Seattle Auto Show - Jeep FAIL!

8467 Views 34 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Flipper, Apr 4, 2015

dan_public

Discussion Starter · Oct 21, 2013 (Edited)

2

Jeep continues to shoot itself in the foot! So here's the story...

Saturday, I stop at my local Jeep dealer to ask the perennial question, "Where's the @#[email protected]%^! Cherokee?" The Sales Manager tells me, "Well we don't have any yet, but there is one at the Seattle Auto Show!" Says I, "Cool! I'll head down tomorrow because I want to see it up close and to sit in it."

So this morning, I change my plans radically, drive in to Seattle, battle traffic, battle parking, buy the ticket, and wander all over the hall trying to find Jeep. After about 15 minutes of wandering, I finally spot them over in a back corner. And...

Immediately award them the "Marketing Morons of 2014" award... There it is. In a nice gray. On a platform. With the sign, "Please Stay Off The Platform"!!!!

Here's a pic for your viewing dis-pleasure:

So I can't see it up close and personal, can't touch it, and can't sit in it. And then Mr marketing jock in the cheap suit starts blathering about the wonders of the Cherokee! I go through major hassles and waste $24 to see one car and all I get is more marketing spam!

I've had it with Jeep. The Cherokee is off my list. It's obvious that they don't know how to run their company. Good luck to you folks who want to take the risk.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s. As a comparison of the right way to market a car, here's a pic that I shot of the new Tesla. My apologies for the quality, but taking the pic was very difficult because of the poor lighting and I was dodging at least 30 people crowding around to get close to the car. Tesla is brave enough to let kids and adults crawl all through their $90K car (it was the top end model), but Jeep is too terrified to let potential customers even touch theirs. Arrrrgh! So stupid!

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JonJones

· #21 · Oct 22, 2013

dan_public said:
Jon,

If they had let me get close to it, I would have taken and posted dozens of pictures much better than that one. When I went there, I planned on getting dozens of pics with and without my external flash. I took my best 12-35mm lens and my 7-14 ultra wide angle just for that purpose. (An ultra-wide angle does wonders for internal pics.) I had planned on many close-ups of the subtle details - like the storage compartments, storage bar, dash, etc.

Frankly I hate being road-blocked.

Dan.

Yeah, I get that you're pissed, and I don't blame you for being frustrated. It does sound like an annoying experience, and I'm not at all trying to say it wasn't. You should be annoyed.

I just think it's utterly irrational to decide not to buy a car because that guy in the suit told you that you couldn't sit in it at an auto show where, to be fair, no one told you beforehand that you would even be able to sit in it. You just assumed it, you were wrong, and it's influencing your buying decision even though it reflects exactly zero percent on the vehicle in question.

It's your money and you can of course do whatever you want with it. I've just never heard of anyone picking out a new car like this before, so it's a bit strange.

Hudsonhawk

· #22 · Oct 22, 2013 (Edited)

Dan, First off. I do understand the frustration of getting to see it and then not getting up close and personal. I would have been disappointed if I had not been able to sit in the one at the state fair.

That being said, Jeep is not keeping them out of the hands of the consumers. At the State Fair of Texas there were 3 of them. A limited on display like the one you saw in Seattle. And then a Lattitude and a Trailhawk were on the floor so that the general public could sit in them. All 3 were pre-production models according to the staff at the show.

I am going back to my belief that there is a limited number of units available for these shows and a very high demand. The State Fair of Texas draws millions of people every year. And I can see why they would allocate more units to a large public even like that.

In the past I have been to shows where the vehicle I wanted to see was on a pedestal and I was not able to get close to it. It all depends on availability.

On the Customer Service note. I have been working with the same Chrysler dealership for over a decade. I have never had an issue with them. They are always very helpful. Even down to getting a warenty repair for an issue I caused. I even told them about what I did.

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dan_public

Discussion Starter · #23 · Oct 22, 2013

OK, OK, I'll reconsider...

I'm holding off on a decision for a while. That said, to reiterate and clarify a few points:

This is NOT about the Cherokee. It's about the company. Stop making it a car issue. Based on everything I've seen, heard, and read, it's questionable whether Chrysler\Jeep can pull it off.

Customer Service is questionable. According to macfan, Chrysler has always had Customer Service and dealer problems. Poor Customer Service in a $40K+ car is NOT acceptable.

Regarding macfan's ethnocentric comment about Seattle not being a hot bed of new car enthusiasm, that's not correct. With the exception of the Tesla, it's not a hot bed of new American car enthusiasm. For the last 40 years, the east and west coasts have been a hot bed of foreign cars. And that is the result of American car companies making cars that let us down - poor design, poor reliability, and poor customer service.

