Bad service from T3?

[elwesso]

This is kind of interesting and id like to hear if anyone had any experience with this... Had afriend of me call me, lives in MS but apparently goes to atlanta often... has roughly 240k on his 94 Q with original transmission as far as i know..... He wants to get a fresh engine or at least start thinking about that.. Replace stuff before it dies.. since its his only transportation..... Plans on doing this next year after the holidays...

So he calls down there a few months ago, and as far as i know he talks to Doug.. He asks how much for an engine/transmission swap.. he says bring $4500 cash and he guarntees it wont cost more than that... Says it may cost 3300 or 4000, its hard to say.....

So then he calls again last week, talks to this dude who I think is named "ty" or something like that.... Asks about an engine swap, and says they dont deal with JDM engines anymore (obviously false) and that he has a 91 engine with 126,000 miles they can "make fit" in his 94.... Says an engine and tranyn swap will cost 7500 or so...

Last week he set up an appointment for today since he was going to be in atlanta, called to verify that this morning and the guy didnt even set up his appointment......

The bottom line is, my friend here was treated like scum on the phone... Certainly not normal for T3 since ive called down there in the past, and they have been nice enough, however i still had the feeling that I was bothering them....

MY friend is black, and probably about my age.... Not sure if theyre was any stereotyping or racial discrimination going on down there, so i called them myself and asked about an engine and transmission swap... We put it on 3 way and I did the talking.. I said the same thing (94 Q with 250k, want to do an engine swap) and he told me about 5 grand, not too far off what was told to him initially... However that 7500 figure, plus being treated like complete garbage on the phone is unacceptable...

I hope not everyone has had this experience.

[Q-less]

I would have just called and spoke with Dennis. He probrably won't be to happy about this thread.

[96Qowner]

You never found out who "Ty" was? I think Doug left T3 over a year ago. I've been there twice for some fairly substantial work, and never caught a whiff of any funny business. But they had a different office guy both times, and I didn't get the sense that the new guy (not Ty) was particularly an expert on the G50. Doug was very friendly, but wasn't very interested in details. I needed to have them do a plenum job while I was there on business - a lot like your guy - and I didn't get the impression that it was all that special to them when I called to confirm - real off-hand "yeah, no problem". But no surprises when I arrived.

They do a LOT of local work there, and my impression is that they're used to ignorant owners - in other words, they're not used to dealing with people who know a lot about the G50. If your friend didn't mention NICO, he should have.

That being said, I've noticed in the South that it's not uncommon for car dealers and sales people to treat people with, ahem, certain accents differently. I would hope very much that "Ty" didn't neglect him for that reason.

You should always mention NICO when speaking with T3. That will differentiate you from some schmo who doesn't understand that the Q isn't just another mass-produced Japanese car. Your friend should definately call back and make someone explain. Ask to speak with Byron, if they'll let you bother him. Byron is the Q45 guru tech.

Let's hope Dennis sees this and finds out WTF went on that day. I DO remember him saying that JDM takeouts have to be checked over thoroughly - they're not a given - can't be trusted. Maybe they have more confidance in the '91 they have out back.

(damn, sounds racial to me ... sigh)

[PalmerWMD]

I am surpssied too.T3 pretty much has an impeccable rep.

being in that area their entire customer base is very diverse, so I cant ind the racial angle as something that makes sense..

I ahve been there many times for work and 2/3rds of customers were non white (and friendly all seemed to get along pretty well.)

maybe it was justa misunderstanding of some kind?

[Q-less]

Yeah, its ATLANTA..............a business person would be foolish to be racist.

[96Qowner]

Good. Then it's worth finding out just what happened.

My bro-in-law was born and raised in SC and has worked in management in different dealerships in Greenville for 10 years. From talking to him it's clear that those dealerships, in general, treat certain populations differently. I agree that there's no reason that T3 should employ people who treat prospective customers like this Ty guy did, racist or not.

T3 does great work. They sure don't need the references they get from NICO. From my experience there talking to the guys, I wouldn't place the blame on T3 itself, but I think someone should find out what's wrong with "Ty". Maybe this guy needs to place a civilized call to Wes's friend and explain WTF happened.

[elwesso]

I know he mentioned NICO, my name, and Q45.org. Alll i can say it was bad enough that despite what he's read on here (he is a NICO member) and what i have told him, he never wants to set foot in there....

[ceningolmo]

I have significant customer service and management experience, and I can tell you that one of the biggest fears an owner/manager has is the "bad experience" that goes unnoticed.

