Complaint Review: Meadowlands Nissan

I can agree that some dealers are shadier than others.  However, I own two brand new cars, a Nissan and a Subaru.  I make it explicitly clear what I want, and nothing more.  The last time I had time with the Subaru in the dealer for an oil change, I explicitly asked for my tires to be rotated and authorized the air filter to be changed.  Thats it.  Also, I made it clear to come to me if it should need anything else.

So I mind my business and out comes the service manager, who also is a real jerk and isnt very friendly with my wife, the reason why I take it now.  He wanted to authorize another 80 dollar cabin filter.  Only had the car a few months, shoudnt need it.  I told him no, and he said it was recommended.  I made it clear if he brought it up again, I would be talking to the General Manager, and that was my decision.

My Nissan dealer is pretty good to us.  My inlaws bought their van there, and I took my old Nissan there for service.  I never have a problem. In your dealers defense, I can see where things went wrong.

You asked for a key and an oil change.  You bring up the fact that a light was broken, but you dont elaborate.  Key generally is around 150 for programming, and yes they need both keys.  I had this done last month myself.  Oil change is around 30 bucks or so.You should have been out of there for about 200.  Now, if you said that the brake light was out, that may have been enough authorization legally for them.  If the light was physically broken, the assemblies can be expensive even for a base Versa.  I priced some for my car, and they came to around 250 for just the assembly, not counting install.  I think you could provide more information, and I would suggest uploading the service invoice.

I must point out that I have a relationship with both dealers, as we are a small town, and my inlaws are fairly well known.  I jumped on that wagon and it has been great.  If this is a auto mall situation or something run by a large auto group, there is less reason for them to work with you. 

Hope I can help.

Here's the real kicker though.  Last week, I used that overpriced key for the first time.  It screwed up my car so bad that it wouldn't start.  I had to have the car towed to another Nissan dealer who told me that the key hadn't been programmed properly.  They had to reprogram both keys and the car, and the charge was $125 - not covered by warranty, of course.  So the damage to date from dealing with Meadowlands Nissan was $728 for the "bait & switch" service, the useless key, and repairs to fix the problems caused by the useless key.  If this is the best they can do, they shouldn't even be in business.

the related articles on the web, okay?