That's changed in the last 10 years or so, but many of us (including me) have been burned BADLY. At 66, I've had many American cars. Your experience with American cars may be different, but my experience has been uniformly poor starting from the late 60's.

The car in pic is a TrailHawk, not a Limited. That's a poor choice for the Seattle area, because most sales will be non-TrailHawk models. (My dealer said that most of his sales will be Limiteds.)

Regarding macfan's assertion that I would feel more comfortable buying a car with a proven track record, that's only partially true. I've done that many times in the past and gotten burned some of those times.

What's FAR more important for me is buying car from a COMPANY with a proven track record of effectively bringing out new cars. Evidence with the Cherokee shows the exact opposite. Except for the fanboy auto journalists (who rarely bad mouth any car), the Cherokee has been a PR nightmare for Chrysler Jeep.

Dan.

p.s. I spent 14 years in Sales and Marketing with major computer companies. I know the difficulty of designing, building, marketing, and delivering complex product. Part of that was sales channel development including product rollouts. It isn't easy. What I see in Jeep marketing bothers me professionally and personally (as a potential buyer).

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JonJones

· #24 · Oct 22, 2013

Your call, man. But here's the reality of the situation and the reason that you are so worked up:

(To borrow from your original post)

"So this morning, I change my plans radically" - This is your fault.

"Drive in to Seattle" - Your decision.

"Battle traffic" - Not your fault, I suppose, but more yours than Jeep's

"Battle parking" Same as the above.

"Buy the ticket" - Your decision. You knew that the auto show wasn't free.

"and wander all over the hall trying to find Jeep. After about 15 minutes of wandering, I finally spot them over in a back corner." - That is their fault. It's a shame you had to walk so far.

"I go through major hassles and waste $24 to see one car" - Again, that is your choice. You chose the hassles and agreed to the ticket price.

"I've had it with Jeep. The Cherokee is off my list. It's obvious that they don't know how to run their company." - Wait, what? What a drastic turnaround. Suddenly it is Jeep's fault.

I'm not trying to belittle your situation. I would also be pissed if I did all that and didn't get to sit in it when I assumed I would. And sure, we'll say it's about Jeep and not the Cherokee. But you are now basing your whole opinion of the company off of a few comments on a forum and this one experience that was, let's face it, mostly your own fault.

As others have said, this is not exactly a new thing at auto shows. You can go in most cars, but there are always a few that you can't. It is unfortunate that this happened to you, but saying that Jeep does not know how to run a mutli-million dollar company because they did something that other car companies have also done is just, well, amazing.

Again, not trying to make this an argument, and I hope you're not offended by any of this. Just trying to point out a few things.

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dan_public

Discussion Starter · #25 · Oct 22, 2013

Jon,

Going to the car show was obviously my decision. How Jeep chose to display their car was their decision. How they have chosen to manage their new car rollout is also their decision. Same goes for their customer service.

Regarding where I get my information... Only a small part of my opinions come from information I get on this forum.

Regards,

Dan.

txfeinbergs

· #26 · Oct 22, 2013

Ugh. I feel like I am watching a soap opera. Dan, I get your points about Chrysler products. I was a Jeep person, but gave up on them 8 years ago after owning 3 and having the plastic window strips that raise and lower the windows break on each window within a 2 month period, having brake wear problem on the Grand Cherokee, and then having it strand me because the security system locked up, and having several other problems that required me to visit the **** dealer once every month.

I am finally going to give them another chance though because I like the new Cherokee so much. That said, I do expect to be in the shop a lot more than for my foreign cars I have owned over the last 8 years (Mitsubishi and Nissan) (of which my total dealer visits for repairs I can count on two fingers!)

I will give American autos one thing though. They are made out of metal (thick metal). My Mitsubishi Lancer was totaled after a 8 mph crash in April. Loved that car, but that is just ridiculous. When you can lean on the side body panel and it flexes in you have a problem.

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Jeepster

· #27 · Oct 22, 2013

I'm glad Dan is reconsidering what looks to have been a snap decision made in anger and frustration.

Jeep may be "shooting themselves in the foot" with their handling of the release of the Cherokee, but IMO Dan will be shooting himself in the @$$ if he lets some dimwit aggravate him into bypassing what, from all accounts of those who've gotten to drive and review, is one of the best vehicles in its class.

C'mon, man. It won't be the first time any of us have bought something great from a complete idiot. You sound like you have a decent dealer, that's what you should go by, not the robot in the cheap suit that's just doing what he's told.

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kilcher

· #28 · Oct 22, 2013 (Edited)

txfeinbergs said:
I will give American autos one thing though. They are made out of metal (thick metal). My Mitsubishi Lancer was totaled after a 8 mph crash in April. Loved that car, but that is just ridiculous. When you can lean on the side body panel and it flexes in you have a problem.

