When I bought my car at Hyatt, I got their winter wheel and tire package. Essentially 18" Akuza/FRD rims with Blizzaks. I also went in for the storage of my off-season wheels at $120/year.

Things have gone well for the first three swaps (mostly). My fourth swap, which occurred just this past Friday (October 10) didn't go so well. Here is how it went down.

Took the car in and waited in the waiting room. They did the swap and the 12K service. Just before the car was ready I got a phone call regarding one of the kids so I was kind of motivated to go. The car came out and I did a quick walk around looking for dents and scratches. Everything looked ok, but the wheels looked dirtier than I remember them when I brought them in in the spring.

Later that day, I noticed that the center caps were wrong. They were the FRD caps with black lettering, mine were Akuza caps that were more of an embossed design that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. This got me to thinking. I checked the tire size and they were 17". These are not mine.

First thing Tuesday I called the dealership (Monday being Turkey day). There are no direct lines there, everything goes through a receptionist. I got bounced back and forth between reception and service several times because no one in service would pick up the phone. The receptionist took a message at 8:45. At 3:00, I still hadn't had a call back. I called again and was bounced back to reception again but she must have left the desk. I hung up and called back again, after bouncing back and forth for a while, the receptionist asked if I wanted to leave a message. I said, no, I did that already and no one has called me back. Finally, I got a service rep. I explained the situation nicely and he said "How do you know they aren't your wheels"? I again explained nicely that I had purchased 18" and these are clearly 17". He said he would look into where my wheels are and get back to me.

I didn't hear anything so Wednesday I called back, got bounced back and forth a bunch. Ended up leaving a message.

Called back several times on Thursday, getting bounced back and forth. "The service people are really busy and there are five other people on hold for them". Well, if they had more than two service guys working the desk... She asked if I would leave a message and impressed upon her my dissatisfaction and said that I would come down and talk to them face-to-face.

Friday morning I go out and talk with Vince. He says he hasn't been to the warehouse to check on things there, but he didn't think that I bought the wheels at Hyatt (I guess he wasn't looking very hard), so I produced the receipt. OK, that done, he explains how this has never happened before yada yada. He promised me a call back late in the day once he has had time to get to the warehouse. The wheels on my car were tagged with my name and in my bin. So, probably when I had the summers swapped on, there was someone else doing the same and the tires got cross tagged. Fine, so where are my wheels.

I got the call. He hasn't found my wheels yet, but he has ordered me a new set in case he doesn't find them. He is still looking. I'm going to have to ask "How do you know these are my wheels" if he finds them.

I have just over 10,000 Kms on the car, so my summer and winter tires have maybe 5,000 Km on each. I don't want tires that were on some guys car where he drives twice or three times as much as I do. I want the new wheels. Would I be out of place to demand that?

Oh, and I'm going to get my summer wheels back too. I'm not going to trust them anymore. I'll find room to store them somewhere.

 

Wow, that really sucks.
I often wondered how safe it was when dealers and tire shops storing your extra set of wheels and tires.

I don't blame you for wanting a new set because of their screw up. Your winter set were basically brand new with only 5k on them

 

It sounded like a good idea at first. Not having to get the inside of the car dirty with the tires sitting in the trunk and rear seats...

Of course, there is the option of doing it myself. :-/

 

I feel your pain, I hate Hyatt Inifinity ... and I hate that there is no alternative in Calgary. This is the only reason they get away with thier bs service. who wants to drive to edmonton just to hit up the next closest infinity dealer..

If they produce your wheels I would get them to gauge the tread in front of you, with only 10,000km on your car, the tires should have no less than 90% tread left (IF THAT)...

.. If they have any more wear than that, I would tell them to unpolitly "go F themselves"

 

Yeah, that's a shame. I agree with what GEE35X says.

G/L working something out with them.

 

Damn, Wayne, what a hassle. Sorry to hear you're going through this, but I know you'll stay on their case until you're satisfied. If you're unsure or unhappy about the ones they produce (since it's entirely possible your wheels are on someone else's car by now...? ) you should suggest "I'll go ahead and take the new ones you ordered, Vince." g/l man, this sucks.

 

I would say highly probable.
That was my first thought as I started reading this.
I hate to say it, but my other thought was; did the back shop boys pull a fast one?

What a PITA to go through Wayne..... you pay extra for a service & then you get jerked around.
It's their attitude that really pi$$es me off.... "how do you know these aren't your wheels"
There are may ways they could obtain info regarding the mix up, w/o pi$$ing in the clients corn flakes.

Hyatt's excellent rep continues....

 

yeah, I might have lost it right there, but that's better saved until after you get a satisfactory outcome.

 

Well said. I also think it's highly likely his wheels are on another car.

Yeah, I can see them wanting a description of the wheels but why state it as if the customer doesn't know what they're talking about.

Unbelievable.

 

Moral of the story:

Change your own wheels, and store the set you're not using in your garage/shed.

