Dodge Dealer dmage to my Viper

TowDawg

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No reason to go nuts here lol.... keep in mind that you could if need be get a bumper super cheap from JonB. To post a 1/2 page ad would be a lot more money then fixing your car. Your next step is fill out the paper work for small claims court. Let them receive it and try to talk to them again to settle out of court.

Agreed, but it becomes more about principle in my mind at this point. I've probably actually cost myself more money throughout my life by being hard-headed and making sure my point is proven, than I needed to. I guess it's a fault, but that's just the way my brain works. If YOU screwed up my car, YOU are going to pay to fix it.

At least in the ad situation, I never had to actually place the ad, but I was ********** enough to do it and not think twice.
 

Ray W

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Fix it on your dime and sue them. They only understand that you are serious if you sue them. In my opinion they feel there are enough people in Florida to keep them in business regardless of how they treat their customers.
 

redtanrt10

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my7vette, Jimmy Arrigo is the owner, not sure if John is the brother or son? He was (is) the Dodge Dealer's National Dealer Council Chairman in 08-09, maybe still in 2010.

Why don't you try and speak to him, at minimum send an email note and attach a link of this thread.
 

plumcrazy

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Agreed, but it becomes more about principle in my mind at this point. I've probably actually cost myself more money throughout my life by being hard-headed and making sure my point is proven, than I needed to. I guess it's a fault, but that's just the way my brain works. If YOU screwed up my car, YOU are going to pay to fix it.

At least in the ad situation, I never had to actually place the ad, but I was ********** enough to do it and not think twice.

id spend 1000 bucks to get back at someone who STOLE 100 from me. ive done it in the past and would do it again. i cant let people get away with crap like that,i ts not about the money all the time
 
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my7vette

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John Arrigo is Jim Arrigos brother and partner. His argument is that its my word against theirs and that the service advicer took a picture of the car while on the lift. I told him I never recieved a call from the dealership indicating there was damage to the car, the damage was not their when we walked around the car during the walk around. They brought my car up to the pickup area without mention of the damage. I fliped as soon as I saw the car. I took the viper to a dodge dealership in the area and they also found two wheels bent on the inside consistent with the damage in the facia. At this point it is not just a matter of $$ but also a matter of principal and business ethics. We will see how they respond when they and their insurance company gets served with the law suit. No way the courts would side with them on this one!!
 

Roysviper

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John Arrigo is Jim Arrigos brother and partner. His argument is that its my word against theirs and that the service advicer took a picture of the car while on the lift. :dunno::confused:

I have had my Vipers to the dealer from time to time as everyone here has. They have NEVER taken a picture of my Vipers while up on the lift of the bottom. By him saying this to me sounds already like somethings rotten in Denmark, or is it just me? I do not believe they took pictures of the bottom of YOUR car, do you? On second thought that could work in your advantage, because if the pictures did exist, they would show NO damage to the bottom backing up your story, otherwise the so called pictures would show YOUR bottom as messed up,huh? Do I make any sense??? ( That statement just hit me wrong for some reason) GOOD LUCK.... I hope they pay fo their sorry ways of treating good, honest customers. We have some sorry DODGE dealerships here in my area also. I have had several bad experiences with them not wanting to honor warranty work on Vipers that have NOT been modified in any way... Don't drop it!!! :usa: :eater: :mad:
 

plumcrazy

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if they show this picture up on the lift with damage, it was from them checking for other damage after it hit the curb. its BS

they snapped that pic to cover their butts. but get a copy of it anyways
 

AZTVR

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I don't care to be the one who defends a dealership; but, if the owner sincerely trusts his employees, he may believe that when the mechanic got the car up on a lift, he may have seen the damage and said to himself, "I better document that since the service advisor didn't write it down."' The owner may have been burned previously by persons who have brought cars in and then claimed damage was done by the dealership, when it was not. It's hard to believe, but, there are people like that. Another scenario that the dealership owner might picture is that the owner of the car may not know that his 17 year old son and his buddy snuck the car out the night before and had a little accident that Dad and the service advisor didn't notice.

