MarkL

We dropped my wife's Regal GS off Saturday at the dealer for an oil change. Asked them to be sure to check the level since they overfilled it before. Got it home and checked it Sunday. Level was 1 inch above the "full" mark! Idiots! Had to drop it off last night and get loaner so they could "investigate". Picked it up tonight and it's perfect. It cost them a second oil change and a rental car for one day due to their haste.

mbtech208

No need to call them idiots, mistakes happen. I've overfilled a C240 by 8 quarts, it was smoking and misfiring like crazy. Other techs I know have forgotten to put oil in the car altogether, or forgotten to tighten the filter (that makes an incredible mess). Once you do something over and over and over, day in and day out, something is bound to slip past you sooner or later. Some guys have forgotten to tighten the lug bolts, and have the wheel fall off later. That is grounds for termination, or a week off without pay at least. I saw a technician at a Ford dealership lose an Explorer off his hoist, took a nose-dive and landed on its roof. Mishaps do happen, it's the cost of doing business.

By the way, how is the Regal GS? Is it a good car? What kinds of problems have you had with it?

Flashman

A couple car magazines ran engines without oil to see what happened... they lasted between 3 and 6 seconds before siezing. That's one expensive mistake to forget to put oil in a car.

However, having been a Project Manager on a large number of large expensive projects, the problem seems not to be the mechanics or their training, but the lack of a process to insure the quality of their work. They should have another mechanic inspect and sign-off on any work a mechanic does, even an oil change.

MarkL

Dave, the reason I called them "idiots" is that this is not the first time they've done this. In fact, I usually write on the drop-off ticket to be sure it isn't overfilled. This time I forgot, but called the service guy a couple hours before we were picking it up to be sure he checked it. This would have given them time to correct it if needed. As Rick said, it's a process-oriented quality issue. They emblazen a red message on their invoices that we will receive a survey and if we can't say "completely satisfied" to call the service manager. If they are really interested in customer satisfaction, they should make sure things are done correctly.

The Regal GS is a 2000 model, and we haven't had many problems with it. My wife loves the 240 horses, and it sure beats my C240 (power-wise), though I don't like to admit it. I've owned a lot of GM intermediate and full size cars, but this one leaves me a little cold as far as some of the interior details, like the leather quality. The only problem we had was when it was brand new, a fuel injector had to be replaced. We usually keep a car 4 years, as I like to sell them before they have 50K miles, and I also avoid a lot of maintenance expense. I'm already looking at replacement candidates, and I might go for something which has a 4-year warranty, like an Infiniti I35. I'm waiting to see details about the new G35 -- it looks very nice in the pictures I've seen. I've got to keep her (the 2nd car) less than $30K.

Flashman

I never thought *I* would say this... they need some "process re-engineering".

Buellwinkle

Don't get an Infiniti. Worst customer service I've ever had from a factory team. My a/c wouldn't come on all the time (ususally when it was warm out), they couldn't fix it and told me that the 90 degree interior temperature was normal and I didn't know how to use it. I called customer service number in the owners manual and their response is that if I don't like it, too bad, complain to the better business bureau. I did and that resulted in a lemon law claim against them. Even after I was awarded a judgement they refused to pay until I harassed them enough. All in all I had a brand new Inifiniti to drive for free for 11 months but I would never buy from Nissan and it's subsidiaries again. Not because it had a fault and not because the mechanics where "idiots" but because they won't stand behind their product. MBs have plenty of faults but when I brought my 190 in 12 times for a repair they replaced the car no questions asked even though I was outside the timeframe for the lemon law.

p010sp0rt8

Hey Buellwinkle, sorry to hear about the problems you had with ur infiniti, i have a 2001 I30t right now and i haven't had a problem with the dealership at all. Infact the Infiniti dealer has treated me better than the BMW dealer i used to go to. Infiniti always gives me a loaner car no questions asked, even for a simple job like changing oil. They have also been really good about things like asking them to re-aim my headlights and checking out a problem with my door locks. When i got into an accident with the car they offered to bring it to another body shop for a quote. I'm sorry that dealership gave you such a bad impression on Nissan and Infiniti, I think someplaces are just worse than others and it all depends on where you go.