My Latest Dealer Ordeal or All's Well That Ends Well...Almost
09-09-2004, 08:09 PM
#1
My Latest Dealer Ordeal or All's Well That Ends Well...Almost
LOOOONG Story:
Well I picked up my car tonight after it spent the last 8 days in the dealers service dept. I had taken it in for the two new front tires.
Let's start at the beginning. I had them look at the tires about 6 weeks ago and of course they met their criterion for replacement. I was told that they would call me when they came in. So, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks....NOTHING. So I call them (knowing that there are delays in getting tires due to the new TSB) and say, "guys, what's going on? Any word on my tires?" They tell me they will check on it and get back to me. FIVE MINUTES later, they call back and say, "Yeah, Ed those tires are here and we need to make and appointment to get them on for you"
Ahhhh, OK. So I guess the UPS guy JUST delivered them in that five minutes God knows how long they had been sitting there!
So my appointment is made. I tell them that I have two other issues I want them to address. One is the passenger side window. I was having problems with the Auto up and down function. It needed to be reset. The other was the CEL that I wrote about in another post the Heated O2 sensor.
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/sho...=&threadid=4539
Anyway. I give them the car last Wednesday along with two dozen donuts that I left in the front seat (they really seem to like that and it does make them nicer to you. Unfortunately it didn't make them any more efficient). I gave them a note that said, "Enjoy the donuts and take good care of her!"
Now I had told them about ALL THREE of these issues TWO WEEKS before my appointment so they knew to block off enough time to take care of them all. It's not like I made an appointment for the tires and when I dropped it off, I said, OH, by the way...
So I am awaiting the call Wednesday afternoon since they said it should be done in one day. No call. At 4:50 (they close at 5:00) I call them and they said that they sent the wheels and tires down to another town with a low profile tire machine (since they didn't want a repeat performance of damaging my wheels like last year when they did the front tire flip for my first go round with feathering). This town is about 25 miles away. They said that since it was so far, they weren't able to get the wheels back in time so they'd need it overnight.
I asked if the other two issues were addressed and they were not. They had the car RIGHT THERE. Just cause the wheels were elsewhere doesn't mean they couldn't touch the car! Oh well. I remain totally calm and say OK.
So Thursday, never get a call. They have my home #, my cell, my pager, and my office #. I call them at around 4:00. "Well, we had a problem." NOT the words I wanted to hear! "What happened", I ask. "Well, when they were taking off my tire, they damaged the TPS." I thought, well OK, not a huge deal, can you get me another one? He replied, no problem I will have it overnighted and we'll get the car back to you tomorrow.
Again, I ask if the CEL has been addressed or if the window issue has been looked at. "Ahhhhh, no not yet" Again, what the **** are they doing with the car all day long!
So, now it's Friday. No call. I'm traveling with the football team (I am team doc) to a road game 2.5 hours away and they are getting ready to close. I call them again (never got a call from them) at 4:30. The TPS is in and the tires have been mounted and balanced. They are on the car. Great, I think. Progress!
How about the window issue? "Well, we had another problem." GEEZE! Now what? Well, when we were removing the door panel to check the window we "stripped some bolts in there" and now we can't get the door panel back on. The good news is that they did reset the window and it was working fine.
I ask if I can just take the car and have them do the door panel later since I didn't want to be without the car over the 3 day weekend. "Well, I don't want to have you driving around with the door panel off." I said that I didn't care. Then he says, "well, all the window mechanism is taken apart and we STILL haven't checked the CEL issue for the Heated O2 sensor."
AHHHHHH!!! This one day job has now turned into a three day job and they still weren't nearly done. So now, no Z for the Labor Day weekend and the weather was beautiful.
I call Tuesday afternoon. Door parts are in. Door put back together, window working. Heated O2 sensor on order....HUH? Why didn't you order it FIVE DAYS AGO!!! Well, they never put the ECU reader on the car to confirm the CEL until today. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! So now, he says, "Remember yesterday I told you the four wheel alignment was all done. Well I was wrong. It was never done and we have it up on the machine now.
This is when he told me about the problem with the alignment machine and my Kaminari spoiler getting in the way of the light beam they use to align.
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/sho...=&threadid=4743
So Wednesday is the day for them to (finally) get around to doing the O2 sensor. They said they replaced it. Don't know if they actually checked to see if anything was even wrong with it in the first place though.
SO, as for the alignment issue he said the only thing they could do was to either remove the lip (it is bolted and stuck on with sticky tape) or just remove the entire bumper with the lip attached. We chose that option. As visions of cracked urethane danced in my head all night, I went to work today and actually got a call at about 4 PM. The car was DONE! Of course now I had to pay for TWO HOURS of labor to remove and reinstall the bumper $120! Oh well, I guess I can't expect them to eat that under the warranty work.
