When you take your vehicle in for service, you expect it to be fixed and returned by professionals. You certainly don’t expect to see it being used by a dealership employee to run errands.
Unfortunately, that’s what happened when Penny Thompson brought her pickup to Mac Haik Flowood Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Flowood, Mississippi.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, Thompson revealed she was driving around town when she noticed her truck tailgating another vehicle. While it’s not unusual for dealership employees to take a quick test drive of vehicles in their care, Thompson decided to follow her truck and was surprised when it stopped at Lowes.
The dealership employee reportedly spent more than 20 minutes in the store, so Thompson decided to take her truck back. As explained in the deleted Facebook post, “I found my spare key … and I [decided to] steal MY OWN DODGE from [the] Lowes parking lot [be]cause ya see I’m a Home Depot kinda girl anyway.”
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Thompson reportedly returned to the dealership to confront them and was allegedly told the repairs would be free as long as she didn’t post about the incident on social media. She declined and the post quickly went viral.
While the post was eventually deleted, the Clarion Ledger said the dealership’s general manager, William LaGrange, replied to one of Thompson’s posts and said “I am fully aware of the situation that has occurred and I am disgusted that an employee of mine would take a customer’s vehicle for anything other than official use. I take full responsiblity [sic] for what has occurred. Swift action has taken place and will continue to take place.” He went on to say the employee who took the truck was fired and service manager has been suspended.
Given that the posts have been deleted, it’s possible the two sides have come to some sort of arrangement. That remains unclear, but Thompson reportedly made another post describing the incident as a “stupid mistake” and one that didn’t cause any damage to her truck.
The dealership, for its part, posted a Facebook message saying they strive to “always exceed our customers’ expectations” but they “recently fell short of this goal and have taken appropriate company action against the employee who violated our policies.”
H/T to Jalopnik
https://www.facebook.com/machaikflowood/posts/721873698210274?__tn__=-R