I meeting with a Chrysler zone manager regarding an oil consumption problem.
Any thoughts on how to approach this?
Don’t say, “I’ll never buy another Chrysler product”, because if you say this, then there is no incentive for him/her to come to your assistance. A much better approach is to say something along the lines of, “I love this Jeep, and I would really like to continue to be a lifetime Jeep customer–if my faith in the brand can be restored”.
Be respectful and act in a sane manner. Be professional and firm in your statements, but don’t come across like a lunatic. (If you want to see what NOT to do, take a look at videos of some of the Teabagger demonstrations in D.C. and elsewhere. Racial epithets, homophobic epithets, and spitting should not be used when dealing with the rep. Violence is also a no-no.)
Brush up on your Conversational Italian, just in case the transition to Fiat ownership/management has moved along to a great extent.
State your case clearly and concisely. Be prepared to hear that normal oil consumption could be as high as 1 qt per 1000 miles, and no action is required on Chrysler’s part. How close are you to that standard? If you have a log book of when you put oil in and mileages driven would be helpful. They may ask you to do some driving and records keeping, anyway, to validate your current consumption.
Have all your facts together, organized, and easily explained.
Grazzi.
Be clear and sppecific as to the problem and bring documentation if you have any. You should have saved any and all shop order copies.
Do not go in adversarially, but be firm in that you’d like the problem resolved.
Do not threaten to sue Chrysler or anything of that sort. That’ll shut discussions down faster than any other move you can make. And they too have lawyers.
Do not go in with preconcieved notions of what you want and then refuse to listen to his suggestions. The communication needs to be two way.
Document the meeting. Particularly if you hope to use it to access your lemon law rights and/or for future arbitration.
Remember: your goal is to get the problem fixed, not to prove your manhood. Leave your ego at home.
Sincere best.
It took a lot to get to this point. I’ve been nice, I’ve polite, but I have filed consumer complaints to get this far. I have been consistant in stating that I like my vehicle and my goal is to keep it, but I will invoke my rights as a consumer.
That depends on how much oil it’s burning…If it’s less than a quart every 1000 miles you are wasting your time…You can moan and groan all you want…Your “rights” as a consumer exist mostly in your imagination…Chrysler is a bankrupt company, operating under bankruptcy rules. You are lucky they still employ “zone managers”…
I worked at a Chrysler dealer for 6 years. I saw the district manager arguing with the dealer principal, taking the car owner’s side more than a couple times.Patience, patience.
Go into your meeting with the confidence of knowing that Chrysler may also gain from this by learning something new about one of their products in consumer hands or something about their quality control that they did not know.