Buckey Nissan North service dept?

[Science Abuse]

If I recall correctly, and employee of Buckey Nissan works here, so I thought I'd run this through here before I went and talked to the service manager.

For those that know the sorted history, same truck, but different circumstances. 2002 Frontier with a 19k mile 2003 X terra engine in it, fresh out of Buckeys shop. Elena had been noticing a lack of power steering, so I told her to take it some where and have it looked at, at her earliest convenience. She took it to Nissan North, and I said "have them look at it, and once we know whats wrong, we'll compare prices to Scott". So I call her at about 2 today, an hour after her scheduled drop off and ask her how its going. "Fine, they've just finished the truck".

"Finished the truck?"

Turns out they told her it was a bad belt, and they just weren't spinning to pump when it was called apon. From what I saw of the car, that made perfect sense....accept for the "bad belt" part. Scott and I have both been waching that engine, neither of us noticed anything wrong with the belts. The tensioner may have been out of adjustment, but not the belt. I tell her to be sure and get the old belt, dont leave there without those parts.

The problem was withthe power steering, involving one belt, they changed all three and charged her a grand total of $184, $116 labor.

 

The belts are right here in front of me, no checking, no hardness, not even greasy. Still stiff yet supple as they should be. I'm going to be having words with some one about this. Who?

[copperhead]

No offense, but don't ever send her to get anything worked on again.

[Berto]

wasn't the no oil change for 40 thousand miles bad enough, i wouldn't bitch at anyone at the shop you have no idea what really happens. just trying to keep you from hurting your credibility there again.

[Science Abuse]

No offense, but don't ever send her to get anything worked on again.

None taken, and noted in triplicate.

 

And berto, yeah, that happened as a result of her being responceble for engine maintenance....so it got none. I've been looking after the new engine, and I can tell a bad belt from a good one. My tantrum last time came as a result of her not telling me she never changed the oil untill we were in the shop talking to the service rep. Most embarassing and humliating moment of my life, the rep was kind enough not to laugh in my face. But that was Germain, in hind sight I'd rather she had taken it there, since I've dealt with the shop and know them to be good folk. In this case, the engine has been under the scruteny of car people, these belts are fine. I haven't even brought up the $116 in labor for under two hours work. She showed up, it was diagnosed, repaired, and even washed in an hour and thirty eight minutes, less then an hour of actual work.

I'm deliberating whether on not to actualy waste my time, considering I know we wont see a dime back unless they feel nice. She signed the work order. It just pisses me off, you should not have to put forth effort into not getting ripped off. I'm not paying for it.

[Skinner]

since the truck is out of warrenty my guess is they used book time for the repair. Which is probably about 2 hrs. even though it only took them 20 or 30 minutes they still get there book time for the part.

 

but regraudless of what it cost to do she still approved the repair. So there is little that can be said or done other then you're unhappy with the labor cost.

 

Best thing I can say is next time it has to go in for a repair is that you go with her or you take it in.

[Berto]

None taken, and noted in triplicate.

 

And berto, yeah, that happened as a result of her being responceble for engine maintenance....so it got none. I've been looking after the new engine, and I can tell a bad belt from a good one. My tantrum last time came as a result of her not telling me she never changed the oil untill we were in the shop talking to the service rep. Most embarassing and humliating moment of my life, the rep was kind enough not to laugh in my face. But that was Germain, in hind sight I'd rather she had taken it there, since I've dealt with the shop and know them to be good folk. In this case, the engine has been under the scruteny of car people, these belts are fine. I haven't even brought up the $116 in labor for under two hours work. She showed up, it was diagnosed, repaired, and even washed in an hour and thirty eight minutes, less then an hour of actual work.

I'm deliberating whether on not to actualy waste my time, considering I know we wont see a dime back unless they feel nice. She signed the work order. It just pisses me off, you should not have to put forth effort into not getting ripped off. I'm not paying for it.

 

Eric, its not worth the hassle ur not going to get shit back. I know you feel scammed but the fact of the matter is you weren't there to see what she signed, I think she should be old enough by now to be able to read what she is signing. I don't want to insult your baby's mama in any way but seriously man just go with her next time or just take it yourself.

 

 

btw since its out of warranty why are you taking it to the stealership? If i ever need anything done and don't have time or the right tools I go to RJ wheels on Bethel rd. they seem to be pretty good guys, when you ask for a diagnostic....they do the whole car not just your problem. Also couple times i've had the mechanic come out and talk to me and they have been pretty nice about the fact that i'm going to do the repair i just needed a diagnostic from them.

