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Well I’ve got an A++++ dealer story and a F— rudely treated story…… To start off I try not to take my car to the dealer unless it is for a recall or beyond my skills, I do not claim to be a trained or master mechanic just a mechanic out of hobby and financial necessity of not being able to afford a mechanic… So I’ll start with the bad experience so we can end on a good note… If any of you are familiar with the 09 Altima/maxima steering wheel lock mechanism they are notorusly bad as I found out yesterday while driving my gf car. As the issue was occurring I was resusrching it online and found it may still be under warranty and actually found out how to replace it my self… So I called my local dealer and after explaining my issues to two ppl at the service department I was made to feel like I was an inconvenience to have them see if my car was still under warranty well turns out it wan not… So I asked how much it would be for the part, he said he did not know but he know it would cost 900-1000$ to have it replaced.. I repeatedly tried to ask for a price just for the part as I had read they ran from 350-450$ ( as it is a dealer only part) he would not give me a price and told me to bring the car in and have it looked at and then they could replace it for me after being interrupted many times I told him I was not going to bring in the car and charge me 500$ in labor for a 5 minute to remove 2 screws and unplugs a wire harness.. He stil refused to give me a part price saying I could come in and have the problem diagnosed (for a fee) then I could get a price. I told him to have a good day and hung up.. I was able to bypass the lock until I can afford a new one which I found on Amazon for 340$…. Need less to say I will never go to that dealer…
Now for the good story, about a year and a half ago my gf was preparing to move to Lincoln ne from Huntington Beach Ca for school and in the 6 months leading up to this move my gf same 09 Altima was having a problem with low exceleration, it happened very infrequently I thought it was maybe a bad fuel pump ,clogged filter or injector as there was no check engine light or warning on.. So closer to the move it started happening more often so we decided to take it to the dealer as I could not find the problem, at this point the car was out of any manufacturers warranty and extended transmmison warranty by almost 2000 miles… From the moment I went there every one was nice and friendly I left it with them and a few hrs later I got the call and the news I had feared the transmission was shot I was worried as it would be around 3000$ for a replacement and my gf being a collage student leaving in two weeks with that car did not have that kind of money, but he said there was good news they where still going to warranty it for us and no cost to us. They where very nice and friendly thought the whole ordeal never trying to push any other services on us. So in the end we got treated extremely well and a car warrantied that shouldn’t have been. So now my gf has a car with 120000+ miles and a new transmission… So as many of my dealer ship encounters have been bad there are still a few good ones left…
And a shout out to ETCG for all the videos they have helped same me a lot off $$$$After working at dealers for many years and seeing what customers went through for their repairs and you just buying a car from them and getting treated like that …you deserved more than an apology.
I think your first video was very good…you said what was on your mind… you have that right being a customer and especially after buying a $27000 vehicle.
I recently had a 2003 Honda Element (sunset orange pearly excellent)
I used to have this vehicle service by a dealer (located near Cleveland Ohio) and I had them do regular oil changes and various other needed general service needs.
I originally bought a extra 100000 basic engine and drive train warranty with the vehicle costing 2500 dollars.
I had 89000 (approc) miles on it and went to the dealer to have the oild changed and when I approached the service writer (nice guy) the tech came out and said ” I had one he)) of a time removing the oil filter from the car because it was cross threaded and wondered who worked on it last time”
I went back at about 97000 miles to have the oil changed again and they said they could not remove the oil filter it was cross threaded on and needed to replace the oil tube for 200 dollars (or more).
I said why and they said it was 75 dollars for the parts and 125 dollars for labor to replace the oild tube in the engine (connecting tube for the oil filter to the block) . I work for a company that make the American Honda Motor company parts catalog and retail on the part is 5.12 dollars not 75.
Needless to say I never went back to the dealer and sought out other sources to service my vehicles and thanks to Eric I service some of the vehicle my self saving thousands.
THANK YOU
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=150923]I hope this helps clear things up.
[/quote]
in the end i am of the opinoin that its good that you can sit and point out the mistakes you make yourself, and apologize for them, and that is what makes you a good person eric, you are extremely level headed, to the point where you set an example for others to follow.
But i am still of the opinion that the mechanics job is to have the same attitude! and i bet you have that attitude because you where a mechanic right? that is the kind of attitude you need to have! when you have a customer who treats you like crap, the mechanic needs to learn too take it with a grain of salt, and if it gets bad enough where it looks like they might ruin your business, “Fire the customer.” as you stated. When i was in school to be a mechanic our instructor drilled into our heads “There is no excuse to be rude to the customer, absolutely none, if you have a issue you contact the owner/supervisor/boss and let him take care of it.” because in the end as it sounded like that service writer did or what ever he is that gave you a hard time did, he sort of made the company look bad, and i bet he thought he was having a bad day before.
well little did he know he was messing with the wrong snake, he played with a couple of gardener snakes and racers before, but this one finally bit him, and this one had some venom too it, and when this one bit he wasn’t feeling the best. and this is why a mechanic needs to have this attitude, but when the customer is gone, go right ahead and talk to your buddies and talk about how much you hate working with this customer. but be nice to them and give them what they want, and if they try to screw you over and friendly as possible tell them not to come back again!
Hi Eric,
My take on your two videos on this subject is that, indeed, it was never about any particular part being replaced for free but that it was about being treated like a human being with dignity and respect. I’m guessing that the hood latch replacement only came up as an attempt on your part to recover some dignity and respect from the service writer who treated you so poorly. I am glad to hear that all was resolved in the end and I’m hoping that the service writer proved himself capable of respecting you as a customer to your satisfaction during your last meeting with him.
From what I have seen of your character and demeanor, you go the distance and then some to be fair and respectful to others so that when you are treated poorly by others (though we always have some part, however small, in these things) it is not about you so much as where the person treating you poorly is at in their life which I believed you mentioned at one point. I also know that even while keeping this in mind, it may or may not keep it from stinging any less. Though I do not claim to know what it is like to be in the public eye, or know what that entails, I am glad you posted these videos if nothing more than to declare, J’accuse service writer who treated me poorly! I deserve better!
Thank you again for all you do!
Kathryn
[quote=”JTF” post=150935]After working at dealers for many years and seeing what customers went through for their repairs and you just buying a car from them and getting treated like that …you deserved more than an apology.
I think your first video was very good…you said what was on your mind… you have that right being a customer and especially after buying a $27000 vehicle.[/quote]
I tend to agree. I work in retail, and I go through a lot of people coming in with full intent to scam. There is no “one size fits all” solution, but I was with ya even on the first video.
I know you said you peaced it up, but I’m not sure I would ever go to that dealer again.
It’s like a local Advance Auto Parts here in Jersey City. Not sure how they treat people, but it isn’t good.. Just about all Advance Auto Parts, actually..
Hey Eric,I didn’t think you needed to apologize.You are not only a great mechanic but a good guy and also(I think) a friend.The level of detail in your videos shows kindness and forethought Bro.We have an obligation to listen to your opinions and be there for you! Your the Greatest Eric!!!!
[quote=”vincent74″ post=158912]Hey Eric,I didn’t think you needed to apologize.You are not only a great mechanic but a good guy and also(I think) a friend.The level of detail in your videos shows kindness and forethought Bro.We have an obligation to listen to your opinions and be there for you! Your the Greatest Eric!!!![/quote]
Thank you very much for your endorsement of my work. I really appreciate it.
I see my opinions as just that, opinions. I don’t fault people for having different opinions, but it does suck when I don’t make a clear point in my videos sometimes. There are some people out there that need things spelled out in order for them to be clear. Otherwise they run with the negative like they did with my first video on this topic.
That said, the new cable is installed. I shot a video of the process that will air at some point, and life is good.
