Sorry if this is a repost.

Acme Nissan sucks!

Shame On You: Acme Nissan

A CBS 2 Special Report

Feb 1, 2004 11:00 pm US/Eastern
NEW YORK (CBS) The theft of hi-tech xenon headlights, which come standard on many premium cars, has become an epidemic in the northeast. But what was supposed to be a way to protect those headlights turned into an unbelievable nightmare for some New Jersey car owners.

CBS 2’s Arnold Diaz has a Shame On You report with an amazing twist.

A group of Nissan Maxima owners can't believe what happened at their car dealer.

"I feel ripped off," recalls John Ahern. Rachel Ahern says "I'm furious. I can't believe they're not taking any responsibility."

Their cars came equipped with ultra-bright, expensive Xenon headlights that thieves are stealing in record numbers. That's why the Nissan Corporation recently sent Maxima owners an offer of help.

"They said to bring it and they would put in a security device and also a device that would track the headlights if they were stolen," John Ahern explains.

So these three families dropped their cars off at Acme Nissan in South Brunswick, New Jersey.

But the next day, each got an unbelievable call from the dealer: "Saying that while our car was there to have the security system put on our headlights so they don't get stolen, the headlights were stolen," John Ahern remembers.

"You think it's a joke, I actually got up from my desk and looked to see who was playing a joke on me," Stu Sable tells CBS 2.

But it was no joke. The cars had been left outside overnight in the dealer's lot. There was no security fence. No surveillance camera. It was easy pickins for the thieves.

"I was shocked, just shocked," Sable recalls.

It's bad enough the cars' headlights were stolen right on the dealer's lot. But even more shocking is when the dealer said it wouldn't pay for the damages.

"My wife called the owner and he said we're absolutely not liable at all," John Ahern says.

Not liable? That's right. The dealer told the customers their own insurance companies would have to pay the damages, $4,000 per car, plus rental car expenses.

The victims were outraged. "I really feel that my insurance company should not have to pay this, I don't want my rates to go up," Rachel Ahern explains. Sable adds "You drop a car off, they're responsible for it, I'm not responsible for it."

When Shame On You confronted Acme Nissan's service manager, he said it's not our fault.

"Isn't the car safe when they bring it here? Shouldn't they assume it's safe?, Diaz asked. "It's an open parking lot just as if you were to go to the store and park your car to go to the A&P and you came out. Would you hold A&P responsible,?" the manager responded.

"Well, why do you tell people to leave their cars here then if it's not safe, if you're not gonna be responsible for it?" Diaz asked. "Well that's something that would be up to the owners as far as how well the lot is protected," the manager answered.

"There's no fence right?" Diaz asked. "No, but we've never had a problem before," the manager responded.

The dealer could have locked the cars overnight in its garage but didn't. Still, Acme Nissan's insurance company sent out a letter insisting the dealer exercised "the same standard of care that the prudent man would."

"Is this prudent care to leave it in an open lot when you know these are headlights that are likely to be stolen?" Diaz asked the manager, who responded "You have to define prudent care."

The only compensation Acme Nissan offered the victims was $500 towards their deductibles. But after Shame On You contacted the owner of the dealership, Paul Jaskowski, he did a complete about-face.

"After you contacted the dealership, they suddenly changed their tune and decided to pay for everything," John Ahern tells CBS 2. "All of a sudden the owner is apologizing, saying it never should have been handled the way it was handled," Sable says.

Acme Nissan finally reimbursed the owners for all their costs, including the rental cars.

"I said to them what happened, did Channel 2 speak to you? And they said yes they did. So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If it weren't for you, this would never have happened," Rachel Ahern says.

Acme Nissan appears to have learned from its mistake. The dealership says from now on it will put its customers' Maximas in their locked garage overnight.

 

"Isn't the car safe when they bring it here? Shouldn't they assume it's safe?, Diaz asked. "It's an open parking lot just as if you were to go to the store and park your car to go to the A&P and you came out. Would you hold A&P responsible,?" the manager responded.


