wayne. Crap. So as soon as I got home, I unloaded all my stuff for the Philippines into the house and went straight to Dodge so that I could hopefully have it fixed for free. I walked in their service department and talked with the guy at the front desk and told him about my situation. As soon as I brought up 36,000 miles, he ignored everything else I said and said that it's not covered, so they won't fix it. Though he WAS glad to tell me about how much it would cost me to fix it. So as soon as he said diagnostic costs one-hundred and ... I cut him off and told him that I'd just go somewhere else. Dodge dealerships suck.
I went home and my Mom told me that there's a guy that she knows named George that's good at working on cars. So I took my car in and had him take a look at it. I waited for about a couple hours while he tried to find out what the problem was with my A/C. He checked the entire A/C unit (compressor ... etc.) and they all checked out to be good. Afterwards, he checked the electrical unit. He jumped the A/C through a fuse and all of a sudden, my A/C started blowing out cold air! He told me that the fuse was bad and that I'd need to get a new one. So I went to Dodge Parts Department and got the part. Luckily, they had one left in stock. It cost me about $30. Afterwards, I walked to my car all anxious to see what happens and put it in myself. I started my car ... and still ... no cold air.
Frustrated, I brought my car back to George to have him look at my car one more time. He told me that he couldn't work on my car unless I left my car in his shop. I only had a couple more days left and I still needed to go back to Bloomington to get some more things for the trip, so I decided to just wait until after the trip to bring my car in. Sucks. I didn't even know whether or not I could trust him after wasting $30 already.
After I recovered from the week-long jet-lag from the Philippines, it was Monday. So I decided to bring my car in to George again.
Two days later (Wednesday), he called me and said that the expansion valve was broken and that I'd need to replace it. When he said that, I didn't know whether or not to trust him after he already screwed up once. But I bought the part anyway and it was expensive ... $80. All I could think was that he better be right. I ordered the part at the Glenbrook Dodge Parts Department because they didn't have anymore in stock. They said that it would probably arrive on Monday, but also said that they would call me if it comes in sooner.
Two more days later (Friday), I woke up to a call at around 12pm and was surprised that it was Glenbrook Dodge! So I jumped off my bed and answered the phone before I lost them. They told me that the part just came in and that I could pick it up.
Afterwards, I brought my car back in to George only to hear bad news. He couldn't install the expansion valve because he didn't have the vacuuming machine needed to drain the A/C system's refrigerant. He referred me to another shop where he knows the mechanic (Jim) and also has the machine. I got a quote on my car at the shop and he said that it would cost me $95 or more. Bull. I told him that I had things to do today and that I'd just come back later.I went home. Then my mom told me to give the Jeep an oil change at Kwik Lube. So I took the Jeep there and while I was waiting, I asked one of the mechanics if they do A/C service like vacuum/ recharge. They said yes, so I got a quote for $49.99 (vacuum/recharge) and whatever it takes for labor. That's way better than George's friend and on top of that, I know the people at Kwik Lube.
So after the oil change, I went back home, switched cars, and went to Kwik Lube to have my A/C repaired. It took them two and a half hours to fix it and they only charged me $30 for labor. I left only paying $82.99 for everything. But the total run-around cost me about $190, so I still had a lot of wasted money. Oh well, at least my A/C is fixed after over two months of it being out of commission! It felt SO good to finally have cold air!
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