Complain about a product or service

Stevens Creek Nissan

Santa Clara

Wendy of San Jose, CA July 26, 2009

I’m writing this letter about a horrible experience I had with your Customer Service Department at the Stevens Creek Nissan Dealership. I’m hoping no one else goes through what I went through and would like some feedback from you once reviewing my situation.

I purchased my car from this Dealership and have been loyal on getting my car serviced at this location. I know I have other choices that are less expensive and better quality in customer service but I always tell myself…maybe they were just having a bad day…and continue to get my car serviced at this location.

I brought my car in on Thursday, July 23 at 10:30 for a minor maintenance. I was greeted by Yvette Mcavoy the Service Rep. I informed her of what I was there for and also informed her that my right rear break light was out and wish to have it replaced. She informed me this would take about an hour and 15 mins and would call me with the cost of the break light. I later got the call that my exhaust manifold had been cracked and had a leak, but luckily the warranty was extended and this could be replaced at no cost. I agreed. In addition the technician noticed the back safety light was also out and I agreed to have that also replaced and long with a new air filter. Yvette informed me that this would take about 5 hours and I agreed to have it done that day.

Everything seemed fine until I went to leave and noticed hot air blowing out of my air conditioning. I immediately called Yvette from my cell phone on the way home and informed her of this. She stated that this had absolutely no relationship to the service performed that day. I thought it was odd because I had air conditioning when I got there and used it as I drove there being it was about 90’ outside. Yvette proceeded to tell that if I wanted to come in it would cost $108 for the technician to look at it. I was shocked. I informed her that it wasn’t like that when I got there. I couldn’t believe I had to pay $108 just to look at it when I just left. I hung up the phone very frustrated. I sat in traffic going home and sweating from the hot air blowing out of my AC. I decided to call Yvette again and I asked her if she wouldn’t mind quickly talking to the technician that worked on my car to see if by some odd reason something wasn’t reconnected, hose pinched, wire cut…something. This just wasn’t right. This is when she got very rude.

Yvette said again there is no way this could have happened; they weren’t even working in this part of the car. I asked her to talk to the tech anyway and call me back. With a poor attitude she agreed to do so. I waited an hour and didn’t receive a call so I called and got her voicemail and asked the status of the technicians answer and requested a call back. Another hour went by and I noticed a missed call on my cell phone but no voicemail. So I called back and again got Yvette’s voicemail. Left another message. I decided to make one last call that day and I got transferred to Maria. I think she’s in the Service Dept. She stated she overheard a conversation that Yvette was having with Julie the Manager but didn’t see any notes as to the outcome. I asked Maria to leave a 3rd message for Yvette and that I was waiting for a call back.

The next morning, Friday, I still hadn’t received a call. I called again and got transferred to the Service Dept general voicemail. I left a message informing of my previous attempts and requested that someone help me because I couldn’t get Yvette to respond to all my calls. I later received a nasty message (1st one after all my attempts) that stated she didn’t appreciate me leaving a message that informed her colleagues that she wasn’t responding to my calls. This was true, but I didn’t inform any colleague of this. This was a conclusion they came to on their own.

I called Yvette back and finally she answered the phone. She informed me that she did call me the previous day. I agreed I received a missed call but no message of any updates regarding my situation. Meanwhile I’m still driving around in a car that is blowing hot air in this heat and I can’t get anyone to help me with my request to just look under the hood and see if they see anything obvious. Yvette was so rude and had a horrible attitude. She wouldn’t let me talk to anyone and informed me that there is no way there was any relation to my problem and my car getting worked on. I asked to speak to Julie the Manager who she stated was not available. I gave all my information and stated I would be on standby all day for Julie’s call. I really needed to get this resolved. I never received a call from Julie.

Today, Saturday, I finally drove down to the Dealership as recommended by Yvette previously. I was hoping I would not have to pay $108 just to look under the hood to see if something could have accidently been pulled or disconnected while putting in the filter or any of the other services. I was so desperate at this point. I walked up to Yvette’s desk and she informed me that no one was available to look at my car and Julie said I couldn’t come in until Monday. I asked why didn’t anyone call me and let me know this. I said I’m here; can’t anyone just take a look? This is getting ridiculous. I’m getting the run around here. She rudely stated she would not get anyone to look. I said this is something from the service I just had done…why can’t I get anyone to just look? She said this was something Julie stated had to wait until Monday and she wasn’t in. I asked why didn’t anyone call me. She said if you want to call and talk to Julie on Monday I’ll go get the number. She got a key from her drawer and went to Julie’s office to get a business card. When she left I stepped over to John Smith’s desk and asked the name of the General Manager.

