Infiniti Consumer Affairs - poor experience
Social media doesn't help with them. I posted my issue on the infiniti fb page and they responded in public like they wanted to help and make it right and them PM me that basically they aren't going to do anything.
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Thats when you regurgitate their PM right back onto social media.
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From: L.A. (We love it!)
So I got my call back from a supervisor today. She sounded an awful lot like the robotic person who handled my case before. She spit the exact same phrases at me literally word for word ("unfortunately Infiniti is not in a position to do anything further in your case") repeatedly. It's like they must get an electric shock or something if they go off the script. She wouldn't explain anything further about how the decision is reached other than they consulted with the retailer. Not a why or why not, just no. Her idea of extending goodwill was to offer to give me VPP pricing if I choose to buy another Infiniti in the near future. "We won't fix the defect with this car just beyond warranty, but drop another $50K with us and you'll have another car with a warranty again! Because we care."
Oh well. Off to Nissan I guess to get it fixed and have the timing parts changed while they're in there (thanks for the suggestion jmann). Hopefully this'll close this issue for good. Thanks everyone for the insightful replies and helpful advice. It didn't work for me in my case, but thanks anyway. Perhaps it might help the next guy, or someone who wants to see how much help Infiniti Consumer Affairs really can be. The moral of the story is, "No matter how well you service or maintain your car yourself, if you don't drop coin regularly at our dealership service department AFTER you've paid top dollar for your cars, you're SOL after warranty expires. We really couldn't care less about your sob story, bro. Have a nice day!"
Oh well. Off to Nissan I guess to get it fixed and have the timing parts changed while they're in there (thanks for the suggestion jmann). Hopefully this'll close this issue for good. Thanks everyone for the insightful replies and helpful advice. It didn't work for me in my case, but thanks anyway. Perhaps it might help the next guy, or someone who wants to see how much help Infiniti Consumer Affairs really can be. The moral of the story is, "No matter how well you service or maintain your car yourself, if you don't drop coin regularly at our dealership service department AFTER you've paid top dollar for your cars, you're SOL after warranty expires. We really couldn't care less about your sob story, bro. Have a nice day!"
Two thoughts:
The dealer time estimate is almost always inflated. It sounds like you are able to do the repair yourself; I'd bet it won't take as long as they quoted.
After this kind of treatment why go to a dealer for the repairs? If you still want to go to a mechanic, aren't there any decent indies in your area? It's not like the dealership is doing anything to deserve your business, your car is out of warranty, and an indy should be a good deal less $$...
Either way, good luck!
So sorry to hear about this; you definitely deserve better.
Two thoughts:
The dealer time estimate is almost always inflated. It sounds like you are able to do the repair yourself; I'd bet it won't take as long as they quoted.
After this kind of treatment why go to a dealer for the repairs? If you still want to go to a mechanic, aren't there any decent indies in your area? It's not like the dealership is doing anything to deserve your business, your car is out of warranty, and an indy should be a good deal less $$...
Either way, good luck!
Two thoughts:
The dealer time estimate is almost always inflated. It sounds like you are able to do the repair yourself; I'd bet it won't take as long as they quoted.
After this kind of treatment why go to a dealer for the repairs? If you still want to go to a mechanic, aren't there any decent indies in your area? It's not like the dealership is doing anything to deserve your business, your car is out of warranty, and an indy should be a good deal less $$...
Either way, good luck!
Does Texas have an attorney generals office that handles disputes with auto dealers/manufacturers at all? I ended up involving mine in Maryland for a non-auto issue with a telecommunications company that did property damage and they were prompt in resolving my issue once contacted by state/local offices.
It's just a thought, but I definitely feel your pain and frustration BB. I'm hoping not to have to go down this road with my persistent rear transfercase output shaft seal that the dealer keeps trying to mend vs. replacing the entire transfercase. I have a couple of years powertrain left and have filed multiple issues with the dealer on this, so we'll see. Keep us posted on your progress with Nissan HQs in Japan.
It's just a thought, but I definitely feel your pain and frustration BB. I'm hoping not to have to go down this road with my persistent rear transfercase output shaft seal that the dealer keeps trying to mend vs. replacing the entire transfercase. I have a couple of years powertrain left and have filed multiple issues with the dealer on this, so we'll see. Keep us posted on your progress with Nissan HQs in Japan.
I'm not sure but I don't think it would be of any use to me. There's no fraud involved. There's no refusal to honor a legally contracted warranty. I am out of warranty. They're within their rights to tell me no, I'm not disputing that at all. I just think it's pretty crappy of them given the circumstances and I'm not happy about it.
Something interesting I discovered yesterday regarding the repair for the issue. In communicating with a competent, expewrienced Infiniti technician who is familiar with the issue, I found out that the repair should be much, much cheaper than I was quoted. My repair quote was for 18.4 hours of labor. There isn't a rear timing cover gasket made for the VQVHR37 engine, they replace the entire rear cover which is time consuming. However I was assured (by someone who has performed the repair) that this is not necessary; the rear timing gasket from a VQHR35 engine fits perfectly and doesn't require removal and replacement of the rear cover. A $25 part and it cuts the labor time down to 7-8 hours. If only the service advisors or technicians that I paid to diagnose my car knew this. I'm just glad somebody knew about it and is honest enough to tell me about it to minimize my repair cost.
EDIT: I was told by the technician performing my repair and the service advisor that this isn't true, there is no replaceable gasket and the entire rear cover must be replaced to repair the leaking gasket.
EDIT: I was told by the technician performing my repair and the service advisor that this isn't true, there is no replaceable gasket and the entire rear cover must be replaced to repair the leaking gasket.
