Mazaduh
11-17-2006, 09:41 PM
Two months ago, Tigger Titan and I bought a 2006 SE KC 4x4 with the off-road package, popular package, etc for $27,155. Fred Beans Nissan of Limerick treated us very well during the sale, so when I got into a minor accident with the truck, I didn't hesitate returning to Fred Beans for the repairs. Unfortunately, this proved to be a poor decision.
Since Fred Beans owns a chain of dealerships, the body shop was not located at the Nissan dealer, but at the Ford dealer in Doylestown. When we went to drop off the truck, I immediately noticed there were NO Nissans on the lot. I politely asked the body shop/service manager if they had enough experience with Nissans, and he assured me they would have the truck finished in three days.
Day 1
We drop the Titan off, hoping for the best. Sadly, it didn't take long for the annoyances to begin. Our insurance agent misquoted the Titan as an XE, not a SE.
Day 2
I call the body shop to notify them of the agent's error. Got a little nervous because they hadn't even realized that they couldn't order a lockbox handle for an XE, but the body shop manager says they are doing fine and he will call me the next day.
Day 3
No call comes. One hour before the shop closes, I call them. The manager gives me some song and dance about a new spray booth they just received, and the truck won't be ready until the following day.
Day 4
Again no call. Find out later in the day that the manager called Tigger, and told her that the wrong parts arrived. Now I'm getting a little angry, so I call the manager back myself. He assured me profusely that the right parts will be ordered and delivered the next day.
Day 5
Now into the fifth day of a three day repair. The manager calls, and the new parts that arrived are WRONG AGAIN!!! Now he tells me it will be two weeks until the right parts arrive, but I can come and pick up the truck in the meantime. I was very excited to get the truck back, even if it meant reinstalling the broken taillight and damaged mudflap. He also said that the parts would be shipped to my purchasing dealer once they arrived.
My excitement quickly disappeared the minute I saw the truck. The first thing I noticed was how FILTHY the truck was...in fact, they hadn't even cleaned it before painting the bed! The gas door still had mud inside. The entire truck was covered in that fine white body shop dust, and they hadn't even installed the spare tire in place of the damaged rear rim. To top everything off, the rear sonar is not functioning at all. I was extremely upset with the entire ordeal, and decided I would try to work with my purchasing dealer.
Once the new tailight and mudflap arrived, Tigger went to the Nissan dealer in Limerick to pick them up. While picking up the parts, she asked to speak to the manager and told him the entire story. Unfortunately, the Ford dealer is not under the same management, so he could not offer any assistance. However, he did notice that the "new" lock box handle was broken...it had never even been replaced! The Ford shop had simply reused the old broken handle. Of course, turns out this part is on national backorder. So we reschedule another visit to come back once the handle is in stock. Great.
In the meantime, Tigger and I went to NJ to visit Penguin and RedTitanLE. It was a nice, sunny day, and Red noticed that the new paint on the bed did not match the original paint on the tailgate AT ALL. It was barely Red Brawn! I called the body shop back, and made another appointment.
Back to the Body Shop
We dropped the Titan back off at the Ford dealer, and they again tell us three days. At least this time they gave us a rental, albeit a crappy Chevy truck. We dropped the truck off on December 18th, and picked it up December 23rd. It's raining heavily on the 23rd, but the body shop manager tells me that he "personally inspected" the truck, and the new work was "120%"...
The next morning, I woke up and went outside to look at the truck. This time, the color is a dead-on match...but the clear coat has the worst swirl marks I have ever seen. The clearcoat was 120% messed up! Anyways, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I thought that maybe they just wanted to rush and get it back to me quickly to salvage the relationship.
So I headed over to the Nissan dealership to get their opinion. The manager immediately agreed that the paint was definitely not supposed to be swirled and streaked, and again noticed that the stupid lockbox handle was STILL BROKEN!!! They had never replaced the part. So I call the body shop manager, and he is out for the holidays. Great.
Here is where it gets REALLY good. When I finally hear back from the Ford shop, the manager tells me that the lockbox handle was fine when it left their shop, and accused me of breaking it! But what a nice guy...he says he will order another one in "good faith!" He then acted like I was a crazy man seeing things when I pointed out the very visible swirl marks.
