Hmm, I live in Texas, I owned two Neon's, a 96 and an 05. Both worked well, in fact the AC was cold enough my knees would ache, favorite setting, lol. No eperience with any newer MoPar AC systems though.
The 96 did shell a compressor clutch once, just went to the boneyard, got another one and swapped it myself. Only issue I ever had with the Neon's AC.
Now, to the OP's questions. Just because you do not have a working AC does not mean it is low on Freon. In fact, arbitrarily adding Freon can cause more issues in more modern systems. Never do that unless you have proof it is needed. My ex's 15 GMC had no AC, gauges showed the pressures were pretty much the same on the high and low side in spite of the compressor turning. Bad compressor there. I farmed that job out. While I do have a mobile HVAC license, I do not have the equipment to service anything newer than an R12 system, which is why I got the license, to buy R12 for my Diplomat back in the 90's.
Farm it out is what I would recommend. A good shop will tell you what's wrong and what it will take to fix it.