I can't speak of Herb Gordon's sales department, but I now have a beef with their service department. I previously said HG Nissan was OK, even handling something I damaged on the trail as a warranty fix though they knew better. However, I must now give them a big thumbs down.

I won't go into the details to save myself some embarassment, but let's just say that I incurred a significant repair due to a little brain fart doing some work on my X last weekend. I went to HG today to have the problem checked out.

I was intitially quoted a breathtaking figure for a repair with new parts. Let's say it was $100 (all prices include tax and supplies etc. except where noted) as a point of reference (obviously it was more).

The same repair was quoted at a scale $74 or so with used parts with no warranty.

When I hesitated at both and started talking about having the work done at a shade-tree shop to save some $, the service manager came over and said he would see if he could cut a deal on the new part, and returned a minute later with a significant discount (23% cheaper) which brought my total repair cost with all new parts to a scale $86.

I figured with the deal I was getting on the new part I was doing as well as I could and I told them to order the part and planned to return to have the repair done when it arrived. I then got curious and started shopping around for better labor rates. HG charges $77.50/hr. Another charged $71/hr, not enough to jump ship. I made one more call to my original dealer (Jenkins) nearly an hour away, and they were $67/hr, something to consider. I mentioned my problem to the service guy and he said it might be possible I wasn't in nearly as dire straits as HG said I was and I should come in for a second opinion. Hoping I might luck out, I drove over.

A quick check confirmed HG's diagnosis, I was still facing a costly repair. He offered to give me a quote, so I said "sure" and he made a call to find the part. Without knowing what HG quoted me at, he came back with a quote for the job with brand new parts for (a scale) $57 complete!!!

To recap, HG quoted me an initial $100 with new parts, then "bargained" down to $86, and with used (no warranty) parts it was $74. Jenkins quoted $57 up front with new parts. That's a complete repair at the same cost that HG quoted for the "discount" price for the new part alone, and still less than HG would do the job with used parts.

I felt a little guilty but I called HG to cancel the part order and the repair and the service guy was shocked to say the least. He went to talk to his manager and came back with an offer of $57 + tax. I was torn, but I still declined. I can't shirk Jenkins for the sake of convenience now after they stepped up to the plate so admirably. He went back once again and offered to match Jenkins' price exactly, but at this point I've got such a bad taste in my mouth that I could not in good conscience accept the deal. Remember, HG could well have gladly taken my $100 if I had been dumb enough to bite, and now they're willing to stoop to $57. I don't think so...

And to top it all off, after I had finalized with Jenkins, they gave me a loaner (01 Sentra) at no charge for the week until I get my X back!

Moral of the story, Herb Gordon is a rip-off, Jenkins is straight-up awesome, and it pays to get a second opinion.

Brent

[This message has been edited by OffroadX (edited 04-12-2001).]

what did you break ?


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Yeah man, spill the beans. What, were you changing your oil and forgot to put the new oil in before driving off? C'mon...spill...

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01 SE 4x4
Silver Ice

Like I said, I'd rather not say. It's not something I'll live down.

Brent

So it was sometihng great
cmnoe man let us have it




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bought my X @ HG... have it serviced there also.... no complaints from me......but then i didn't break my..., what did you say it was?

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]00 BLK SE[

Give up, not going to happen.

HG's normal service prices are more expensive than others, as is their hourly labor rate. The 15k service @ HG was well over $200, same service @ Tischer was $about $170 I think. $6.50/hr cheaper labor rate @ Tischer too. If only Tischer had full service on weekends instead of just routine things.

Brent

I once crashed my bike (at speed) into the side of a parked car because I was seeing how long I dared ride with my eyes closed.

Surely it can't be any more stupid than that ?

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The worst is VOB is Rockville! Can people vouch for Tisher? I think they are owned by the same people?

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'01, SE, 4X4, Just Blue, Auto. Also own a loaded '96 Ford "Exploader" Sport - No comparison to the off-roading ability of the Nissan!

Guess I'll fess up. I actually did an oil change and an engine bay wash that day. I sprayed the engine down with Purple Power or such and let it soak a bit while I did the oil change. Once I was done, I started the engine to get it warming up to dry out while I was rinsing things down. Just as I hit the alternator with the hose, the engine died. Thought maybe it was an electrical issue, but I was able to restart it just fine and I kept on. It died again shortly after. Repeat 2-3 times, but it would still restart every time but was now requiring me to rev it up to like 1500 RPM for it to keep running. I figured the longer I could keep it running, the quicker whatever was glitching the electrical would dry out once it warmed up...

Until it got to the point it would die while I was on the throttle, and eventually it wouldn't even turn over though I could hear the starter straining without the engine turning. That's when I realized I had forgotten one crucial step between the oil change and the engine bay wash: I never put the new oil in...

So I immediately put the oil in, let it cool a bit, and tried to start it. It did start, but there was a knock. I drove it to HG and they diagnosed it as rod knock, engine was terminal. Called Jenkins, their master tech said he had seen VGs survive similar mishaps, so I drove out the same day. He listened to it for a few seconds and agreed it was toast.

So that's how I killed my engine after just 1 year and 20K on it...

The Jenkins tech said the new engine was about as tight as he had ever encountered and should last almost forever if taken care of.

Also, when I was and Jenkins and called HG to cancel the new engine I had them order, the HG guy said it was too late, engine was already on a truck from California. Jenkins guy said no way, nothing ships before 3:00 PST and HG was lying. I called HG on the lie and they admitted it wasn't a done deal yet. HG was just a shitshow all around.