Massey Yardley Dodge Chrysler Jeep refused to honor a valid coupon for service. Offered bait-and-switch pricing. Plantation, Florida

If you own a Dodge and you are on Massey Yardley's mailing list, then you are familiar with the advertising flyer with coupons for their service department that they send out every few months or so.  The most recent one I received included an offer for an oil change plus air filter and 16-point inspection for $17.95, an offer for just a free 23-point inpection, an offer for discounted brake service, and several other offers.

My Dodge Neon had been running a bit rough lately, and there was an occasional squeak in the brakes that I thought might need servicing; so I decided to have it checked out at Massey Yardley.  Since I had recently had an oil change, I opted to use the coupon for just the free 23-point inspection.  That way, a mechanic could give the car a quick once-over, and we could see exactly what needed to be repaired.  Simple, right?  Wrong.

I went to the dealership on 4/29/11 and drove into the line to check-in at the service department, and a guy walked over to my driver's side window.  I didn't catch his name, but for reference he was an older guy with gray hair and a big belly.  When I presented the coupon, he told me that it was only good if I was getting another service done, like an oil change or something.  I showed him the coupon again and pointed out that it mentioned nothing about another service needing to be purchased; I also pointed out that it was a separate coupon that included a free inspection with an oil change; and I showed him the rest of the flyer, noting that nowhere did it say that additional purchases were required to use the coupons.  He did not contest any of the points I made, or offer any explanation.  Instead, he just reiterated that he was not going to accept that coupon unless I paid for something else. 

I then asked him, why did he think that I was there in the first place?  Obviously, I said, I wanted to find out what was wrong with the car so that any necessary repairs could be made.  He responded by asking what the problem was with the car, and I told him I wasn't sure but that it might need brakes among other things.  He then said that it would cost $118 to have the car looked at, and if I needed brakes, that money could be applied to the cost.  I told him that it was ridiculous to try to charge me $118 up front just to have the car looked at, especially considering that I was holding in my hand a valid coupon that his dealership had just mailed me, a coupon that included a free brake inspection.  At that point, he stated that he didn't want to argue, and then he turned his back on me and walked away.

I left the dealership after that, as I would not have trusted a person of that sort to handle my car anyway.

It is my belief that responsibility for this kind of incident has to ultimately reside with the service manager, Ron Jellis, and owner Herbert Yardley.

Postscript: After I left Massey Yardley, I immediately drove to a different auto repair place.  My car was promptly test-driven to diagnose the problems (at no charge), and I was dealt with honestly.  I ended up spending nearly $700 at that place to have the car fixed.