I was sooo upset and frustrated that I went straight to the Nissan dealer and had a cow! After my cow, I was given the official Fred Beans Customer Satisfaction booklet. The booklet has a home and office number, and clearly says to call 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week..even collect if you have to!! So I called both numbers and left messages. No call back. So I called the office again several days later and speak to Mr. Beans' assistant. He is out for the holidays, but she assures me that he will return my phone call ASAP. No problem, I wait for his call.
The call finally comes...I almost wish it hadn't. A man who claimed to own the dealerships leaves me a message on my call phone, acting extremely rude and put out that he had to call me (so much for 24/7 satisfaction!) I pick up the phone and call him back immediately. Strangely, he had left for a meeting within 1.5 minutes. While I'm waiting for the mysterious Mr. Beans to grace me with his presence, the body shop manager calls. The lockbox handle is still on backorder, but he will notify me when it arrives. More "hurry up and wait!"
Later that same day, the "owner" and the body shop manager call me together. They ask me to come in so they can take another look at the truck. As I'm driving over to the dealership, the body shop manager calls to tell me that they found the original lockbox handle they had ordered, and apologized for accusing me of breaking the one on the truck!
I get to the dealership, and they immediately get to work and reinstall the new handle. The body shop manager gets the "owner" on his Nextel, and says he is "going to wash the truck and try to find the swirls." WTF? A blind man could see them in the dark! It looks like someone went crazy with a high speed buffer. I moved the truck into the light, and BAM! the swirls are so visible even the scummy manager couldn't deny it. Guess I wasn't lying...AGAIN. So they start working on buffing the swirls out of the clearcoat while I waited.
Once the work was done and the truck fixed, the "owner" came to inspect it. He then told me (in the same rude, "put-out" way) not to call Mr. Beans! I looked over the truck for 30 minutes, and then left.
This was the worst dealership experience of my life. Not only was the work of terrible quality, but I was made to feel like a liar and a picky jerk when all I wanted was a GOOD JOB, DONE RIGHT, ON TIME. Even their supposed customer service hotline was a complete joke, and the man posing as the "owner" was extremely hostile and rude.
So all in all, I am going to rate Fred Beans of Doylestown a big, fat 0. Even though the Nissan dealer in Limerick did their best, I will not be returning to Fred Beans at all. If Mr. Beans cannot even be bothered to work with his customers, then I can't be bothered to bring him my business.
__________________________________________________
A big thank you for Retitanle for spending an hour re writing this thread so you can understand it with out needing a degree in Egyptian hieroglyphs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs)
Since Fred Beans owns a chain of dealerships, the body shop was not located at the Nissan dealer, but at the Ford dealer in Doylestown. When we went to drop off the truck, I immediately noticed there were NO Nissans on the lot. I politely asked the body shop/service manager if they had enough experience with Nissans, and he assured me they would have the truck finished in three days.
Day 1
We drop the Titan off, hoping for the best. Sadly, it didn't take long for the annoyances to begin. Our insurance agent misquoted the Titan as an XE, not a SE.
Day 2
I call the body shop to notify them of the agent's error. Got a little nervous because they hadn't even realized that they couldn't order a lockbox handle for an XE, but the body shop manager says they are doing fine and he will call me the next day.
Day 3
No call comes. One hour before the shop closes, I call them. The manager gives me some song and dance about a new spray booth they just received, and the truck won't be ready until the following day.
Day 4
Again no call. Find out later in the day that the manager called Tigger, and told her that the wrong parts arrived. Now I'm getting a little angry, so I call the manager back myself. He assured me profusely that the right parts will be ordered and delivered the next day.
Day 5
Now into the fifth day of a three day repair. The manager calls, and the new parts that arrived are WRONG AGAIN!!! Now he tells me it will be two weeks until the right parts arrive, but I can come and pick up the truck in the meantime. I was very excited to get the truck back, even if it meant reinstalling the broken taillight and damaged mudflap. He also said that the parts would be shipped to my purchasing dealer once they arrived.
My excitement quickly disappeared the minute I saw the truck. The first thing I noticed was how FILTHY the truck was...in fact, they hadn't even cleaned it before painting the bed! The gas door still had mud inside. The entire truck was covered in that fine white body shop dust, and they hadn't even installed the spare tire in place of the damaged rear rim. To top everything off, the rear sonar is not functioning at all. I was extremely upset with the entire ordeal, and decided I would try to work with my purchasing dealer.
