Entering month #2 for this senseless debacle.
After major searching and scoring of the web, two letters sent this morning to:
Kurt von Zumwalt
Director, Product & Consumer PR
phone:310/771-5238
e-mail:
[email protected]
and:
Bob Glenn
Mgr., Dispute Resolution Programs Consumer Affairs at Nissan
[email protected]
The letter and the newest twists to the plot follow below. If NICO can help me out in any way, shape, or form whether it be through internet blasts, phone calls to Glenn Woods and Stacey Calhoun at Gainesville Nissan, or Mr. Zumwalt at Nissan North America, Facebook fan pages, re-posting this thread all over automotive forums and newsblogs, please do so!
In the mean time, I have contacted and filed safety complaints with the D.O.T and NHTSA.
I have also contacted and filed consumer complaints in regards to the warranty with the Federal Trade Comission and the State of Florida Consumer Protection Agency.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Good afternoon Kurt,
My name is Ray Mossman, I’m writing to inform you of some recent events that I have had in regards to a warranty repair on my vehicle, a 1993 Nissan 240sx. Now, I know what you’re thinking right off- what warranty could possibly be in effect for a vehicle of this age? For your convenience and review, I’ve enclosed a PDF of the owners manual regarding a “lifetime limited warranty” on the automatic seatbelts.
I have owned this car for just under 10 years and have always been proud to drive it and have kept it in good repair and maintenance. It has since treated me very well and has always been reliable, aside from the recent failure of the automatic seatbelt system on 5-4-10 which left the belt in the forward position. Since this date, Nissan associates have not treated me anywhere near as well as expected, and certainly not half as well as the vehicle has.
On 5-4-10 the vehicle was brought into Gainesville Nissan in Gainesville, Florida in order to have the problem diagnosed and warranty repair honored. The dealership service department informed me that I would be charged a diagnostic fee if the problem was not a part of the seatbelt system. Glenn Woods, the General Manager and Stacey Calhoun were pleasant and addressed my concern quickly and in a timely manner and determined that there was indeed a problem. However, the service technician misdiagnosed the “broken part.” I was able to prove this otherwise and the service department gave a more thorough try. They discovered that the motor worked, but that the “signal sending unit” (not even sure if that is an actual part in the system). They offered to retract the belt and order the parts for the warranty repair. The belt was retracted, making it less of a safety (and not to mention, no longer an offend able traffic citation!) concern because the belt could now lay across my chest. I was informed that this still wasn’t safe and that the part would be ordered. The vehicle left the dealership and I looked forward to my next appointment. However, when I got home, it became apparent that more than the having the belt retracted created a new problem- the interior lights remained on ALL NIGHT, effectively draining the battery. I was able to acquire a jump start to get to work and called to inform Stacey Calhoun of the issue. He said it would be address when I came back in for the seatbelt repair. In the meantime, there is a ball of tape holding down the pin that turns the interior lights on and off; hardly an acceptable solution.
Now, I’d like to be writing you a letter about how the warranty repair went smoothly, but that has yet to occur, ONE MONTH LATER! On 5-17-10 I was informed that the part was discontinued. “funny,” I thought to myself, “a part that has a lifetime warranty should still be in stock somewhere.”
Next is the part where I’d like to be informing you that the dealership did everything in their power to locate the part, but this did not happen. They simply gave up after one or two attempts. Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “how would Ray know this?” Well, I, the customer, managed to find the part in not one, but TWO locations with two simple calls to Nissan North America, and a call to Courtesy Nissan of Texas- an OEM Nissan supplier, both told me that the parts are all available.
I hoped that my story would end here, but when I call to set up a new appointment time, Stacey Calhoun informed me that the warranty was not going to be honored and I would have to pay $780 for the failed component that is, mind you, a “component of the automatic seatbelt system” covered by the “limited lifetime warranty” of which I have attached. If you have not reviewed it yet, I would like you to take the time to do so. That was the last communication I have had with anyone from Gainesville Nissan; 5-16-10. Phone calls and voicemails left for Stacey and Glenn have fallen on deaf ears and these two associates seem to have a very poor understanding of what customer service means. I know that they had a Nissan GT-R catch fire in their show room and that this is definitely an issue, but it is not an excuse for not returning calls.
Since my attempts to contact them went unnoticed, I had to call Nissan North America. This is the point in the story where I’d like to tell you that I found resolution- and I thought I had! I contacted the call center and received a return call from a Consumer Affairs representative, Nizama. Last name withheld from me. (Curious, why?) Nizama and I spoke on 5-24-10 regarding my treatment and warranty claim. In the beginning, she was quite helpful. I was making progress when I ran into the same exact issues as previously mentioned in my experience at the dealer- including the lack of communication. She could not stick to call back deadlines that she set herself and couldn’t provide me with any updates aside from, “I’ll call you on ‘x-day.’ My regional manager is looking into the case.” I asked to speak with the regional manager more than once and was not allotted the opportunity. Take notice that 20 days have passed since the seatbelt ceased to operate, and that the interior lights aren’t function properly. Now this is a grave safety concern for me, both for fear of a traffic citation (I’m sure you’ve seen the “Click it or ticket” campaign).
But I digress, Nizama informed me first that the part was unavailable. Again, I was able to furnish its availability- why I had to do this AGAIN at the corporate level greatly disappoints me. Next, she had the “regional manager” work on finding it. She called me back to tell me that there were no existing warranties for my vehicle. I informed her otherwise and offered to email it to her. She would not provide her email (again, why?). I was able to get her fax number (surprisingly!) and took the time out of my day to fax her all of the information regarding warranty repairs on the seatbelt- the same information I have included in this email to you.
With this information in her hands, I hoped that my warranty repair was back on. That is, before she started missing promised calls and deadlines. All of which were never apologized for and no corrective actions were taken as it kept occurring. When I finally received calls back, I was told that the regional manager was “still working on it.” I asked to speak to this person again and was denied- I’m not even sure this position exists at this point. Soon, I was receiving no communication from Nizama. After numerous voice mails left for her over the course of a week, I finally heard from her on Monday, June 7th. She informed me that the failed part, again a very obvious piece that blatantly meets the “seatbelt and related components” since it is plainly needed to operate the automatic seatbelt as stated in the lifetime warranty- was “denied,” and that it (the failed SEATBELT COMPONENT) was under original warranty of 3 years; 36,000 miles. She provided nothing more. I stated again that this was not an acceptable resolution and that I STILL haven’t heard from Stacey Calhoun at Gainesville Nissan to fix the interior light issue. I received no further explanation as to why it was denied, which indicates to me that she didn’t think to critically or try to understand the ruling. I reminded her again about what the warranty explicitly states and she gave the the longest, rudest “SIGH” and she asked if I would like to “escalate the issue.” I replied, “Absolutely.” She then let out a smart aleck comment about, “Well, I knooow they’re just gonna tell ya the same thing, I dunno why ya wanna bother.” UNACCEPTABLE!! I hope that I don’t need to go into detail with you, Kurt, about why this is EXTREMELY unacceptable from any customer service representative from any company!
Now Kurt, I’d like to take this time to tell you that I have been nothing but professional with Glenn, Stacey, and Nisama, as well as anyone from the Nissan organization at any and every time during this ordeal. I may have sounded annoyed from time to time, but I never lost my temper or said anything to be treated or talked to in such a manner. I do not deserve this run around and wasted effort.
I also want to point out for you what I, the customer have done to help out and facilitate what should have been a simple warranty coverage repair. Note that I am not the technical services personnel, a consumer affairs specialist, or a regional manager. Why is it that I have to provide all of the necessary information needed by all of the Nissan employees I came in contact with? Worse still, even when the information was readily available and provided to them to gain progress on the issue, they won’t put in the effort to understand or attempt to correct the issue at hand. I shouldn’t have had to perform ANY of those duties and make up for such simple short comings, but unfortunately for me, I have received poor customer service and a thorough lack and willingness to help for more than a few days at a time from ANY Nissan employee. Furthermore, I am disgusted by the facts that my interior lights do not shut off due to a VERY unsatisfactory repair that the service department has yet to hold themselves accountable for, and that I have an unsafe restraint system that should have been covered under warranty- but I think that I’m more disgusted with how each and every Nissan employee I have come in contact with has treated me through the process. They all started out hopeful and helpful but seemed to lose steam and couldn’t follow through or be held accountable for anything.
All I want is to have my vehicle to have the repair, parts and labor, covered under the Nissan supplied warranty so that I may have a safe vehicle with a working seatbelt again and for my interior lights to function properly. I’d like to keep the same high expectations of quality and service that I have from Nissan and their products and to be a return customer when it becomes time to retire the 240sx. But with service like this, I don’t think I can justify being a repeat customer if this is any example of what to expect when another product of yours has issues. I am hoping that I have contacted the correct person, but in the case that you aren’t the correct person of contact, could you please forward this message to someone who can help me meet the simple, aforementioned resolution?
Respectfully,
Ray Mossman
I politely inquired, "Why?" and was told that there was no warranty for my vehicle but that it had only covered the physical seat belt.(?) 
