Dealer Service Experiences - Positive and Negative

If there is already a topic for this, I couldn't find it, and I looked. Anyway, we need one to help steer people away from terrible dealerships and towards good ones. Alas, it appears I may have no really good ones in my area...

There are two Nissan dealers within a half hour's drive of me, in Upstate NY. Neither got great reviews online, so since I had a bad experience with the Volvo service department at Nemith's Volvo dealership, I decided to go with Lia Nissan of Saratoga. Lia took over the franchise from a group so corrupt they were making the news for being investigated, but Lia is a large auto group so I was optimistic. My optimism was unfounded.

I made the appointment through a phone number that actually connects to Lia's Schenectady Nissan franchise, but the Service Manager there knew I wanted an appointment at Saratoga, and there didn't seem to be a problem. He even quoted me a better price than I expected to have my snow tires removed and replaced with the Goodyear Eagle L/S all-seasons I just bought. The next day I decided I'd get a quote for also replacing the cabin filter I'd bought before I injured my arm. This time I called Lia Nissan of Saratoga's service department, getting the number from 4-11. The Service Manager there was also friendly, and quoted me a *great* price for the cabin filter labor: $29.95. She also told me the other SM had entered the wrong day for my appointment, and corrected it. She warned me that Saratoga Nissan had no charging station, but that wasn't an issue for me, since I live only about 12 miles away from them.

When I dropped the car off at the appointed time, things started to go downhill. The service representative who handled things told me that they had no Leaf-Certified technician, and that while she thought they could borrow the equipment for the battery test, they wouldn't be able to perform the recall work on the Power Delivery Module. She assured me, however, that they could do everything else, including the recall repair of the Occupant Sensor, which was definitely not working right on my car. I left the place with only a little anxiety....

The next day, I called to see if the car was ready. The Service Manager told me it was, "except for the recalls." I asked her of that was "recalls" plural, and she said yes, that since they weren't authorized to work on the Leaf, they wouldn't have been reimbursed for the OCS recall repair. I reminded her that I had been promised this work, and she did the phone equivalent of shrugging. I left to pick up the car, blood pressure already on the rise.

When I got there, the Leaf was sitting in the parking lot, new tires mounted, and inspected. However, the snow tires were nowhere to be seen. I mentioned this at the service desk, and the man there managed to track them down and have them bagged and put in the car. He even brought the car to the door. I drove home, starting to feel better again, even though I knew I'd have to bring my Leaf to Nemith Nissan (which has apparently also changed hands and is now Fuccillo Nissan) for the recall work. At least the tires, inspection, battery test and cabin filter were done! Except that when I got home and unloaded the tires, I found my new cabin filter, unopened, right where I'd left it. They charged me $30 (not $29.95) but didn't replace the filter.

I spent another 10 minutes on the phone with the Service Rep, who was apologetic, and told me she'd speak to the Service Manager in the morning and have her call me. She didn't call, of course, and hasn't returned the call I made to her this afternoon.

Oh, and they mounted two of the four tires with the outside rain channels facing the wrong way. The tires aren't technically "directional" so I'll just have to live with reduced grip in rain. All in all I have to give Lia Nissan of Saratoga a D- at best. No one was hostile, some were helpful, but everyone was incompetent. I should have been told when I made the appointment, and again when I called back, that they don't work on Leafs. I should have gone with my Gut Feeling when I saw that the service Rep's fishbowl had a single, very dead fish in it.

That definitely is not a good experience.

I think a separate sub forum in each regional sub forum would be good as well as to call out dealers that are jerks about charging there so we all know and can put pressure on them via boycotting or calling and whatnot.

There a few topic about dealer charging, and I believe one of them is about what you mentioned specifically. The Google search field should find it.

Here's one topic on dealer charging:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=15670

The Service Manager finally called back on Friday, and said I could come in next week and they'd install the cabin filter while I wait. I had said, in no uncertain terms, that just refunding the CC charge wouldn't cut it, as they hadn't even told me it was left undone. So I'll be bringing it in Monday or Tuesday, and will have to ask for the old filter back, to (hopefully) ensure that they actually do it.

