DynoDNA
New Member
I will try to be brief but there is a lot of info. Basically I lucked out and managed to find a 2023 Havoc edition that has less than 11k on the odometer. I was excited. These are very uncommon especially in this area. The truck had been moved from dealership to dealership because of auto group (Auto Group = AG) buyouts between one major and another. When AG1 sold to AG2 they kept the TRX and moved it to a new AG1 lot. Then AG2 bought that lot too and that happened a few times and then finally AG2 got it as theirs and it went for sale finally. Not before it got tossed around within a 5 miles radius and basically over 200 days later I snagged it. Pretty unheard of with these trucks. So I think I lucked out. Unfortunately that is where my luck seems to have ended.
A week after purchase on 10/3/2024 I was driving home and the truck had a meltdown, shaking like it threw a wheel weight off but we were at low speed, sputtering, and smoking heavily out of the exhaust and threw multiple codes. I called the dealership I purchased from and they told me I would have to call a RAM dealer near me. I wasn't happy because I think they should have been handling this whole fiasco but I guess ... if you want something done ... do it yourself. So I started calling around. To be fair, the dealership I got it from is about 1.5 hours away. I found one dealer up my way but they were booked for two weeks, more than happy to do the repairs but they said call roadside assistance and they will take care of me and get it to the closest dealership etc. and it may be them anyhow but give it a shot and said they might send me to Dealership #2 which is just as good and he used to work there.
So I called roadside and sure enough they said they would send the truck right away and it was going to Dealership #2 that the other guy said so I said ok. 14 hours later there was no tow truck and roadside was as useless as you can imagine. I called my own AAA and off it went within an hour. So the dealership got it. Days later I finally got a diag and they said its a misfire on one cylinder and looks like the fuel injector was bad. I'll be honest this seemed really weird to me. A basically new truck blowing a fuel injector made me worry there was something deeper wrong here. I expressed that to them and they confirmed this is very uncommon but assured me it would be fixed.
Since then, I've made multiple calls to warranty and followed up with the MOPAR/Stellantis countless times. Friday 10/4/24 called MOPAR warranty and I was thrown around like a rag doll. Told there was a case manager being assigned that would be in touch by the end of the day. I spent a over an hour on the phone, and on Monday, October 7th, I spent over 90 minutes being transferred around, only to be told my case manager was unavailable. No one would give me names, and the case manager's supervisor was also unavailable.
On Tuesday, October 8th, I spoke with a rep at 8:15 AM, only to be told the case manager was unavailable again, and "due to company policy", no names could be given unless the case manager provided them. Despite promises that the case manager would call back, I received no callbacks and by Thursday I was pissed. I called probably three times on Friday and was promised a return call, only to hear that the case manager was in a 30-minute training session, and still no call back. Still no names. Nothing.
To make matters worse, I've been told to rent my own cars, and I'm now over $5,000 out of pocket, with vague promises of reimbursement. I’ve asked for updates, help, and assistance several times, but communication from my case manager, has been minimal at best. My requests for escalation or a new case manager have been repeatedly denied, and I’m left wondering how that could possibly be the case. They claim that case managers are assigned to specific dealerships which I highly doubt. One on one case manager per dealership in the country would mean that they are inundated with nothing but broken vehicles or worse.
Initially I was told that Stellantis was overnighting the fuel injector to the dealer, expediting everything, and it would arrive by Thursday 10/10. The part was never shipped on 10/4 or 10/7. The dealership didn't receive the part until 10/15 I believe. They did their testing and install but the truck was still not working. From the sounds of it they went pretty deep with diagnosis. I spoke to the technician and he seems knowledgable. He explained his testing methodology, tools, and experience etc and that all seemed legit. Then said that once the injector was in, everything was fine, until he pulled it out of the bay. It then misfired on cylinders 1 3 and 5. Not good obviously. He mentioned that there appears to be a much deeper and much more technical issue. His next step provided was to do a pin tension kit of some sort. He lost me a little there. It sounded like the actual pins in plugs were loose? That kit will not be here until this week - probably 10/22 or 10/23. So my TRX is still out of commission with no end in sight.
I am terrified that this is a nightmare truck to own. I traded in a vehicle that is very niche lux exotic which was 1 of 50 for this truck, put a good chunk of change down on top of that, and financed the rest. Even though I will pay it off within 8 months, it is a large payment still for a truck I have barely owned, and a LOT of time, expense, frustration, and disappointment. I love the TRX but good lord ... wtf am I going through here and is it worth it?
When I called for an update from Stellantis and my case manager on 10/18 she was once again unavailable. Honestly its not just frustrating; it is unacceptable.
I was randomly told that my truck has been placed in a buyback program. I was NOT happy about that. I immediately emailed the case manager and told the rep to undo it and not submit for buyback as I will not agree to that and I want my truck to be fixed and back in my hands. The only exception to that would be if Stellantis/RAM is going to provide me with a brand new 2024 Ram 1500 TRX Final Edition in exchange. I was very VERY clear about that.
I just need some help. This is my first modern truck. This is my first RAM. I know the TRX is special (and expensive) but I work hard for the things I have and I deserve to enjoy them. I have also tried to save as much money on rentals as possible. When my friend's Tacoma is available on the weekend etc I used that instead of making Stellantis pay for those days. Honestly that has ben causing a lot of trouble for me and I am not doing it anymore. Gapping myself with days on and off and borrowing friend's and family's vehicles so that there is one or two days less rental isn't doing me any favors. I have to arrange for rides and pay for gas and all that to boot. I told case manager that I am booking my next rental from 10/20 (today) until 11/2 and how much that is going to be. Initially they were under the impression that rental vehicles cost $40 a day and I explained in detail that is fantasy land and even a Mitsubishi Mirage (the lowest cheapest pile of junk) is 104.99/day at Enterprise and Hertz and I am absolutely NOT going from driving a luxury exotic, to a TRX, to a Mitsubishi effing Mirage. They "approved" my rental costs. So thats all well and good but my main concern here is MY truck ...