I would highly reccomend calling back to T3 and ask to speak to the manager/owner. Trust me, he or she wants to know about this situation. They may not be happy to hear about it... but, they will be happier knowing about it and having the opportunity to correct it. The other option is that you never give them the chance to redeem themselves, and go about your business telling your story of their poor service. Anyone with experience will recognize the way that type of bad word-of-mouth will undermine their business. Especially in a place like NICO... we may not be the majority of their business... but, I doubt that they can afford to lose all the business that NICO influences.

If, after speaking to the manager/owner, they have not done the things necessary to earn your business... well, then they deserve the bad word of mouth.

I would be willing to be that the manager/owner will ensure you are treated with the utmost respect once they find out how you have been treated thus far.

[hal90000]

There was a long winded rant over on the Yahoo Infiniti User's group a couple of months ago about bad sevice at T3. But I think the guy was complaining that they charged him book hours to replace a fuel pump and they did it in half the time that book hours called for so he felt ripped off. Not a valid arguement as far as I am concerned. That's the only negative feedback I've ever seen and I don't believe it was warranted.

[Rex]

Have we really started a thread regarding bad service at T3 (known on NICO for it's history of good service/work) with a data point of one?

Let's not over react and try and get some perspective from the T3 guys.

[JedCoop]

This one story - incomplete as it is - would not cause me to disrespect T-3, but it may make me more sensitive to certain kinds of treatment (fairly or unfairly).

But it is totally unfair to permanently stain a whole organization for one action of one individual. Since there is not bad history at T-3, and if you don't try and remedy the situation, then its your bad for not trying to address it with them openly and up front.

I've never met the folks at T-3, but I feel bad for them with this issue being brought up in this way.

[AZhitman]

Agreed, especially considering it's (no offense to Wes) hearsay...

Sounds like a misunderstanding to me as well.

[elwesso]

If I havent made this clear... i am NOT intending to ruin any reputation that T3 has created..... I just wanted to make SURE that this *is* a misunderstanding and not something that happens regularly...

With all do respect greg, this isnt hearsay IMO because I called and got a similar response, granted not as much as my friend did. Call it what you want but I got the same reaction on a smaller scale.

The dude with a fuel filter was stupid, its only 30mins labor anyway... If you cant replace it yourself you dont deserve to.. Thats the way shops make money, by being so experienced that they can beat the clock.

I just want to address this situation...... To be honest, I dont care if its T3 or a bad dealer, if I have bad service somewhere, im gonna tell people about it... My intent is not to ruin their reputation, but to make it right... and I fully intend that it WILL be taken care of.

again, the IDEA is NOT to make T3 sound less of what it is, because its still probably the best place east of the Mississippi to get Q stuff done.. Im convinced that no matter how good your service is, SOMEONE is bound to have a bad experience once in a while.

[96Qowner]

Great post by ceningolmo.

I've worked with the public all my life. Stuff happens. Anyone who really cares about this just needs to call T3 and ask them directly and sincerely to explain. It isn't fair to discuss it on a public forum without making an honest effort to get an answer from them first. We can crab privately among friends about our experiences with business and people, but we shouldn't be careless about it in public.

And I agree with JedCoop - I regret my earlier posts in this thread. It's one thing to have an abstract discussion; quite another do it with a business's name attached to it. I apologize.

[Jesda]

If you mistreat someone, people talk. Thats business. Thats life. If you want to compete, you have fix your sh1t.

[JedCoop]

If you mistreat someone, people talk. Thats business. Thats life. If you want to compete, you have fix your ....

i am NOT intending to ruin any reputation that T3 has created..... I just wanted to make SURE that this *is* a misunderstanding and not something that happens regularly...

It is fair to say we all have a lot of respect for Wes on this forum. He has earned it. Along with respect comes reponsibility... his words weigh more than the average member. This criticism has a greater effect than intended... words and actions are better chosen based on consequences.

Given that T-3 will likely follow up with Ty, privately, I doubt he will make a similar mistake again. But I wonder what follow-up will happen here...

[elwesso]

I would like to call him and talk this through, but I dont believe it is my job to be telling him what he shouldnt be doing, because ive never even been to T3 (i have by the reflexive property, my car has been to T3, I am my car, therefore i have been to T3 )

anyway, i dont feel that I have any right to make this right.... I certainly dont expect anyone to do it for me either. The bottom line is, i hope that this never happens again!

[Q45tech]

Currently 68% of T3 business comes from minority owned vehicles [we have very few Hispanic customers for some reason they skip Infiniti and Lexus] and for the past 9 years T3 has had the same minority attorney. We have a very very good reputation amongst the community for fair dealing even though many complain about the $75 per hour rate.

