Complaint Review: Fair Exchange Suzuki FE Auto Sales Phoenix - Phoenix Arizona

I went to Fair Exchange Suzuki because I was in a tough credit situation and Fair Exchange is well advertised in the area for approving everyone for financing. My particular problem was the high negative equity of my trade in, not credit itself. On February 20, 2007 I dealt with Felipe of Internet Sales and went into FE Suzuki to see about getting a car. After taking car of my unique credit situation we looked at some cars and I found one that I liked a lot-a 2001 Dodge Durango R/T, real hard to find. I liked it a lot and decided to go ahead with it. All the papers were signed and I waited for 4 hours for them to "detial" my car and Felipe then told me the fuel pump in my car was broken. So...I had to wait a day to take delivery. This should have been a red flag to me.

I took delivery of the car and was happy with it but the next day when I came outside to get in the car I notcied two things-leaking coolant and leaking gear oil from the rear axle. I called FE Suzuki and was told they would call me back. Two days later I called them again and was told the service manager would call me. I spoke to Felipe both times. I noticed a creak/knock from the driveline also and having some mechanical knowledge, it sounded like the U-joint to me. After five days passed, I went to the dealership and spoke with Felipe and some guy who didn't speak English or wear a name badge but he was evidently some kind of manager. Felipe told me my car is under warranty and I need to go to the warranty company for repair. Arizona has an Implied Warraty law that, for the first 500 miles and 15 days after purchase, the dealer has to repair the vehicle with a maximum $25 payout by the customer. I told Felipe about that and he ascknowledged it and acknowledged that I was within those terms but that I purchased a warranty and needed to use it. I requested to speak to the General Manager, Steve King, and I was told he wasn't there but would call me back.

They seem to like telling people they'll have a call back. It must work for most people until they give up. No phone call. On day 15 I returned to the dealership and spoke to Larry, the service manager. He told me he'll look at the car but couldn;t do it until the next day and that he needed direction to fix any pre-exisiting problems from Steve King. Understandable. So I left, waiting for...yep...a phone call that never came. I kept placing calls and eventually on the 19th of March, the car broke down. It was spewing coolant all over the place, overheating, and making a terrible knock/ping in the engine.

I called FE Suzuki and spoke to Mackie, Mackey, not sure how he spells it. He is a floor manager at FE. I told him I have a broken down car that they refuse to see for service and that I am sick of it. He said to me "Calm down buddy". I reminded him that he's not to call me buddy, I'm a paying customer, not his buddy and that he said it a very unfrendly way...the way you'd say "Yeah whatever buddy" to someone. I told him I speak in a respectful, calm, military manner and I expect to be treated in the same way. He told me, "You shouldn't have said military because that will just make me hang up." That just made it worse. He finally agreed to send a tow truck to me that would be there in one hour. I waited for 3 1/2 hours and the driver arrived and we went down to FE. I talked to Larry and Steve King and listed all the problems-coolant leak, brakes lock up though I have ABS, leaking differential, odd knocking sound in the engine, creaking from the drive shaft and the front suspension bushings were crumbling becauser they were in such bad shape. They wouldn't help me get a rental car, refused to loan me a car and very luckily a guy from Enterprise worked with me after closing, thankfully. They had my car at FE for a total of 5 full days. Each day they told me I would get a call back, I didn't.

After 5 days they finally said my car was done. What did they do-they put some sealant on the rear differential and topped off my coolant bottle. That's all. About 1 hour's worth of work. They sprayed WD-40 on my suspension and said the creaking is because of dust, they said my coolant is fine and there was nothing wrong with my engine or drive line.

Two days afterward, my engine light came on accompanied by an even worse knock. Come to find out the spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor are no good-so I had those replaced and off went the light. But, FE filled my radiator up with standard green antifreeze. My R/T takes ONLY a special anti-corrosive Mopar antifreeze that is orange...it even says so on the coolant bottle cap and on the sticker on the hood! Turns out the coolant made my engine a bit too hot and burnt one spark plug out. The differential still leaks-worse than before. They didn't put the right gear oil in the differential; it was the wrong weight and also didn't have a friction modifier in it for limited slip gears like I have. It caused my gears to chatter and shutter. The creak and everything else was unchanged except it wasn't overheating.

I took it to a Dodge dealer who checked it out and this is what's wrong with the car: Brake master cylinder is leaking into the brake booster and actually flooded it out-so that's a serious safety issue and both need replacement. The wrong coolant is in my radiator and would in short time cause my internal parts to corrode and fail so it needs to be flushed and filled. My front drive shaft is making all that creaking noise (from the U-joint up like I said) and needs to be replaced. My front tie rod end bushings needs replacement because they hardly exist. My differential just needs to be re-sealed with a generic high temp sealant and have the right oil put into it; nether of which FE used.

I called FE with all this information on April 23rd and spoke to Mackie again as Steve King was not there on Mondays. I recorded the call as is legal to do in Arizona. I told him about all the problems his dealership handed me and refused to repair and that they flat out ignored some issues that should have been noticed easily. He told me, "You bought a used car and that just happens." I told him he's not complying with the Arizona laws on Implied Warraties as these problems have been well documented since literally day one and still have not been repaired. These all happened within my dealership warranty period and they flat refused to accept my vehicle for repair until I yelled and screamed when it broke down. He offered no remedy except to bring it in and he would be happy to charge me for parts and labor. He refused to repair under the law though he did admit they sold the car to me this way-which is illegal.

Don't ever get anything from Fair Exchange, there is nothing fair about it. They charged me way too much for financing, gave me a junk car, sold me an auto warranty that is truly worthless, and is deceitful and worng even by car salesman standards. It is a delaership that sells cars to people who can't get a car anywhere else and look for the "safety" of a franchised major brand dealership name (Suzuki). When people go to Fair Exchange it's because they need to get a car from a real dealer and in my opinion Fair Exchange preys on people in difficult situations and refuses to help them post-sale. Clearly this is a dealership who doesn't want or need repeat business because there is a steady stream of folks who will go to them anyhow because of their problems. Fair Exchange is a real rip off.

Steve

Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.