Hey everybody. I've been on this board for a while, but haven't really posted...just used it as a resource. But now I ask for your help.
To summarize…Nissan screws me in the butt, and I have to pay them $250 for the pleasure. Need advice. Xterra breaks down four times, dealer can’t find problem, Nissan says I have to pay $250 tow bill.
Long Version:
Ok, let’s start with a little background. I bought my Xterra new back at the end of March. I’ve been a Nissan owner for a long time having owned 3 240SX’s, but this was my first new Nissan. The Xterra looked perfect for what I was looking for in a vehicle. I figured I’d spring for the extended 100,000 mile warranty since I travel a lot (like 100%) with my job and the peace of mind would be nice. Well, so much for peace of mind.
Two weekends ago, I was actually at home for a change. It was a Sunday, and I had parked the X in our shop’s driveway and walked to our shop to work on my 240SX. A few hours later, I was ready to call it a night and hopped in the X to pull it up to the house. Well, it wouldn’t crank. I tried it multiple times. It would turn over, but it didn’t seem to be getting fuel. Great! I thought…my new truck is already broken. Since it was a Sunday night, I knew it would have to wait, so I got the owner’s manual and read through it to see if there was anything I was doing wrong. Nothing. A couple hours later, I went back outside and tried it again. It cranked right up. So I’m thinking that was weird, but my truck’s running again…yay!
I get up the next morning to go to work, and guess what. My truck won’t crank. I call a tow and take it to the dealer. I hitch a ride with the driver so I can get a rental from the dealer while they fix whatever the problem is. We get to the dealer, roll the truck off the roll-back, the service manager hops right in and fires her up like there’s not a problem. I’m dumbfounded. They say Nissan won’t let them do anything until they see the problem happen, and they can’t provide a rental car until something happens. So I say “whatever, just keep it a couple days…it’s bound to do it again.� I called my dad to come pick me up since he works nearby, and borrowed my mom’s car to go to work.
Work this week was in the next state over. I was over there until Friday, and had been working 12hr shifts so I couldn’t talk to the dealer to check on progress. I get back over there Friday afternoon certain that the problem had revealed itself and the truck was fixed. Not so…It cranked fine all week. So I reluctantly make arrangements to get my mom’s car home, hop in the X, and drive home.
Saturday at lunch, I get in the X and drive to my grandmothers to visit her while I’m in town…besides, she’s cooking dinner. After spending a couple hours over there, I go to leave. The truck won’t crank. At this point I’m starting to get a little hacked. I get my dad to help me pull it up to the shop because it’s easier to get a tow truck in up there. We hook a chain up to the X and pull it with his truck like a ¼ mile up the road to the shop. We get there, and I turn the key out of curiosity…it cranks right up. It’s almost like the truck is playing games with me. We crawl under it and can hear the fuel pump running when the ignition is turned on. We drive it around the shop a couple times, making hard accelerations and braking hard, killing it, and restarting it several times…it finally wouldn’t crank again after about 15 minutes of that. Me and my dad mess with it for a while…we checked all the relevant fuses and all were Ok. We can’t hear the fuel pump running when you turn on the ignition, so we know either the fuel pump or a relay or some other electronics controlling it is faulty. We open the doors and step on the door seals and shake it back and forth as violently as we can, but it still won’t recrank.
That Monday, I get the tow truck to come back out and take it back to the dealer. I tried to crank it before he got there to make sure it was still “broken�. I didn’t go with him this time. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the dealer from the shop, so I waited that long and called. They said that they had just rolled it off the roll-back and it cranked right up again. I told him what me and my dad had done. I also told him to drive the thing home…use it as his personal vehicle…whatever it takes to get it to do it again so it can be fixed. Well, today is Wednesday, a week and a half later, and the problem has yet to re-occur for them. And now they’re saying they won’t release it until the tow bills are paid ($250). I was like “excuse me!� The parts/service dept at the dealer seems to be on my side as I’ve used them before for parts, and I know they’ve been messing with the truck a lot and the service manager has driven it home several times trying to get it to not crank…but they say Nissan won’t let them touch it until the problem reoccurs. That I can sort of understand…it’s hard to diagnose a problem when there are apparently no symptoms. But they also say Nissan won’t cover the tow bills because no problem was found.
