Do not buy a nissan from glendale california
 

I bought a red 09' Nismo through internet sales. The negotiation and the sales process was OK. The problem started the next day. I found the usual paint cracks near panel lines which is common on Nismos. The driver side floor panel cover was loose. And worst of all, the are really bad swirl marks all over the car. The dealership used a rotary buffer and f'd up my paint while I was signing the paperwork. So I went back right away and complained. They fixed the floor panel. I had to wait 3 weeks for touch up paint arrive. They touched up the paint cracks. They wanted to remove the swirl marks by polishing it again. I was like "not no, but hell no". So they approved for me to use my own detail person and reimburst me for the swirl removal if I get an written estimate. I got estimates from different detail shops, and the cost was about $400. In the mist of complaining about the swirls (over a month), I found out they'd left the spring spacers from my front suspension. They should have been removed during sales. I was basically driving car for 500 miles without any front spring compression. So I wrote a complaint email with all the troubles I've had and forwarded it to the sales guy and asked him to forward it to the management. 2 weeks later, still no body contacted me. So I went into the dealership and complained again. The sales guy told me to write a letter and mail it to the General Manager. I wrote it. 2 weeks later, still no one contacted me. So I went in again and the sales guy told me to write to another general manager. So I told him no, and that he should get the manger to call me. I threatened to contact Nissan motors, and the better business bureau. Still took a week later before the executive assistant contacted me and offered me $100 and said no one charges $400 to remove swirls. So I threatened to tell the story to the whole entertainment industry which I belong to. Then she said she would get back to me. Then the service director wanted to look at my car. This was 3 weeks ago, and 4 months into the initial complaints. The service Director said he'll get the estimates approved himself. Just to be nice, I told him if he couldn't get the $400 approved, just pay $250, and I'll take the rest in parts/service credits. Now, 3 weeks later, still no approval for the swirl removal. This dealership chain is not that big. The service director tells me to wait a little longer. There should be an answer soon. What's there to wait for? Its not like the dealership is that big where they have 1400 people working in 38 departments. So now I am going to start a case in the better business bureau, and with Nissan Motors. I will also take them to small claims court. Again, don't buy any Nissans from Glendale. :mad:

Swirl marks suck.. I have them all over the car.

I had a terrible experience with the sales people there so ended up driving 60 miles to Fontana to buy mine even though I live about 2 miles from their dealership. They are also connected to Universal City Nissan and another one, West Covina, I believe. Based on the one experience there I will never ever go there for anything. Period.

thats bogus! i hate stingy friken dealerships!

It seems that most red Z's have swirls from the dealer. I removed mine with a little internet schooling. They eventually come back over time. And yes if you want perfection and don't want to try it yourself 3 to 4 hundred is not uncommon.

Go to Facebook and find Nissan North America, add them as a friend then go into the Discussion Board which is hidden on the top to the right.

Open a topic and Nissan of North America will contact you. If not use this email address below to contact them:

customersupport@nissan-usa.com.

and/or

scott.stevens@nissan-usa.com
Nissan Corporation
ATTN: Scott Stevens (Vice President)

Good luck with it all

I wish I posted something here before instead of waiting around for 4 months with swirl marks. I organize many car shows and club events for my club. Its so embarrassing to park next to a 4 year old 350z that is swirl marks free. My last car was a silver G35 coupe which I've had for 7 years. No swirl marks there. For the dealership to tell me all their new cars have them just isn't right. They even showed me a $95k GTR with swirl marks and made it sound normal. WTF. Thanks for everyone's help.

Glad to hear that you got your money.
It's screwed up how dealerships don't even detail a car before selling it...
:T

I haven't gotten the money. And the dealership's detail job was the initial cause of the problem.

Paint
 

Finally had enough. Filed complaints with Nissan North America, and Better Business Bureau. The service director from Glendale Nissan finally called and said they won't approve the estimate. They want to fix my paint using their body shop. I have a copy of the email from my initial complaints of them approving me to get it fixed by an outside vendor and to reimburse me for the cost. They said they are willing to issue me some service credits to be used for future services. Like I am going to bring my car to them for service.

That sucks! So many bad dealers out there.

Glendale Nissan is a bunch of scummy POS. They are part of Morrie Sage's dealers along with Universal Nissan and Glendale Infiniti. Never ever go there for sales or service. Several years back, I had an Armenian friend (I know pretty much all of Glendale is Armenian) anyways, he was shopping for a Pathfinder for his wife and the Fockers were trying to "win" him over by saying how Morrie was an Armenian like he was and how they will "hook him up" with a good guy price, etc.

Such BS, they tried to rape him with a ridiculous price and said that he would never qualify for promotional financing and that the best they can do for him was 8.9%. This is a guy with a FICO over 800! When he showed the dealer a pre-approval letter from his credit union for 4.9% they told him that they couldn't honor the credit union check because "it takes Wescom several months to fund the loan!" WTF?

Oh, BTW, Morrie Sage, the owner of these dealers is NOT Armenian, he's actually from Poland. So much for trying to play the race card too. Basically they will say anything to get you to sign the contract. Scum Bags!

Dude i went to Glendale nissan when i was shopping for my 370Z. That dealership is a JOKE, pease do NOT buy your car there if you are reading this.
I had the worst experience and the most ignorant people helping me. They didnt know **** about the cars they sell and were making up BS, one of them even told my GF that the coupe was a hardtop convertible :wtf: :facepalm:
I walked around their lot and their cars were all swirled up!! ALL OF THEM! So any car you buy there will have to be buffed by ignorant people that will probly mess your paint even more.

This thread reminded me about that experience... Should have posted this before

RedNismo: didnt you walk around their lot? their "new" cars were clearly messed up.

Well I went at night, and swirl marks are impossible to spot at night. It was partly my fault. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. This is the second incident I've had with Sage's dealerships. I have a 2003 G coupe that I bought when it first came out. Within the first year, Glendale Infiniti back the car up into a concrete block and put a softball size hole in the rear bumper. Then they wouldn't replace the bumper. They took it to some mom and pops paint shop. The outcome looked like a kid learning the spray gun painted it. It took me like 9 months and almost had to take them to court for them to pay me $700. I ended up forking out $500 myself to replace and repaint the rear bumper. And the funniest thing was that when I pointed out all the paint defects the resprayed bumper had, streaks under the clear coat, finger prints on the clear coat, bubbles underneath the paint, etc, the service manager started yelling at me infront of other customers. He said I was being unresonable, and that I was making up excuses to get free stuff out of them. Guess what, its the same service manager I am dealing with right now for the swirl problem.

Posting your story on a bunch of car forums is a great start. I would send their GM a link to this thread.

Also, have you ever tried to get through to a CEO of either the dealer chain or Nissan USA? I've had a lot of success simply by going straight to the top. In the past 5 years I've spoken to the CEO's of Wachovia Bank, eBay, Dell and Comcast. I've saved nearly 10 grand in rural installation fees w/ Comcast by being a pain to Brian Roberts.

I've also had some assistance from the Virginia Governor's office on some BS state agency issues in the last two years. A well-written letter to the right person gets stuff done.