10,000 Views Later
I breached the 10,000 view mark. Never thought it would come to that. It took 5 years to reach this point and the way has not always been easy or pretty.
The blog started out because I had a knack for breaking things, sometimes I felt broken and we were often broke. (English is an amazingly challenging language!) So it seems fitting that my 406th blog will be about something that is broken....
Not many know that on February 25, after weeks of searching, researching and debating, we purchased a 2006 Nissan Titan (not from a Nissan dealer). It is a great looking red truck. I liked the shorter hood because my car is short and I can whip it around in tight spots, Doug liked the giant v8 engine and the groovy tow package and Espen honestly liked the cup holders and that he can control the radio from the back. So we were all happy. And we could afford it. So we brought it home February 26 because there were a couple things the service department needed to repair (what seemed easy). The next day Doug noticed a leaky spot in the driveway and the truck had not been driven.
I will spare the details but fast forward to April 5. The truck has been in our driveway a total of 5 days since we bought it. Pretty much all of the month of March it was in the service department. They "fixed" something and we picked it up only to have lights come on and something else was wrong. Doug went to pick it up one night and didn't drive off the lot before the light was on. They have spent thousands on repairs. We estimate well over $5,000 in repairs have been spent thus far.
For the first week or so we felt embarrassed and deflated. Then duped and cheated. Then busted and broke because we used our time and money wisely only to be scammed. Then we were angry. Really angry. It was in that angry mode we decided to write a letter to the owner of the dealership (happens to be a woman) and to every single manager listed on their website as well as to corporate. In this age of technology I was quickly able to find all of this information very quickly. We are both super professional and the letter was extremely well written and factual ~ we did not come from the place of anger to write it but certainly expressed ourselves.
We received a response right away from the owner and she let us know the most senior manager would be helping us in this matter. After some communication, they promised to fix the truck. Not the ideal situation because we just wanted to give the thing back. Unfortunately in Nebraska there are not any options for that. They extended the warranty from 6 months to 12 months and for any time it is in the shop we will get a free loaner. So I have been driving a new Silverado with free gas for a month. Doug has been to the dealership to try to negotiate it back to them (they do not have such a policy). We don't want anything else they currently have and we certainly can not afford a new truck at this moment. So the best they can do is keep trying to fix it. It has been in and out of the service department all month like a yo-yo and we have exchanged email after email with the management professional.
April 2 we got it back and I drove it all over town on April 3. It sat for a day and on April 5 I made the first truck payment and we drove it ~ the check engine light was back on and the engine was racing. That night we wrote yet another email to the owner and management and the truck will go back to the service department tomorrow.
We are in the laugh about it stage because what else can we do! We have talked about calling the news station that does the reports about bad business or not getting things fixed. We don't want to be embarrassed because the dealer is attempting to fix the problem. We are not happy. Nor satisfied. I imagine this week new developments will occur. I imagine Doug will be back at the dealership to attempt to negotiate a way out of this truck. I imagine I will have the chance to write another blog about this truck!
It is the most ridiculous problem. We apparently have bad karma in the vehicle world! But for a lady who writes a blog about breaking things... it is only fitting to also have a truck that breaks before I can figure out where the knobs are to adjust the seat!!
The blog started out because I had a knack for breaking things, sometimes I felt broken and we were often broke. (English is an amazingly challenging language!) So it seems fitting that my 406th blog will be about something that is broken....
Not many know that on February 25, after weeks of searching, researching and debating, we purchased a 2006 Nissan Titan (not from a Nissan dealer). It is a great looking red truck. I liked the shorter hood because my car is short and I can whip it around in tight spots, Doug liked the giant v8 engine and the groovy tow package and Espen honestly liked the cup holders and that he can control the radio from the back. So we were all happy. And we could afford it. So we brought it home February 26 because there were a couple things the service department needed to repair (what seemed easy). The next day Doug noticed a leaky spot in the driveway and the truck had not been driven. I will spare the details but fast forward to April 5. The truck has been in our driveway a total of 5 days since we bought it. Pretty much all of the month of March it was in the service department. They "fixed" something and we picked it up only to have lights come on and something else was wrong. Doug went to pick it up one night and didn't drive off the lot before the light was on. They have spent thousands on repairs. We estimate well over $5,000 in repairs have been spent thus far.
For the first week or so we felt embarrassed and deflated. Then duped and cheated. Then busted and broke because we used our time and money wisely only to be scammed. Then we were angry. Really angry. It was in that angry mode we decided to write a letter to the owner of the dealership (happens to be a woman) and to every single manager listed on their website as well as to corporate. In this age of technology I was quickly able to find all of this information very quickly. We are both super professional and the letter was extremely well written and factual ~ we did not come from the place of anger to write it but certainly expressed ourselves.
We received a response right away from the owner and she let us know the most senior manager would be helping us in this matter. After some communication, they promised to fix the truck. Not the ideal situation because we just wanted to give the thing back. Unfortunately in Nebraska there are not any options for that. They extended the warranty from 6 months to 12 months and for any time it is in the shop we will get a free loaner. So I have been driving a new Silverado with free gas for a month. Doug has been to the dealership to try to negotiate it back to them (they do not have such a policy). We don't want anything else they currently have and we certainly can not afford a new truck at this moment. So the best they can do is keep trying to fix it. It has been in and out of the service department all month like a yo-yo and we have exchanged email after email with the management professional.
April 2 we got it back and I drove it all over town on April 3. It sat for a day and on April 5 I made the first truck payment and we drove it ~ the check engine light was back on and the engine was racing. That night we wrote yet another email to the owner and management and the truck will go back to the service department tomorrow.
We are in the laugh about it stage because what else can we do! We have talked about calling the news station that does the reports about bad business or not getting things fixed. We don't want to be embarrassed because the dealer is attempting to fix the problem. We are not happy. Nor satisfied. I imagine this week new developments will occur. I imagine Doug will be back at the dealership to attempt to negotiate a way out of this truck. I imagine I will have the chance to write another blog about this truck!
It is the most ridiculous problem. We apparently have bad karma in the vehicle world! But for a lady who writes a blog about breaking things... it is only fitting to also have a truck that breaks before I can figure out where the knobs are to adjust the seat!!
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