[Science Abuse]

Eric, its not worth the hassle ur not going to get shit back. I know you feel scammed but the fact of the matter is you weren't there to see what she signed, I think she should be old enough by now to be able to read what she is signing. I don't want to insult your baby's mama in any way but seriously man just go with her next time or just take it yourself..

yeah I know I know. I'm not going to bother. I'd like to chat with that service writer none the less. "What you think everyone that comes here has money to blow on frivelous repairs? Especialy during the holidays?"

 

 

btw since its out of warranty why are you taking it to the stealership?

It was close to home and was simple enough. I thought I'd just have her take it there to find out what was wrong, then we'd go from there. If the PS pump was bad, I didn't want a failure goin down when she was 10mi from home.

[Berto]

yeah I know I know. I'm not going to bother. I'd like to chat with that service writer none the less. "What you think everyone that comes here has money to blow on frivelous repairs? Especialy during the holidays?"

thats not his job. She came in and put in a request, he can't read your mind through your girl.

 

 

It was close to home and was simple enough. I thought I'd just have her take it there to find out what was wrong, then we'd go from there. If the PS pump was bad, I didn't want a failure goin down when she was 10mi from home.

she can't drive without power steering? My dad's truck never had it and never had a problem with it.

 

 

Eric i'm telling you in good character to just let it drop. Take it as a lesson learned.

[OSUGT]

I'm the pre-owned manager over at Nissan North. I'm sorry that you don't feel good about the experience you and your girl had. I can tell you that the techs are not going to recommend parts if they dont see a need. I put belts on 10-20 cars a month. I choose not to mess around with them. Your definition of "acceptable" may differ from ours. However, in my opinion, the liability is on our end if your motor dies because a belt slipped or snapped and we never did anything to prevent it.

 

I do my best to treat everyone who stops in as if they were my own mother or father. I think that attitude is held by everyone over at Nissan North. All I can offer is my services if you ever need another voice to speak with about any questions in the future. I hope this helps.

 

Later,

Jason

 

By the way, did you deal with Buckeye Nissan or Nissan North?

[verse]

I agree with Berto, there's nothing really you could do except throw a fit and it wouldn't really help anything. If a girl isn't responsible or know anything about cars and takes her car to a dealership, they are going to do things like that. I'd just say take it yourself next time, not really much you could do.

[Science Abuse]

Long story short; She's hosed, she signed for the work and blindly knodded to whatever the service writer said, just like 90% of people do when they take thier new cars is.

She was sold parts she didn't need and was charge entirely too much for the labor to install them. I am very disatisfied with the service at Buckey Nissan North.

 

By the way, did you deal with Buckeye Nissan or Nissan North?

It was Nissan North.

I understand the position of the dealership in many respects, I've worked in service, myself. I also know that a tech may notice one thing wrong, and a service writer will tell the costomer somethng different.

tech; The belt is loose

S'W; Needs new belts

tech; The tires are about half worn

S'W; Needs tires and an alignment.

tech; The brakes are half worn

S'W; Needs new pads and rotors

Tech; Tire's got a nail in it

S'W; needs 4 new tires

These are conversations that I was actualy part of. They may well be stand up guys, but at the end of the day, their job is to sell service. Maybe he saw the odometer at 51,000 and figured it was just time, not knowing it was a new engine. Who knows. What I do know is that these belts did not need changed, and I challenge anyone here to proove otherwise. Being a mechanical inspetor myself, I know that if you look at anything long enough you will find something wrong with it, but I'm talking about neccesity.

 

My personal experience with them came a few months ago when the truck needed an engine. I stopped by after work and stood in front of the service counter for 10+ mins watching employees look and me from the rear bays and not doing anything. I was standing there actualy prepared to spend thousands of dollars, but I ended up spending 10 mins being ignored.

[SlowZ06]

Maybe I'm way off base here, but no one has asked yet; so I will. Did this repair fix the problem? If so, I can't see why anyone feels the belt(s) should not have been replaced. Even if the only problem was the tension being improperly set, wear on the belt which you may not be able to see can increase the belt's inside diameter; meaning it should be replaced. Belt distortion (also not something that you can usually see without proper tension on the belt) could have been an issue. How long has the engine been in this truck? If it ever had a belt replaced with one of an improper length, that could also cause this kind of problem. Not sticking up for anyone, just my two cents.

[ladyhawke34]

Yes, it fixed the problem & the new engine was put in this past June.

[Science Abuse]

Indeed it did fix the problem, the same as an industrial pile driver pounds a nail.

The problem could have been fixed with a few turns of the tensioner bolt, located right next to the PS pump, and suprisingly easily accessable from the top.

[copperhead]

Sooooo if it's fixed

what's the problem?

