first off, i went to the dealership last year and got my wife a new car. yes it was a used 2002 grand prix but it was a lot better than her cavi. well it came with a 4 month 3,000 mile warranty. within the first month the brakes were squealing really bad so i took it in and had then look at it. they said that they were brand new brakes and all they did was clean and lube them. two months later we were still havin the same problem so i took it back in and they said they did the same thing but they went ahead and put new pads on it because they thought that the squealing was coming from some metal composites in the pads hittin the rotors in turn making them squeal. so for about 5 months everything was good but a month ago we started having some pulsating in the front end and so i thought it was a broken belt in the tire. yes was had a bad tire but today i took it back up to the dealership and they said that i have a pad that it coming apart, the two rotors in the front need replaced, and the back rotors need turned or replaced. so that is basically all four rotors and pads. i asked them that since we only put 5,000 miles on the front pads since it was last in here if there was some sort of warranty on them because 5,000 miles on pads isnt sh*t. they said they didnt have any record of them changing pads the previous time so they couldnt do anything about. i then told them that even if they didnt change the pads before they said that the brakes were brand new when they last got inspected and now 6 months later all of them are "junk" according to them. he didnt have an answer for that he just proceded to give me a 500 dollar quote and said that it would take him all day to fix it. i told him that none of this seemed right and to get the car put back together so i could take it back to the house. so with all of that, anyone know if i should continue to try'n make my case to the dealership or is it a lost coss. i just think that it is really screwed up that they told us they changed the pads 6 months ago, now their bad, and then having them say that they have no record of them being changed. its just a crock of sh*t.

 

if it is like the dealer i goto, they would love to help out. atleast state your case, if you dont then you will never know if you could have had it done. maybe they wont do it for free but maybe a discount? a penny saved is a penny earned! (trusty 16yr old advice) lol. good luck with that man.

 

did you save your receipt?

 

well it was under warranty the first two times we went so no the reciept got tossed. anyway, my brother in law and i just got done doin the front brake, we changed the rotors and pads. to our amazement we realized that the dealership didnt take anything apart. it took us about 20 min to bust the bolts loose and when we tried gettin the caliper off we had to use a screwdriver to pry them off which in turn knocked off a whole bunch of surface rust. now if the dealership took it apart like they said they did then it would of been easier to take apart and there would of been marks or not as much surface rust. needless to say their getting a phone call tomarrow when i get off of work.

 

yeah stealerships love that money, i never go to them not even as a last resort.

 

Brakes are so easy that there really isn't a reason to take them to a dealership (or anywhere else for that matter) to have them fixed. Just for next or (or for those that have not dealt with dealerships) always always save all the reciepts, paperwork, etc for any work you have done. Also make sure to get everything that the dealer had done on your car in writing so that if they screwed up you can go back to the dealer and show them the paperwork that proves that.

 

I have a story that is kinda similar. About a year and a half ago when I had my 300zx, me and my buddy messed up the vacuum lines when we swapped out the injectors (injector replacement on 90-96 300zx's are a royal PITA) so I took it to a nissan dealership for them to fix it. Well after they claimed to fix it I drove it home and it wasn't boosting right (it was staying at 7 psi when the chip was set for 15 psi) and I had a huge loss of power still. I took it to another nissan dealership and talked to the main nissan mechanic that has actually worked on many 300zx's and he said they totally screwed everything up on there. They left plugs off, didnt put the vacuum lines on right, and to top it off one of the vacuum lines was plugged with a screw. Man I was pissed. Well anyway I let the mechanic fix everything at my cost and payed them for the repair. Then I talked to the shop manager at the dealership that f*cked my ride up and he told me that they fixed my ride right and there shouldnt be anything wrong. Well I showed him the bill for the second repair job with all the problems my mechanic found and he said he wasn't going to do anything about it. All this time he is giving me a huge attitude about the whole thing. Well then I threatened him that I would call his boss, the main nissan people, and my lawyer. I think the lawyer bit scared him and he reinbursed me for the whole job. Dont know if that helps or not.