Kelangst said:
Well today I came back to town after a delayed flight and hours of travel. I wanted to stop by a Nissan dealer and charge for 1 hour just to be confident I could get home. I have driven to the airport and back before, but on the way I gave 2 other people a ride so I had more weight and used more power.
I called the dealer and asked about the location of the charger. But when I arrived, long story short, Pacific Nissan would not let me charge. The manager explained to me that "not anyone" can charge. Let's just say I was treated poorly when I mentioned that since we are early adopters we were told until the ecotality charging went in we were allowed to do this. The manager basically told me that since I bought my car at a diffeent dealer, I should just "take yourself" over to them and let them pay. I even offered to pay $10 to charge. nope. I received a lecture about how he was a for profit company.
When I arrived at the Clairemont Mesa Mossy Nissan with less than 10 miles left - completely different story. I was treated well by their GM Leon and had people offering me water and making sure I was happy with the car. They were happy to see someone come in and take advantage of the service. How can the treatment be so different? Is it simply because it was La Jolla and I wasn't dressed well enough?
Because I had to go so far out of my way, I will need to charge for 3 hours before I can go home. After my more than 12 hour travel day, this is as you can imagine not what I wanted to be doing right now. I would rather be seeing my spouse and kid.
Thanks for the comments. I bought my Leaf at Pacific Nissan and have used their chargers twice. Seeing them turn away other Leafers is pathetic. I will call them tomorrow, speak to the manager and kindly inform him that due to that kind of behavior, I will not recommend them as a dealer, I will not charge there again, NOR will I bring my car to them for service.
Seriously. A car plugged into the charger at peak rates costs...what? about $.50/hour? They're going to drive business away because of that? That's just sad....
edit: I think I'll just send and email and CC Nissan USA Customer Service. The manager can blow off my phone call, but he might have a harder time if corporate calls him.
edit II: The issue with me is that the Leaf is 51% car, 49% idea. If I see a dealer like this that says "screw the idea behind the car", then I don't want to have anything to do with them.