Yeah... I don't take that for granted any more. With MPG's becoming so important, and a huge marketing tool, I'm afraid the thicker metal may be going by the wayside. I had a 2012 Ford Focus which had really thin metal. I'm sure I could have dented it by pushing on it with my thumb if I had tried.

I know the Focus is an economy car and I'm basing all of this off of my experience with one car but I wouldn't be surprised to see them sneak that onto more and more cars. I assume there's some cost savings for the manufacturer (less metal, costs less to ship, easier to shape) but don't know for sure. Not only does it dent easier but I would assume it would rust (and rust through) easier as well.

It's something I'll be looking at specifically on any new car I buy.

Erie-Eyes

· #29 · Oct 22, 2013

Let me start by saying I am biased for for North American auto manufacturers - my dad worked his life at Ford and I have 1 younger brother retired from Ford, and another younger brother retired from Chrysler - when I was still single I drove GM products to keep peace in the family, and when married with 2 vehicles, I switched to Ford & Chrysler, and have had numerous excellent vehicles over the years with no lemons. I consider my 2002 Jeep Liberty that I'm still driving to be one of the best ever for dependability and capability.

I stayed away from the auto industry and became a banker resulting in 18 career moves in my first 20 years. All these moves caused me two regular problems - finding a good barber, and a good mechanic in each of my new locations - very tough to do some times. Whenever I reached the need for a new vehicle, I would make a morning visit the to all of the local dealer service departments have a coffee and pretend to read a paper while listening to service reps deal with existing customers - very surprising what you can learn about a dealership and how they work. I have always felt service managers are more important than the sales managers in exhibiting how a dealership treats their customers. After sales service is always more important to me than any sales "marketing" hype. This is one of the reasons I am waiting patiently to see/test drive the new Cherokee before making my mind up. Patience is required and I'm NOT a patient guy - just a lot older now and hopefully a little wiser - LOL.

Dan - we should all soon be able to see/touch/test drive the new Cherokee to confirm all the good reports that have surfaced. If the Cherokee is in fact the vehicle you need, don't lose the opportunity to get one by being too hasty or frustrated with what happened. I still have faith in Chrysler/Jeep and believe they are headed in the right direction. I also have an "Excellent" dealer to work with.

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JonJones

· #30 · Oct 22, 2013

Jeepster said:
Jeep may be "shooting themselves in the foot" with their handling of the release of the Cherokee, but IMO Dan will be shooting himself in the @$$ if he lets some dimwit aggravate him into bypassing what, from all accounts of those who've gotten to drive and review, is one of the best vehicles in its class.

Spot on.

dan_public

Discussion Starter · #31 · Oct 23, 2013

JonJones said:
Spot on.

I agree. I'm going to sit back, have a nice Starbucks grande latte, and see how it works out.

dan_public

Discussion Starter · #32 · Oct 23, 2013

Erie-Eyes said:
...
Whenever I reached the need for a new vehicle, I would make a morning visit the to all of the local dealer service departments have a coffee and pretend to read a paper while listening to service reps deal with existing customers - very surprising what you can learn about a dealership and how they work. I have always felt service managers are more important than the sales managers in exhibiting how a dealership treats their customers. After sales service is always more important to me than any sales "marketing" hype. This is one of the reasons I am waiting patiently to see/test drive the new Cherokee before making my mind up. Patience is required and I'm NOT a patient guy - just a lot older now and hopefully a little wiser - LOL.

Dan - we should all soon be able to see/touch/test drive the new Cherokee to confirm all the good reports that have surfaced. If the Cherokee is in fact the vehicle you need, don't lose the opportunity to get one by being too hasty or frustrated with what happened. I still have faith in Chrysler/Jeep and believe they are headed in the right direction. I also have an "Excellent" dealer to work with.

Erie-Eyes,

Good points. I especially like your technique for checking out the dealer's service managers. Also, I may be PO'd and frustrated, but if I wasn't interested in a Cherokee, I wouldn't be posting here.

Regards,

Dan.

JonJones

· #33 · Oct 23, 2013

dan_public said:
I agree. I'm going to sit back, have a nice Starbucks grande latte, and see how it works out.

Ah, so I've convinced you. The tune changes.

dan_public

Discussion Starter · #34 · Oct 23, 2013

JonJones said:
Ah, so I've convinced you. The tune changes.

Yep. Except that the tune is more like a meditation chant. Let's have a nice "Ommm" and breath deeply.

Dan.

Reactions: 1

Flipper

· #35 · Apr 4, 2015

Oh, come on, you can't just leave this soap opera here with no ending....Did Dan end up marrying Cherokee, or did he run back to that European hussy Audi.

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