As some of you may remember, I bought a Jeep Compass back in September of this year. I told the salesman that I wanted a cover for the cargo compartment, what they call a tonneau cover. The salesman said he'd get one for me, but it would have to wait a few days. 3 days later, I began calling him, asking him where it was. I was given one excuse after another as to why he didn't have it for me yet. Finally, when I called the sales manager and conferenced with the salesman, the salesman said that he would have had to take it from a vehicle on the lot. I told him I didn't care where it came from, even if it was from his personal vehicle. The sales manager told me that it would cost me an additional $318 to get it. That's when I got a bit more than irritated.

When I purchased the vehicle, FCA sent me a survey to fill out. At this time, I decided to sit down with it, and explain what happened, and that I would not use the dealer for a vehicle purchase again. About 3 days later, I got a call from the Jeep Cares department of FCA. I again explained what had happened, and she made a conference call to both the salesman and sales manager, to see what they had to say about it. Surprisingly, they were honest about the whole thing, and stated that what I said was accurate.

After the call, the lady from Jeep Cares called me to tell me to go and purchase the tonneau cover at full price, and to pay for them to install it...and to FAX the receipt to them, and that they'd cut me a check that day and drop it in the mail. I made sure that they put that in writing in an email, because at this point, I trusted nobody.

Last week on Friday, I had the cover installed while they replaced the seat belt clip sensor that had failed...it kept setting off the seat belt light and chime. In yesterday's mail, a check arrived for the whole amount, plus 5 free oil changes and a free detailing at the dealership.

FCA surprised me with this, since my dealing with my Neon in 1996 basically ruined my faith in car manufacturers and dealer service departments. Those 5 free oil changes will last me a couple of years, since the service department told me that the oil change interval is around the 10K mark (I'll have it done in the 5-7K range). With the amount of driving we do, I should be able to get at least 3-4 years of free oil changes.

I found the cover on the Mopar site for around $130, and was getting ready to buy it before this happened. Look like I'll use that money for the luggage rack cross bars I want instead.

I still won't buy another vehicle from that dealership, but FCA may have roped in as a customer for awhile, unless something catastrophic happens.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles