BEWARE of Santa Monica Dealership. They wont let you charge

[RobertJay]

Santa Monica Nissan really doesnt want to let people charge their Leafs

I pulled into back, plugged in and my car didn’t charge
I went inside to tell the manager. He said it just broke and he is waiting for it to get fixed
I asked if I could use the one in the front. He said it would block paying customers coming into the showroom
I said I am really desperate, could I get a quick 1 hr charge
He said he hates these “Green People”. He pays for the electric and gets nothing for it, giving it away for free
What right do we have to use his property and his electric
I said I thought Nissan set up this system to grow the grid and sell more cars
He got more and more upset
I asked for his card and said I’d like to take his photo
He flipped out

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Ask him to get his dealership removed from CarWings, and offer to get a news story out to green media - autoblog green etc. about how his dealership feels about green vehicles and to not attempt to charge at his dealership. Explain to him that you're doing him a huge free publicity favor by keeping all of those "Green People" from visiting his dealership.

Call up Nissan CS and request that his dealership removed from CarWings, because it is incorrect, his dealership is ini fact NOT a charging station, by their own policy. And request contact information for follow up to see that it gets removed from CarWings or that the dealer policy is ...uh... "ammended" due to a "misunderstanding".

 

[JimSouCal]

Here we go again...

 

[TEG]

Isn't that the dealership where PaulScott works?
http://evsandenergy.blogspot.com/2010/08/selling-leafs-in-santa-monica.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/07/electric-car-scott-technology-nissan-leaf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Of all the dealerships to find some anti EV sentiments!

 

[Stoaty]

This is a new member of MNL. Let's wait to hear the other side of the story (if any) before passing judgment.

 

[haykinson]

For what it's worth, I had a bad experience charging there as well. I had just bought my car and parked it there overnight (I arrived at 2am, almost out of charge, driving my car from San Diego).

At 8:50am I walked back to the dealer, to find the manager there. He was visibly upset and said that the parking lot is private property, how could I think I could just park there, and that if people like me keep parking there, he'd start turning off the charger. I apologized and left, but it left a pretty nasty taste in my mouth...

 

[RobertJay]

I have been to so many Nissan Dealers that have been SOOOOOOOO nice. I was completely quote off guard by Sales Manager Nazir Beria. I really think the charger I tried to use was disabled so no one would use it. Really I was shocked

Another leaf owner who heard about this told me he had a similiar situation at this dealership. The difference is when he reported the problem of the faulty charger an employee said it wasnt faulty, it was turned off. On that day the employee turned it on for the other leaf owner

I reported this to Nissan, but I was told dealers arent required to provide this service

I think this is just a smaller dealership, that is more concerned by the bottom line then by helping the public, or Nissans reputation

He must be getting a lot of Leaf owners that want to enjoy a nice evening in Santa Monica and he feels he is getting no benefit. When I asked him to poise for a photo he lost it !!!

Just the same he really makes Nissan look very bad

 

[TomT]

I had an "interesting" charging experience there some time ago...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3157" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[haykinson]

I think this is just a smaller dealership, that is more concerned by the bottom line then by helping the public, or Nissans reputation

This dealer told me that they've delivered 200 LEAFs already. Judging by the frequency of bumping into other LEAFs in Santa Monica, I would say that this could easily be true. So I don't think this is a smaller dealership from a LEAF perspective.

While I'm surprised at the dealer's attitude, and think that it hurts both Nissan's corporate as well as this dealer's individual image, I think it's totally their right to restrict charger use. But I agree that if this is their chosen approach, they should be removed from the map...

 

[EVDRIVER]

Since Nissan does not require access to any LEAF owner then dealers certainly have a right to refuse and should not be harassed for this in any way, they pay for the electricity. On the other hand unless Nissan has an agreement with them to provide this service they need to take these dealers off the car maps, in fact they should not be listed unless they agreed in advance. I have to wonder how well Nissan thought this through. Likely not much at all.

Regardless of the dealers attitude, no one is entitled to charge there without permission and should not get upset if they are declined. Although this is a poor PR choice for a dealer it is still their choice and painting them as bad in the public eye is irresponsible and makes the general public look negatively on EV drivers as a bunch of entitled nuts. I don't know of many service stations willing to hand out free gas. It is not at all unlikely that people have charged there without asking and it has upset the dealer. Nissan needs to fix this mess.

 

[haykinson]

Regardless of the dealers attitude, no one is entitled to charge there without permission and should not get upset if they are declined. Although this is a poor PR choice for a dealer it is still their choice and painting them as bad in the public eye is irresponsible and makes the general public look negatively on EV drivers as a bunch of entitled nuts. I don't know of many service stations willing to hand out free gas, regardless of the quantity and private business owners have a right to decide as they choose. It is not at all unlikely that people have charged there without asking and it has upset the dealer.

While in general I agree with you (this is their right; we shouldn't chastise them for it), I think there's another component here -- poor customer relations and a bad attitude.

Example of good attitude: "Sorry, we cannot allow your Nissan vehicle to charge here. We recommend a charger at the Civic Center a mile and a half away."

Example of bad attitude: "You lot are such a nuisance. If y'all don't stop charging here, I'll have to start turning this thing off. This is private property. Begone."

I'm paraphrasing, but this dealership responds to Nissan customers in a way closer to the "bad attitude" version. And this certainly deserves a discussion here, regardless of other factors. I think customer service should be high quality and respectful _regardless_ of whether you are talking with people you like or people you do not like.

In addition, the notion of dealers opting out of the charging network is something to discuss on this forum, and definitely something to be aware of.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

The problem personnel and the problem dealers could at least try to be polite, otherwise they are liable to generate a strong reaction to their derision:

He said he hates these “Green People”.

If you were a person of any color other than green, you'd have grounds for a lawsuit! Yes, I know it's a joke and discrimination is a serious thing, but it's also a serious thing to try and get cars on the road we can live and breathe with. So if people like this don't like the hasty reactions, maybe they should think a little before insulting someone to their face. If they treated a customer like this for another reason, say someone who walks in to use the restroom and browse a few cars, they'd get in some trouble for talking to them like this.

It does however seem that Santa Monica Nissan is the dealership Paul Scott works at, as TEG pointed out, so in light of Paul's good works, probably contact Paul about this first and give him the name of the fellow who hassled you. Paul should have some good ideas about how to handle the situation.
http://www.plugincars.com/impatient-about-getting-your-nissan-leaf-chill-out-says-paul-scott-106634.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EVDRIVER]

Regardless of the dealers attitude, no one is entitled to charge there without permission and should not get upset if they are declined. Although this is a poor PR choice for a dealer it is still their choice and painting them as bad in the public eye is irresponsible and makes the general public look negatively on EV drivers as a bunch of entitled nuts. I don't know of many service stations willing to hand out free gas, regardless of the quantity and private business owners have a right to decide as they choose. It is not at all unlikely that people have charged there without asking and it has upset the dealer.

While in general I agree with you (this is their right; we shouldn't chastise them for it), I think there's another component here -- poor customer relations and a bad attitude.

Example of good attitude: "Sorry, we cannot allow your Nissan vehicle to charge here. We recommend a charger at the Civic Center a mile and a half away."

Example of bad attitude: "You lot are such a nuisance. If y'all don't stop charging here, I'll have to start turning this thing off. This is private property. Begone."

I'm paraphrasing, but this dealership responds to Nissan customers in a way closer to the "bad attitude" version. And this certainly deserves a discussion here, regardless of other factors. I think customer service should be high quality and respectful _regardless_ of whether you are talking with people you like or people you do not like.

In addition, the notion of dealers opting out of the charging network is something to discuss on this forum, and definitely something to be aware of.

Yes, being polite is appropriate. Unless one is not there we don't know the full story. We have seen all this here before. If you need to charge it's best to call ahead, ask and get a name. I never count on going to a dealer for a charge.

 

[EVDRIVER]

The problem personnel and the problem dealers could at least try to be polite, otherwise they are liable to generate a strong reaction to their derision:

He said he hates these “Green People”.

If you were a person of any color other than green, you'd have grounds for a lawsuit! Yes, I know it's a joke and discrimination is a serious thing, but it's also a serious thing to try and get cars on the road we can live and breathe with. So if people like this don't like the hasty reactions, maybe they should think a little before insulting someone to their face. If they treated a customer like this for another reason, say someone who walks in to use the restroom and browse a few cars, they'd get in some trouble for talking to them like this.

It does however seem that Santa Monica Nissan is the dealership Paul Scott works at, as TEG pointed out, so in light of Paul's good works, probably contact Paul about this first and give him the name of the fellow who hassled you. Paul should have some good ideas about how to handle the situation.
http://www.plugincars.com/impatient-about-getting-your-nissan-leaf-chill-out-says-paul-scott-106634.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Best of luck, these are car dealers and even if one person has one agenda there others could care less and only care about sales figures. Bad business or not. Also remember, there are plenty of EV drivers that take advantage of free charging relentlessly and give other EV drivers a bad name. There are two sides to every story and I would not waste time trying to convince dealers to do much because that person will likely be gone shortly. Put energy where it can do long term good and praise dealers that are EV friendly but don't take advantage of them.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Regardless of the dealers attitude, no one is entitled to charge there without permission and should not get upset if they are declined. Although this is a poor PR choice for a dealer it is still their choice and painting them as bad in the public eye is irresponsible and makes the general public look negatively on EV drivers as a bunch of entitled nuts. I don't know of many service stations willing to hand out free gas, regardless of the quantity and private business owners have a right to decide as they choose. It is not at all unlikely that people have charged there without asking and it has upset the dealer.

While in general I agree with you (this is their right; we shouldn't chastise them for it), I think there's another component here -- poor customer relations and a bad attitude.

Example of good attitude: "Sorry, we cannot allow your Nissan vehicle to charge here. We recommend a charger at the Civic Center a mile and a half away."

Example of bad attitude: "You lot are such a nuisance. If y'all don't stop charging here, I'll have to start turning this thing off. This is private property. Begone."

I'm paraphrasing, but this dealership responds to Nissan customers in a way closer to the "bad attitude" version. And this certainly deserves a discussion here, regardless of other factors. I think customer service should be high quality and respectful _regardless_ of whether you are talking with people you like or people you do not like.

In addition, the notion of dealers opting out of the charging network is something to discuss on this forum, and definitely something to be aware of.

If you're dealership is listed in CarWings, you are telling all LEAF owners your dealership is a place to charge. If that is not the case, remove your dealership from CarWings. It's not somebody walking in off the street, unsolicited, this is a case where you are listed in a directory that provides a specific service, somebody shows up to use that service for pay or free as the case maybe and you refuse to provide service at any price! That's just rude and wrong. If they don't want people showing up for the publicly listed service in CarWings, remove the dealer from CarWings. Period. Simple. Dealer vs. Nissan Corporate - who cares - it's between the dealers and Nissan corporaste to work out. If the dealer really doesn't want to offer charging they should take recourse against Nissan corporate for listing them without authorization from the Dealer. Or the Dealer could always take the big Nissan logo off of the signs and the building... then the dealer really is more independent! The dealer and Nissan do business together and need to work out their business issues, and not at the expense, embarassment, ridicule and harrassment of LEAF drivers. After all, if they have one rude customer who purchases a gas car, and drinks the freely offered dealer coffee that the dealer has to pay for - are they (the delaer) then rude to all gas customers?

As far as first time poster - it's probably even MORE critical that dealer personnel are polite to new LEAF owners until they have a chance to become familiar with LEAF ownership and dealer policies (and the decepive tactic of listing a dealership in CarWings as a chargin site, when in fact, it is not...).

Most dealers are very nice. But rude is rude and the dealer is responsible for the behavior of their personnel, at least if they want customers, good reviews and good word of mouth (or forum in this case...)

 

[ElectricVehicle]

Best of luck, these are car dealers and even if one person has one agenda there others could care less and only care about sales figures. Bad business or not. Also remember, there are plenty of EV drivers that take advantage of free charging relentlessly and give other EV drivers a bad name. There are two sides to every story and I would not waste time trying to convince dealers to do much because that person will likely be gone shortly. Put energy where it can do long term good and praise dealers that are EV friendly but don't take advantage of them.

True, we are talking about car dealers.. Though at least some of them are enlightened enough to sell LEAFs!

Also remember, there are plenty of EV drivers that take advantage of free charging relentlessly and give other EV drivers a bad name.

Are you really seeing this? Level 2 charging is sooo slow, I can't imagine hanging around a Nissan dealer long enough to get more than $0.50 of electricity, say an hour. Maybe if it's someone who works, shops, etc. next door? If dealers actually have this problem, and I imagine very few really do, we can help them develope policies and signage to addresse the situation. (2 hour parking, etc.) Dealers have to have all kinds of policies - who's allowed in the service bay, where can the kids go while mom and dad look at cars... they can figure out policies to address this without being rude, and we can help them do that if they like.

