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Buyer beware - harsh but true

5K views 38 replies 29 participants last post by  Astartes 
#1 ·
I haven't posted in a while but today I'm so po'd I just have to. After so many problems with this 2013 Ram I wish I could sell it. Back in July while traveling on vacation the "phone not ready" message appears and lost the gps service. Two dealerships couldn't fix it. Complaint to Chrysler and they brought me a gps so I could finish my vacation. Once home I updated to 13.19 and all was fine. They replaced my axles that they screwed up (3.21 to 3.55) finally. Now today, began traveling on vacation and no gps again. After paying $50,000 I'm expecting things to work when I need them to. I guess I'm asking to much from The Truck of the Year.

I'll be looking at 2014 GMC more seriously
 
#3 ·
So a GPS issue is considered "so many problems". I'm not saying it doesn't suck to have a GPS issue, but I'd hardly consider that the end of the world. You want a truck without problems, buy a 13 Chevy. No GPS, no 8spd, no touch screen radio, no power, etc.

These are cutting edge technology trucks, and there are bound to be some quirks. JMTC.
 
#17 ·
So a GPS issue is considered "so many problems". I'm not saying it doesn't suck to have a GPS issue, but I'd hardly consider that the end of the world. You want a truck without problems, buy a 13 Chevy. No GPS, no 8spd, no touch screen radio, no power, etc.

These are cutting edge technology trucks, and there are bound to be some quirks. JMTC.
Well IMHO you pay $50K, it better work, period. if it cant then dont sell it.
After years and years of R&D, testing, inventing, it should be tested to work. Too many issues with 13's, maybe they have become 'too' technical.
 
#5 ·
Odd perspective

I haven't posted in a while but today I'm so po'd I just have to. After so many problems with this 2013 Ram I wish I could sell it. Back in July while traveling on vacation the "phone not ready" message appears and lost the gps service. Two dealerships couldn't fix it. Complaint to Chrysler and they brought me a gps so I could finish my vacation. Once home I updated to 13.19 and all was fine. They replaced my axles that they screwed up (3.21 to 3.55) finally. Now today, began traveling on vacation and no gps again. After paying $50,000 I'm expecting things to work when I need them to. I guess I'm asking to much from The Truck of the Year.

I'll be looking at 2014 GMC more seriously
I have to agree with Alter Ego - you get so agitated over GPS you want to discard the truck?
No GPS on your cell phone or Ipad? Was a GPS signal available where you were camping?
Couldn't buy a map or pre-print from mapquest?
The correction to your axle drive ration was fixed.
 
#6 ·
I'll be looking at 2014 GMC more seriously
But after looking you would not look back at them. GM's new offerings don't come close to the interior refinements found in the higher trim levels of the RAM. Been there and done that. They just feel cheap.

The uConnect system has been the RAM's problem point. I wish my easy exit seats worked (all the time), I wish my truck would stop unlocking itself, I wish cover art would display from sources other than the SD-Card, I wish VR would work with navigation, I wish routes were calculated better, and I could go on.

I hope one day this all gets worked out but I have to say, the few issues compared to all that works as it should, I'm not complaining.
 
#7 ·
Every new release of a brand new vehicle you can expect some slight hickups,I knew that when I was buying.If you dont want to take that chance wait for the second year product and most of the kinks should be worked out.I looked at many trucks and picked the ram just because it has many things others just didnt offer,so far so good.Every vehicle has its problems,some still have issues even after being built for many years.
 
#8 ·
Wow, you guys are harsh. According to the original post:
1. His nav system failed
2. Two different dealers couldn't repair the problem (I guess neither wanted to do the right thing and just replace the 8.4AN)
3. He had to take it upon himself to contact Chrysler who just gave him a band aid solution
4. GPS is still failing

And on top of that they had to replace the gears because he was given something different than what he was supposed to have received. Is it any wonder he wants to vent? Yet people are coming to the defense of a billion dollar corporation and basically telling him to suck it up.

It doesn't matter if first year cars have issues or if he could have found another GPS to use. At the absolute, bottom of the barrel minimum people should be able to expect is that they get what they paid for and that it will work. If any of those are not met then they should expect the issue to be taken care of quickly and to their satisfaction. Sounds like they did ok by replacing the gears but the dealers and Chrysler have dropped the ball on his nav system. He could own the Garmin factory and it wouldn't change the fact that he paid for a navigation system that , thus far, Chrysler has failed to deliver on after multiple attempts.