Any advice? Insight? Am I SoL here?
A week after purchase on 10/3/2024 I was driving home and the truck had a meltdown, shaking like it threw a wheel weight off but we were at low speed, sputtering, and smoking heavily out of the exhaust and threw multiple codes. I called the dealership I purchased from and they told me I would have to call a RAM dealer near me. I wasn't happy because I think they should have been handling this whole fiasco but I guess ... if you want something done ... do it yourself. So I started calling around. To be fair, the dealership I got it from is about 1.5 hours away. I found one dealer up my way but they were booked for two weeks, more than happy to do the repairs but they said call roadside assistance and they will take care of me and get it to the closest dealership etc. and it may be them anyhow but give it a shot and said they might send me to Dealership #2 which is just as good and he used to work there.
So I called roadside and sure enough they said they would send the truck right away and it was going to Dealership #2 that the other guy said so I said ok. 14 hours later there was no tow truck and roadside was as useless as you can imagine. I called my own AAA and off it went within an hour. So the dealership got it. Days later I finally got a diag and they said its a misfire on one cylinder and looks like the fuel injector was bad. I'll be honest this seemed really weird to me. A basically new truck blowing a fuel injector made me worry there was something deeper wrong here. I expressed that to them and they confirmed this is very uncommon but assured me it would be fixed.
Since then, I've made multiple calls to warranty and followed up with the MOPAR/Stellantis countless times. Friday 10/4/24 called MOPAR warranty and I was thrown around like a rag doll. Told there was a case manager being assigned that would be in touch by the end of the day. I spent a over an hour on the phone, and on Monday, October 7th, I spent over 90 minutes being transferred around, only to be told my case manager was unavailable. No one would give me names, and the case manager's supervisor was also unavailable.
On Tuesday, October 8th, I spoke with a rep at 8:15 AM, only to be told the case manager was unavailable again, and "due to company policy", no names could be given unless the case manager provided them. Despite promises that the case manager would call back, I received no callbacks and by Thursday I was pissed. I called probably three times on Friday and was promised a return call, only to hear that the case manager was in a 30-minute training session, and still no call back. Still no names. Nothing.
To make matters worse, I've been told to rent my own cars, and I'm now over $5,000 out of pocket, with vague promises of reimbursement. I’ve asked for updates, help, and assistance several times, but communication from my case manager, has been minimal at best. My requests for escalation or a new case manager have been repeatedly denied, and I’m left wondering how that could possibly be the case. They claim that case managers are assigned to specific dealerships which I highly doubt. One on one case manager per dealership in the country would mean that they are inundated with nothing but broken vehicles or worse.
Initially I was told that Stellantis was overnighting the fuel injector to the dealer, expediting everything, and it would arrive by Thursday 10/10. The part was never shipped on 10/4 or 10/7. The dealership didn't receive the part until 10/15 I believe. They did their testing and install but the truck was still not working. From the sounds of it they went pretty deep with diagnosis. I spoke to the technician and he seems knowledgable. He explained his testing methodology, tools, and experience etc and that all seemed legit. Then said that once the injector was in, everything was fine, until he pulled it out of the bay. It then misfired on cylinders 1 3 and 5. Not good obviously. He mentioned that there appears to be a much deeper and much more technical issue. His next step provided was to do a pin tension kit of some sort. He lost me a little there. It sounded like the actual pins in plugs were loose? That kit will not be here until this week - probably 10/22 or 10/23. So my TRX is still out of commission with no end in sight.
I am terrified that this is a nightmare truck to own. I traded in a vehicle that is very niche lux exotic which was 1 of 50 for this truck, put a good chunk of change down on top of that, and financed the rest. Even though I will pay it off within 8 months, it is a large payment still for a truck I have barely owned, and a LOT of time, expense, frustration, and disappointment. I love the TRX but good lord ... wtf am I going through here and is it worth it?
When I called for an update from Stellantis and my case manager on 10/18 she was once again unavailable. Honestly its not just frustrating; it is unacceptable.
I was randomly told that my truck has been placed in a buyback program. I was NOT happy about that. I immediately emailed the case manager and told the rep to undo it and not submit for buyback as I will not agree to that and I want my truck to be fixed and back in my hands. The only exception to that would be if Stellantis/RAM is going to provide me with a brand new 2024 Ram 1500 TRX Final Edition in exchange. I was very VERY clear about that.
I just need some help. This is my first modern truck. This is my first RAM. I know the TRX is special (and expensive) but I work hard for the things I have and I deserve to enjoy them. I have also tried to save as much money on rentals as possible. When my friend's Tacoma is available on the weekend etc I used that instead of making Stellantis pay for those days. Honestly that has ben causing a lot of trouble for me and I am not doing it anymore. Gapping myself with days on and off and borrowing friend's and family's vehicles so that there is one or two days less rental isn't doing me any favors. I have to arrange for rides and pay for gas and all that to boot. I told case manager that I am booking my next rental from 10/20 (today) until 11/2 and how much that is going to be. Initially they were under the impression that rental vehicles cost $40 a day and I explained in detail that is fantasy land and even a Mitsubishi Mirage (the lowest cheapest pile of junk) is 104.99/day at Enterprise and Hertz and I am absolutely NOT going from driving a luxury exotic, to a TRX, to a Mitsubishi effing Mirage. They "approved" my rental costs. So thats all well and good but my main concern here is MY truck ...
Any advice? Insight? Am I SoL here?
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