CONSUMER WATCH | Jeep owner loses faith in Stellantis after parts bungle

Cape Town resident Elroy Goliath worked hard to enjoy the privilege of owning a latest-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. However, with the vehicle immobile he has been driving Isuzu and Toyota courtesy vehicles for the past few months.

A lack of clarity over resurfacing electronic issues and delays in securing the relevant replacement parts has seen his SUV out of action.

Goliath shared his case with us in April this year, deciding to give the involved dealerships and main representative, Stellantis South Africa, an opportunity to resolve the matter before asking the media to look into the story.

Under the Stellantis SA umbrella are Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Opel and Peugeot.

He reached out to us again at the end of June as no resolution had been achieved and he felt he was bearing the full brunt of poor customer service.

The vehicle he purchased is a 2023 registration Grand Cherokee 3.6L Overland. It was acquired in August last year from Reeds Belville as a demonstrator with 12,000km. Its new list price is R1,646,900. The Grand Cherokee is the flagship of the Jeep range.

According to Goliath, his vehicle began to exhibit issues in March this year, with many  electronic error messages displayed on the cluster. The warnings related to the park assistance systems, electronic stability control, active damping and airbags.

It was sent to the workshop at Reeds Belville on March 14.

Almost a month later, the issues could not be resolved and he agreed to receive a courtesy vehicle, a Toyota Corolla Cross, while the dealership continued to troubleshoot. He was subsequently given an Isuzu D-Max.

Dissatisfied with the service he received from Reeds Belville, he directed a formal complaint to Stellantis, requesting the vehicle be sent to William Simpson Cars in Tokai instead, which retails and services Stellantis products including Jeep.

On April 19 Goliath was informed by Brett Hardie, head of technical at Stellantis, that the electrical issues were resolved by the William Simpson dealership.

On May 3 Goliath returned to the dealership as the error messages pertaining to some vehicle functions had returned.

He received the vehicle back on May 25, and on the same day, the warnings emerged again, this time including an error message about the air suspension functionality.

The next day, Goliath claimed the vehicle was unable to start.

Later that week he was visited by a technician from another Stellantis-aligned dealership, Westvaal Paarl, who after failing to get the vehicle mobile, had it towed to William Simpson. The Jeep has been in the custodianship of the dealership since.

Goliath was provided with a Toyota Fortuner as a courtesy vehicle.

He claimed he requested the dealership arranges a buy-back of his defective Jeep, which was declined.

By the time Goliath reached out to us on June 27, he had not received feedback from Stellantis about the status of his vehicle and an estimated date of repair.

We reached out to Stellantis on June 27.

Deidre du Plessis, head of corporate communications, requested further background and responded with official comment on July 6. Du Plessis said the company was "critically aware" of the matter and claimed it was working with the dealership to resolve the situation efficiently to manufacturer standards.

"We are in contact with Dr Goliath twice a week to keep him informed and have provided him a courtesy car in the interim," she said.

"Dr Goliath initially took his vehicle to one of our approved franchised dealers to report a warning light, which indicated a BCM (body control module) and an instrument cluster needed to be ordered and repaired. After not receiving adequate feedback from the repairing dealer, Dr Goliath contacted Stellantis customer care.

"The customer care process was implemented, which ensured the vehicle was diagnosed, assessed and the correct parts were ordered. Customer care has made contact with Dr Goliath and is tracking the required parts daily with continuous feedback to the customer."

In correspondence on July 18, Goliath said he was told by a representative the parts could arrive by the middle of August. He said his faith in Stellantis and Jeep were eroded, adding he was not likely to purchase another vehicle from the stable.