Importing US Leafs to Canada - CARWINGS

[rayslin]

hey There, I have the same issue as you, It stopped working over the weekend. I called nissan connect support and they have no answer for me.
Ill keep digging and try to find a solution ( because not being able to start climate control or not being able to see if it is charging correctly is not acceptable ) and If I find something ill post it here. please do the same

Jon

 

[triflic]

I am also in this situation. I lost access to NissanConnect Canada on January 3, 2017.

OAKVILLE NISSAN is not interested in pursuing getting me a USA Telematics system for replacement, as they say it cannot be ordered from their computer system. I'm not entirely sure they would be able to program the 3G or not. They insist that it is impossible to install a Canadian system in the vehicle, becase...get this...THE METRIC SYSTEM.

Currently I'm pursing emails to [email protected]. I've called the NISSAN CONNECT website, and the only advice was for me to drive to BUFFALO and have it replaced there. This is not a terribly convenient option for me, logistically.

I look forward to anyone who comes up with a solution, and affordable one, I don't want to spend any more than US$200 to fix this...

Cheers.
2012 USA LEAF owner in Canada.

 

[Canuck]

Same here - my last connect was January 4, 2017 -- 2012 Nissan Leaf SL imported from the States. I will contact the Nissan dealer in Langley BC and see what they say. It's not too difficult for me to go down the States to get it upgraded if that's what must be done, as long as it still works in Canada. The funny thing is that my Tesla is going in for the LTE upgrade (from 3G) next week.

 

[triflic]

Been having some delightful (read: frustrating) conversations with both Nissan Canada and Nissan USA regarding this issue. Basically, Nissan Corporate has told me to either bring the car to the USA, or go take a hike. I have 32 minutes of audio with their various levels of customer support saying in essence, "we are not interested in helping you."

I have asked the following:

Question: "Can a Canadian TCU be installed in the vehicle?" Answer: No. (no detailed technical reasons why, just trust us.)

Question: "Can you have a US TCU unit shipped to a Canadian dealer to install?" - Answer: If you contact the dealer, arrange to pay the shipping, and you ask a Canadian dealership to install the unit, and you pay for everything without any US subsidy. Then, it might work.

Question: "Can I talk directly to a Telematics technician and possibly get detailed answers?" Answer: HahahahahahahaHAHAHAHA. No. (Although dealerships have this privilege, customers do not.)

Question: "Are you in any way willing to be proactive in your customer service to help what is a pretty oddball situation, with any number of relative straight-forward fixes?" Answer: Have a nice day, sir, this is certainly not our problem.

 

[triflic]

Last answer I have received from NISSAN corporate (via Nissan-Canada) is that they are happy to allow a local dealer to order the part for a US Vehicle and install it. All risk )that it will not work in Canada) is on the customer. Cost of the unit = Can$1921.35 + Tax + Labour/Install.

Thus, at fairly high risk, you could install this unit for north of $2000 out the door.

If you have a USA Vehicle in Canada, there is no subside/Co-pay offer available, and the customer assumes full cost, and full risk for upgrading their TCU.

 

[triflic]

"Dear Kurt,

Thank you for contacting Nissan LEAF Customer Support. We appreciate hearing from you.


I am very sorry for the inconvenience. Nissan understands that AT&T has announced plans to terminate its 2G network coverage as of December 31, 2016. AT&T is a third party that Nissan does not control, and technology in this area is constantly evolving. Unfortunately, if your are a US resident and have a Canadian LEAF or vise versa you will not be able to partake in the use of CARWINGS. CARWINGS runs off of AT&T 3G towers. I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Please feel free to contact us again with any additional questions, through our website at www.nissanusa.com or by phone at 877-664-2738. We are here to serve you from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. (EST) Monday through Saturday.

_____________

Sincerely,

Ashley
Vehicle Connected Services

Nissan North America, Inc.
One Nissan Way
Franklin, TN 37067
------------------------"

 

[medtech1]

Nissan always tells me my Carwings would not work in Canada, and it always has (well, until a week ago).

 

[RonDawg]

Been having some delightful (read: frustrating) conversations with both Nissan Canada and Nissan USA regarding this issue. Basically, Nissan Corporate has told me to either bring the car to the USA, or go take a hike. I have 32 minutes of audio with their various levels of customer support saying in essence, "we are not interested in helping you."