Last edited by Black Betty; Apr 13, 2014 at 04:31 PM. Reason: Updated info
Something interesting I discovered yesterday regarding the repair for the issue. In communicating with a competent, experienced Infiniti technician who is familiar with the issue, I found out that the repair should be much, much cheaper than I was quoted. My repair quote was for 18.4 hours of labor. There isn't a rear timing cover gasket made for the VQVHR37 engine, they replace the entire rear cover which is time consuming. However I was assured (by someone who has performed the repair) that this is not necessary; the rear timing gasket from a VQHR35 engine fits perfectly and doesn't require removal and replacement of the rear cover. A $28 part and it cuts the labor time down to 7-8 hours. If only the service advisors or technicians that I paid to diagnose my car knew this. I'm just glad somebody knew about it and is honest enough to tell me about it to minimize my repair cost.
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Something interesting I discovered yesterday regarding the repair for the issue. In communicating with a competent, experienced Infiniti technician who is familiar with the issue, I found out that the repair should be much, much cheaper than I was quoted. My repair quote was for 18.4 hours of labor. There isn't a rear timing cover gasket made for the VQVHR37 engine, they replace the entire rear cover which is time consuming. However I was assured (by someone who has performed the repair) that this is not necessary; the rear timing gasket from a VQHR35 engine fits perfectly and doesn't require removal and replacement of the rear cover. A $28 part and it cuts the labor time down to 7-8 hours. If only the service advisors or technicians that I paid to diagnose my car knew this. I'm just glad somebody knew about it and is honest enough to tell me about it to minimize my repair cost.
Putting my tin foil hat on, but Ive always wondered if the whole "flat rate book" is somewhat of a scheme between dealer and corporate to milk as much $$$ as possible from the customer. i.e. 18.4 hours of labor charged, 7 or 8 hours of labor actually performed.
Parts you can kind of prove what they replaced, etc. Labor, not so much.
How much do you trust your dealer (even before this incident)?
Putting my tin foil hat on, but Ive always wondered if the whole "flat rate book" is somewhat of a scheme between dealer and corporate to milk as much $$$ as possible from the customer. i.e. 18.4 hours of labor charged, 7 or 8 hours of labor actually performed.
Parts you can kind of prove what they replaced, etc. Labor, not so much.
Putting my tin foil hat on, but Ive always wondered if the whole "flat rate book" is somewhat of a scheme between dealer and corporate to milk as much $$$ as possible from the customer. i.e. 18.4 hours of labor charged, 7 or 8 hours of labor actually performed.
Parts you can kind of prove what they replaced, etc. Labor, not so much.
For anyone else afflicted with this defect who has to pay out of pocket due to being out of warranty and out of Infiniti's good graces, here's how to save yourself $1500 worth of overpriced labor.
Here is what the rear timing cover looks like. (NOTE: this is not my engine, mine is clean as a pin inside)
Here's where the leaking gasket is that can be replaced rather than replacing the entire rear cover. Remove those bolts, change a $19 gasket, save 10 hours of labor.
Here is what the rear timing cover looks like. (NOTE: this is not my engine, mine is clean as a pin inside)
Here's where the leaking gasket is that can be replaced rather than replacing the entire rear cover. Remove those bolts, change a $19 gasket, save 10 hours of labor.
Last edited by Black Betty; Oct 15, 2014 at 12:36 PM.
Something else I just noticed. I communicated with a forum member who had the same thing done under warranty. he was kind enough to pass along a copy of his work order to me. It appears that his dealership performed the job by just replacing the gasket rather than the much more expensive rear cover replacement. Maybe Sewell Infiniti of Houston is indeed trying to bend me over a barrel?
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Funny story about the "flat rate" book - I actually found one instance where the dealer would get hosed.
Bought an OEM fog light kit for my 2000 Accord. Called the dealer asking how much to install, they laughed and said they wont do it....Honda specs a flat rate of 2 hours. The service dept said they had their best tech install a set and it took 4 hours straight with a helper. So I guess they dont ALWAYS win, but when they know they will lose they just outright refuse to do it
The only time my car goes to the dealer is for major warranty work that I wouldnt be able to easily fix myself. Once its out of warranty Ill take it to a local shop that I trust. Ive been told my Infiniti dealer has a good service dept (from someone I know at Nissan), but in the end they are all just out to make money.
Yeah, Ill get a nice waiting room and a loaner car if necessary, but Im not going to pay out the butt for that experience.
In regards to Sewell, you never know if they would go ahead and replace just the gasket and charge you just for that....maybe it was just a case of them giving you the worst case scenario? Better they do that than quote you a cheaper fix that turns into more expensive.
Bought an OEM fog light kit for my 2000 Accord. Called the dealer asking how much to install, they laughed and said they wont do it....Honda specs a flat rate of 2 hours. The service dept said they had their best tech install a set and it took 4 hours straight with a helper. So I guess they dont ALWAYS win, but when they know they will lose they just outright refuse to do it
The only time my car goes to the dealer is for major warranty work that I wouldnt be able to easily fix myself. Once its out of warranty Ill take it to a local shop that I trust. Ive been told my Infiniti dealer has a good service dept (from someone I know at Nissan), but in the end they are all just out to make money.
Yeah, Ill get a nice waiting room and a loaner car if necessary, but Im not going to pay out the butt for that experience.
In regards to Sewell, you never know if they would go ahead and replace just the gasket and charge you just for that....maybe it was just a case of them giving you the worst case scenario? Better they do that than quote you a cheaper fix that turns into more expensive.
In regards to Sewell, you never know if they would go ahead and replace just the gasket and charge you just for that....maybe it was just a case of them giving you the worst case scenario? Better they do that than quote you a cheaper fix that turns into more expensive.