Being a Chrysler fan boy and patting them on the back for the privilege of paying money to buy one of their cars doesn't help any of us. Keeping them accountable and ensuring their customers are taken care of does.
 
#10 ·
I had concerns about the GPS on the 4400 mile trip I just completed also. Not because of reading about problems on this site but because I had a hand held Garmin GPS fail on me last year when I was navigating in a large city. To prevent a problem this time, I took the hand held GPS out of my wife's car as a back up.
 
#14 ·
I would be interested in knowing where the GPS failed and the nature of the failure. Did it actually shut down, or just not get a signal? GPS is not perfect. Tall buildings, mountains, trees and other obstructions can block the satellite signals. That is true of any GPS, and there is nothing Chrysler or the dealer can do to fix the technology's limitations.
 
#15 ·
There should be a law that requires dealers to replace parts from their internal parts department or other vehicles on their lots and not have to wait until the manufacturer sends the dealer a replacement part. Instead of having the dealer hassle with the broken part, they make the consumer hassle with it, that's not right, and bad for business, bad for everyone.
 
#32 ·
I am waiting for the delivery of a 2014 RAM 2500 CC 4x4 w/Cummins (invoice was $61K). Before I ordered this truck I read pages and pages on this site. Despite my misgivings on some very basic quality issues (bad paint!) and a computer radio/nav/interface system that clearly had serious problems, I went ahead and ordered. I will use my truck to tow a 28' Airstream, and I think it'll be fine for that. The last American car I bought was in 1985. Why? Overall crappy quality, mediocre performance, and poor engineering of a flabby US car industry. I've had German, Japanese, and Italian. Right now I have an M-B, an Infiniti QX56, a Mini Cooper and an Italian exotic. They range in age from 2008 to 2012, and price from low 30's to $250K. None of them have had a significant mechanical or electronic issue. My "experiment" with a Truck of the Year happened only after reading all this stuff and asking the question, "do you really want to do this?" If my NAV system dropped off any of my cars and two different dealers were unable to take care of me I would feel exactly the same way as the OP. It sounds like there are WAY too many folks who have become apologists for poor QC on these trucks. If Chrysler/Fiat are reading this stuff (and they'd be stupid not to), they have a lot of work to do to better satisfy their customers. Oh, the customer is NOT always right, but the customer IS the customer and deserves to be heard and treated fairly. I don't think the OP was. Just my opinion.
 
#33 ·
Edge35, thank you for your support and positive thoughts. Sure I was venting a little because this is getting very frustrating. New technology someone said, please, some of this stuff been out for many years. Chrysler made the mistake of going with an operating system that's inferior to others by going with RIM (BlackBerry) for the radios. There's a reason their going out of business. Face it Ram pushed the release of these trucks too fast, to many bugs, shortage of parts, and dealerships that don't know how to correct the problems. Will I go back to GM...no I won't. This truck is still better looking and more refined than anything esle out there.
 
#35 ·
QNX is not the problem with uconnect. Lack of bug testing on chryslers part of the programming is the problem. It's pretty evident when every new software release has major issues.

I don't blame the OP for being frustrated with his truck. $50 g's is a lot of dough and like others have said, this ain't cutting edge tech. Our smartphones are much more advanced than uconnect. Chrysler needs to get their $hit together. No excuses.
 
#36 ·
I'm a lurker here and read most of the threads in the 13' section. I currently have a VW GTI and it has a DSG tranny...I know the 06-10's with DSG had massive issues and after a while VW stepped up gave everyone a 100k warranty or lifetime on their DSG's due to timing/clutches burning etc. I now have a 13' GTI and the DSG is 95%. I say this because there are some weird situations at times but for the most part it isn't broke and hasn't stranded me yet. Give the new tech and first gen some time and kinks will be worked out. Granted I would be pissed too with issues, more so the paint than mechanical but what can you do. I'd say go the more polite route with the dealer, get regional involved and sit down and hammer stuff out. Hell bring in your sales sheet and throw it down and be like look I paid this much for a new truck etc, NEW, not used, not 90% assembled comes with broken sh*t...NEW. Maybe it'll get the point across a little better when they physically see why you are mad etc.
 
#37 ·
I think the OP was pissed, rightfully so, and just wanted to vent to his Ram buddies. Sometimes we just need to listen. Yeah, that's it, just listen. Let our brethren, or sisteren, vent and get it off their chest.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, RamHawk. I hope you get the nav system fixed and working to your liking so you can boast about your beast.
 
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