It's a pitfall of a "grey market" import (and yes your Leaf meets that definition, as it does cannot be registered on Canadian roads without modifying it [DRL's]). Ask any of our New Zealand friends here how much support they have gotten from Nissan NZ with their ex-JDM Leafs.

 

[triflic]

I remain committed to pestering as many Nissan executives, customer support specialists, and HR managers until I get some customer satisfaction on this issue.

At the end, I will be happily tallying up the amount of time I have occupied of high paid professionals and Nissan executives, when they could have easily just shipped up a part, let me get the same deal US$199, with minimal fuss. This document will be forwarded it to a number of Nissan Vice Presidents and Project Managers as a lesson in making their engaged customers satisfied.

(For the record, it is easy to find most people in positions of authority and specialization (say, TCU engineers) via LinkedIn searches, and the email format: [email protected] )

Happy hunting.

 

[RonDawg]

I take it you bought your Leaf used? If so, what makes you think they care about your "customer satisfaction" particularly when you imported the car from a different country? As far as they're concerned, the sale has already occurred.

 

[triflic]

Yes I bought this used (but the situation could very well be that I lived in the UNITED STATES, then moved to Canada and brought the car with me, lots of people are mobile in thier careers and do this). My previous car was a new 2003 Nissan Maxima SE. The relevant point being: When customers are purchasing CAN$40,000 vehicles, and you have it in your power to make those customers happy, why piss them off?

If they do not care, and continue to ignore my highly-proactive approach to getting customer satisfaction, then I can always buy a Chevrolet Bolt as my next vehicle.

Isn't it in Nissan's best interest to keep their customers buying Nissans?

 

[medtech1]

Rondawg, you could say the same about even the US owners of US sourced leafs prior to 2015. They had no legal obligation to provide a 2G upgrade campaign to anyone outside the standard first year warranty (in my opinion). That said, morally, and for the reputation of NISSAN from leaf owners, I think it may do them more damage if they don't.

 

[medtech1]

btw... with your reference to US sourced cars owned in Canada, I disagree that they can be referred to as "grey market". Before purchasing mine, I contacted NISSAN Canada to confirm I'd be entitled to any warranty provided to the original owner in the US. Not only that, they actually told me right when I was changing the owner to my name, that I'd be getting a letter in the mail regarding the 2G to 3G upgrade so I could get it done.

My dealer has no issues providing me warranty repair as if I purchased it from them. Nothing was "illegal", unauthorized or "against nissan's rules" by me, or anyone purchasing a US sourced car from Canada (or moving to Canada after the purchase).

Nissan just a week ago told me, all I have to do to get the upgrade was drive to a US Dealer and they'll do it. That said, I've had conflicting statements from many Nissan support reps.


I do feel that Nissan has decided to kick those owners to the curb, because they think we're negligible. However, if enough of us make a stink, it may do something. (and if no one does, nothing will happen for sure).

triflic - where abouts are you located in Canada

 

[RonDawg]

Rondawg, you could say the same about even the US owners of US sourced leafs prior to 2015.

Exactly, it took a class-action lawsuit for them to offer what we (meaning US owners of cars meant for US consumption) have now in terms of battery capacity warranty coverage and an allegedly improved battery chemistry for 2015 and later cars. So someone who bought a car used, from a different country, would mean even less to them.

I'm just saying that when you import a car from one country to another, you can't necessarily expect the dealer network in the new country to support it, even if they sell an identical car new on the same property. Again there are several threads from New Zealanders upset that Nissan NZ refuses to even TOUCH their ex-JDM cars.

Nissan Canada is offering warranty coverage for US-sold cars as long as the car is not exported outside of the US within 6 months of original new sale; this is to protect Canadian dealers from being undercut by the Yanks during times when the Loonie is worth more than the buck. But the following website lists car manufacturers in Canada who do NOT honor warranties for identical models sold on this side of the border:

https://www.apa.ca/CanadianWarrantyinformationonnewcarsboughtintheUS.asp Note that Honda/Acura, Hyundai/Kia, and VW do NOT offer warranty coverage in Canada for US-purchased cars. Subaru Canada won't honor the warranty directly, but Subaru America is willing to reimburse you by "gentlemans agreement" between them and their Canadian counterpart. Audi and Suzuki (which pulled out of the US market a few years ago) only offer "Canadian warranty coverage" which may or may not be equivalent to that in the US. Chrysler Canada requires pre-approval before importing the car from the US by someone moving to Canada. Only Ford and Toyota/Lexus offers full coverage as if the US and Canada were all one country.