 

I know that in my line of work, there have been many times when a part does not appear to be bad, yet replacing it fixes the problem. This could have been the case.

 

Oh, and Buckeye Nissan is a different dealership than Nissan North.

[Science Abuse]

ahh crap, how do I edit that out of my subject line?

Bullocks, fuckit, nevermind, I'm done crying.

 

Hey OSUGT, you guys want a 51k mile 2002 Fontier Desert Runner with a 19k mile 2003 Xterra engine in it? Has new belts. Looking to liquidate and get into a family car.

[OSUGT]

ahh crap, how do I edit that out of my subject line?

Bullocks, fuckit, nevermind, I'm done crying.

 

Hey OSUGT, you guys want a 51k mile 2002 Fontier Desert Runner with a 19k mile 2003 Xterra engine in it? Has new belts. Looking to liquidate and get into a family car.

 

 

Not a question of if I want it...its what you'll accept for it:) I would be interested though.

 

I'll do the best I can on any car that I have in return. It's the end of the month/year!

[grease monkey]

Jason's a good guy, I really don't think he'd steer ya wrong, +1 for Nissan North, I bought my truck there and have nothing but good expierances with them. In fact, I need to get some warrenty work done, so they will soon be seeing my truck again!!

[Kohones]

I worked there for 2 yrs as a mgr. It's a top notch dlrshp. If they put new belts on, soooo what? I'd personally prefer getting new belts with the tensioner that was installed - I guess you can complain & probably run a bar of "soap" over the belts if they squeek? Thats what my Dad would do, me? I'd happily pay for the belts (my .02). Oh yeah one of the techs there is named Mike, he's been there for like 15 years & knows all there is on Nissans! Good store +1

[Science Abuse]

I'm not bitching about having new belts, theres obviously no problem with having new belt. I bitched about being charged $184 for something that didn't need done. A few spins of the tensioner bolts would have fixed it. We dont all have Z06 budgets, and losing an extra $184 on the heels of the holiday spending season is actualy significant to some of us. Thats alot of Similac...actualy, no, its only about 8 cans.

[grease monkey]

ya know, I think you'd be very surprised at what you think my dads "ZO6 budget" really is. I'm not saying he's hurting nor am I, but 184 dollars is 184 dollars no matter who you are. Heres my suggestion; You stated that you could see nothing wrong with the belts, now I realize that this was after they had been removed. In the future meby you should just do the friggin work yourself. If all it needed was a "couple turns of the tensioner screw" then why didn't YOU do it? You were talking about the engine has been closely monitored by "car people" since you had it installed, so you should have noticed that it was "just a loose belt" as you have stated. It seems that everytime you or your wife takes a vehicle and has it repaired by professionals you are not happy with the job that was done. So the simple solution to this problem is to fix the dang thing yourself. That way YOU know it was done right and YOU know who to go to if the work was not completed properly, or to your expectations.

[nurkvinny]

I feel your pain over and over again. I turned wrenches for 9 years at dad's shop. I can not count on every CR member's fingers and toes combined how many dealership ripoff stories we heard. I still have copied documents showing a lifetime waterpump replaced 3 out of 5 contiguous years. The waterpump was $79 dollars. All 3 times. The woman was charged for a flush tee EVERY time. Those of you who know what a tee is will find that humerous.

 

Another older woman was charged for calipers, rotors, lines, and hardware kits 3 years in a row when she went to the dealership for her spring 'check-up'. She drove less than 3,000 miles a year.

 

I can't believe the stories I hear from people in Columbus... "Yeah, I got front brakes put on. Wasn't too bad. Just under $400." That is only an example. There are way too many honest, small shops around to continue to be raped at MOST dealerships.

 

And before you reply with your, "but, but some dealers are honest"... save it. My family has been in the business, from most angles, for 60 years.

[Kohones]

This toooo funny! Here we go again with dealerships ripping people off??? Questions =

 

1) before someone says dlrshps ripped them off, I ask WHO WORKED TODAY FOR THEIR EMPLOYER FOR NOTHING???? Answer - nobody

2) Like Greasemonkey said - why didn't you fix the fuckin car yourself?

3) If I had deep pockets, I'd be fast like Sam & the good Dr

 

I get soo tired of people picking on dlrshps. If we made 1/3 of what people thought we made, I'd have retired long ago. But everytime their vehicle quits running, they come to the dlrshp to get going again! & Yes small shops have their niche too -

[nurkvinny]

Tom, I have no beef with you.

 

Here is my point, put another way. A dealership repair will almost ALWAYS cost a person more money than a smaller garage; often, much more. I have seen enough cases - with my own eyes - to say without a hesitation, that many dealerships rip people off with unneeded repairs. I hope you are the exception, and work at an honest shop. And yes, I am sure there are dishonest family-owned shops too.

