Problem with dealer... need advice.

Step #1: Review carefully the agreement that you and the dealership signed. This is key.

Step #2: Once you have verified that there indeed was no mistake (as I'm certain beyond any hint of a doubt will be true), contact the Better Business Bureau and conduct negotiations that way.

If the dealership wants to try to rob you, be the one to strike first. They have absolutely no grounds to refuse service to you based on their feelings of being ripped off.

I had a problem with a dealership similar to this one. Only instead, they shorted me on the trade-in value, instead of them feeling I had shorted them on money. They never once took their truck back; they are the reason I won't buy GM ever again.

 

y'know, if you're a regular customer at your toyota dealership... a lot of dealers will work on other cars for general maintenance if they've got a used car shop or techs with experience working on other makes. obviously nothing under warranty though. especially if you tell them that the nissan dealer is trying to screw you over... they might take that as an opportunity to take care of you now for possible future business.

meanwhile, word of mouth about the other dealership travels pretty well.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lowspeed @ Jun 9 2007, 08:38 PM) [snapback]458928[/snapback]</div>

Have you thought of going into the showroom, finding a salesman with a customer, then interrupt with your tale asking why they sold you a car with problems and won't fix it?

I would file a complaint with your county or sate Consumer Affairs Office. Also consider sending a letter to the editor of the local paper. Start documenting the problems with the car and the dealer's response and follow the requirements of your state's Lemon Law.

Contact the dealer in writing demanding that the car be repaired by x time. If not have it repaired elsewhere and sue the dealer and Nissan in small claims court.

I had an Oldsmobile dealer refuse to do warranty work on my Intrigue. Does make you wonder if an extended warranty contract will be honored?

Hope this helps. Sorry you are being screwed by the sleazebag.

 

The dealer absolutely can refuse to service you if they want to. Unless you can prove they are discriminating against you for your membership in some protected class, they can do that.

The question is, who cares? If the dealer does business like that why would you ever want to do business with them again? I'd rather drive to a dealer in another town. An alignment is cheap, get it done at an independent shop.

What you have to think about is this, you can get a lawyer and try and fight and hurt these guys, but in the end what can they do for you? When they act this way, do you really want them to service your vehicle? You have to ask the question, what is in this for me?

I'd just walk away from it.

 

It sounds like you are in the right, but I would go ahead and drive to the dealer 30 miles away. Your local dealer seems intent to punish you, and if you try to force them to serve you, they may get the last laugh. Their techs probably know how to sabotage parts of the car so that trouble will develope after the warrantee period ends. Then when you come in for those repairs, they will get their $1000 and then some. Kind of like demanding the service you deserve in a resteraunt, and then the server spits in you food.

The other option is to go back and tell them you wish to continue with a good relationship, so you want to return the car and get your trade in back. They were probably bluffing with that proposal, and it would backfire on them if you took them up on that option.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jun 10 2007, 10:33 PM) [snapback]459418[/snapback]</div>

This is just what I was going to say. I wouldn't want them touching my car if they were mad at me. I wouldn't trust them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ozyran @ Jun 9 2007, 08:32 PM) [snapback]458909[/snapback]</div>

This is one thing that has always frustrated me. I cant believe how perverted the Manufacturer-Dealer relationship is. It is, in a sense, a symbiotic relationship where one is always trying to steal as much from the other while just barely letting them live.

And just the way their business is set up is crazy - could you imagine a grocery store that only sold Kraft foods? And then you’d have to go across the street to get your Coca-Cola. Maybe if your lucky you could find a Kellog/Hillshire/Breyers somewhere. I know my analogy may not be the greatest; cars aren’t food, but still its crazy to be selling just one brand.

What’s worse is that its also a system in which you can lose twice by only winning once: If you buy a car that is great, but from a dealer that is a jerk, you’ve had a negative experience, and may associate this with the brand. If you buy a crummy a car from a great dealer, you will most definitely associate this with the brand, and as is usual, the more contact you have with the dealer (say, with persistent warranty repairs), the worse, so you end up disliking the dealer as well.

I know nothing will change, I just think the whole system is very poor.

/end sermonette

 

This is why car dealers paid me to design customer care and rentention systems and teach their people how to provide excellent customer service. The system is beyond screwed up, believe me.

To the OP, trust us. Screw these guys and drive to the other dealer. Good service from a source that doesn't hate you, whether that hatred is deserved or not, is worth the 30 mile drive. Thats a no brainer.