Once the new tailight and mudflap arrived, Tigger went to the Nissan dealer in Limerick to pick them up. While picking up the parts, she asked to speak to the manager and told him the entire story. Unfortunately, the Ford dealer is not under the same management, so he could not offer any assistance. However, he did notice that the "new" lock box handle was broken...it had never even been replaced! The Ford shop had simply reused the old broken handle. Of course, turns out this part is on national backorder. So we reschedule another visit to come back once the handle is in stock. Great.
In the meantime, Tigger and I went to NJ to visit Penguin and RedTitanLE. It was a nice, sunny day, and Red noticed that the new paint on the bed did not match the original paint on the tailgate AT ALL. It was barely Red Brawn! I called the body shop back, and made another appointment.
Back to the Body Shop
We dropped the Titan back off at the Ford dealer, and they again tell us three days. At least this time they gave us a rental, albeit a crappy Chevy truck. We dropped the truck off on December 18th, and picked it up December 23rd. It's raining heavily on the 23rd, but the body shop manager tells me that he "personally inspected" the truck, and the new work was "120%"...
The next morning, I woke up and went outside to look at the truck. This time, the color is a dead-on match...but the clear coat has the worst swirl marks I have ever seen. The clearcoat was 120% messed up! Anyways, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I thought that maybe they just wanted to rush and get it back to me quickly to salvage the relationship.
So I headed over to the Nissan dealership to get their opinion. The manager immediately agreed that the paint was definitely not supposed to be swirled and streaked, and again noticed that the stupid lockbox handle was STILL BROKEN!!! They had never replaced the part. So I call the body shop manager, and he is out for the holidays. Great.
Here is where it gets REALLY good. When I finally hear back from the Ford shop, the manager tells me that the lockbox handle was fine when it left their shop, and accused me of breaking it! But what a nice guy...he says he will order another one in "good faith!" He then acted like I was a crazy man seeing things when I pointed out the very visible swirl marks.
I was sooo upset and frustrated that I went straight to the Nissan dealer and had a cow! After my cow, I was given the official Fred Beans Customer Satisfaction booklet. The booklet has a home and office number, and clearly says to call 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week..even collect if you have to!! So I called both numbers and left messages. No call back. So I called the office again several days later and speak to Mr. Beans' assistant. He is out for the holidays, but she assures me that he will return my phone call ASAP. No problem, I wait for his call.
The call finally comes...I almost wish it hadn't. A man who claimed to own the dealerships leaves me a message on my call phone, acting extremely rude and put out that he had to call me (so much for 24/7 satisfaction!) I pick up the phone and call him back immediately. Strangely, he had left for a meeting within 1.5 minutes. While I'm waiting for the mysterious Mr. Beans to grace me with his presence, the body shop manager calls. The lockbox handle is still on backorder, but he will notify me when it arrives. More "hurry up and wait!"
Later that same day, the "owner" and the body shop manager call me together. They ask me to come in so they can take another look at the truck. As I'm driving over to the dealership, the body shop manager calls to tell me that they found the original lockbox handle they had ordered, and apologized for accusing me of breaking the one on the truck!
I get to the dealership, and they immediately get to work and reinstall the new handle. The body shop manager gets the "owner" on his Nextel, and says he is "going to wash the truck and try to find the swirls." WTF? A blind man could see them in the dark! It looks like someone went crazy with a high speed buffer. I moved the truck into the light, and BAM! the swirls are so visible even the scummy manager couldn't deny it. Guess I wasn't lying...AGAIN. So they start working on buffing the swirls out of the clearcoat while I waited.
Once the work was done and the truck fixed, the "owner" came to inspect it. He then told me (in the same rude, "put-out" way) not to call Mr. Beans! I looked over the truck for 30 minutes, and then left.
This was the worst dealership experience of my life. Not only was the work of terrible quality, but I was made to feel like a liar and a picky jerk when all I wanted was a GOOD JOB, DONE RIGHT, ON TIME. Even their supposed customer service hotline was a complete joke, and the man posing as the "owner" was extremely hostile and rude.
So all in all, I am going to rate Fred Beans of Doylestown a big, fat 0. Even though the Nissan dealer in Limerick did their best, I will not be returning to Fred Beans at all. If Mr. Beans cannot even be bothered to work with his customers, then I can't be bothered to bring him my business.
__________________________________________________
A big thank you for Retitanle for spending an hour re writing this thread so you can understand it with out needing a degree in Egyptian hieroglyphs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs)