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Below is a little letter I am sending to Nissan regarding a recent horrible experience I had at Quirk Nissan in Quincy, MA. Unfortunately or not I may have to continue to go there since they are right down the street from me...
Nissan North America
Executive Department
PO Box 191
Gardena, CA 90248
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to alert you of a recent experience I had at Quirk Nissan in Quincy, MA while servicing my 2004 Nissan 350Z track model on August 24, 2005.
I want to start off by saying that my immediate family and I are loyal Nissan customers who have purchased 4 vehicles in the last 5 years. My father owns a 2000 Maxima and a 2001 Sentra. I myself own a 2000 Sentra and a 2004 350Z track model. We always are quick to recommend Nissan and Infiniti vehicles as we love your products. I had issues with the initial purchase of my vehicle from Johnson Nissan in Kingston, NY. My original order was placed back on June 2004. After checking up with the status of my order after 3 months I was told the car they received was produced by the factory in the wrong color (Silver) when I specifically ordered Dayton Blue. Because of this foul up I was forced to re-order the vehicle and had to wait until the end of November 2003 to take delivery of my vehicle. Three months later then ordered. I have also had numerous problems with quality on my 2000 Sentra SE 2.0 which was assembled in Mexico. This includes but was not limited to replacement of the engine due to radiator failure at my full cost. There was no warning indication on the dash indicator lights nor did the temperature gauge go up. Rust has also developed on the body for which my claim was denied. I am severely disappointed with the quality of my 2000 Sentra.
However, after this recent experience my view has been even more severely diminished to your brand and the service which is provided by your dealerships.
On August 24, 2005 I brought my 2004 350Z to Quirk Nissan in Quincy, MA, where I now live, to get service done in regards to the tire feathering and alignment/toe adjustment issues for which I received a letter from Nissan. This was to be done free of charge and the car was to be returned to me later that day. When dropping off my 350Z I always request service personnel review the condition of the exterior of my vehicle before handing them the keys. This was also done on this and all occasions I left the car with the dealership for service. Upon picking up the vehicle I inspected the condition of the exterior. To my HORROR I discovered that both of my front rims were damaged. The Rays Engineering forged track rims were severely damaged on front right. Half of the outer edge of the rim was run into a curb and metal flake was still visible on the new tires which were mounted. The front left also had noticeable scratch marks from the tire being mounted. The interior surface of both rims were also scratched where the technician removed the wheels weights to rebalance the wheel. It appeared as if they were crudely removed with a screw driver. Please see enclosed pictures of damage to the front rims.
The customer service person obviously did not re-inspect the condition of my vehicle before returning it to me or they were attempting to return it to me with knowledge of the damage. The same can be said for the technician who performed the work on my vehicle. Upon discovering this I immediately informed the service manager Gary Lee Cross. He came out and inspected the vehicle and at first offered only to repair the rims. The front right rim was not repairable in my opinion. After several phone calls I was able to convince the service manager to replace the rim due to their error. The front left rim would be repaired. I would not accept anything less then a new rim due to the severe damage caused by the service department. Also upon driving the vehicle the alignment was off and there was rattling felt through the steering wheel when going over bumps and uneven pavement.
In the ensuing days leading up to having my right rim replaced and my left rim repaired the alignment and rattling issues seemed to worsen. I finally felt that the state of the steering and alignment may be deteriorating and decided to take it upon myself to perform a visual inspection underneath the vehicle. To my surprise I discovered another example of dangerous gross negligence. While inspecting the tie rod connecting to the front left wheel I discovered that the locknut which connects the end of the tie rod to the wheel area was not connected and floating on the tie rod. This area is usually adjusted during an alignment and the technician must have forgotten to connect the lock nut to keep the tie rod secured. In the worse case scenario the tie rod end could have backed out and disconnected from the wheel this could have caused a severe accident resulting in severe injury! I had already driven several hundred miles with the car in this condition and did not feel safe driving it after discovering this error.
Upon returning to Quirk Nissan on September 12, 2005, I alerted the service manager of the tie rod issue and he was speechless after I showed the problem to him. He said it would be fixed and I again left the vehicle in their care for the right front rim to be replaced, left rim to be repaired, alignment to be readjusted and the suspension to be re-inspected. I again requested their service personnel to inspect the exterior condition of the vehicle to show it had no damage of any kind. When I returned to pick up the vehicle later that evening I discovered that the left front rim was not repaired correctly. There was still damage which was not repaired and I was not satisfied with the work done. The service manager Gary Lee Cross again agreed to take care of it on another visit.
I then proceeded to take the vehicle out for a short test drive near the dealership. After driving the vehicle for a few minutes I noticed that my Alpine car stereo was now not operational. I always turn the radio off before leaving it with the dealership and now it was in a state which was stuck on and unresponsive. This tells me that someone in the dealership must have touched the radio in order to turn it on and somehow something else was done to it which caused it to malfunction. I immediately returned to the dealership less then 15 minutes later to alert them of this issue. The service manager proceeded to argue that there was no way that the radio could have been damaged while the vehicle was with them. He then proceeded to try to remedy the issue by disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it. This did not cause the radio to resume operation and I still have a malfunctioning stereo in the car as I write this.
Unfortunately I did not go over every single part of my car to show to the dealership that it was all operational before leaving it with them. However, I do not feel that I should feel a need to worry about my vehicle to such a degree.
During the next day or two driving the vehicle I felt that the steering effort or amount of force required to turn the wheel felt higher. The steering felt heavier like there existed more resistance. I brought this to the attention of the service manager and he begrudgingly said he would investigate and was not exactly pleasant.
Sadly this is not the end of the problems which I experienced servicing my 350Z. The third time I had to return was to have the left front rim re-repaired and steering checked on September 14, 2005. On this visit while inspecting the exterior condition of the vehicle the service person and I discovered a key sticking out from under my hood. While disconnecting the battery on the last visit on September 12, 2005 the service manager left a key from another vehicle under the hood and forgot to take it before closing it. In the days in between I drove over 100 miles with the key present under my hood. If the key had lodged in the fan or other engine part the results could have been catastrophic. After bringing this to the attention of the service manager he apologized and took the key back and paid no attention to the severity of the possible implications.
After 21 days, 3 visits to the dealership, 1 new rim, 1 repaired rim, I now have 2 new front tires, and 1 broken $800 Alpine radio. To be fair the service manager did offer to take care of a small repair on my other vehicle and did follow through on his promise to repair and replace my rims. However, I feel that it is INEXCUSABLE to have to go through this ordeal all for a simple change of tires and alignment. I now have a broken $800 radio to show for my troubles along with having to arrange transportation and taking hours off from my job to deal with these issues.
I am an active member on several Nissan 350Z clubs including www.g350z.com, www.my350z.com, and www.350zmotoring.com. For the past 2 years I have participated in countless meets and events including our annual New England 350Z and G35 meet on Cape cod Massachusetts for which there were over 70 vehicles in attendance. The 350Z has been a joy to own with the exception of the dealings with Nissan dealerships. I will be posting a similar explanation of my experiences to share with my fellow 350Z owners. This experience has left me with an extremely soured view of Nissan products and service and I am sad to say has changed my feeling on purchasing another Nissan vehicle in the future.
Please see enclosed photos and service receipts for reference.
Sincerely,
James Chan
This post has been edited by jhchan: 22 September 2005 - 02:42 PM
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