Maybe when the dealer has a Quick Charger, so you get a couple dollars of electricity but in that case your charged to 80% and done in 30 minutes. And the dealer can put signage, policies, and/or charge for the Quick Charge to mitigate and control any "free charging relentlessly" issues.

Getting CarWings updated to remove dealers that don't offer charging is a very good use of energy. Harder woud be to get CarWings setup with general information about charging restircitions and costs for dealers that have charging terms other than 24x7 free of charge. Not that I'm saying it should all be free, but if there's anything that might prevent you from charging - gates locked, charging is $1/hour and you have no cash, etc... you want to know that as an EV driver before you're stranded without charge. Though it's always good to plan on a backup charging location or strategy since they will be sometimes unavailable with someone else using them, possibly out of order or hopelessly ICE'd.

 

[walterbays]

Since Nissan does not require access to any LEAF owner then dealers certainly have a right to refuse and should not be harassed for this in any way, they pay for the electricity. On the other hand unless Nissan has an agreement with them to provide this service they need to take these dealers off the car maps

They should not be harassed by people bothering them all the time asking to charge, or asking to buy Leafs or or to buy other cars. They should be left in peace and solitude. Cost of electricity is a red herring. Almost everyone I've read here would be happy to pay for the electricity. I would prefer if they would charge something for the service, to separate the "freeloaders" from those who really need a charge.

But certainly the Carwings directory of public charging facilities should not list any location that is not a public charging facility!! Do we all have to phone Nissan customer service daily to get them to remove erroneous listings? I see the Plugshare directory lists Santa Monica Nissan as "Business hours only (9am to 8pm or so) without prior manager approval," indicating that normally they do allow charging without even calling ahead. But at least with Plugshare you can enter reviews, so other drivers can be warned away even if this location remains in the directory.

It's a shame that Nissan won't fix known errors in the directory, so we cannot rely on it. That seems like a no-brainer step to take to avoid this issue hurting Leaf sales. Myself, I'd go a step further, and if I had another hundred cars to allocate to dealers I would pass over those which were not supportive of the Leaf, and send them instead to dealers who are.

I had thought that this old thread on dealer charging had become obsolete months ago: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=88769. I thought that Nissan had talked to the recalcitrant dealers, and some of them had mended their ways.

 

[EVDRIVER]

If Nissan put dealers on the map randomly then they need to get them off and those dealers also need to call and get off if they don't want to be on there. Yes, we all get the benefits of being nice and free charging and good will, etc , etc. Smart dealers already get that and dumb ones see the car as a source or revenue and could care less about free charging for cross sales because they don't get it and likely won't because that is their culture. Yes people do sit at L2 locations for hours to get free juice and don't spend money at those locations, I see this at Costco over and over, year after year. This is one reason Costco wanted stations out. If a dealer does not want to let you charge then leave and suggest they ask to be removed form the map. BIg deal. For those that think for one second that grabbing a charge without asking is not stealing then just try that at a gas pump and see what happen :lol: There is a contingent of EV drivers that seem to think if there is a plug they are entitled to a free charge, let's not confuse that issue. But we have hashed both of these topics out in length already earlier this year. I just avoid dealer charging and if I needed it I would at least offer to pay, they may say it's ok :lol:

 

[haykinson]

If Nissan put dealers on the map randomly then they need to get them off and those dealers also need to call and get off if they don't want to be on there.

I've emailed folks at Nissan corporate to ask for help in dealing with this issue. I think it does not help either the dealers who are being bothered, nor the drivers who are mis-guided, nor Nissan North America whose brand is being hurt. Hopefully I'll get a response.

 

[ElectricVehicle]

If Nissan put dealers on the map randomly then they need to get them off and those dealers also need to call and get off if they don't want to be on there.

I've emailed folks at Nissan corporate to ask for help in dealing with this issue. I think it does not help either the dealers who are being bothered, nor the drivers who are mis-guided, nor Nissan North America whose brand is being hurt. Hopefully I'll get a response.

Seriously, if this is indeed the dealer Paul Scott works at, contact him also. He's an EV advocate from way back and he joined Nissan just so he could sell EVs - LEAFs.