I have left a report at 1-800-NISSAN1 and have been on the phone with the regional service manager for my area…his name is Eric and hasn’t divulged his last name yet, but he’s over Paul Barnett Nissan in Brookhaven, MS. All he would say is no problem was found, so the tow bill falls back on the customer…it’s Nissan’s policy. My argument was that a problem WAS found…I found it…4 times. The truck would not start…it stranded me…left me without a way to go. I’m paying $500 a month on a Nissan Xterra that I can’t rely on…or even drive right now b/c the dealer won’t release it until the tow bill is paid. Just because the service department can not find out what’s wrong with it doesn’t make this my fault. They should pay ME $250 to pay half my truck note since they’ve had it for two weeks…hell, it should be more than that, as I’ve missed two days of work, and it’s inconvenienced my parents as well since I’ve had to borrow my mom’s car for over two weeks and the help I’ve gotten from my dad. I also pointed out to Eric how ludicrous it was to loose a customer as devoted to Nissan as I WAS over a $250 tow bill. I get him to call his supervisors, who he will not give me the names or contact info for, to discuss it. He calls back with the same position…it’s Nissans policy to not cover it unless a problem was found. What happens if I do pay the bill and it happens again next week…or next month…or next year? SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS TRUCK…FIX IT DAMMIT! Idiot Eric doesn’t budge.
My question is are there any other feasible routes I can take? Nissan, or at least its representatives Eric and his supervisors, seem to not give a damn about its customers. Whatever happened to “the customer is always right�? Whenever I get on the other side of this fiasco, I’m really considering selling the Xterra. I know I’ll never buy another Nissan again. The only reason I’m gonna keep my 240SX (which is a dedicated autocross/track car) is because Nissan didn’t build it…I built it.
So I guess the point of all this is to ask if there is anything I can do about this, and to point out that Nissan doesn’t think you are worth more than $250. Thanks for reading it.
To summarize…Nissan screws me in the butt, and I have to pay them $250 for the pleasure. Need advice. Xterra breaks down four times, dealer can’t find problem, Nissan says I have to pay $250 tow bill.
Long Version:
Ok, let’s start with a little background. I bought my Xterra new back at the end of March. I’ve been a Nissan owner for a long time having owned 3 240SX’s, but this was my first new Nissan. The Xterra looked perfect for what I was looking for in a vehicle. I figured I’d spring for the extended 100,000 mile warranty since I travel a lot (like 100%) with my job and the peace of mind would be nice. Well, so much for peace of mind.
Two weekends ago, I was actually at home for a change. It was a Sunday, and I had parked the X in our shop’s driveway and walked to our shop to work on my 240SX. A few hours later, I was ready to call it a night and hopped in the X to pull it up to the house. Well, it wouldn’t crank. I tried it multiple times. It would turn over, but it didn’t seem to be getting fuel. Great! I thought…my new truck is already broken. Since it was a Sunday night, I knew it would have to wait, so I got the owner’s manual and read through it to see if there was anything I was doing wrong. Nothing. A couple hours later, I went back outside and tried it again. It cranked right up. So I’m thinking that was weird, but my truck’s running again…yay!
I get up the next morning to go to work, and guess what. My truck won’t crank. I call a tow and take it to the dealer. I hitch a ride with the driver so I can get a rental from the dealer while they fix whatever the problem is. We get to the dealer, roll the truck off the roll-back, the service manager hops right in and fires her up like there’s not a problem. I’m dumbfounded. They say Nissan won’t let them do anything until they see the problem happen, and they can’t provide a rental car until something happens. So I say “whatever, just keep it a couple days…it’s bound to do it again.� I called my dad to come pick me up since he works nearby, and borrowed my mom’s car to go to work.