 

Where do you work?

 

EDIT - I turn every wrench by myself on every one of our cars, unless it is under warranty.

[Science Abuse]

ya know, I think you'd be very surprised at what you think my dads "ZO6 budget" really is.

$184 is a car payment + extra toward the principle, can the same be said for the Z06? Besides, everyone knows the dealerships employees dont make near the money that the dealership charges for their services.

If all it needed was a "couple turns of the tensioner screw" then why didn't YOU do it?

some of us dont have the fucking time to stare at an engine and trouble shoot. I practicaly had to plan a week ahead to get a damn oil change done, scheduled it around laundry day, multi taksed. It was far simpler to have it checked out on her way home from work while I watched the boy. If I'd known it was a belt, I damn sure would have done it myself. But thats why I had her take it to some one who workes on Nissans all day, every day, the tech did damn good work. I was honnestly expecting some thing much worse, more of an internal pump problem that I wasn't going to be able to do shit about in an appartment parking lot. That's why I didn't put it off until we could get it down to Kirks. I was very pleased that it was just a belt, but pissed that she'd ok'd the work without calling, and even more pissed at what was charged for the simple job. You dont even need to remove the fan to get these belts on. When she said "oh I just had them do it, the truck's done", I was releived, simple problem, theres no way that cost more then $50+ parts, I didn't even ask what they charged, I did tell her to bring the belts home, out of curiosity. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the bill and the belts. I was pissed even more when I went and looked at the belts on the VG33E. The tensioners are easily acessable, and everything but the lower belt can be done from the top without removing anything. Needless to say I'm done messing around, no one takes cars anywhere for anything w/o me.

 

To the posts saying dealerships dont make alot of money. Yes, they do, fuck yes they do. Tom, you dont, and the techs sure as hell dont. Example;

Per the bill she was in 1:10 and out at 2:45, roughly an hour and a half. $40 to diagnose, $75 labor, Free car wash. Minus the car wash and time waiting, in and out of the bay, etc etc, you can figure that the tech spent about 45 mins actualy working on the car, for which the dealership charged $115 plus parts. Now, if you can show me that the Tech made more then about 15% of that, I'll drop it right now and give you a dollar, at least some hard worker got something from this. Chances are the tech made about $10-$15 max to swap those belts, depending on his rate. The service writer probably made more selling the work then the tech made doing it. The two carbon based life forms responceble for making that $115 for Nissan North probably made a combined $50 off of it, if you include whatever benifits they have, and the cost of heat and water if they flush the toilet twice a day. You're paying for the dealership, not the parts and service.

I had a similar experience with Discount Tire Co. I wend in there to have some 245/40/17s mounted and balanced, and they wanted $95 labor for a 1/2 hour job! the wheels and tires were in my truck. Berto worked there at the time, and was the one that was going to be doing the work, and he sure as hell wasn't making $95 an hour, he would have made about $4 for his time. I took them less then 2 miles away to an SCCA guy with mounting and balancing equipment on his back porch, $5 each and they've been smooth up to 150mph.

When Elena killed her engine, the service writer at Germain Nissan was extremely good to me, especialy the part where he didn't laugh in my face when E dropped the "oil? I never had it changed" bombshell. He worked with me over a period of a couple days shopping engines and getting the price down. Managed to find a 30k engine for about $2000. Labor was still going to be almost $4000. Through Ebay and Kirks auto I found a $1900 engine, 19k miles and a year younger, and Scott would do the job for $1500. I called the guy at Germain and asked what he could do. "We just cant touch that". Even if he'd wanted to, there's no way the dealership manager would let him keep his job if he sold the job that cheep. You think Germain would have given their tech anywhere close to 25% of that $4g to swap that motor? Hell no. If dealerships paid techs half of what they charged for their work, they'd all retire at 45, and the dealerships couldn't afford to run silly TV ads. Dealerships have the advantage of promoting power. New car owners instantly associate their cars well being with daddy dealership, and dont bother looking elsewhere. They pay a premium, Elena paid a premium, because they knew that joe public will pay it because they dont know any better. Kudos to the tech's though, I've never had a problem with a job poorly done. Hell I was so worried about have to fork out for a new power steering pump that I didn't even check the tension of the belts.

 

It's not just the customers that get ripped off, its the employees themselves. Comparing the experiences I've had at dealers to the ones I've had at small shops, I'll take the small shops. I'll save the dealerships for purchassing cars and warrauntee work. I've had nothing but good service from the few times I've bought at dealerships....but I have been dicked around over warauntee work.