Nissan Dealership refuses a charge up !

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flyingjohn

New member
Joined
Feb 29, 2020
Messages
2
Have been a forum "lurker" but now feel the need to register and post this information as it came as a bit of a surprise and may save someone from the same fate!

So I feel the need to get the message out that NISSAN have changed their policy of allowing you to charge at the dealerships.

How do I know ?

Well I turned up at MOTORLINE in my Leaf as I was looking at a 2nd hand Juke car for my wife. Bit low on range on the leaf I plugged into the Chademo fast charger.

I was told in no uncertain terms that this was for THEIR customers only and they would not allow me to charge. I questioned the "Sales director"! -who said they had received a memo addressed to all dealerships from NISSAN that it was at the dealers discretion on who to allow to charge - and was for people who bought their cars from them.

I explained that anyone buying a car from them probably lived in Medway and would charge at home, and the point of having the opportunity to fast charge at a dealership was for when you are away from home after a long journey. This appeared to be completely lost on this employee and he stuck to his guns and said customers only.

I even pointed him at the sales blurb that says "nationwide fast chargers available at dealers", but he repeated the mantra, because they were paying for the electricity. I said it costs about a pound for a charge and asked if I could pay - still said no.

Moral of the story - BUY A TESLA !!!

Sorry if you know this already, but I dont often need a "get me home charge" in an unknown town and it caught me out.
 
flyingjohn said:
Have been a forum "lurker" but now feel the need to register and post this information as it came as a bit of a surprise and may save someone from the same fate!

So I feel the need to get the message out that NISSAN have changed their policy of allowing you to charge at the dealerships.

How do I know ?

Well I turned up at MOTORLINE in my Leaf as I was looking at a 2nd hand Juke car for my wife. Bit low on range on the leaf I plugged into the Chademo fast charger.

I was told in no uncertain terms that this was for THEIR customers only and they would not allow me to charge. I questioned the "Sales director"! -who said they had received a memo addressed to all dealerships from NISSAN that it was at the dealers discretion on who to allow to charge - and was for people who bought their cars from them.

I explained that anyone buying a car from them probably lived in Medway and would charge at home, and the point of having the opportunity to fast charge at a dealership was for when you are away from home after a long journey. This appeared to be completely lost on this employee and he stuck to his guns and said customers only.

I even pointed him at the sales blurb that says "nationwide fast chargers available at dealers", but he repeated the mantra, because they were paying for the electricity. I said it costs about a pound for a charge and asked if I could pay - still said no.

Moral of the story - BUY A TESLA !!!

Sorry if you know this already, but I dont often need a "get me home charge" in an unknown town and it caught me out.
Were you using a dc fastcharge station or a level 2 wall charger? A DCFC should be a metered connection and open to any Nissan owner. The level 2 wall charger on the other hand would be simply hooked to the dealler's AC. The dealer would pay for the power used so they should have the right to say who uses it. Having said that, the cost to them to let you use it for an hour is probably less than a dollar. If you were looking at a car on their lot, it was stupid of them not write it off as an advertising cost. I bet you didn't buy a car from them just because of that salesman's attitude. A lost sale is worth a lot more than the cost of a charge and the dealer spends a great deal of money just to get someone on the lot. Free charging is a cheap way to do that and costs a lot less than balloons and hotdogs.
 
flyingjohn said:
... they had received a memo addressed to all dealerships from NISSAN that it was at the dealers discretion on who to allow to charge - and was for people who bought their cars from them.

Moral of the story - BUY A TESLA !!!
Or, at least, don't buy from any of the Motorline dealers in the UK.

But I really hope Nissan UK isn't that stupid.
 
I noticed that the chargers at a local Nissan dealership in Colorado were not listed on plugshare.com. I went and looked at the dealership website, and they indicated the same policy--the chargers are for their customers only.

I guess EVGo will get a bit more business!
 
What a myopic business decision. Heaven forbid you should have someone visiting your dealership with nothing to do for 30 minutes than to look at the cars you have for sale! :roll:
 
My Nissan dealer had one dc fast charger. It broke about the same time I bought my leaf. They never fixed it. Last time I made the trip in for service, I fast charged across the street at a honda dealer.