However, since the service advisor didn't document the damage when the car was signed in, I believe that the burden of proof is on them, and they should pay to fix it.
Like plumcrazy said, you should get them to send you the photo file if it exist, or, eventually have your lawyer get it. If they send the original photo file, the time that the photo was taken may be tagged in the file (at least on my camera, the photo file includes the date, time, & camera model. That relies on them having set the time in their camera, though. If the photo was taken after the car was test driven, then that is great evidence for you. If it was taken 15 minutes after you dropped it off, then it doesn't help as much. Since you say that both wheels were damaged, it most probably was damaged during the test drive rather than when putting it on a lift.

Good Luck !
 
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my7vette

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Beware!!!

If any Viper owners are thinking of having their Vipers serviced by this dealer, PLEASE re-consider and avoid my nightmare. A dealer with no ethics, sense of responsability or concern for customer satisfaction.....
 

TAXIMAN1

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difficult situation. I can tell you that your insurance company has no emotional interest in this. If you have it fixed under your comp. policy. They will most likely just fix it... No way they are spending $hundereds/per hour, to take this to court. They might send some demand letters, but I bet thats it. Simply a business decision. and an attorney isnt going to spend much time on this, unless he/she is getting paid.. Are you willing to pay hundreds/per hour to pursue this? with no promise of a favorable of the outcome?


You are the only one with the emotional involvment. So You'll probably have to go the media route, like others have said...

Im sorry.. Dont take it the wrong way.. But its true.. I had my Z06 Corvette (500 miles on it at the time). Damaged on an alignment rack doing an oil change at major brand name shop (while I was standing there, so no dispute at all, I witnessed it). The owner offered nothing more that to give me the oil change for free. And said, Im not fixxing it, plain and simply.. Sue me...

After going through the same thing you are. i realized I either had to let it go. Or pay an attorney $400/ per hour to pursue this..

Sad, but true.
 

AZTVR

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Damages to my Viper estimated at $5,734 (Bumper/facia, 2 Wheels, Headlight assembly and Splash shields).

difficult situation. I can tell you that your insurance company has no emotional interest in this. If you have it fixed under your comp. policy. They will most likely just fix it.


It does seem to me that the best way to go with this is just claim it on your own insurance and get on with life. Just let them know that they are the best around town at screwing their customers and you will do your best to get your story out to everyone you can.
 

TAXIMAN1

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Damages to my Viper estimated at $5,734 (Bumper/facia, 2 Wheels, Headlight assembly and Splash shields).

they will probably want to "repair" the wheels.

I am failry new to the South Florida area, and very close to Arrigo. I actually thought about taking my cars there for service. UNTIL NOW !!!!! Its a nice "looking" dealer, and last time I was there "browsing" they had an SSG Viper.. I cant believe they cant figure out how to service a Viper, without giving it back damaged...
 
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bluesrt

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difficult situation. I can tell you that your insurance company has no emotional interest in this. If you have it fixed under your comp. policy. They will most likely just fix it... No way they are spending $hundereds/per hour, to take this to court. They might send some demand letters, but I bet thats it. Simply a business decision. and an attorney isnt going to spend much time on this, unless he/she is getting paid.. Are you willing to pay hundreds/per hour to pursue this? with no promise of a favorable of the outcome?


You are the only one with the emotional involvment. So You'll probably have to go the media route, like others have said...

Im sorry.. Dont take it the wrong way.. But its true.. I had my Z06 Corvette (500 miles on it at the time). Damaged on an alignment rack doing an oil change at major brand name shop (while I was standing there, so no dispute at all, I witnessed it). The owner offered nothing more that to give me the oil change for free. And said, Im not fixxing it, plain and simply.. Sue me...

After going through the same thing you are. i realized I either had to let it go. Or pay an attorney $400/ per hour to pursue this..

Sad, but true.

that mother fxxxxx needs his ass beat! i would get the guy in the dark one day and beat the holy **** out of him--for real:curse::curse:
 

plumcrazy

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I had my Z06 Corvette (500 miles on it at the time). Damaged on an alignment rack doing an oil change at major brand name shop (while I was standing there, so no dispute at all, I witnessed it). The owner offered nothing more that to give me the oil change for free. And said, Im not fixxing it, plain and simply.. Sue me...

i can guarantee you, after i confirmed what he just said to me, id have knocked him out on the spot. if he got up id do it again and then tell him to sue ME

id take my lumps later....thats BS
 

TAXIMAN1

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i can guarantee you, after i confirmed what he just said to me, id have knocked him out on the spot. if he got up id do it again and then tell him to sue ME

id take my lumps later....thats BS

believe me.. I thought about it... But in this screwed up world we live in. I would have been the one who paid in the end, if I did that. He had all my info., name,tag,address,etc,etc. Being the sole income/asset provider for 2 children and a spouce. I had to take the high road.

