Towing Issues: ripped off, chrysler town and country, cv axle


Question
To start with, my husband works in Maryland and I stay home in NC. He travels back and forth. We have a Chrysler town and country and the rear cv axle broke on his way up there and he had to get a phonebook from the rest area and find a towing company. It was also a service center. They came and towed the van and they also confirmed to my husband that they could fix the problem. So they ordered the part two days later. It took seven days to come in from the Chrysler dealership. They proceeded to repair the van the next day. That evening the owner called my husband and told him to come and get the van. My husband left to go get the van with a rented car. The bill came to $702.00. He picks it up hrs away from him and 3hrs away from me and got 10 miles down interstate 95 and the part kicked back out that had just been replaced. He called the service center and they came and towed it back to the shop. The next day they made out like they were trying to figure out why it kicked out. well, they couldnt figure it out so they suggested to my husband that the only thing they know to do was take it to the dealership. they towed it the next day and charged us $250.00 to tow it about 30 miles from their shop to the Chrysler dealership. Its was there a week and they kept saying that there was nothing wrong so they told my husband to come and get it and he did. He got about 8 miles down 95 and the axle kicked back out again and he called the service center again that we had paid all the money to to come and tow it back to the Chrysler place and charged us another $97 to tow it back again. It stayed about 2 more weeks and the dealership finally drove it like my husband had told them the whole time to do and the part kicked out on them too. They towed it back for free and checked it and said the part was damaged that the other service center had installed the first time.We are currently still waiting on the new part to come in and the Chrysler dealership is going to install it this time and we got to pay for it to get installed a second time. I think the service center has gotten over on us with the labor and the towing so what can we do about this?

Answer
Well sorry for the delay but its been hectic here at work..

Now this does sound as if there is a bit of an issue here that should be addressed...

Generally shops will warranty the repairs they do, unless they are using "used parts" or "customer supplied parts". That being said, I think that the repair shop did take advantage of the problem here and while they say that they can not "figure out the cause" it might be that they do want to try and transfer the blame somewhere else.

Now I am not a mechanic but I know enough that "CV Joints" do have issues when they fail and at times they do damage the housing or locking areas enough that they can come out again.

Now the Chrysler place most likely is telling the truth here as they deal in this stuff all the time, some repair shops do tend to try to do things they do not have the equipment to do the repairs correctly.

Now as to what to do... I would be working on contesting the repair costs with the shop, as if the dealer is replacing the same items then there is a warranty claim issue or worse.  
You can see what you can get from the shop in the way of satisfaction or if you do not get anywhere you always have the small claims court route... I am not sure if you would have to file it where the shop is or if you can file it in North Carolina...

Keep good notes on everything including phone calls and such and you might have a great case on this if it goes to court.

Good luck and hope it has worked out. Again sorry for the delay in answering.