On Friday, I took the Altima to the dealer (not my usual dealer) for an oil change and inspection. I had planned to change the oil myself, but the weather was too cold for me to do the oil change in my unheated garage. Since I have a stash of Valvoline SynPower, I brought two gallons with me.
I had a coupon for a $24.95 oil change from the dealer's website and the advisor said after discounting for the coupon and for me bringing my own oil, the cost of the oil change would be $14.43. The breakdown for that was labor ($9.99), oil filter ($2.95), disposal and taxes ($1.43). That was the price given to me over the phone by the advisor, though when I arrived their express service manager tried to charge me $17.99 but the advisor I had spoken with on the phone quickly stepped in and corrected the price. It was slightly disappointing that not all advisors were informed on how to discount appropriately for both the coupon and for bringing my own oil, but the situation was taken care of promptly.
The oil change itself, went well. Even with no appointment, at 7:30am, they took the car in immediately and spent 35 minutes on the car. They allowed the oil to drain for about 10 minutes, did not overfill, gave the car a thorough inspection and even bagged my leftover oil (to prevent spillage) before putting it back in the car. Good work from the techs. Since I asked that they investigate a slight steering wheel vibration at idle, the advisor had the car go through the main shop as opposed to their express maintenance lanes. So, I saw from the glass window that the car was worked on by their master tech, who was assisted at times by the apprentice tech who runs the express maintenance bays. They were "officially" unable to duplicate the steering wheel vibration, but they did perform an idle air volume relearn which seems to have mostly resolved the problem.
But here is where the experience goes bad. I got home and looked at the invoice to find that a Nippon Oil Filter from worldpac was used instead of a Genuine Nissan filter. I called the advisor, and he told me that they use the Nippon oil filters when a customer uses an oil change coupon as it keeps their costs down. I was told that if I wanted a Genuine Nissan filter next time, there would be an upcharge. Since I had no issue with the Nippon filter, the conversation ended there, but I wasn't too pleased by the answer either as I would have liked to be informed upfront if something other than a Genuine Nissan part was to be used.
Later, I also noticed that a crush washer was not billed out on the invoice. I was slightly concerned that it had not been replaced, since Nissans are very sensitive about the crush washer. This time, I called the service manager directly. He told me that the crush washer does get changed, but it is included in the labor charge, which seems reasonable since it is sort of a shop supply and shop supply charges are not legal in CA? I also used this opportunity to ask him about the filter problem.
The service manager himself said that most cars they service are to be serviced only using the Genuine Nissan filter, with very few exceptions. He also said that coupon or not, it should have no effect as to whether I was to receive a Genuine Nissan or a Nippon filter. He looked up my invoice and said that I can bring the car right back and he would put a factory filter on there for me as he wanted to make it right. I declined since the Nippon filter was fine, so he said he would make a notation in my record from now on to ensure that only factory filters would be used. I also mentioned to him my conversation with the advisor that there would be an upcharge for a factory filter if I used the coupon, and he said that this should not have happened and he would get to the bottom of this. From the phone call, it seems like the service manager was making a genuine effort to correct the situation and he was not completely aware of what was going on. Unfortunately, it just seems like not everyone at this dealer is on the same page.
I apologize that the story was a bit long-winded, but this was the first time that I have dealt with a situation like this, as I would have never expected a dealership to use anything other than Genuine parts unless I was told otherwise upfront. Have any of you experienced a similar situation-- the dealership using something other than Genuine parts without informing you upfront?
How would you guys feel if you were in this situation? How would you feel about the way the service manager decided to handle the situation? Would you return, especially since the techs did a good job?
Thoughts?
I had a coupon for a $24.95 oil change from the dealer's website and the advisor said after discounting for the coupon and for me bringing my own oil, the cost of the oil change would be $14.43. The breakdown for that was labor ($9.99), oil filter ($2.95), disposal and taxes ($1.43). That was the price given to me over the phone by the advisor, though when I arrived their express service manager tried to charge me $17.99 but the advisor I had spoken with on the phone quickly stepped in and corrected the price. It was slightly disappointing that not all advisors were informed on how to discount appropriately for both the coupon and for bringing my own oil, but the situation was taken care of promptly.
The oil change itself, went well. Even with no appointment, at 7:30am, they took the car in immediately and spent 35 minutes on the car. They allowed the oil to drain for about 10 minutes, did not overfill, gave the car a thorough inspection and even bagged my leftover oil (to prevent spillage) before putting it back in the car. Good work from the techs. Since I asked that they investigate a slight steering wheel vibration at idle, the advisor had the car go through the main shop as opposed to their express maintenance lanes. So, I saw from the glass window that the car was worked on by their master tech, who was assisted at times by the apprentice tech who runs the express maintenance bays. They were "officially" unable to duplicate the steering wheel vibration, but they did perform an idle air volume relearn which seems to have mostly resolved the problem.
But here is where the experience goes bad. I got home and looked at the invoice to find that a Nippon Oil Filter from worldpac was used instead of a Genuine Nissan filter. I called the advisor, and he told me that they use the Nippon oil filters when a customer uses an oil change coupon as it keeps their costs down. I was told that if I wanted a Genuine Nissan filter next time, there would be an upcharge. Since I had no issue with the Nippon filter, the conversation ended there, but I wasn't too pleased by the answer either as I would have liked to be informed upfront if something other than a Genuine Nissan part was to be used.
Later, I also noticed that a crush washer was not billed out on the invoice. I was slightly concerned that it had not been replaced, since Nissans are very sensitive about the crush washer. This time, I called the service manager directly. He told me that the crush washer does get changed, but it is included in the labor charge, which seems reasonable since it is sort of a shop supply and shop supply charges are not legal in CA? I also used this opportunity to ask him about the filter problem.
The service manager himself said that most cars they service are to be serviced only using the Genuine Nissan filter, with very few exceptions. He also said that coupon or not, it should have no effect as to whether I was to receive a Genuine Nissan or a Nippon filter. He looked up my invoice and said that I can bring the car right back and he would put a factory filter on there for me as he wanted to make it right. I declined since the Nippon filter was fine, so he said he would make a notation in my record from now on to ensure that only factory filters would be used. I also mentioned to him my conversation with the advisor that there would be an upcharge for a factory filter if I used the coupon, and he said that this should not have happened and he would get to the bottom of this. From the phone call, it seems like the service manager was making a genuine effort to correct the situation and he was not completely aware of what was going on. Unfortunately, it just seems like not everyone at this dealer is on the same page.
I apologize that the story was a bit long-winded, but this was the first time that I have dealt with a situation like this, as I would have never expected a dealership to use anything other than Genuine parts unless I was told otherwise upfront. Have any of you experienced a similar situation-- the dealership using something other than Genuine parts without informing you upfront?
How would you guys feel if you were in this situation? How would you feel about the way the service manager decided to handle the situation? Would you return, especially since the techs did a good job?
Thoughts?
