No I do not work at south bay. And I do know about the streaks and this wasnt the case. The rubber seal rubbing on the glass was causing the streak, not the grease streak TSB.

If your going to come into my place of business with an attitude and make unreasonable demands about wanting warranty work when it is clearly not covered, then you go to corprate to complain we will draw out the steps to make sure you dont get free work.

Im not saying F*** Y** if you have mods, im saying if you have them and would like to have warranty work just be cool about it and we will do what we can to get you replacement parts under warranty or at the lowest cost possible. You go in acting like s*** and your gonna get s***.

 

at the end of the day you're still just a mechanic.

 

On topic, s'il vous plait.

G

 

Whoahhh Whoahhh Whoahhh come on now! There's absolutely no need for that! G35Mechanic is just explaining his dealerships stance on mods. No their not going to walk up to you with a smile and say "We don't care what your problem is or how it happened, we'll fix it all for free" but it seems to me they're addressing customers concerns in the most practical manner.

If you want to read up about warranty claims and how they should be handled, check out this article from SEMA:

http://www.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?ID=8124

"Federal law sets forth requirements for warranties and contains a number of provisions to prevent vehicle manufacturers, dealers and others from unjustly denying warranty coverage. With regard to aftermarket parts, the spirit of the law is that warranty coverage cannot be denied simply because such parts are present on the vehicle, or have been used(see Attachment A).The warranty coverage can be denied only if the aftermarket part caused the malfunction or damage for which warranty coverage is sought. Disputes in this area usually boil down to arguments over facts and technical opinions, rather than arguments over interpretations of the law."

 

Thanks GEOBau for stepping in. I don't like to see low blows.

It seems to me that G35 mechanic is just saying what most any business does but might not admit to. I know that when I have had a customer taking advantage of me with an attitude to boot I would ensure he does not get anything extra whatsoever. I didn't refuse to look after him; just made sure he does not get the extra benefit of doubt that someone using tact and diplomacy might.
That's just common sense and human nature.

 

My issue here isn't whether or not [some] modding should or should not void a warranty. The problem is, as a business, washing your hands of a problem because someone puts tint on their windows or comes in with a bad attitude, is ridiculous. That decision, is bull$hit at the very least. It is soley decided by lazy power-hungry mechanics and profit-hungry service managers. Nothing more - nothing less. End of discussion. The bottom line is this -- if you can honestly say a problem is mod related, fine. That's not the case though -- as we have all read on the board, people are getting screwed daily because people put tint on their windows (for example) and because they came in unhappy they aren't being treated the same as the next guy? Give me a break -- I own a business, and I have to deal with $hithead customers too, does that give me the right to selectively charge them more? $hit no. People are entilted to be a$$holes, I dont like them -- but I'll be dam ned if I'm going to pull out the owner card and say sorry "I dont like your attitude, I'm not serving you .... nee ner nee neerrrrr nee neerrrrr" And anyone that thinks this behavior is justified should be working outside of the "customer service" industry. I stand behind my previous comment.

 

Lazy, power hungry? I work 10+ hours a day constant, non stop from the second I walk in and the second I leave. Nobody in this feild is lazy, the amount of work you do is directly proportional to the amount of your paycheck. Power hungry...definatly not, the people in the shirts and ties up front have the power and they can keep it, afterall they have to deal with the customers...not us. Its the people up front that make the rules, not the mechanics. Im just giving you insight to how they operate, take it with a grain of salt.

I may be a just a mechanic at the end of the day, but I make damn good money doing it and wouldnt trade it for anything.

 

Fine, you’re giving insight. Appreciate that! Now be part of the solution and not the problem. Have the ***** to speak up in front of the people with shirts and ties and say "hey this person is entitled to warranty work, and I really don't think his mods or his attitude is relevant when determining why his car isn't working properly. You've clearly stated that if people rub you the wrong way, you have the power to make sure they don't get any free service. Do you exercise that same ability when you see a car that should be receiving warranty work and isn’t? Do you go out of your way to say, "hey guys - this is clearing a faulty part, I think you're wrong on denying warranty work"? Do you speak out against the rest?

Last Monday my girlfriend took her car into Nissan for work. Her car was still well under warranty. The mechanic or whomever, said she had a power steering fluid leak. He proceeded to tell her if it was a faulty part it would be replaced but if it had been damaged because of something she had done it wouldn't. I called the dealership because I was curious as to what falls into the category of "her fault" and more importantly how they can determine that. After a long pause, and much thinking he blurted out "well if a rock jumps up and cracks her pump and/or reservoir it’s her fault. Now I realize acts of god, aren't covered under any warranty, but a rock? Where is the consumer protection? I mean couldn't everything that goes wrong on a car be blamed on a rock beating the $hit out of it? Absolutely, and as long as it's as easy as saying "welp guys, looks like we got another rock damage here, tell her that the transmission (loose and far-fetched example) will have to be replaced at her own expense" I'm not going to trust a single service employee ever. I've been in sales ever since I've been able to work, and I have met some of the shadiest people I’d thought I’d ever meet, but hands down the most shameful, dishonest people that I have ran into are in the back working in the service department.