Unbelievable! The owners gave these assho!es their keys! That's a HUGE difference. If they can't handle responsibility of safeguarding their customer's automobiles, they should not have accepted to hold their car overnight!

 

Most unprofessional. They do not want to be held responsible for something that happened on their lot? Screw Acme

 

DAMN!!!!!! I have an appt tomorrow @ Acme Nissan and was going to drop off my car. I'll make certain they put it in the garage.

 

Lets all send the dealer letter of complaint regardless of where we live.

 

whats the e-mail address or street address?

 

Sad that 9 times outta 10 you have to resort to doing something like this to get anything done nowadays.

 

for some reason reason, it doesn't surprise me that the nissan dealership wouldn't take responsibility. after all nissan customer service isn't exactly held in high regards.....

 

yeah, i saw this report. it was on tv after the superbowl. unbelievable that they can't protect customer cars on their own lot. those thieves had some ballz

 

1) http://www.acmenissan.com/en_US/
(from their website, "OUR CUSTOMERS COME FIRST!!!")
2) stealership located in NJ. Doesn't suprise me HID theives hit the open lot dealership. one stop shopping.
3) Acme Nissan sounds like something out of a Looney Toons cartoon.
4) It took a freaking news crew, several pist owners, and a story that aired after the superbowl to get some results. WTF is wrong with these people?

I'll send them and Nissan a complaint.
Anyone else? Feel free to join in.

 

Not really...if you think about it. No security, no cameras, no fence. Easy in easy out. Not ballzie.....smart.

Ever look at the "holding" area of some of these dealerships? Behind a building...usually not lit up to well....

 

just sent this email to acme. wonder if they'll get back to me?


What kind of half *** operation are you running?

http://cbsnewyork.com/shamestories/l...032111010.html

It really took a newscrew, group of pist maxima owners, and a primetime tv story for you guys to do the right thing?

From the story...
"When Shame On You confronted Acme Nissan's service manager, he said it's not our fault.

"Isn't the car safe when they bring it here? Shouldn't they assume it's safe?, Diaz asked. "It's an open parking lot just as if you were to go to the store and park your car to go to the A&P and you came out. Would you hold A&P responsible,?" the manager responded."

This manager should be fired! What kind of G.E.D. dropout-type analogy is that? Was he trying to be intellectual or condesending? To answer that manager's question (Would I hold A&P responsible?), did I give them my keys? Do they have the option to park in a locked garage?

What does it take to be shown some common courtesy or simply doing the right thing?

Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss this futhur. You have my contact info.

 

Nice letter Alex!

 

Did you guys not read the end of the story?? They paid for everything. Sure they didn't offer to at first, but now they are. They admitted they were wrong. So go ahead and send your letters if you like - but you're beating a dead horse.

 

Acme is making me have second thoughts about buying the 2k5 Alti from them (after having already purchased my Y2K Quest and leasing the Max through them).

Maybe I can leverage a good deal from them because of this issue.

 

the letters should be sent to nissan corp... they will deduct points off the dealership... you know those papers to rate a dealership they have you fill out and they say if you give us good marks we'll give you a tank of gass... they are rated by nissan corp to see how their customer service rates... just send the letters to the corp.... hehe

 

They would have never paid if the media didn't get involved. They could care less about these three people

 

Hey,

Wow, that area isn't even super horrible. Acme sucks completely though. Their service dept is horrible (after bringing it there before) and their sales is even worse. I went once to test drive a 02 altima to see if thats the car i wanted and the ***** didn't even let me test drive unless I were to agree on buying it. That was outrageous. Every other dealer in NJ was fine with test driving and I ended up getting a 02 maxima. So that dealer doing that does not suprise me. Whoever goes there, don't waste your time. Go somewhere else like Somerville or Flemington. Just my thoughts.

Sam

 

Stay away from Warnock in Morristown... Those bastards would put meters in the waiting room if they could get away with it!!!

 

Actually in New York state, A&P would be responsible. You have to report it to the police and then the store you were at legally has to cover it. Of course most people don't know this and the store is not going to volunteer the information...