The guy tells me now that even though the car is done, it is really dirty and there are finger prints all over it and that he wants to keep it tonight (Thurs) so he can "clean it up" I said NO THANKS!!! I would not have a problem with the car being dirty and I really wanted it today. He them hemmed and hawwed about the paperwork not being done yet and they were closing in 30 min. I said, I WILL be picking up the car today and that I can sign the paperwork and pay for the labor Friday. PLEASE DO NOT wash the car.
I go to pick it up and the service dept. is closed and eveyone except the sales staff are gone. They give me the keys. I go out and inspect every inch of the car. It doesn't appear that the rims were damaged at all and the new tires look good. I do find two small scratches that were not there before on the front bumper/hood area but they aren't bad and some Z-5 should take care of them. The car IS really filthy but I can't fault them for that. He DID offer to clean it and I deferred.
I get into the car and all looks good. The window works perfectly. Of course all of my radio presets are lost as are all of my XM radio presets. I sit there and redo all of them. I go to turn my computer on and NADA! I look back in the glove box and check the main power fuse to my PC. It is blown. Don't know how they managed that but, oh well. Not a huge issue. I stopped at Radio Shack on the way home and got another one and we're back in business.
It's nice to drive without that ROAR of the tires. No pulling at all. Car feels good to drive. BUT, not 30 seconds after I pull onto the road, the damn CEL comes back on!!! I check it with my Digimoto on the PC and it is THE SAME DAMM CODE! The Heated O2 sensor! So now I have to call them again tomorrow but I really don't want to give them the car back. At least not after not having it for the last 8 days! The car runs fine so I'm not sure what to think about the CEL.
So, that was waaaay too long but it is my latest adventure.
What do you all think?
Well I picked up my car tonight after it spent the last 8 days in the dealers service dept. I had taken it in for the two new front tires.
Let's start at the beginning. I had them look at the tires about 6 weeks ago and of course they met their criterion for replacement. I was told that they would call me when they came in. So, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks....NOTHING. So I call them (knowing that there are delays in getting tires due to the new TSB) and say, "guys, what's going on? Any word on my tires?" They tell me they will check on it and get back to me. FIVE MINUTES later, they call back and say, "Yeah, Ed those tires are here and we need to make and appointment to get them on for you"
Ahhhh, OK. So I guess the UPS guy JUST delivered them in that five minutes God knows how long they had been sitting there!
So my appointment is made. I tell them that I have two other issues I want them to address. One is the passenger side window. I was having problems with the Auto up and down function. It needed to be reset. The other was the CEL that I wrote about in another post the Heated O2 sensor.
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/sho...=&threadid=4539
Anyway. I give them the car last Wednesday along with two dozen donuts that I left in the front seat (they really seem to like that and it does make them nicer to you. Unfortunately it didn't make them any more efficient). I gave them a note that said, "Enjoy the donuts and take good care of her!"
Now I had told them about ALL THREE of these issues TWO WEEKS before my appointment so they knew to block off enough time to take care of them all. It's not like I made an appointment for the tires and when I dropped it off, I said, OH, by the way...
So I am awaiting the call Wednesday afternoon since they said it should be done in one day. No call. At 4:50 (they close at 5:00) I call them and they said that they sent the wheels and tires down to another town with a low profile tire machine (since they didn't want a repeat performance of damaging my wheels like last year when they did the front tire flip for my first go round with feathering). This town is about 25 miles away. They said that since it was so far, they weren't able to get the wheels back in time so they'd need it overnight.
I asked if the other two issues were addressed and they were not. They had the car RIGHT THERE. Just cause the wheels were elsewhere doesn't mean they couldn't touch the car! Oh well. I remain totally calm and say OK.
So Thursday, never get a call. They have my home #, my cell, my pager, and my office #. I call them at around 4:00. "Well, we had a problem." NOT the words I wanted to hear! "What happened", I ask. "Well, when they were taking off my tire, they damaged the TPS." I thought, well OK, not a huge deal, can you get me another one? He replied, no problem I will have it overnighted and we'll get the car back to you tomorrow.
Again, I ask if the CEL has been addressed or if the window issue has been looked at. "Ahhhhh, no not yet" Again, what the **** are they doing with the car all day long!
So, now it's Friday. No call. I'm traveling with the football team (I am team doc) to a road game 2.5 hours away and they are getting ready to close. I call them again (never got a call from them) at 4:30. The TPS is in and the tires have been mounted and balanced. They are on the car. Great, I think. Progress!
How about the window issue? "Well, we had another problem." GEEZE! Now what? Well, when we were removing the door panel to check the window we "stripped some bolts in there" and now we can't get the door panel back on. The good news is that they did reset the window and it was working fine.
