Dealer: Damned if you do, damned if you don't...the long version
 

So here I am the svc mgr at a dealer,trying to "do the right thing" for the tuner/forum crowd:biggthumpup: ...How so? Well, last week I stay late at work, even when I wanted to leave early to go surfing (a nice little bit of groundswell before dark is always a good thing). I didn't go home because a forum member comes by from the OP at a quarter til 5 (without even calling to see what time we are here til, I might add) So I volunteer myself and a tech who also gets off at five to stay late...Doing him a favor because some out of town shop in O-town fubar-ed his custom wheels putting on a new set of Nittos. He couldn't get them off himself to take pictures of the damage to send to the other shops insurance company, so he drove across town to us. So after looking at the car, not only did leaving the wheel loose damage the wheel, but also a wheel stud. So we pressed a new stud in and replaced the damaged lug. Total for staying late, parts & labor? A handshake and NO CHARGE. :eek:
Maybe you'd think that would be some sort of Karmic good luck....but NO. Today I get SLAMMED by a survey from another forum member for a FREE inspection on an out-of-warranty problem. :mad: Most people know that we staff at the dealers are interested in our surveys and our livelihoods are relflected in our scores. So after reading in this guys survey,"I will be posting a responce (sic) on G35Driver.com", I thought I'd do the same:thewave: ... What wicked perversion was this man a victim of? :dunno: How did WE wrong him? :rolleyes: Well, let me tell ya...he had personally told me he had a problem with his seat, and it had been addressed in the past. So I scheduled him an appointment (with a loaner car, I might add) to assess what was wrong with the car. Well, indeed the seat frame is broken, but it is out of warranty by time and miles AND out of the parts warranty that applied to the last replacement of the part...So all I can do is give him an estimate for the repair, unless I'd personally like to pay for the repairs to his car (he's not on my X-mas list,so no deal there) :D There was NO CHARGE for the inspection or the loaner car, btw. But he's mad at us, you can follow the logic stream I guess...
I know I'm in the bad news business when I tell people how much it is to fix THEIR cars out of warranty, but wtf? I thought I was doing this guy a favor by looking at his car....So what you ask yourself? Who cares if YOU, the dirt-bag dealer,get a lousy survey score on a survey? Well, it only costs ME money...But sadly it does cost you too, you the tuner/enthusiast get lumped together again as "not worth the trouble" in the mind of all our dealership staff that are DIRECTLY affected by the "survey assasination" of some fair-weather friend of a customer at best. Some people only come here when they are out of options, or the work is "bad work" and the cherry-picking aftermarket store sends you back to the dealer when they don't want the hassle..."Sorry bro, that's a dealer-only item..." But I still try to take care of you, that's what we do here...it's a luxury car dealership. But we can't fix EVERYBODIES car for free, we are a business (and on a car you bought second-hand with now almost 90,000 miles...is it REALLY that outrageous to ask you to pay???) :icon09:
We're good at what we do here, and I'm a gearhead/tuner guy myself (have had multiple sportbikes a Civic Si, CRX Si, a Supra, 2 Miatas, a WRX,an STi AND now a MazdaSpeed3). I stopped religiously checking the forums years ago, because it is such a frustrating, thankless business trying to defend everything we do to the anonymous net-world, but being called out like a punk...I had to state my side of the issue. :coolio:

Are you talking about me? I never did a survey for Atlantic Infiniti.

Edit: Nevermind...Read it way to fast and skipped over the rest cause it was just a big paragraph that I didn't have the patience to read the first time fully. Called you and confirmed!

You were talking about me, but weren't talking about me also at the same time. In the past, yea there hasn't been good service, but I still never did a survey, just bashed A/I here a lil, but I will have to admit that you all are progressing nicely and turning it around. :biggthumpup:

I appreciate your help just last week of the situation you're talking about and if you want to send me a survey, I'll be glad to fill it out and tell about my experience on that situation. :biggthumpup: :thewave:

Sorry to hear about the other situation though. Shouldn't have been like that from reading the rest of your post. You're right, you can't do everything for free, especially when it's a Used 90,000 mile vehicle as well where most if not all the Warranty has expired.

wow man sux to hear.

what dealership do you work at?

sounds like you would be cool to deal w/

the only thing you have to understand is that dealerships have been raping customers for years, so people get paranoid and sometimes dont recognize when someone is trying to help them cause they think they are being screwed

rape !!!!!!!!!!!

we'll just say its an infiniti dealership here in jax.

to the poster (ill leave your name out for business purposes), i understand where you are coming from. you have about as hard a time dealing with this as we do owning modded cars. you are aware your staff isnt the greatest and it has lead to strong feelings towards your dealership. this in turn causes people to start pointing fingers prematurely like jose said. i admit i pretty much raped your service department on a survey after the first problem i had with them. however, ive stopped filling them out because i dont feel i can honestly say something nice and id rather not hurt your reputation further.

i know both of the stories you mentioned very well as i gave advice on both of them. it was pretty sweet what you did to take care of jason with his wheel stud. but like we said before, its hard for people to overlook everything else with 1 good deed. also, not many people may know how helpful you were. i cant really speak for the 2nd owner but many owners may not know how harmful these surveys really are to your department. as owners, our only methods of speaking out are forums and the surveys that you send.

i guess my point is that both parties should hopefully be enlightened by this thread and maybe we can take a step forward. i think we would both benefit from a mod friendly dealership in town.

ps i should be in for an oil change in the next couple of weeks and ive got a few things i need looked at. to be honest, id rather see you and not daryl.

