Josh Tauber

I am a long time customer of East Hills Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, having purchased or leased multiple vehicles at the dealership over nearly 3 decades (despite the fact that I live 45 minutes or more from the d Ram, having purchased or leased multiple vehicles at the dealership over nearly 3 decades (despite the fact that I live 45 minutes or more from the dealership). I have always been a satisfied customer of their sales and service departments - until now. My current lease is a 2023 Wrangler 4xe with three months remaining on the lease. I leased the vehicle in October 2022 with the intention of helping to limit pollutants and save money on gasoline. During the period of my lease there have been 4 recalls… 3 this year. All of the recalls have been for risk of spontaneous fires - the first three related to battery separation on the lithium battery on the electric motor. Most recently, I became aware of a new recall resulting from risk of the wiring harness spontaneously combusting (even when the vehicle is off). In multiple recalls we have been advised not to park the Jeep near structures or other vehicles. In two of the recalls, we were advised not to charge the electric motor and to drive the vehicle on gas only (defeating the purpose of driving a non gasoline vehicle and adding expense to my monthly budget on top of the premium cost of leasing a hybrid electric vehicle. After the previous recalls I asked East Hills to take my lease back early as well as provide the contact information for the Stellantis zone representative as I do understand that this is a manufacturer issue primarily. I never received a response with the zone rep information. When I became aware of the most recent recall, I again reached out to the leadership at the dealership advising that I no longer feel safe driving the Wrangler and asking them to take the Jeep back and cover the remaining 3 lease payments. Again I requested the name and contact information for the Stellantis Zone representative so that I could follow up with them directly. I have not received any acknowledgment or response from the dealership to this request. Interestingly enough, I did receive a “personalized” email from Mike Kennedy, the floor manager at East Hills, highlighting the current Jeep specials and encouraging me to come into the dealership to discuss getting out of my current lease and into a new Jeep. These “personalized” emails come regularly (sometimes more than once weekly) but the leadership at the dealership won’t respond to a specific concern initiated by a long time customer. I am not interested in leasing or purchasing another product manufactured by Stellantis as their quality control and attention to detail is suspect. That said, East Hills has several other vehicle manufacturers in their portfolio. I would have considered leasing or purchasing from one of these other dealerships until my most recent experiences. I cannot in good faith do business with a corporation that does not value the safety of its customers (especially a long time repeat customer). I realize that product defects and recalls are plaguing multiple vehicle manufacturers. How the individual dealership responds to their customer’s needs and concerns dictates whether a customer is likely to continue doing business with that dealership. Barring East Hills or Stellantis reaching out to resolve these concerns, I will drive the Wrangler only as necessary until the lease ends and hope that my safety concerns are not realized. More

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