Thanks again for your comments.
Eric thanks for your video Journalism, I’ve been watching for the last 10 years. Here is my story. I bought a 2007 Hybrid Camry from a Toyota Dealer.in So Cal. It was in pretty good condition when I test drove it Friday night except for some cosmetics; Review mirror was loose, carpet behind the driver seat had the piling removed down to the canvas, no floor mats, no owners manual, window tinting needed replacing, some normal dings for a car with 100K, passenger dash board looked like a kid with baseball cleats was relaxing with his feet up. The car ran well and breaked well, all the electronics work, lights, blinkers, power windows, seats, Sunroof, speed control, Bluetooth, radio, CD player, Aux connections, and the AC and heat. New tires, new brakes and the car fax report said the dealer had serviced the car for the last 6 years including a recent 4 wheel alignment. I ask the sales person what they had done to the car and he said they performed a safety check on the car. The price was $7500 and the car was listed AS IS, so I bought it. When I got home the next morning the AC was blowing hot. I took it to my independent Mechanic and he said the dealer put Freon in it for the test drive and it leaked out over night. I called the sales person and said we checked the AC last night together and it was working, right? and he said yes it was. I said I think you guy to take car of this and he said let me ask my manager. He came back a few minutes later and said the sales manager said sorry, you bought it as is. I said yes but you guys have been servicing this car for 6 years and there is no way you didn’t know the AC was not working. He said sorry why did you think it was so cheap. I told him it was at dealer Kelly blue book for the car and I assumed the discount was because it didn’t show well with all the cosmetic damage. Personally I think there was a little fraud going on hear. I took it to a different Toyota dealer told them my story and ask them to do a complete diagnostic on the car and told them I want to know everything that was wrong with the car. It turned out that the only thing that was wrong with the car was the AC condenser had a leak. They wanted $1500 to replace the condenser and $190 for the diagnostics. I told them I pay for the diag but not the condenser. My independent mech did the job for &530.
I’m kind of late to the party here as well, but I have apparently lucked out with Honda repairs. My closest dealer always offers me a few quotes (new Honda part, remanufactured Honda part, aftermarket remanufactured), and has always come in under the repair estimate they give me. I also took a gamble on a dealer in downtown Salt Lake City–the clutch coil on the compressor died on a road trip somewhere in South Dakota, and I picked the best-reviewed dealer to replace the compressor and freshen up the system. Smooth process, and I rented a new Civic for the day so we weren’t stuck in a hotel.
The worst, though, was when I bought my Merkur XR4Ti, brand new. (Worst car I’ve ever owned.) I had a list of items to fix a few months after buying it. The first part that clued me in was that although I had an appointment for 8:30 in the morning, they didn’t honor it, and made me wait behind a line of several other customers. When I got it back, the few things I needed done weren’t fixed. It had weak heat. They ran it in the shop and found no problem; well, um, aren’t you supposed to test it outside in the 20° weather after I plainly said it’s not heating the car in cold weather? The antenna “fix” lasted a week and wouldn’t retract again. Can’t remember the others. Also, prior to buying mine, they’d had a theft at the dealership where thieves ripped off two wheels from each Merkur (the sides facing the dealer, not the road), and they installed some Ford-branded wheel locks. After the key went missing about six years later, I went back to the dealer. They claimed they’d never installed wheel locks and had no idea how to get them off. (I bought a dirt cheap 18mm socket, hammered it into the lock, and got it out.) Aside from the dealership experience, the ownership experience was bad, but that was due to the overall poor quality of the entire car. It sat for several weeks at a better dealer, waiting on the input shaft for the manual transmission (which was very problematic–it would have been enough for a lemon law buyback, if we’d had lemon laws in our state at that time).
That Merkur experience drove me to purchase Hondas from that point forward. And thankfully due the reliability, it’s rare I ever have to visit a Honda service facility (although the newest we own are a pair of ’09 CR-Vs).
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