Meanwhile, looking at the brand new tires they installed, I found three (!) other issues, one of which I hope they will resolve. First, they installed two of the tires with the side rain channels facing the wrong way, toward the front. Alas, the manufacturer hasn't rated them "Directional" or put arrows on them, so I'm out of luck there. The car does hydroplane more in heavy rain than it did with either the snows or the Ecopias. Second, after I specified 38psi on the instruction sheet I gave them, they apparently inflated them all to 31.5. I checked the door jamb sticker, thinking they used that, but it says 36psi, dammit! I had to drag the Husky compressor out and inflate them all to 40psi, which caused my legs and back to cry for mercy.

Last, they either lost one or all of my valve stem caps. Does the 2013 Leaf SV come with metal caps or just silver-colored plastic caps? At any rate, the car now has three silver plastic caps and one black plastic cap...

At my two year battery check Connell Nissan told me Nissan of Orange did not perform the one year battery check.
Then Connell tech was not able to communicate that I could not set up the automatic door locks the way I wanted so it was set wrong.
Not going to say they are bad. I just have little faith in their training and application of knowledge.
Connell did issue me a credit for the amount paid on the locks, never to get used now.

See the first post in this topic for my first experiences with Nissan "service."

Fast forward to this year, and my next annual service being due: Fucillo Nissan of Latham didn't return my call requesting an appointment. Destination Nissan of Albany has a nifty form on their website that lets you schedule a service appointment. I filled it out, but didn't hear back from them, so I got into their site's live chat feature, and the nice woman there tried twice to get the service department to call me to schedule. They didn't call. She had never heard of the scheduling feature on the website, and neither, apparently, has any one else there. So I just looked at Lia Nissan of Schenectady's website, and they charge $189 for the service I need, despite the battery check being free and the only other thing necessary right now being a NYS inspection. I'd have to pay to have them "check charging port" and "inspect ball joints", etc, plus a completely unnecessary brake fluid change. Classic dealership gouging.

So if anyone from a Leaf-certified dealership in the Albany NY area is reading this, and wants to salvage my opinion of Nissan dealers, how about getting me an appointment for the work my car *actually needs* (it only has 11,000 miles on it) and thus get my next Nissan lease business?

https://transportevolved.com/2015/06/04/bmw-i3-great-dealers-less-so-says-auto-express-magazine-are-dealers-letting-electric-cars-down/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New article on dealer experiences... This article is mostly about BMW, but mentions others...

This seems to be a major hurdle for EV adoption that pretty much spans all dealers (I know.. I know, not Tesla.. ;-) )

Is this just something that will have to fix itself over time, or is there something the automakers can do???

Just wondering..

I know there are good dealers out there, but this issue affects them also. A bad EV Dealer experience won't necessarily make someone find a "good dealer" but might make them just not get an EV at all. Some dealers have been known to try to talk people out of EVs..

desiv

I took my car in to the Dealer I purchased it from just before my warranty expired, to have it checked out.

They found a leaking strut and a couple other minor things, and ordered the needed parts.
While the parts were on order, my warranty expired.

I brought the car back for them to replace the things they started, and just for giggles, I mentioned , almost as a joke, that my rear storage organizer had a problem as the two lids had warped in the 3 years I had them piled with all my crap on them.

When I went to pick up the car, I found that they had replaced the cargo organizer.

This was AFTER the warranty had expired, and I think well above and beyond any reasonable expectation under the best of circumstances.

I have had almost no problems with the car, but every time it was in for anything, I got a LEAF loaner with no paperwork or questions asked.

Now, I’m no fan of car dealers, but credit where credit is due.

I’d like to put a Hit out on the Audi dealer who sold me my S3, Don't get me started on the Jag/ Rover dealer who sold me my Range Rover HSE, but these Nissan guys have treated me right every time.

No BS, no nonsense, none of that nit-pick crap.

Loughead Nissan
Swarthmore, PA

The first time I took my Leaf in for service at the dealer I bought it from, the service tech insisted that I should get the oil changed because it's a freebie. When I pointed out to her that it was an EV, you could almost hear the gears strip in her head. She looked at me somewhat embarrassed and made a joke about her morning coffee not kicking in yet.

Overall, the service at my dealer (Hoselton in Rochester, NY) has been good. Recalls, routine maintenance, and not one but two A/C fixes (faulty pipes leading to refrigerant loss) have all been handled well and relatively promptly.

Sales support has been sketchier, but that's another issue.

The best on-going dealer service experience I have ever had was the Acura dealer in Valencia, CA. They always went above and beyond and my Service Adviser, Mike, was spectacular!