Why would you even consider trusting a stealership to store your property?

 

Sorry to hear about this experience with Hyatt. I purchased my most recent Infiiniti from Hyatt several weeks ago and I love my '05 IP sedan. Perhaps it's just me, but I couldn't help feel a vibe of "Hey, we're the only Infiniti dealership in town so we call the shots." I had seen the IP sedan advertised on autotrader earlier that day and decided to drive by later just to check it out, not necessarily with the intention of buying it. But after I test drove it, I realized how much I missed my old '04 sedan and soon went into negotiation mode.

A couple things I noted during my interactions with sales:

It wasn't until 10 minutes after the sales rep first approached me and we were looking at the car that I had realized that he hadn't even bothered to introduce himself or even ask me my name. I was off from work that week, and dressed in casual clothes, so perhaps he took me for a tire kicker. Would I have received 'better' treatment if I had come by after-work in my work clothes (ie. a suit & tie)? So I introduced myself and asked him of his name. Wait a sec, who works for dealership, me or him?

When we were negotiating on price, he wouldn't move on the dealer's "admin fee" and I kept pressing him on this. So he said that he would throw in a tank of gas if it made me feel better. After processing my deposit I proceeded to sign and initial the sales sheet. When I asked him to write in "tank of gas" he relented and said he couldn't do that, but he would make sure that he would get me the tank of gas, provided he got approval later on from his finance manager. Truthfully, I didn't really care if I got the gas or not. I just wanted him to work a bit for the sale and test out his integrity.

Off to the finance guy for the final sign-offs. I was doing a cash deal so he just had to calculate cash due on delivery. When he printed it off, it was $400 MORE than what I had agreed to with the sales rep. We called the rep in and sure enough when I looked at the sales sheet I had signed, he had added another $400 to the selling price. Shame on me for not noticing it the first time. So I called him on it and he apologized and said it was a keying error on his part. Perhaps, but after having agreed to their $298 "admin" fee, I wasn't going to part ways with another $400. Not impressed. Needless to say the price was corrected on the spot.

Likely in an effort to make amends, he came in and said that he had some good news and that the inspection report indicated that I would be getting new tires installed on the car at no additional cost. Good, I thought, now I really don't give a rat's *** about the gas since I'm getting some new tires. The new tires offset the GST I was paying on the car. And you can bet your **** that I made them write in "4 new tires" on the sales agreement.

I was scheduled to take delivery 2 days later, midmorning, and they assured me the car would be ready. Sure enough, the evening before delivery day, the rep calls me to tell me the tires hadn't yet arrived but that they could have the car ready if I came later in the afternoon of the scheduled delivery day. I told him that I already have 2 vehicles so I wasn't in a rush - I would rather have them absolutely ready with the vehicle so I wouldn't have to wait. Since delivery was originally scheduled for Friday and weekends are busy, I gave them til Monday. Again I was assured it would be ready when I arrived.

So now it's Monday, and thankfully I am still on vacation, so I show up at 10 am. The car isn't ready yet. Sheesh. Something about a snafu with the balancing machine. So my brother and I headed over to the nearby RCGA driving range to go hit some golf *****.

Finally, an hour or so later, the car is ready.

All in all, I wouldn't say it was a PAINFUL experience, but I certainly do remember the series of annoying little events. I would expect more from a dealership that holds itself forth as a seller of semi-luxury vehicles.

A few years ago, I ranted on this forum about their embarrassing loaner cars adorned with the gaudiest of decals. During my Z years I haven't had to get my vehicle serviced there so I don't know if they still do this.

As an advisor in a professional services firm and with my own set of clients, the experience certainly did remind me of the importance of good client service and how it can help you stand out from your competitors. Service providers all have their bad or "off days" (and I have had my share), because nobody is perfect, but you never want to get into a position where you are consistently known for providing bad service. It wreaks havoc on your reputation. Eventually your luck will run out and you will be looking for a new line of work. Perhaps it is different in the auto industry and especially when you are the only dealership in town, but hopefully this will change for the benefit of the customers.

Hyatt: shame on you for pulling the switcheroo on the OP's winter wheels. As for me, I would never do the winter tire storage deal with Hyatt. Plus, I hate those FRD wheels. I guess they are better than black steelies....

PS. They did provide me with gas, after all. 3/4 of a tank.

 

^^^ ???

 

^+1

 

 

Ah Shafty, the BS flag has been raised. If this is in response to my post, all I can say is that you have a right to your own opinion or perception, and I have a right to post a factually correct account. I actually do keep a file of documentation whenever I buy a car to help me out if I ever do run into difficulties with a dealership (not that I need to prove this to anyone here).

Perhaps you sourced your OB sedan from Hyatt and received fantastic service. If so, that's great!

As anyone in Calgary knows, 6MT sedans (and especially IP ones) aren't very common, so I bought this one because it was available, notwithstanding the fact that I had to buy it from Hyatt.

Cheers.