Nissan just a week ago told me, all I have to do to get the upgrade was drive to a US Dealer and they'll do it. That said, I've had conflicting statements from many Nissan support reps.

Nothing I've said contradicts/conflicts with that. Canadians who have ex-US Leafs and want this upgrade may have to do just that.

btw... with your reference to US sourced cars owned in Canada, I disagree that they can be referred to as "grey market".

"Grey market" defines a product sold outside of normal distribution channels. A Leaf (or other car) imported used from another country would fit this definition, even if a new one sold officially is otherwise identical. You definitely come across this with many electronic devices, particularly cameras, where if not sold through an officially sanctioned retailer may not have warranty coverage.

 

[evken]

My 2011SL is valued at $7800 ca. To send 2000 on the 3G upgrade is insane!

 

[triflic]

triflic - where abouts are you located in Canada

I'm in Greater Toronto.

 

[triflic]

My 2011SL is valued at $7800 ca. To send 2000 on the 3G upgrade is insane!

I hear you there. Upon further discussion with my local dealership the actual cost is (in Canadian $):

$1921.35 + $600 Install + HST (ontario taxes) = $2849.13

 

[medtech1]

My 2011SL is valued at $7800 ca. To send 2000 on the 3G upgrade is insane!

I hear you there. Upon further discussion with my local dealership the actual cost is (in Canadian $):

$1921.35 + $600 Install + HST (ontario taxes) = $2849.13

of which $2600 out of the $2849 is most likely profit.


Personally, its stuff like this, that will make me head straight towards TESLA, and way from NISSAN.

 

[triflic]

I love my LEAF a lot. I've got 50,000km on the vehicle and it runs great. I've never had a service issue (Battery lost a bar at approx. 35,000km, but this was certainly in line with expectations.) and have put new tires on the car, but otherwise the vehicle operated as promised. This is good, and keeps expectations of EV high, and keeps me engaged as a customer. It's nice to have a really great product.

The telematics / legacy / tech is the first real issue I've experienced with the car. (Which I successfully reprogrammed (CARWINGS) to work in Canada, back when I got the car in 2014). I did this myself, through research and diligence, and trial and error, in spite of various Nissan experts (including the telematics customer support line) telling me it was not possible.

It stings a bit that a multinational company is offering a package on the car for the bulk of the customers (read: US Leafs between 2011-2015) to bring it up to current tech (you can be this is so because Nissan knew it 'cut a corner' going with Edge/2G back in 2011, where 2G was legacy tech even before 2010), but then deny those vehicles the same service just because they happen to be located outside the USA market.

To me it is not rocket science to ship the parts and the engineering bulletins to dealerships in the few special cases to retain happy customers and engender good word of mouth.

Or you could send potential loyal Nissan customers towards Tesla, Chevy or Volkswagen.
It's easy to spread-sheet hard-capital numbers and see loss/gain in $$. But it is often the emotional soft-customer service that is much harder to quantify, that does a LOT of the work towards generating loyalty and passion for a brand (or in the current internet speak, create "fan-boys.")

 

[triflic]

I'm just saying that when you import a car from one country to another, you can't necessarily expect the dealer network in the new country to support it, even if they sell an identical car new on the same property. Again there are several threads from New Zealanders upset that Nissan NZ refuses to even TOUCH their ex-JDM cars.

I'm not expecting the DEALER network to support the car. I am expecting NISSAN CORPORATE, to support their customers who purchase their vehicles, and are likely to purchase their vehicles in the future. And enable the DEALERSHIPS to make the customers happy. The customer feels taken care of. The Dealership has more engagement with future customers. The Corporate Parent can keep moving product. This is the way the value chain should work. This is what Corporate CEOs and VPs preach in their keynotes, and other PR talks. I'm just asking the company to 'walk the walk' in a global, networked, and information-rich marketplace. You know, the 21st century.