Turned away by dealer service technician...

[Great White Versa]

So, I have a few issues with my car. On monday I made an appointment to have it looked today since I will be out of town for the weekend. I showed up today at the dealership and was turned away by the technician after a rather interesting conversation with him. It went somewhat like this:

me - Hi, I called earlier this week about dropping off my car this weekend to have it looked at and get the 30k mile check up done.

him - what else do you need done?

me - I understand that there is a service bulletin or recall that I think my car might be in need of. Also, I have a problem with my head light.

him - there's no recall for your car. What's wrong with your light?

me - well, when i bought the car, the left light kept going out. the dealership guys said it was something about a bad connection. That seems to be happening again.

him - are you sure the lights not just out?

me - yes, when i was traveling it went out, so I got new bulbs and proceeded to change them out. The new bulb didn't light up in the harness, so I pulled it back out, plugged it in directly to the cord and it worked, but then not when I put it back in the harness.

him - you changed it yourself?

me - yes, I changed the light bulbs

him - you know that will void your warrantee?

me - changing the light bulbs?!?

him - yes, you need a factory certified mechanic to do all your maintenance or you void the warrantee

me - to change the light bulbs?!?

him - yes

----

anyway, am I wrong in thinking that this guy is off his rocker? He also said that I would need to go to the dealership where I bought the vehicle and had the original servicing on the bulb done, since he would not be able to pull up any records of the previous work. Are all nissan techs this brain dead?

[biggie]

Would just call Nissan customer service. Sure they don't want to lose your business at this point.

[TrustME]

I think you handled that a little better then I would have.

But as biggie said, call customer service and complain. And as far as your last question, no they are not. Out here in Pensacola I couldn't ask for better service.

[br4dysays]

hahahaha i can relate

i had a SECOND hubcap go flying off missing somewhere so eventually after some hassle i got the dealership to order a new one to replace under warranty. i get there to pick it up and "THEY HAVE TO INSTALL IT", im like wtf seriously, so i had to sit around and wait about 30 min for them to "install" the hubcap.

[VersaMG08]

Petty things like that shouldn't be left to the dealer to install. I believe it's just a lack of common knowledge/sense these days and people 'going by the book' often defeats thinking for yourself before refering to the owners manual.

I can understand if it was an aftermarket product installation that damaged the engine to void warranty, but that's totaly different.

[NL_Versa]

Just wondering if you know how the warranty works?

When warranty work is done, the dealership submits in the old part with the labor and repair cost to Nissan Headquarters and gets paid. Sometimes when the part is not defective, they do not get re-imbursed for the new part, resulting in loss of money. So they have to ask the questions and do the measurements and diagnoses to save their own butts before sending the parts it. Although you should have went to the Service Supervisor for confirmation about the whole deal.

As in regards to losing business, I don't think they care, why? Policies are implemented within the warranty contract. If you are not allowed working on your own vehicle, simply put, your not allowed. Although what they dont know wont hurt them, and by golly its done all the time.

If they did care about getting peoples business, that "work on your own vehicle" policy wouldn't matter and we would all be doing our own work without voiding warranty. I do my own work on parts that are no longer under warranty, but I just got off the phone with Nissan and they said anything that is under warranty, shall not be worked on, Oil Changes included, but phone you Nissan dealership and ask about headlights, cause if they are under warranty, then you cant change them yourself.

By the way, you wont have engine warranty unless you have all your oil change receipts from a reputable company!!

[VersaMG08]

Did they ban your other acct?

[NL_Versa]

Dont know, and I aint logging into it again. I aint going to be fighting anymore, its sick how they like to push and push and then drive someone to the edge. Thats ok though, I wont be coming on here much anymore, but now am only here to try to help people, help myself and to participate in stuff. Check out my bio. I am changed now, no more mr. mean mightyversa. If someone says inappropriate things, I will leave it at that and just not post anything.

[Ginsu]

MightyVersa! Why did you change your screen name? Did you get kicked off, or are you just trying to mend relations?

[biggie]

MightyVersa! Why did you change your screen name? Did you get kicked off, or are you just trying to mend relations?

He just received a weeks 'vacation', then made a new name, it has been banned as well.

[Great White Versa]

hahahaha i can relate

i had a SECOND hubcap go flying off missing somewhere so eventually after some hassle i got the dealership to order a new one to replace under warranty. i get there to pick it up and "THEY HAVE TO INSTALL IT", im like wtf seriously, so i had to sit around and wait about 30 min for them to "install" the hubcap.

I had the little piece of plastic that covers the bracket that secures the back seats break off. I sat and waited for two hours before someone got around to snapping it on. Needless to say, there was a LOT of yelling involved that day. They offered to wash and vacuum my car and I just gave them a blank stare and asked them why I would want to sit and wait even longer.

