UNABASHED Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 I have just switched to a different insurance provider and paid in full for the next year. I now have to submit all the paperwork needed within a certain time, unfortunately I have missed the deadline and received a reminder through the post. The problem I am having is that I need to submit proof of my alarm system. I did not install thr system myself and so spoke to the insurance broke. They told me that what I need to do is go to a garage and get them to witness that the alarm is full functional and write a statement to that effect on there company heading paper. Simples right? Apparently not! Nowhere wants to actually do it and fobs me off if I call, if I drop in then I keep getting 'I can;t do that, better wait till the gather gets back' etc etc. I spoke to Nissan this morning to see if they could help, obviously with my car being a Nissan and them selling and servicing Nissans for a living they would be happy to accommodate my needs. (not to mention the fact I have had an email, 2 texts and a letter invite to the special sales weekend coming up for Nissan VIP's only!!). You may expect me to start bashing Nissan about how crap they are and they never help out, well you're wrong. They could not have been more helpful. From the moment I was left on hold for 15 minutes, hung up on twice and passed from pillar to post these guys could not have done more. You may have now realised I was of course being sarcastic and Nissan were, of course, absolute d1cks about the whole thing. After finally calling back 3 times to speak to the correct person I got hold of someone in service department. I explained the situation, gave my reg plate 4 times (I don't think his pen was working) and he said that it would be no problem to sort out for me. Brillaint! the he told me I could get booked in end of next week. I explained this would take around 1.5minutes to complete and could I not just pop in? He told me that the car would have to be seen by the top mechanic and then the statement overseen by the service manager. I said I will check when is latest I can have this info over to the insurance company and get back to him. Just before I hung up to call the insurer's I suddenly remembered he hadn't mentioned any cost for this. I was fully expecting to just bung the mechanic a tenner or something for his full 2 minutes work so I was slightly perplexed when the lad told me it would charged at the 'going rate'. And what is the going rate for 2 minutes unskilled work at Nissan you might ask, as did I. The guy went to speak to his team leader to find out what the going rate was. £45. yes, £45 for him to sit his fat arse in the car park for 2 full minutes and watch me set my alarm off, then sign his name. I asked to speak to the elusive team leader. Once he was tracked down I tried to explain to him that I don't think he realises that I am a Nissan VIP and surely that means I don't have to pay more than an hours labour for a 2 minute 'favour'. He did not realise, nor did he care apparently! Needless to say, I am not going to Nissan for this Just to rub salt in the wounds, when I got home Nisan called to let me know that they had booked me in for a Full Health Check next Wednesday and wanted to confirm what time I was arriving. I calmly told them I would not be arriving and do not want a Health Check. Before she hung up she also reminded me that I was invited to a sales weekend coming up and as a Nissan VIP customer........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNABASHED Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 finally got it sorted! Friend was having some tyres fitted at a local place and I got him to check with them and they said no problem, printed me off an invoice for what I needed and wouldn't take any money when I offered. F**k you Nissan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 Haha result! There are some decent people about after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 Like most companies, Nissan will have a minimum charge time regardless of how small the job is, it's how you make up the time when bigger jobs overrun. £45 sounds like one hours labour to me (actually sounds a bit cheap for an hour, but that might be because you're up north) and sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNABASHED Posted September 10, 2010 Author Share Posted September 10, 2010 Like most companies, Nissan will have a minimum charge time regardless of how small the job is, it's how you make up the time when bigger jobs overrun. £45 sounds like one hours labour to me (actually sounds a bit cheap for an hour, but that might be because you're up north) and sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I would say £45 for 1 minute out of there time is perfectly unreasonable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 Funny, it's now halved in time: It was two minutes earlier... It's not going to be a minute though, is it? You've got the time of the phonecall, the time spent doing the paperwork (both for you and for them), time spent doing the actual task, not to mention paying for the knowledge of someone else. Bear in mind this is also a main dealer and not a back street garage and it seems fair enough to me. They have to work to the guidelines they've been given, you can't blame them for that. If I go out and do a job for someone that takes 30 min, I have to charge for two hours labour as that's our minimum call out time/fee. They are a business, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian.lewkowicz Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 The other thing that no-one has mentioned is that whatever garage is writing this statement has to be sure they have the knowledge to judge whether your alarm is working well enough. If it isn't then the insurance company could come back to them if your Zed goes missing. This will be why a lot of places didn't want to know about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNABASHED Posted September 10, 2010 Author Share Posted September 10, 2010 Funny, it's now halved in time: It was two minutes earlier... It's not going to be a minute though, is it? You've got the time of the phonecall, the time spent doing the paperwork (both for you and for them), time spent doing the actual task, not to mention paying for the knowledge of someone else. Bear in mind this is also a main dealer and not a back street garage and it seems fair enough to me. They have to work to the guidelines they've been given, you can't blame them for that. If I go out and do a job for someone that takes 30 min, I have to charge for two hours labour as that's our minimum call out time/fee. They are a business, after all. it literally only took a minute when I had the work carried out by a garage yesterday. All he had to do was watch me lock my car and then open the door without disabling the alarm, then sign to see he witnessed the alarm working. If the job had taken more than that then I would fully expect to be charged for a full hour. No technical knowledge was required, and the fact that you are suiggesting that the Nissan dealer has ANY technical knowledge is frankly laughable! Only paperwork involved was scribbling down one sentance on some headed paper. Stop making me angry all over again!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 But he has had to do courses that cost money to be able to put him into a position where he can sign something off, hence the monetary cost of the training/knowledge has to be considered. There's other paperwork involved as well, such as invoicing, filing, receipting etc. What I'm trying to say is that they have to charge to cover themselves from a financial POV, and their minimum charge is £45 which means they don't lose on other jobs that take 62mins to complete all-in. Look at it from a business view, not just a alwight-geezer-back-hander-in-yer-pocket-yeah-diamond-mate one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.