Chrysler review: service manager, doug krueger

Tuesday, September 10th. Van to Nye for transmission evaluation. Also needs tires and NYS inspection.

Friday September 13th. Work quote/work authorized .
Will order parts, 7-10 business days.

Friday, September, 27th.
call late afternoon, van done. (10th business day.)

Monday, September, 30th. Pick up van Monday, Mileage 97, 761.
No inspection, computer needs to reset, and we were told the Tech. experienced a
braking problem during a test drive. Doug told us that our brakes and rotors
(that were replaced less than a year ago) needed to be replaced not due to them
being worn, but because they weren't making proper contact, for reasons
unknown. He offered us a discounted cost of $600. We declined his generous offer.
After leaving the dealership, we noted some vibration.

Friday, October, 4th. (miles since repair = 186)
Midas for inspection Mileage 97, 947
Experienced total brake failure on Route 274 in the downhill switchbacks by gorge.
Midas Tech found front passenger wheel almost off. Said the cause of the brake
failure was due to the loose wheel and rotor, forcing the caliper to open.
Passed inspection, there were no other brakes issues.

Wednesday, October, 9th.
Experienced loud, crunching/scraping noises while exiting thruway from Syracuse.
Returned to Midas. They found excessive play in right front wheel bearing. Most
likely caused by the loose front wheel. Both axles were checked for excessive play,
normal play on right, zero play on left, axel seemed bound.

Thursday, October, 10th.
The van was raised at a local garage where I inspected it, along with the mechanic
Discovered: Driver side, front brake hose bracket not secured. This was due to a
bolt that broke during disassembly, and left dangling. I repaired it myself..
No other visual signs of anything unusual.

Tuesday, October, 15th. (miles since repair = 439)
Van has only been driven in cases of extreme necessity. The noises have become more frequent and the vibration is more pronounced.

Wednesday, October, 16th.
Van returned to Nye for wheel bering replacement and noise evaluation.

Friday, October, 18th.
We were contacted by Doug
We were told the wheel bearing needs replacing, however the axel shaft
was seized inside it and needed to be heated/destroyed to remove the bearing.
He informed us the cost of the bearing was covered, however the axel shaft that
NEEDED to be destroyed in the process was not. Est. Cost $ 537.
Doug claimed the seized state of the shaft in the bearing was discovered during
the transmission replacement. However, during my inspection on October 10th, I
suspected the right side axle nut had never been properly torqued, upon viewing
it, I discovered beyond any doubt, the nut had never even been removed.
Doug also claimed the broken bolt on the brake line bracket was not their doing.
Either way, it was an obvious, clearly visible, safety issue that should not have
been left unaddressed. Making this the second blatant, oversight that placed
our lives at serious risk.
He declined to offer any explanation for the other noises.

At first Doug told Louise the story, how the axel HAD to be destroyed in order to remove the bearing. He told me the same story, that is until I informed him, that one of my specialties is dealing with seized shafts and damaged threads. That's when he began to backpedal. "This is worst case scenario", he said. He claimed also, that if I Ok'd the $550 axel and didn't need it, he would have cheerfully called me, to tell me the good news. Considering the unnecessary brake job he insisted we needed and his persistent lie concerning the prior removal of the right side axel nut. I called him on this lie as well. My background is 40 years of precision machining and machine repair. I have all sorts of pullers and a 20ton press in my machine shop that would make quick work of practically any seized bearing/shaft. Doug claimed there was no way to press the axel out without excessive, damaging heat and destroying the threads. I've repaired too many threads in my day, that have been needlessly damaged by a simple lack of knowledge. There are some very simple basic steps any competent mechanic would know of to prevent such damage.

Monday, October, 21st.
We took our van from Nye, and went to the Victory dealership in Rome for the bearing replacement. We filled in the service advisor of our experience, and he had a good laugh.
He called within 2 hours to tell us of a problem, at first I thought, here we go again. He went on to say, the problem was: the bearing wasn't in stock, and politely asked if we were willing to wait until tomorrow? GLADLY! More sincere honesty in two hours than we received from NYE in weeks! A refreshing change from what seemed to be the barnyard, hillbilly operation at NYE. I will never do business there again.

Wednesday, October, 23rd. We picked up our van after the bearing replacement, which we were told was not seized to the shaft at all. They also needed to realign the front wheels because the alignment from Nye, was skewed due to the loose front wheel.
I would only expect this kind of treatment from the most poorly run, greedy grease monkey shops. NEVER a Chrysler dealership.