4th Bar Lost, Warranty Denied!

I’ve lost my fourth bar on my 2011 Leaf here in Orange County CA.

I opted out of the class action and was told by a supervisor at Nissan that I won’t be getting a battery replacement, because the warranty was terminated when I opted out of the suit.

Any suggestions on where I should go from here?

iwilsmar said:

I’ve lost my fourth bar on my 2011 Leaf here in Orange County CA.

I opted out of the class action and was told by a supervisor at Nissan that I won’t be getting a battery replacement, because the warranty was terminated when I opted out of the suit.

Any suggestions on where I should go from here?

Click to expand...

Well, this is far in the future for me, but what I would/will plan to do:

1) Write a demand letter to Nissan, to elicit the legal arguement in writing that it intends to use for refusing to honor our pre-existing warranty, which we relied on in making our decision to opt out of the class.

2) Buy a new (exchange) replacement pack from your preferred dealer (if you can document a loss of capacity greater than in the written disclosure you signed at purchase, and you actually require a new battery immediately).

3) Sue Nissan for costs, small claims (individual) or class action.

Yeah, it was well documented here that Nissan announced the new capacity warranty well before the class action settlement results were made public. And there was no mention in the original announcement that it was part of the settlement or that accepting the settlement was a condition of obtaining the new warranty. :shock:

Not cool.

Well, this is far in the future for me, but what I would/will plan to do:

1) Write a demand letter to Nissan, to elicit the legal arguement in writing that it intends to use for refusing to honor our pre-existing warranty, which we relied on in making our decision to opt out of the class.

2) Buy a new (exchange) replacement pack from your preferred dealer (if you can document a loss of capacity greater than in the written disclosure you signed at purchase, and you actually require a new battery immediately).

3) Sue Nissan for costs, small claims (individual) or class action.

Click to expand...

Good suggestions, thank you.

I was thinking about going negative right away, and I still might, but the demand letter is a good idea.

It all depends on how deviant I feel on Monday morning :twisted:

FYI, I own four blogs, two websites, several active youtube channels, facebook accounts, twitter accounts, etc....

I also have two massive email lists that I communicate with 3 times a week that I could use to get my I JUST GOT SCREWED BY NISSAN message out into cyberspace.

My lists are comprised of almost 100 percent men, and since men buy lots of cars, this would probably be a good thing.

We'll see how I feel when I wake up on Monday morning.

Thanks

iwilsmar said:

Well, this is far in the future for me, but what I would/will plan to do:

1) Write a demand letter to Nissan, to elicit the legal arguement in writing that it intends to use for refusing to honor our pre-existing warranty, which we relied on in making our decision to opt out of the class.

2) Buy a new (exchange) replacement pack from your preferred dealer (if you can document a loss of capacity greater than in the written disclosure you signed at purchase, and you actually require a new battery immediately).

3) Sue Nissan for costs, small claims (individual) or class action.

Click to expand...

Good suggestions, thank you.

I was thinking about going negative right away, and I still might, but the demand letter is a good idea.

It all depends on how deviant I feel on Monday morning :twisted:

FYI, I own four blogs, two websites, several active youtube channels, facebook accounts, twitter accounts, etc....

I also have two massive email lists that I communicate with 3 times a week that I could use to get my I JUST GOT SCREWED BY NISSAN message out into cyberspace.

My lists are comprised of almost 100 percent men, and since men buy lots of cars, this would probably be a good thing.

We'll see how I feel when I wake up on Monday morning.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I would think if you want publicity, you should contact insideevs and other ev and auto related blogs. You could even consider major networks, maybe start with local tv station.

Darn. I wanted to be first to have to battle this. PM me if you want to trade notes on how this can be challenged.

BTW, One thing you DO NOT want to do is put out the money and sue for reimbursement - any judgement in your favor would be viewed as taxable income. You will want to sue for the warranty relief.

As of yet, there IS NO WARRANTY THAT IS THE RESULT OF A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT, since that settlement is not yet finalized and approved. If Nissan is already giving warranty replacements (and they ARE) they are doing it outside of a legal obligation to do so.

dm33 said:

I would think if you want publicity, you should contact insideevs and other ev and auto related blogs. You could even consider major networks, maybe start with local tv station.

Click to expand...

