If there is already a topic for this, I couldn't find it, and I looked. Anyway, we need one to help steer people away from terrible dealerships and towards good ones. Alas, it appears I may have no really good ones in my area...
There are two Nissan dealers within a half hour's drive of me, in Upstate NY. Neither got great reviews online, so since I had a bad experience with the Volvo service department at Nemith's Volvo dealership, I decided to go with Lia Nissan of Saratoga. Lia took over the franchise from a group so corrupt they were making the news for being investigated, but Lia is a large auto group so I was optimistic. My optimism was unfounded.
I made the appointment through a phone number that actually connects to Lia's Schenectady Nissan franchise, but the Service Manager there knew I wanted an appointment at Saratoga, and there didn't seem to be a problem. He even quoted me a better price than I expected to have my snow tires removed and replaced with the Goodyear Eagle L/S all-seasons I just bought. The next day I decided I'd get a quote for also replacing the cabin filter I'd bought before I injured my arm. This time I called Lia Nissan of Saratoga's service department, getting the number from 4-11. The Service Manager there was also friendly, and quoted me a *great* price for the cabin filter labor: $29.95. She also told me the other SM had entered the wrong day for my appointment, and corrected it. She warned me that Saratoga Nissan had no charging station, but that wasn't an issue for me, since I live only about 12 miles away from them.
When I dropped the car off at the appointed time, things started to go downhill. The service representative who handled things told me that they had no Leaf-Certified technician, and that while she thought they could borrow the equipment for the battery test, they wouldn't be able to perform the recall work on the Power Delivery Module. She assured me, however, that they could do everything else, including the recall repair of the Occupant Sensor, which was definitely not working right on my car. I left the place with only a little anxiety....
The next day, I called to see if the car was ready. The Service Manager told me it was, "except for the recalls." I asked her of that was "recalls" plural, and she said yes, that since they weren't authorized to work on the Leaf, they wouldn't have been reimbursed for the OCS recall repair. I reminded her that I had been promised this work, and she did the phone equivalent of shrugging. I left to pick up the car, blood pressure already on the rise.
When I got there, the Leaf was sitting in the parking lot, new tires mounted, and inspected. However, the snow tires were nowhere to be seen. I mentioned this at the service desk, and the man there managed to track them down and have them bagged and put in the car. He even brought the car to the door. I drove home, starting to feel better again, even though I knew I'd have to bring my Leaf to Nemith Nissan (which has apparently also changed hands and is now Fuccillo Nissan) for the recall work. At least the tires, inspection, battery test and cabin filter were done! Except that when I got home and unloaded the tires, I found my new cabin filter, unopened, right where I'd left it. They charged me $30 (not $29.95) but didn't replace the filter.
I spent another 10 minutes on the phone with the Service Rep, who was apologetic, and told me she'd speak to the Service Manager in the morning and have her call me. She didn't call, of course, and hasn't returned the call I made to her this afternoon.
Oh, and they mounted two of the four tires with the outside rain channels facing the wrong way. The tires aren't technically "directional" so I'll just have to live with reduced grip in rain. All in all I have to give Lia Nissan of Saratoga a D- at best. No one was hostile, some were helpful, but everyone was incompetent. I should have been told when I made the appointment, and again when I called back, that they don't work on Leafs. I should have gone with my Gut Feeling when I saw that the service Rep's fishbowl had a single, very dead fish in it.
There are two Nissan dealers within a half hour's drive of me, in Upstate NY. Neither got great reviews online, so since I had a bad experience with the Volvo service department at Nemith's Volvo dealership, I decided to go with Lia Nissan of Saratoga. Lia took over the franchise from a group so corrupt they were making the news for being investigated, but Lia is a large auto group so I was optimistic. My optimism was unfounded.
I made the appointment through a phone number that actually connects to Lia's Schenectady Nissan franchise, but the Service Manager there knew I wanted an appointment at Saratoga, and there didn't seem to be a problem. He even quoted me a better price than I expected to have my snow tires removed and replaced with the Goodyear Eagle L/S all-seasons I just bought. The next day I decided I'd get a quote for also replacing the cabin filter I'd bought before I injured my arm. This time I called Lia Nissan of Saratoga's service department, getting the number from 4-11. The Service Manager there was also friendly, and quoted me a *great* price for the cabin filter labor: $29.95. She also told me the other SM had entered the wrong day for my appointment, and corrected it. She warned me that Saratoga Nissan had no charging station, but that wasn't an issue for me, since I live only about 12 miles away from them.
When I dropped the car off at the appointed time, things started to go downhill. The service representative who handled things told me that they had no Leaf-Certified technician, and that while she thought they could borrow the equipment for the battery test, they wouldn't be able to perform the recall work on the Power Delivery Module. She assured me, however, that they could do everything else, including the recall repair of the Occupant Sensor, which was definitely not working right on my car. I left the place with only a little anxiety....
The next day, I called to see if the car was ready. The Service Manager told me it was, "except for the recalls." I asked her of that was "recalls" plural, and she said yes, that since they weren't authorized to work on the Leaf, they wouldn't have been reimbursed for the OCS recall repair. I reminded her that I had been promised this work, and she did the phone equivalent of shrugging. I left to pick up the car, blood pressure already on the rise.
When I got there, the Leaf was sitting in the parking lot, new tires mounted, and inspected. However, the snow tires were nowhere to be seen. I mentioned this at the service desk, and the man there managed to track them down and have them bagged and put in the car. He even brought the car to the door. I drove home, starting to feel better again, even though I knew I'd have to bring my Leaf to Nemith Nissan (which has apparently also changed hands and is now Fuccillo Nissan) for the recall work. At least the tires, inspection, battery test and cabin filter were done! Except that when I got home and unloaded the tires, I found my new cabin filter, unopened, right where I'd left it. They charged me $30 (not $29.95) but didn't replace the filter.
I spent another 10 minutes on the phone with the Service Rep, who was apologetic, and told me she'd speak to the Service Manager in the morning and have her call me. She didn't call, of course, and hasn't returned the call I made to her this afternoon.
Oh, and they mounted two of the four tires with the outside rain channels facing the wrong way. The tires aren't technically "directional" so I'll just have to live with reduced grip in rain. All in all I have to give Lia Nissan of Saratoga a D- at best. No one was hostile, some were helpful, but everyone was incompetent. I should have been told when I made the appointment, and again when I called back, that they don't work on Leafs. I should have gone with my Gut Feeling when I saw that the service Rep's fishbowl had a single, very dead fish in it.