Chrysler Toasts Dealers on Radio Charge backs

[RONALD GRAVES]

As I am sure by now most of you are aware by now; Chrysler had a small problem with billing on exchange units sent to dealers from about mid Nov. to mid Dec. I believe that from my reading of the mail sent to our store by Chrysler, that the dealerbody was charged back over $750,000. They have promised to fix this problem by March 1. I am not at all sure they can unravel all the kinks in the system to do this. My big fear is that they have to rely on the word of the vendors to fix this.
By the way can I have 90 days of interest
on that $750,000.

Ron Graves
today.

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Ron G.

[Chuck Hartle]

Hi Ron,

I think it is worse than that. They are continuing to charge a $500.00 "core" on radios, speedometers, and just about any exchange item that they have. It is bad enough that these are exchange items and we make "zero" profit on them, now they attach an unrealistic "core" value to these parts.
For example, Ron, we ordered a speedometer head for a customer that was customer pay. It had a dealer net of $146.00 and a retail of $245.00. We ordered it as a retail for the customer through Function 11. We just received the bill from Chrysler for $500.00. I contacted my District Manager and he instructed me that there is no control on the program and he couldn't help me. The supposed 'head' of this program with Chrysler is Jeff Conklin. I emailed him twice for an answer and got no response. I have 3 examples in the last two months of this and I have now lost $950.00 based on the charges I have made via our GPOP (DCS) and been hammered for the unrealistic charges. If you ask your Parts DM, he refers it to service. If you ask you Service DM, he refers it to Parts. Function 11 and the Chrysler exchange program are out of control and no one is willing to take a swing at it. I have the same problem you have Ron with the eariler charges, the problem is that it is continuing even today.
Did you ever get an email on these new charges? Is it listed in the Policy & Procedure manual? Why isn't the 'core' charge listed on GPOP? You have to love DaimlerChrysler's first new cynergy!!!!

Chuck Hartle'

[JHaynes]

This situation is unreal! Yes, they fixed the situation, but after faxing Dave Vincinti about my particular chargebacks, I finally received credit.....but for only 200.00. Now I am dealing with the same situation that Chuck is.....no one wants to correct the problem, and I can not seem to find anyone who gives a damn!

Anyone got a cantact who can get this corrected?
Jim Haynes
Fresno Dodge
W6PXM@pacbell.net

[Chuck Hartle]

Hi Jim,

I am going to try and keep this short, sweet, and to the point. Function 11 (Chrysler Exchange Program) is a fiasco. It is so out of control that no one wants to tackle the problem at DaimlerChrysler. Since Ron and I posted this original message, we have received DMail from Chrysler that we would be getting "credits" back totalling $750,000 in bad charges....

The problem hasn't gone away, it is getting worse. Everything has a $500.00 'core charge' on it. We ordered several speedo heads via the Function 11 "retail sale" process and we were never charged the dealer net of $146.00 or $175.00 for the order, we were charged "$500.00". We faxed in our sheets about this to our "Exchange Vendor" per instructions from 1-800-34-MOPAR and on one we never got any reply back while the other we got the $500.00 credit and they never rebilled us for the $175.00 dealer net. On several bills we have gotten double the money back (hard to believe) but on many they have just fallen into the 'Black Hole'. The problem here is that the Vendors are overwhelmed and Chrysler needs to take control of this program and monitor it more effectively. No one is willing to take charge of a program that is out of control and very one sided.

It is bad enough that parts gets absolutely nothing for 95% of these exchange parts except a headache for ordering and processing (we get zero mark up or profit on these items) just for the privilige of being a DaimlerChrysler dealer.