I ask if I can just take the car and have them do the door panel later since I didn't want to be without the car over the 3 day weekend. "Well, I don't want to have you driving around with the door panel off." I said that I didn't care. Then he says, "well, all the window mechanism is taken apart and we STILL haven't checked the CEL issue for the Heated O2 sensor."
AHHHHHH!!! This one day job has now turned into a three day job and they still weren't nearly done. So now, no Z for the Labor Day weekend and the weather was beautiful.
I call Tuesday afternoon. Door parts are in. Door put back together, window working. Heated O2 sensor on order....HUH? Why didn't you order it FIVE DAYS AGO!!! Well, they never put the ECU reader on the car to confirm the CEL until today. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! So now, he says, "Remember yesterday I told you the four wheel alignment was all done. Well I was wrong. It was never done and we have it up on the machine now.
This is when he told me about the problem with the alignment machine and my Kaminari spoiler getting in the way of the light beam they use to align.
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/sho...=&threadid=4743
So Wednesday is the day for them to (finally) get around to doing the O2 sensor. They said they replaced it. Don't know if they actually checked to see if anything was even wrong with it in the first place though.
SO, as for the alignment issue he said the only thing they could do was to either remove the lip (it is bolted and stuck on with sticky tape) or just remove the entire bumper with the lip attached. We chose that option. As visions of cracked urethane danced in my head all night, I went to work today and actually got a call at about 4 PM. The car was DONE! Of course now I had to pay for TWO HOURS of labor to remove and reinstall the bumper $120! Oh well, I guess I can't expect them to eat that under the warranty work.
The guy tells me now that even though the car is done, it is really dirty and there are finger prints all over it and that he wants to keep it tonight (Thurs) so he can "clean it up" I said NO THANKS!!! I would not have a problem with the car being dirty and I really wanted it today. He them hemmed and hawwed about the paperwork not being done yet and they were closing in 30 min. I said, I WILL be picking up the car today and that I can sign the paperwork and pay for the labor Friday. PLEASE DO NOT wash the car.
I go to pick it up and the service dept. is closed and eveyone except the sales staff are gone. They give me the keys. I go out and inspect every inch of the car. It doesn't appear that the rims were damaged at all and the new tires look good. I do find two small scratches that were not there before on the front bumper/hood area but they aren't bad and some Z-5 should take care of them. The car IS really filthy but I can't fault them for that. He DID offer to clean it and I deferred.
I get into the car and all looks good. The window works perfectly. Of course all of my radio presets are lost as are all of my XM radio presets. I sit there and redo all of them. I go to turn my computer on and NADA! I look back in the glove box and check the main power fuse to my PC. It is blown. Don't know how they managed that but, oh well. Not a huge issue. I stopped at Radio Shack on the way home and got another one and we're back in business.
It's nice to drive without that ROAR of the tires. No pulling at all. Car feels good to drive. BUT, not 30 seconds after I pull onto the road, the damn CEL comes back on!!! I check it with my Digimoto on the PC and it is THE SAME DAMM CODE! The Heated O2 sensor! So now I have to call them again tomorrow but I really don't want to give them the car back. At least not after not having it for the last 8 days! The car runs fine so I'm not sure what to think about the CEL.
So, that was waaaay too long but it is my latest adventure.
What do you all think?
09-09-2004, 11:57 PM
#2
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Bonz, is this the same dealer that refused to service your car after you wrote that letter many months ago???
I just love stories like this, especially since I have an appointment in the morning to have MY feathering "fixed" for the second time. My default dealer's service department is on strike right now, so I do not know what to expect from the dealer I am visiting tomorrow. I'm still awake @ 0300, and my appointment is at 0830. Just a BIT nervous about the whole situation...
I just love stories like this, especially since I have an appointment in the morning to have MY feathering "fixed" for the second time. My default dealer's service department is on strike right now, so I do not know what to expect from the dealer I am visiting tomorrow. I'm still awake @ 0300, and my appointment is at 0830. Just a BIT nervous about the whole situation...
09-10-2004, 12:15 AM
#3
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Patient man doc, patient man. I think the guy wanted to keep the car another day to probably work with the CEL/heated O2 issue, but covered it with a "I just want to get the paperwork and some other things done" story so that you would hopefully comply. Oh well man, good luck with this next round...
09-10-2004, 03:15 AM
#4
Yes, this is the same dealer that first refused to service my car thanks to "The Letter"
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/show...&threadid=1751
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/show...&threadid=2408
The next closest one is about 20 miles away and is owned by the same guy. The thing is, I met this guy in a social situation. He is dating the daughter of a friend of mine. He is really a nice guy and really loves my car. He was over my house and just couldn't keep his eyes off my car. He told me over and over how NOW he completely understood why I wrote that letter in the first place.