 

In any business, the hardest part is dealing with people and acting professionally at all times. Arbitrary decisions based on customer's attitude is not only apalling but un-ethical.

Over the years you will learn that if you are nice and articulate, people will respond in kind and even go out of their way to please you.

 

Remember the dealership is 4 business under one roof: New sales, used sales, parts sales, and labor sales...........the later is the problem area which they deem a necessary evil to sell parts.

They get paid from only 2 sources: YOU and the factory. The factory gets big discounts on labor based on volume.

From a dollar amount most of the cheating applies to factory reimbursement for warranty.......different dealerships are under different levels of inspection and tolerance based on sales volume and past abuse of the warranty process.

You sell lots of NEW cars the Zone people are more flexible to a point. There is tremendous pressure from management for revenues [selling labor or parts to someone].
Mostly when a dealership refuses warranty on an item they know from experience Infiniti will give them grief or back bill them after a parts inspection ----months later.

Really up to you to help them persuade [via your conversations with zone people]Infiniti to pay for the work........they [the dealer knows what they can get away with easily].

 

I understand... but lets not forget the 3rd option. Dealership absorbs the cost. Today many business think that every transaction requires both revenue and profit. While that is the ideal situation, its not practical. As a cost of doing business -- sometimes you have to absorb the cost of service yourself. It's taking the good with the bad. For every customer you replace a window seal for free (inside of warranty - but not covered) theres 12 customers paying $2000-$3000 for a brake and rotor job. I think the dealership will come out alright.

 

You're exactly right. I'm going walk into the service department civil because people deserve no less, but I'd expect the same service if I walked in uncivil, again because people deserve no less.

 

Here's something on topic...
In the warranty booklet, at least in the 05s, there is a state by state listing of how Infiniti expects you to react if you want to make a claim using the Magnusson-Moss warranty Act. In my home state of NV (and many others) they expect you to use the Better Business Bureau's Auto Line arbitration service. You can read about it here...http://www.dr.bbb.org/autoline/alrules.asp
I don't know if this is a good thing or not. The BBB is a great service, but if you get one idiot arbitrator and you are screwed. Anybody use this service before?

 

OT: Erin was suddenly fired by The Donald for making a wise *** remark.

 

There are 3 types of work in a service department. CP (customer pay), FW (factory warranty), and IG (internal goodwill). If a rock flys up from the road and punches a hole in a power steering line and we replace it under warranty, nissan will deny the claim meaning the dealership pays for it or has the customer pay for it. By the time nissan does the warranty audits the customer is long gone so the dealer eats the cost. Will we stand up to the advisors/managers and say that somthing that is modified is not part of the problem? Most certianly. New car dealerships are under so much scrutiny we have to be honest. The penaltys for me being dishonest are much much greater than if the advisor or manager is dishonest. If somthing that is modified is not part of the problem I hand write on the physcal hard copy of the repair order that its ok...if the advisor wants to tell the customer somthing different its their descision, but im covered if anything goes wrong.

Go ask your local dealer how much they do in internal a year, I know our dealership was over $1.5 million last year. Im sure that figure seems astronomical, but the first free oil changes add up $40 at a time. Then all the new car detail, the free tank of gas, the free car washes, and the theft code acid etch on the windows. Thats just new car stuff. If someone comes in with an older car and pays to have a bunch of work done, we will normally replace minor things like headlights/tail lights, or an oil change or other little things.

Now back to the window tint thing you thing we wronged on. The tint installer scratched the felt off of the window seal. This is not a factory problem, this is not our problem. Why would either of us be responsible for fixing this? Could we IG a $5 window seal? Sure, but with that small of a cost we would probobly pass that $5 on to the customer unless they are getting a service done or somthing. But that is not the case with a g35, you cannot replace just the seal, you have to replace the whole door pannel. If your currious, a coupe door pannel is $488 and change reatil...dealer cost is around $425. And eventhough they are smaller sedan door pannels are $500+. HOWEVER...Goodwill on our part requires goodwill on your part. Customers who are good to us by coming in all the time for regular services with hevaily modified vehicles, but will need a part replaced that warranty we are more than willing to eat the cost of a part or the cost of labor or we split the bill with the customer or whatever we can agree on. Joe Blow who comes in for the first time wanting all kinds of warranty work done to their modified vehicle wont get the same treatment.

Where do you go for $2000-3000 brake jobs? Unless its brembos, most infiniti dealers will charge roughly $250. Dealerships dont make as much money as people think, even more so in california where the cost of owning an auto repair shop is outrageus.

The problem is that many many people still think that the old saying "the customer is always right" holds true, while most of the time it dosent. Customers now days think that the merchant needs their business so badly, when we dont. People think we will bend over backwards to keep their business, when we wont. Remember Joe Dirt? This isnt unicef. People with the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" attitude, or "complain till you get what you want" mentality are chicken $hit. Truth is, for every customer with a modified vehicle that decides they will never come back to us ever again...there are 40 more with stock vehicles that will gladly take your place.