The reality here Jim is that Chrysler has nothing about this in writing. There is no clearly defined "list" of policy and procedures on this exchange program and the exact charges that should be applied whether on customer pay or warranty exchange. The prices posted on GPOP (Chrysler DCS) reflect a dealer net price and a retail price, however there is no 'core' price posted. Your DSM (District Service Manager) and your DMM (District Mopar Manager) both try to ignore the situation because they have been given no direction or written policies either. In conclusion, Jim, the program is a disaster and the Dealers are paying for it. I talked with my dealer about the losses and the productivity we have lost over this 'headache' and he suggested that we just not order any exchange parts... Right?!#$@

Here is the email address of the person who is supposed to be in charge of the exchange program at Chrysler. If enough parts managers begin to email him maybe someone at Chrysler will begin to take a hard look at fixing this huge problem. His name is:

Jeff Conklin email jcc14@daimlerchrysler.com

Let all your Parts Guild members and parts manager friends know this and email him about the problem....

[Kim Quick]

AER is one of the seven independent service centers handling radio remanufacturing. When the chargebacks were first turned on last year, some glitches did occur. There have been teams of people cleaning up the initial computer snag.

Those of you who recieved the initial $200 chargeback credit has been credited the additional $300 balance due. I encourage you to review your records over the past 60 days to see if this may have slipped by.

AER sincerely wants to build relationships with parts managers, not leave you helpless.

Today, we are proactively calling any dealer who has not returned a core communicating the status and requesting the core well in advance of any chargeback being created. In our market today, there are only a few cores in the window that have not been returned timely.

I think the majority of your concerns still revolve around the inital start up last year. We want to provide a dialog to work together. Our intent is not to penalize, but rather support you with 24 hour service resulting in satisfied parts managers. Yes, we are human and make mistakes. The difference is we do care and even though we are in the middle of all this, we sincerely want to help you where we can.

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Kim Quick AER Fullerton,CA

[Chuck Hartle]

I want to retract something here that I put on this web site. Mr. Conklin is not the head of the "Function 11" process as I had been led to believe. I apologize as Mr. Conklin has been overwhelmed by email and your phone calls.

While I received this information about the error from Mopar Parts, I still did not receive the person that actually 'owns' or is in charge of this program.

I am glad to see AER has responded here to the problem that does not really exist. Kim, I am not having problems anymore getting the credit for units I have sent back under warranty or unused. I think the big problem here is a clarification on the standardized "core value" of $500.00 that has been placed on all of the Function 11 parts, regardless of warranty of customer pay.

To emphasize this more clearly... How can I charge a $500.00 core on a $175.00 retail speedometer head? Based on the published price in both the current Chrysler price book and Chrysler DCS (GPOP) you show dealer net and a suggested list price. No where does is show a $500.00 core charge. The problems we are experiencing is that we do not receive a bill for $146.00 for the speedometer head, we only receive a bill for $500.00 for not returning the speedo head. In error you have credited us the full $500.00 dollars twice without charging us for the actual speedo head. But, in many customer pay instances, we have been charged the $500.00 well above and beyond the published price and we have been told that until we get the "core" back that is the charge.

What we need here is simple. We need a clearly defined policy and procedure manual and a clearly defined list of parts and the corrosponding charges based on warranty, and based on customer pay. By standardizing the core price at $500.00 on exchange units is fine for warranty exchange, but it is ludicrous to have that same 'core charge' on certain items that should have no core value attached to them at all under customer pay.

Put yourself in the parts manager and the parts advisor's shoes for a moment. First off, it is bad enough that we spend twice as much productivity and effort to order "exchange" parts in the first place while not making a dime for our efforts except the labor to R & R it. Second, our time and effort trying to track and return these parts and balance our 'core charges' take even more time. Unfortunately, this is just the cost and priviledge of being a Chrysler franchise. But, some one needs to clarify this program and clearly define it.

I am told that Technical Bulletin D98-28 or D98-29 covers some of this from November, but it does not begin to clearly define the parts policy and procedures between customer pay exchange and warranty exchange.

I do agree with you Kim the we don't have much of a problem at all anymore with the warranty exchange end of it. It is the customer pay exchange end of it and the policy that needs to have a hard look taken at it and presented.

Chuck Hartle