Daniella Peterson

Review of AutoNation (Maroone Nissan Mia...

I honestly could not be paid to go back to their s...

I honestly could not be paid to go back to their service department. I have never seen worse customer service.

At my first visit I purchased a pre-paid service plan. I was told this provided me with 1-year of unlimited oil changes. It sounded too good to be true so I repeatedly asked for the exact terms. The promise was repeated.

After I paid for the plan, I read in the terms that I would be granted 4 oil changes under the plan-- still a good deal and much more expected, but not what I was told. I walked away annoyed that the service advisor was not more up front with me.

On the morning of my second visit I scheduled an oil change for my non-Nissan brand car for later that day. I explained to the woman I spoke with on the phone that my Nissan car had been totaled and that I planned to use the pre-paid service plan on my Hyundai. She took down the details on my vehicle and gave me an appointment.

Upon coming in, I was immediately told that it was unlikely the service center had the oil filter I needed. I expressed annoyance that someone did not call me with this information prior to me coming in for my appointment and pointed out that if parts may need to be ordered for non-Nissan brand cars, then the service center should check for those parts prior to the customer coming in. But, I concluded to the service tech, if that's not your policy, what can I do?

I was ready to move onto what were the next steps I'd have to take. This is where things got crazy. I was asking the service tech questions, trying to find out if there was any way I could use the service plan with my new vehicle or if I could request a refund. The service tech was flip flopping with his answers and answering my questions in a very defensive tone.

After providing several answers to my questions that did not get me any closer to understanding what I could do to either get my car serviced there in the future or get a refund on my service plan, he started asking me again who I had spoken with, presumably looking for someone on staff (perhaps in another department) on whom he could place the blame for this botched appointment.

I told him that I wasn't really interested in discussing the conversations I'd had that morning or trying to help him figure out who I'd spoken with because those answers did not affect my current issue. I told him I was only concerned with figuring out what I needed to do next. I then proceeded to repeat my last question.

At this point the service tech (I wish I'd checked for his name) told me to calm down. I was taken aback. I wasn't yelling. I wasn't cursing. I wasn't calling names. I was only asking questions to find out what could be done about my car needing an oil change. I told him this. He gestured at me to calm down. He then stopped talking, and STARED ME DOWN with his hand gesturing at me. This guy literally STARED ME DOWN and refused to talk, even as I'm calmly pointing out that all I needed from him was a name of a person or a department to talk to about the refund.

I will not detail the rest of my short 15 minutes at that Autonation repair center, but suffice it to say that the customer service did not get any better. The worker I dealt with had no concept of customer service (i.e. pick up the phone and call the corporate office for the customer rather than giving two numbers that "might be it") and let his ego and desire to point fingers get in the way of being actually helpful to a pre-paid customer.

At the end of my exchange I asked if my service plan required I return to that specific location. The service tech seemed perplexed by the question. I told him that his inability to communicate was far more frustrating than the situation warranted. I do not believe he even understood what he did wrong.