Damn W0ady, nicely put, I'm impressed.:bowrofl:

Honestly, I'd like to thank those offering a little bit of empathy my way....

But just to clarify a few things...

the only thing you have to understand is that dealerships have been raping customers for years, so people get paranoid and sometimes dont recognize when someone is trying to help them cause they think they are being screwed

I really think most of us can tell when we are getting screwed, and when we just have an axe to grind. Some people just don't give a rat's *** how it may afffect others...

its hard for people to overlook everything else with 1 good deed

I've been in the business since '87, the mgr here since '98...that was truly my first good deed. Thanks for being the first to acknowledge it.

you have about as hard a time dealing with this as we do owning modded cars

Hmmmmm...it cost me a couple of grand this quarter, how much cash has it cost you? Inconvenience? Maybe.Frustration? Certainly. But I'm not in your pocket.

So, even though it's engaging to compare notes on this issue, unless I come out and snatch a 56" DLP outta your living room (roughly 2k I figure) you aren't really on the same page.

*I know that nobody asked me to be in this business...but I am in it. AND this forum is exactly that....a FORUM to discuss issues. And no worries, just pass up Daryl and I'll be glad to give you a hand....

i understand but i think are somewhat comparing apples to oranges. it affects you on a business standpoint. in the end you still get paid and there will be other cars. our cars take up a good portion of our lives so a problem with them can have a pretty big impact. im not defending anyone, i just think both sides need to think about what was said here

ps thanks lenny. i had a pretty good talk about this same thing with the poster a couple months back.

surfgroove - If you press the "Quote" button below the message you want to reply to, it will quote the original poster's message and make your message easier to read/follow.

Interesting thread. I'm very happy with the work my dealership does and I post on the forums and tell them I appreciate their work, but I don't fill in the surveys. To me they're just "yet another survey" that I get in the mail. I'm curious how they affect you.

If filling out surveys can actually help the dealership and mechanics somehow, I'll start to fill them out.

Hmm... Not sure what to think here...

This is curious. Is this "your" pocket or the Infiniti dealership's pocket?

I don't know as much about this situation as w0ady does, but are you saying that it cost you a couple thousand to fix a wheel stud?

But was it your living room or the Infiniti dealerships waiting room?

You certainly have an interesting view on this subject.

This is the perfect place to discuss this.

Actually our Member Only section would be the perfect place, but we don't expect you to join our club just so you can b1tch about us... :BOUNCE:

I'm not sure what to say about your issue. I live in St. Petersburg and am very close to our local Infiniti dealership. They are friendly to modded cars and actually perform some of the modifications to our cars. We have meets there, buy our cars there, and have them repaired there. It seems that it is just a different situation/relationship from your dealership. Maybe airing these issues will help change that...

i was just in there about a week ago (got Daryl) and had some warranty work and the 45k check up thingy, i think everything went pretty well. car was quickly and Daryl was pretty nice. but the one thing that did get to me was, dealership called me around 12 to pick up the car, got there around 4ish (to make sure when i get there i can pick up the paper work and leave), they said to wait while they cleaned my car. im not tryin to pick a bone but when they called at 12 saying it was ready, shouldnt it have been "ready"? still confused, lol, but other than that a pretty pleasant dealing at Atlantic :)

also, can you steal me a headlight, im still under warranty, but do not want to leave my car for a day to get it changed (like the serivce chick said, Lisa?)

overall though ive had pretty good service at infiniti, def not like Honda, our 06 Oddessey goes in and comes out, quiclkly with absolutely no hassles, granted there are more than 1 dealerships in the Jax area, so you can kind of pick and chose, but i guess atlantic gets a bad rep since its the only and you will hear all the bad before you hear the good...

Hi John!

Although I am definitely staying very far away from this subject, when I read your quote that I am responding to I had to reply. Although over time customers will receive what seems to be an endless stream of surveys, they are extremely critical and should be completed every time you receive one. Dealerships' and employees' performance are continually evaluated, and the feedback is crucial to accurate statistics.

had the same thing happen to me. your car is ready. i get there and its being cleaned. oh and "cleaned" by infiniti must mean something different when theres water stains and dirt all over. the $10 drive-thru on beach does a better job. :o

^ lol, aye lyndon so if they still have to finish stuff on the car, that means its NOT ready right? so why call me and tell me that it is lol, i have to drive about 45 minutes to get there, than have to wait another 30? hmm...i told them to just forget it and was on my way.

Ownage! =]*

Thanks...

I apologize for the delays that the car wash seems to be causing sometimes. We still wash all the cars by hand, and I agree an automated system would at least standardize the time necessary and the quality of the job...The consultants usually call to let you know the car is ready when the tech is done and they have done their paperwork, but if they don't wander outside to see if your car has been washed along with the other 30-40 that are gonna be cleaned that day, then they are "hoping" it's gonna be done before you get there. Well within their control, and an accident wating to happen...sorry about that.