The guy is a total scumbag, and I know Karma will catch him eventually.

And It is a screwed up world, for sure.
 

plumcrazy

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taximan, you are obviously a better/smarter man than me. i dont have that switch like you do in cases like that.

i hate hearing this stuff.
 

2snakes4us

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John Arrigo is Jim Arrigos brother and partner. His argument is that its my word against theirs and that the service advicer took a picture of the car while on the lift. I told him I never recieved a call from the dealership indicating there was damage to the car, the damage was not their when we walked around the car during the walk around. They brought my car up to the pickup area without mention of the damage. I fliped as soon as I saw the car. I took the viper to a dodge dealership in the area and they also found two wheels bent on the inside consistent with the damage in the facia. At this point it is not just a matter of $$ but also a matter of principal and business ethics. We will see how they respond when they and their insurance company gets served with the law suit. No way the courts would side with them on this one!!

Ask for a copy of the photo sent to you...then right click on the photo and select properties . it will tell you when the photo was processed. time date etc.
 

rudedawg

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Listen,file a claim in small claims court. No attorney needed, go present your case and let the judge there make a judgement. it will cost you about $30.00 to file the suit and then represent yourself. I think the biggest thing you have going for you is the when they did the walk around nothing was found and that's the point point I would stress the most in court. At least you'll have a fair chance to win.
 

Ray W

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Yes, take them to small claims. If the cap is 5000.00 just sue for that. Your insurance is probably not going to do much to recover from them. They will just raise your premiums if they can't collect from them.

Do have your car repaired and paid for with all documentation before suing. Judges are more comfortable with paid damages.
 

vancouver-gts

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Media attention works best in scenarios like this IMHO .My friend had his one year old Vette with around 7K miles on it ,parking in his carport that was torched by arsonist on Halloween night .There were a total of 7 carport fires that night in his neighbourhood.He went to the mighty ICBC [ British Columbia's state insurance corporation] to get compensation for his vehicle he purchased for $8000+ new.They offered him a ridiculous sum of $3000
. He had to run around getting receipts of maintenance records to prove his practically new vehicle was in perfect condition. After presenting receipts from dealerships ,the insurance company upped the amount to $4200 .My friend got fed up, called a local paper ,made a placard spraying his
facts and claim # with a spray can and started pacing up and down front of the insurance building .It didn't take more than twenty minutes for an official coming out to invite him inside ,and little over half an hour he came out with a check for $6000 .Just an idea if you run into a brickwall :eater:
This happened back in the early 70's .
 

HUCKGTS

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Hello everyone, I just realized my7vette was not giving everyone the true story just his side of the arguement. I am a 2x viper owner, a memeber of the VCA since 2007 and Mr. my7vette service consultant at Arrigo dodge. Mr my7vette forgets that in april with signed documentaion by him that there was the damage to the front bumper, I also got him a price on fixing his rims which can be verified by wheel of America on his request because the rims where already damged. We also have documentation from the dealership in Pembroke pines damged to the viper and the dealership the last owner was at because it is all in the car fax for an estimate on the front headlamp. The orignal viper tech who is a good friend of mine and his worked on many VCA vipers will sign a form stating that he had the damage to the front bumper and headlamp since April when he personally signed the damage report. Mr. my7vette thinks since his orignal technician has left the dealership to start his own business that heis not here to verify everything but he is a good friend and relaible witness on the stand if need be. Mr. my7vette did not realize I am a member so he needs to tell the truth instead of making up stories and asking for your symphay. I, as a member of this club and a viper owner, am staing that the damages was there before he came in been there since before april and he should be ashamed of himself for making up stories.
 

Roysviper

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WOW!!!! What do we believe now?? Like they say there is always three sides to every story, his side, their side and the truth side....GOD knows the truth, for sure! :nono: :( :confused: :dunno:
 
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my7vette

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I did not forget you are a member of the VCA....An d that damage was not there. You will have your time to prove this in court! Enough arguing wioth you and your team. I also have paperwork with no damages and folks who know my car and that there were no damages. Again we will have the legal system have the last word!!!
 

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