He informed me it was Rax. I told him I have a problem with my car ever since I got it serviced and I can’t get past these 3 girls to get someone to help me. These “Gate keepers” are not only rude but they don’t return calls or forward messages from technicians and I can’t seem to get anywhere. I informed John that I had been working with Yvette who is very rude with a bad attitude. The girl next to her (black hair, heavy set woman) comments in every conversation but not helpful either and when I tried to escalate it to Julie the manager I can’t even get a call back. I don’t even know if she even got my messages. I was almost in tears from frustration at this point. I asked if I could speak to Rax. John left for a moment and informed me that he wasn’t available he was in a meeting. I asked John to pull up my invoice tracking number in the system so I may refer back to it for when I did get the chance to talk to Rax and inform him how his customers were getting treated. John Smith is a very professional, helpful Service Advisor. In this economy with jobs so scarce I can’t see how they can hold on to any of these people outside of John. There are quality people out there needing employment and these “Service Advisors” don’t provide Good Service.

John saw my frustration and said…I don’t know if I can help you but let me take a look. I had so much appreciation for him. That’s all I wanted. He lifted the hood and found a loose wire that was just bobbling around the engine department. He plugged it into something and asked that I start the car and try the AC. Yes…cold air came out. The technician who worked on my car forgot to plug it back into the air compressor.

This situation could have been avoided if only I could get one person to look under the hood. I couldn’t get anyone to do just that. I’m hoping you can use this situation in training your Service Advisors about Customer Service. Yvette was wrong. This was related to my service. I wanted to walk back in the Dealership and tell her how wrong she was and she shouldn’t be working there with Customers. If only she’d listen and treat the customers with respect. I’m hoping you’ll do that. Talk to your team. They need more training. I’d like to praise John Smith. He is always professional and pleasant. He needs to be acknowledged. He did the right thing and provided good Customer Service.

I will be finding a new Dealership to service my vehicle, but I would appreciate a call back at 408-315-0665 to discuss this situation. I am still very upset from all of this and have talked to my family and friends who agree this was handled poorly. If this continues you will develop a poor reputation for customer service if you haven’t already.

Conard of Lake Havasu City, AZ May 14, 2003

On Oct. 26, 2002, my daughter, Rebecca, went to Stevens Creek Nissan and engaged in the act of purchasing a used 2001 Nissan Maxima. She was 25 years old, had absolutely no experience with car dealers. In the process of purchasing the vehicle, she called me for advice at my home in Arizona. I talked with her and with the salesman. The purchase price of the car was negotiated and we all came to an agreement. (This sounds funny, but things seem to go fine) I told daughter to take the deal and get the car. I had nothing else to do with the transaction.

The first problem she encountered with this dealer was in getting the vehicle registered. Somehow they screwed up the documentation and it took 5 1/2 months, with her finally having to go to the Santa Clara DMV office to finalize the matter. She made many calls to the dealer but was always told the registration and license would be coming shortly. They always had some excuse.

May 2, 2003, I visited daughter and for the first time since she had acquired her car. She told me her friends said she didn't get a very good deal. At this time I looked at the paperwork (contract of sale) and found five items on the contract which upset me. They are:

1. The salesman had misrepresented the vehicle to me when we were negotiating price. I had asked if it was an SLE model and he affirmed that it was. The vehicle was actually an SE model which has a cheaper price tag than the SLE. I did find this out a couple of months ago but did not make an issue of it at the time. 2. A $45 document fee which covers getting the vehicle registered. This is regulated by the State I believe. And she had to personally go to Santa Clara DMV to complete the process. What was the fee for? Completing a sales contract. 3. The agree upon price of the vehicle had been $18,500 and the contract was written for $19,500, which was more that the salesman and I had talked about. 4. The was a $900 charge on the contract for Accessories which I was told was for some type of special wax job. 5. Last, they had sold her a $1699. service contract. I won't protest this too much, but that is a lot of money. Her friends were right, she had been taken advantage of by used car salesmen.

On May 5, 2003, I went to the dealership and talked with Mr. Michael Whang about the situation. He said he would check with the salesman and call me. I was on my was back to Arizona at the time. The next afternoon, I called Mr. Whang and he told me the salesman did not remember the transaction and too much time had elapsed for them to do anything. I called Whang, as I didn't expect any calls from him. Moreover, I didn't expect the dealership to do anything.

I fully realize my daugher is old enough to make contracts. I also realize she knows nothing about cars and those who deal in them. She did sign everything, probably because I had told her to "take the deal." This type of sharp business practice has no place in our society today. At law, the Superior Servant doctrine would come into play.

It is my opinion these people added not only an extra $1000 to the sales price, but then made an effort to sell her all those little items that tends to run up dealer profit. They effectively added back about $3500 to the negotiated price. Not to mention, the model had been misrepresented to me.

Paul of Fremont, CA September 8, 2002

After spending an hour test driving two different nissan pathfinders at the this dealership, myself and my wife were still unsure as to whether we were ready to agree to the salemans price. The main reason we were unsure was the fact that this was the first day and the first dealership we had visited. We finally asked the saleman if we could have his card, we would call him after we had compared his offer to some other dealerships. The consequences of our simple request enraged the salesperson and the following is the result.

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