When I get back to Vegas, I'll call and talk to someone at customer service. The thing that bothers me most was that as we were talking he talked to me as if I were a total idiot for thinking that it was ok to try and fix my own headlight... There were a lot of things that I would have said if I had had more time, but I had a flight that I had to catch and going back home to drop off my car was not part of the plan.

[marleyfan]

By the way, you wont have engine warranty unless you have all your oil change receipts from a reputable company!!

Not true. All you need to do is prove that regular oil changes were performed. To refuse warranty coverage Nissan would have to prove that work you performed was the cause of the failure of the parts under question.

The service technician who said changing your headlight bulbs voids your warranty is simply an idiot who is trying to scare people into having every little thing done at the dealership to boost revenue.

[Bubs daddy]

An owner can do all the required maintenance on their car and not void any warranty if it is done correctly. It has to be clearly shown that the part or system was affected by such work.

[feloniousmonk]

1. Call Nissan customer service to complain; this dealership is misrepresenting the Nissan brand.2. Start going to another service center, this one doesn't deserve your business3. Changing the light bulb will not void your warranty. That is a flat out blatant lie. It is a owner service item, if it wasn't the owners manual wouldn't tell you how to do it. If they are saying your headlight problems are caused by you changing the bulb yourself, by law, they have to prove it.

[Vahagn23]

I think east coast dealers suck. I took it in said hubcap flew off all 3 they said buy each for 50. I take it in for a regular oil change at 650 AM come back at 11am as they said and they told me its not ready they havent gotten to it, so I come back at 1pm they just get the car on the jack. WTF I was the first in line to get this oil change. Their service sucksI drove to west caost LA county, went to a Nissan Dealer there their service is TOP knotch they changed oil breaks and eveyrhint refilled car with all fluids and washed it in less than 2 hours. They also changed the wheels around and let me watch them do everything.

[greggie195]

I think east coast dealers suck. I took it in said hubcap flew off all 3 they said buy each for 50. I take it in for a regular oil change at 650 AM come back at 11am as they said and they told me its not ready they havent gotten to it, so I come back at 1pm they just get the car on the jack. WTF I was the first in line to get this oil change. Their service sucksI drove to west caost LA county, went to a Nissan Dealer there their service is TOP knotch they changed oil breaks and eveyrhint refilled car with all fluids and washed it in less than 2 hours. They also changed the wheels around and let me watch them do everything.

I use Star Nissan in Bayside, Queens and just had an oil change and tire rotation done in under 45 minutes without an appointment. I spoke to the guy there and he said all I needed to do was oil changes to maintain my warranty. He tried to get me to do all the extra gas cleaning/engine cleaning stuff for like $180 but he said to maintain my warranty all that was needed was oil changes and if I use a different mechanic to just save the receipts. They are OK there

[themadscientist]

Hey, look on the brightside. At least the Versa doesn't come with a launch button that tears the transmission up just to have the dealer say it's your fault and you have to pay to fix it.

[feloniousmonk]

It's only got 122 hp, why would it need launch control? Don't start that ****. GT-R buyers were told not to use it and signed an agreement upon purchase. Each and every one of them knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. If they didn't, they were stupid to not read before signing.

FWIW, Nissan didn't just remove launch control all-together and told everyone they're SOL, which they could've easily done. They went back, tweaked the software, issued a service bulletin and asked all GT-R owners to get the software fix. Not only is it a fix it made the car faster.

I own a BMW and the day they go that far for their customers will be the day hell freezes over. Nissan deserves some respect.

[srellim234]

Great White- I broke off the exact same piece of plastic on the seat about a month after I bought the car in 2007. Even though I broke it off with a golf bag, West Covina Nissan fixed it as a warranty repair. The service tech walked out and installed it without even taking my car from where I drove up. Maybe 5 minutes from the time I drove up to completion of the repair.

I've been pretty happy with the West Covina Nissan service department, although at times I seem to know more about the Versa than they do. I'm sure that's because I get educated about it on this forum better than Nissan headquarters is educating their service people.

[Great White Versa]

Maybe I will try the dealership that's way up north. Its not too far out of my way and they were pretty good to me when I was thinking about switching out for an '05 Altima SE-R.

[jwerty1]

that is BS, a tech should not tell you if it is warranty or notthe service advisor should run your vin to know if it is in warranty or notbelieve me as a service tech for nissan, warranty does not pay much, but I almost never mind doing warranty work because it means the customer will trust us and bring the car back to us for other workeven if the customer does not complain of something, I will write it up so that they know that I care about their car and will take care of it for themCome to Brenner Nissan in Mechanicsburg, PA and ask for meJosh WertI will take care of your concerns