Let Nissan corporate know you plan to do this if they don't replace your battery under warranty and give them a chance to make good. I don't think they want the negative publicity. If they want to deny warranty claims for "abuse" they should make it clear what abuse took place, and offer to test Leafs before resale to say whether the warranty will be honored based on pattern of use so far. Otherwise, if word gets out on this the used market for Leafs will be decimated.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If Nissan prevails in doing this, it alone would preclude me from ever again buying or recommending a Nissan product! And making my reasons why VERY vocal in many venues!

Post your story frequently on Nissans Facebook pages and posts. Everyone here can like/share/comment on it, that promotes it in all the feeds.

I REALLY need to pursue this with Nissan Corporate. Does anyone have any idea where to start? My calls to the Leaf Hotline were a deadend. Their suggestion was to read my manual to see what legal means I might have in Florida. I want to know who to write to at Nissan, to get my message through to the right person. I cannot continue to have this B0133 hanging over my head, I need to get it resolved. This is the address I have from their website:
Nissan Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 685003
Franklin, TN 37068-5003

Is that a good place to start? Or, I also found this one:
Nissan North America
1 Nissan Way
Franklin, TN 37067-6367

The big question is: who has the authority to make these decisions, or at least pass my letter on to the right person? This guy?

Primary contact:
Brian Carolin
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
[email protected]
(615) 459-1963

Would it get anyone's attention to file a complaint with the BBB?

^
José Muñoz is currently the Executive Vice President of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Chairman of Nissan North America, Inc. I would start with a letter to him, and then copy Jon Spoon, VP of Custom Quality and Chief Customer Officer, and Andrew Tavi, VP Legal and General Counsel (especially if you are specifically objecting to B0133, since it was probably his department that came up with it).

I would start with a PM to Brian Bockman if he is still around.
He is the author of the thread about the warranty replacement.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17168" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PM him.
I have found him to be a level headed, common sense guy in a sea of mindless dealers, etc.
Couldn't hurt.

A good point was made.
If It's Nissan's position that THIS is the warranty, and the class action lawsuit has not been settled, then opting out of it should be moot.

Don't go nuclear as a first move.
You can't take it back, and once you do it, they have no reason to "head off" you attack because its too late.

Hi,
Did you find out about the "opt out" notice on your vehicle from your local dealer, or did you call into Nissan America directly and was told about it?

Thanks.

iwilsmar said:

I’ve lost my fourth bar on my 2011 Leaf here in Orange County CA.

I opted out of the class action and was told by a supervisor at Nissan that I won’t be getting a battery replacement, because the warranty was terminated when I opted out of the suit.

Any suggestions on where I should go from here?

Click to expand...

These phone calls and letters are not going to matter. You will need to drag Nissan into court and get a judge and eventually a jury to agree with you.
Anything you sent to Nissan will be used against you if possible. I really think Nissan will press this issue hard.
Might be best to wait and join some others in the fight.
Best of luck.

smkettner said:

These phone calls and letters are not going to matter. You will need to drag Nissan into court and get a judge and eventually a jury to agree with you.
Anything you sent to Nissan will be used against you if possible. I really think Nissan will press this issue hard.
Might be best to wait and join some others in the fight.
Best of luck.

Click to expand...

So true.
Companies respond to three things: Declining business results, legal actions, and extreme social media/image pressure.

Contact a lawyer and sue. That was the whole reason for opting out of the class-action lawsuit. Nothing short of a lawsuit will get you what you want.

Try a different dealer?

ksnogas2112 said:

Try a different dealer?

Click to expand...

They all have access to the same database, so that won't work...

In my mind, the only reason for opting out of the settlement was because you wanted to pursue something yourself with Nissan and your own lawyer...Maybe try to get something longer than 5 yrs/60K? But in order to get that, you need to fight Nissan on your own or with other owners...Am I missing something?

Randy said:

ksnogas2112 said:

Try a different dealer?

Click to expand...

They all have access to the same database, so that won't work...

In my mind, the only reason for opting out of the settlement was because you wanted to pursue something yourself with Nissan and your own lawyer...Maybe try to get something longer than 5 yrs/60K? But in order to get that, you need to fight Nissan on your own or with other owners...Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

I frequently opt out because I believe that the whole "class action" lawsuit benefits the class lawyers the most and the class very little. Many examples exist where the settlement is $BIGBUCKS for the lawyers and class members get a coupon for small discount on future purchase or other almost meaningless outcome.

Perhaps this is a case where the result was more useful; a good object lesson that I'll have to consider in the future! (lucky for me I'm not actually involved in this one as I likely would have excluded myself for the reasons above).