I was thinking of calling him but I don't want to get the very guys who will be working on my car, pissed off at me because I went to their boss!
What do you all think. Should I tell him all this? I'm leaning this way for sure.
Yobri, I figured I would get better results with patience. SUCKER!
I agree that they were stalling for time at the end for sure.
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/show...&threadid=1751
http://www.350zfrenzy.com/forum/show...&threadid=2408
The next closest one is about 20 miles away and is owned by the same guy. The thing is, I met this guy in a social situation. He is dating the daughter of a friend of mine. He is really a nice guy and really loves my car. He was over my house and just couldn't keep his eyes off my car. He told me over and over how NOW he completely understood why I wrote that letter in the first place.
I was thinking of calling him but I don't want to get the very guys who will be working on my car, pissed off at me because I went to their boss!
What do you all think. Should I tell him all this? I'm leaning this way for sure.
Yobri, I figured I would get better results with patience. SUCKER!
I agree that they were stalling for time at the end for sure.
09-10-2004, 08:38 AM
#5
Horrible service.
A few notes. If the car was jacked up for the wheels, they might not have been able to do some of the work.
The ordering of parts in advance is the service advisor's responsibility. It sounds like he might have dropped the ball creating undue delay. Additionally, follow-up should take place timely when the part has arrived. However, I wouldn't have left the car until all parts were in so that I know there wont be any delays because of the "we have to wait for the parts to arrive" excuse. I've experienced too many delays because the parts aren't here yet crap to make that mistake again.
The alignment issue is a definite problem. If they're using lasers and they really can't get the job done without taking off the bumper, what are you going to do the next time you need another alignment?
A little tip. Donuts are nice for everybody. But, a nice bottle of premium alcohol is nice for the the person who matters - your service advisor. I take care of my service advisor and, if there is significant warranty work or if he has to become involved, I take care of the service director. A $50+ bottle of the good stuff every once in a while is worth its weight in gold when it comes to goodwill. I also wrote, a nice letter of commendation to Nissan North America at 30k miles about my service team including my service advisor, the director and the tech that usually works on my Z with a copy to them of course. They deserved it and more good will. You can't have enough good will with your service crew.
Ed, I don't think your service advisor is giving you grade A service. He's certainly not in the same league as my guy who treats my car like it's his own.
Screw patience. Discuss, resolve or find a new advisor is my recommendation.
A few notes. If the car was jacked up for the wheels, they might not have been able to do some of the work.
The ordering of parts in advance is the service advisor's responsibility. It sounds like he might have dropped the ball creating undue delay. Additionally, follow-up should take place timely when the part has arrived. However, I wouldn't have left the car until all parts were in so that I know there wont be any delays because of the "we have to wait for the parts to arrive" excuse. I've experienced too many delays because the parts aren't here yet crap to make that mistake again.
The alignment issue is a definite problem. If they're using lasers and they really can't get the job done without taking off the bumper, what are you going to do the next time you need another alignment?
A little tip. Donuts are nice for everybody. But, a nice bottle of premium alcohol is nice for the the person who matters - your service advisor. I take care of my service advisor and, if there is significant warranty work or if he has to become involved, I take care of the service director. A $50+ bottle of the good stuff every once in a while is worth its weight in gold when it comes to goodwill. I also wrote, a nice letter of commendation to Nissan North America at 30k miles about my service team including my service advisor, the director and the tech that usually works on my Z with a copy to them of course. They deserved it and more good will. You can't have enough good will with your service crew.
Ed, I don't think your service advisor is giving you grade A service. He's certainly not in the same league as my guy who treats my car like it's his own.
Screw patience. Discuss, resolve or find a new advisor is my recommendation.
09-10-2004, 01:51 PM
#6
Man, sounds as bad as my local dealers. This is the reason why I haven't even bothered trying to get some of the problems fixed.
The front bumper cover really blows me away though. They charged two hours labor to R&R the front bumper cover!? It takes about 10-15 minutes tops to remove, and the same to bolt it back on!
The front bumper cover really blows me away though. They charged two hours labor to R&R the front bumper cover!? It takes about 10-15 minutes tops to remove, and the same to bolt it back on!
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09-10-2004, 05:17 PM
#8
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Just got my car back. They cross rotated the front and did an alignment. The tire noise is gone (for now), but I just noticed that they dinged and scraped the paint just above the right front tire. I am NOT happy, and will be on the phone with the manager in the morning.
09-15-2004, 09:07 AM
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Ahhh, Good old Nissan dealer service..... It has been a COMPLETE nightmare for me as well. Acura was not like this, why is it that Nissan service sucks, and they damage EVERYTHING they touch.
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