I will say while they had my car in the back they gladly plugged it into level 2. But it's clear they have no interest in fixing the CHAdeMO.

Why? See the thread on Nissan corporate.
 
This makes no sense, and this it the poster's first post....

No Nissan dealer is going to deny you a charge.,... I have gone to other car brands and they have graciously let me charge there.

You are a new member, with your first post, so I will say that you must be mistaken about this.

pretty much... i don't believe it.. You sound like an agitator....

If you are not an agitator, your first post should not be a complaint.. We are not connected to Nissan and your accusation is a whisper in the wind. GO COMPLAIN TO THE ALLEGED DEALER//
 
Note the OP seems to be from the UK, the UK may and probably is different than N. America, like almost everything else in Europe it's more expensive and things we take from granted in the US may very well charge there. Take for instance condiments(catsup and mayo packets) I was told by someone who vacationed there that they charged for each one :( that takes user fees to the extreme IMO :shock:
 
jjeff said:
Note the OP seems to be from the UK, the UK may and probably is different than N. America, like almost everything else in Europe it's more expensive and things we take from granted in the US may very well charge there. Take for instance condiments(catsup and mayo packets) I was told by someone who vacationed there that they charged for each one :( that takes user fees to the extreme IMO :shock:

This has happened in the US before, especially with DCFC stations but also with L-2 stations at dealerships.
 
powersurge said:
This makes no sense, and this it the poster's first post....

No Nissan dealer is going to deny you a charge.,... I have gone to other car brands and they have graciously let me charge there.

You are a new member, with your first post, so I will say that you must be mistaken about this.

pretty much... i don't believe it.. You sound like an agitator....

If you are not an agitator, your first post should not be a complaint.. We are not connected to Nissan and your accusation is a whisper in the wind. GO COMPLAIN TO THE ALLEGED DEALER//

To be honest I note an increasing frequency of people with 1 or 2 posts landing here with odd problems or grievances of various ilk, to be heard no more. Seems fishy.
 
Nubo said:
powersurge said:
This makes no sense, and this it the poster's first post....

No Nissan dealer is going to deny you a charge.,... I have gone to other car brands and they have graciously let me charge there.

You are a new member, with your first post, so I will say that you must be mistaken about this.

pretty much... i don't believe it.. You sound like an agitator....

If you are not an agitator, your first post should not be a complaint.. We are not connected to Nissan and your accusation is a whisper in the wind. GO COMPLAIN TO THE ALLEGED DEALER//

To be honest I note an increasing frequency of people with 1 or 2 posts landing here with odd problems or grievances of various ilk, to be heard no more. Seems fishy.
OP has not been back since their first and only post......even more fishy.....
 
powersurge said:
This makes no sense, and this it the poster's first post....

No Nissan dealer is going to deny you a charge.,... I have gone to other car brands and they have graciously let me charge there.

You are a new member, with your first post, so I will say that you must be mistaken about this.

pretty much... i don't believe it.. You sound like an agitator....

If you are not an agitator, your first post should not be a complaint.. We are not connected to Nissan and your accusation is a whisper in the wind. GO COMPLAIN TO THE ALLEGED DEALER//

That's funny, I've had it happen more than one time as "new policy" and this was years ago. Also some dealers have converted their "free" DC units to EVGO pay only to avoid these issues. This topic was hashed out years ago here.
 
Nubo said:
To be honest I note an increasing frequency of people with 1 or 2 posts landing here with odd problems or grievances of various ilk, to be heard no more. Seems fishy.
People often only look for a place to post something when they are having a problem. They post, read the responses (sometimes), and often don't come back unless their problem continues to bother them.

I did nearly the same thing over at the message board for MS Media Center back in October. Had a problem, posted about it (only my 2nd post in the 5 years since I joined there), thanked someone who helped me, and haven't been back since.
 
jlv said:
Nubo said:
To be honest I note an increasing frequency of people with 1 or 2 posts landing here with odd problems or grievances of various ilk, to be heard no more. Seems fishy.
People often only look for a place to post something when they are having a problem. They post, read the responses (sometimes), and often don't come back unless their problem continues to bother them.