We recommend they shop the dealer first that way they are assured that our 20-30% lower prices are a good deal.

Ty is an ex Infiniti technican [who has worked for T3 about 5 years] converted to service writer/local manager who owns a Q45 and came from Decatur store when Roswell Store opened [November 9] {Don and Duncan went to Roswell}.

Byron will stay at S. Cobb as the other locations are far from his home.

As to quotes on work, important to understand that variable low ball unrealistic quotes are some of the reason that employees are asked to leave T3. All major jobs are now audited to prevent this.For some reason every service writer succumes eventually when sales are low, they [males] usually last a year at dealerships more or less.Since 2000 T3 S. Cobb has had 5 different service writers none of whom were techs, we hope the change to a tech will work out better.

T3 hasn't done a Q engine swap in 15 months [nobody wants to pay $4,000 plus*], now es300, sc/gs300, LS400 are the current swap champs we have 5 in backlog. T3 completed 10 Lexus swaps this year alone.

The $4500 vs $7500 seems to be the result of Doug offering a JDM $300 takeout transmission [against the T3 policy too many unhappy experiences] vs a new Nissan remanned transmission {$3000 installed and warrantied].

Nobody in their right mind would put a used JDM transmission in a car that was going home to MS...........it scarey enough with a JDM engine.

* You never know the exact price because the engines vary by quality, condition of externals and the amount of rehab each individual unit requires. You can guess within $300-500 for parts labor but you never know until you get it in the car and running if something you didn't change is faulty and requires additional rehab in a rush. Do you trust old or newer engine injectors [which may not have run for 10 years].

To quote a firm price you must way over charge and hopefully surprise the client with a lower actual cost or risk losing your rear.

Hopefully things will stablize at T3 with the new store opening and people staying put in their current locations for at least a year........until they too go nusty........service writer manager is that kind of job........when dealing with old cars almost exclusively.

[Jeff Williams]

Currently 68% of T3 business comes from minority owned vehicles [we have very few Hispanic customers for some reason they skip Infiniti and Lexus] and for the past 9 years T3 has had the same minority attorney. We have a very very good reputation amongst the community for fair dealing even though many complain about the $75 per hour rate.

We recommend they shop the dealer first that way they are assured that our 20-30% lower prices are a good deal.

Ty is an ex Infiniti technican [who has worked for T3 about 5 years] converted to service writer/local manager who owns a Q45 and came from Decatur store when Roswell Store opened [November 9] {Don and Duncan went to Roswell}.

Byron will stay at S. Cobb as the other locations are far from his home.

As to quotes on work, important to understand that variable low ball unrealistic quotes are some of the reason that employees are asked to leave T3. All major jobs are now audited to prevent this.For some reason every service writer succumes eventually when sales are low, they [males] usually last a year at dealerships more or less.Since 2000 T3 S. Cobb has had 5 different service writers none of whom were techs, we hope the change to a tech will work out better.

T3 hasn't done a Q engine swap in 15 months [nobody wants to pay $4,000 plus*], now es300, sc/gs300, LS400 are the current swap champs we have 5 in backlog. T3 completed 10 Lexus swaps this year alone.

The $4500 vs $7500 seems to be the result of Doug offering a JDM $300 takeout transmission [against the T3 policy too many unhappy experiences] vs a new Nissan remanned transmission {$3000 installed and warrantied].

Nobody in their right mind would put a used JDM transmission in a car that was going home to MS...........it scarey enough with a JDM engine.

* You never know the exact price because the engines vary by quality, condition of externals and the amount of rehab each individual unit requires. You can guess within $300-500 for parts labor but you never know until you get it in the car and running if something you didn't change is faulty and requires additional rehab in a rush. Do you trust old or newer engine injectors [which may not have run for 10 years].

To quote a firm price you must way over charge and hopefully surprise the client with a lower actual cost or risk losing your rear.

Hopefully things will stablize at T3 with the new store opening and people staying put in their current locations for at least a year........until they too go nusty........service writer manager is that kind of job........when dealing with old cars almost exclusively.

Well said, can someone please lock this thread?

[elwesso]

Tech, thanks for replying..... It seems as if the really high quote for engine transmission came from the remanned transmission.... factory vs JDM

I will attribute this to the service guy having a bad day..... hopefully we can call back and get a little more done... Everyone has a case of the "mondays"...

That being said, this thread is no more..... no reason to make things worse, and IM really glad that tech was able to post....