Work this week was in the next state over. I was over there until Friday, and had been working 12hr shifts so I couldn’t talk to the dealer to check on progress. I get back over there Friday afternoon certain that the problem had revealed itself and the truck was fixed. Not so…It cranked fine all week. So I reluctantly make arrangements to get my mom’s car home, hop in the X, and drive home.
Saturday at lunch, I get in the X and drive to my grandmothers to visit her while I’m in town…besides, she’s cooking dinner. After spending a couple hours over there, I go to leave. The truck won’t crank. At this point I’m starting to get a little hacked. I get my dad to help me pull it up to the shop because it’s easier to get a tow truck in up there. We hook a chain up to the X and pull it with his truck like a ¼ mile up the road to the shop. We get there, and I turn the key out of curiosity…it cranks right up. It’s almost like the truck is playing games with me. We crawl under it and can hear the fuel pump running when the ignition is turned on. We drive it around the shop a couple times, making hard accelerations and braking hard, killing it, and restarting it several times…it finally wouldn’t crank again after about 15 minutes of that. Me and my dad mess with it for a while…we checked all the relevant fuses and all were Ok. We can’t hear the fuel pump running when you turn on the ignition, so we know either the fuel pump or a relay or some other electronics controlling it is faulty. We open the doors and step on the door seals and shake it back and forth as violently as we can, but it still won’t recrank.
That Monday, I get the tow truck to come back out and take it back to the dealer. I tried to crank it before he got there to make sure it was still “broken�. I didn’t go with him this time. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the dealer from the shop, so I waited that long and called. They said that they had just rolled it off the roll-back and it cranked right up again. I told him what me and my dad had done. I also told him to drive the thing home…use it as his personal vehicle…whatever it takes to get it to do it again so it can be fixed. Well, today is Wednesday, a week and a half later, and the problem has yet to re-occur for them. And now they’re saying they won’t release it until the tow bills are paid ($250). I was like “excuse me!� The parts/service dept at the dealer seems to be on my side as I’ve used them before for parts, and I know they’ve been messing with the truck a lot and the service manager has driven it home several times trying to get it to not crank…but they say Nissan won’t let them touch it until the problem reoccurs. That I can sort of understand…it’s hard to diagnose a problem when there are apparently no symptoms. But they also say Nissan won’t cover the tow bills because no problem was found.
I have left a report at 1-800-NISSAN1 and have been on the phone with the regional service manager for my area…his name is Eric and hasn’t divulged his last name yet, but he’s over Paul Barnett Nissan in Brookhaven, MS. All he would say is no problem was found, so the tow bill falls back on the customer…it’s Nissan’s policy. My argument was that a problem WAS found…I found it…4 times. The truck would not start…it stranded me…left me without a way to go. I’m paying $500 a month on a Nissan Xterra that I can’t rely on…or even drive right now b/c the dealer won’t release it until the tow bill is paid. Just because the service department can not find out what’s wrong with it doesn’t make this my fault. They should pay ME $250 to pay half my truck note since they’ve had it for two weeks…hell, it should be more than that, as I’ve missed two days of work, and it’s inconvenienced my parents as well since I’ve had to borrow my mom’s car for over two weeks and the help I’ve gotten from my dad. I also pointed out to Eric how ludicrous it was to loose a customer as devoted to Nissan as I WAS over a $250 tow bill. I get him to call his supervisors, who he will not give me the names or contact info for, to discuss it. He calls back with the same position…it’s Nissans policy to not cover it unless a problem was found. What happens if I do pay the bill and it happens again next week…or next month…or next year? SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS TRUCK…FIX IT DAMMIT! Idiot Eric doesn’t budge.
My question is are there any other feasible routes I can take? Nissan, or at least its representatives Eric and his supervisors, seem to not give a damn about its customers. Whatever happened to “the customer is always right�? Whenever I get on the other side of this fiasco, I’m really considering selling the Xterra. I know I’ll never buy another Nissan again. The only reason I’m gonna keep my 240SX (which is a dedicated autocross/track car) is because Nissan didn’t build it…I built it.
So I guess the point of all this is to ask if there is anything I can do about this, and to point out that Nissan doesn’t think you are worth more than $250. Thanks for reading it.