I did nearly the same thing over at the message board for MS Media Center back in October. Had a problem, posted about it (only my 2nd post in the 5 years since I joined there), thanked someone who helped me, and haven't been back since.

Yes, and why would they after being new and told you are making it up. This person had a not uncommon experience. Nissan dealers mostly care less about the LEAF particularly now that it's more of a no-income extremely low volume car per dealership.
 
EVDRIVER said:
jlv said:
Nubo said:
To be honest I note an increasing frequency of people with 1 or 2 posts landing here with odd problems or grievances of various ilk, to be heard no more. Seems fishy.
People often only look for a place to post something when they are having a problem. They post, read the responses (sometimes), and often don't come back unless their problem continues to bother them.

I did nearly the same thing over at the message board for MS Media Center back in October. Had a problem, posted about it (only my 2nd post in the 5 years since I joined there), thanked someone who helped me, and haven't been back since.

Yes, and why would they after being new and told you are making it up. This person had a not uncommon experience. Nissan dealers mostly care less about the LEAF particularly now that it's more of a no-income extremely low volume car per dealership.

It's got more to do with the odd nature of some of the posts, not necessarily this one... Almost as if they have familiarized themselves with the vehicle and then amuse themselves by concocting a tale of woe based on perceived shortcomings. I am not accusing any one poster individually, but taken as a whole it raises my suspicions as to motives. I've gone back and forth personally on whether to even bother with such posts.
 
I don't think he concocted a tale of woe. Back in 2015 I had a Nissan dealer here in Massachusetts tell me I couldn't charge my LEAF at their CHAdeMO because I hadn't bought it there. I was just as surprised as the OP here. That Nissan dealers still don't get isn't much of a surprise.
 
I have Had a similar experience
I have been driving Leafs since 2015
I am on my 3rd now and at 3 different dealers
i have stopped to charge at there Fast Chargers
And they Where broken and the reply from the sales managers
are we can't find anybody to fix them so three dealerships
in a 50 mile radius had broken fast chargers and all they had where the 220 chargers
and non electric Cars parked in that space where the charger is
I seen this over and over some dealers just don't care at all
I have never done a fast charge in 5 years anywhere
some dealers will tell you they would rather sell
Fossil fuel cars and only get a few leafs a year to sell
because they don't want them and will tell you that
anyway my 2 cents worth
 
jlv said:
I don't think he concocted a tale of woe. Back in 2015 I had a Nissan dealer here in Massachusetts tell me I couldn't charge my LEAF at their CHAdeMO because I hadn't bought it there. I was just as surprised as the OP here. That Nissan dealers still don't get isn't much of a surprise.

As I said quite clearly, I am not pointing at this post specifically.
 
Regarding my previous post, yes, I am suspicious when the first post someone makes is a non-factual complaint. It is not asking a question, and is only serving to make a generalized complaint of either the car, or the company.

There are many things to be furious about in life, but I would not waste my time complaining about not being able to charge my car at a destination.

It is like complaining that you went to MacDonald's and they did not want to give you a glass of water because you didn't buy something. That is between you and the individual you talked to. It doesn't generalize to anything, And personally, this topic is a non-topic IMO.
 
Still here. Work, life and illness just got in the way of a follow up ! But thankyou for the kind support ;-)

As I said in my first post have been a "lurker" for a while. Certainly not an agitator as has been suggested.
Have now got my 2020 spec 40kw Tekna on order from a consolidator here in the UK, but it is now a month late due to factory closedown in Sunderland (in the UK).

So what happened.
Well refer to my OP , but I did take it further by reporting it to the MD of Nissan U.K. I had a splendid apologetic phone call some weeks later and a promise that the dealership principle would be reminded of the fact that they are ambassadors for the marque and not back street garages !

I haven't been back, and they didnt get my purchase of either a Qashqai for my wife or my new Leaf.
 
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