Posted on 12/26/2004 4:36:26 PM PST by Brilliant
"Bring back the 2002 with "minor" improvements and it will outsell all sorts of cars"
They were real nice cars, weren't they!
They remanned a lot of them, and they are real collectorz items now.
Wife is 5'2" and weighs 112... and 24 yrs younger (my oldest son is a month older than her...). When I met her, she was managing a drug store in NC, and after knowing her, became enchanted. She takes care of me, the cars, and makes blankets, crochets coverlets, quilts, and even cleans house. I enjoy cooking, and do most of that...but she makes the goodies...
A recent QX4 was the buggiest vehicle I've ever had, bar none. And the trouble was only beginning when I turned it in at the end of the lease. A coupla weeks later, I got a call from Infiniti Financial, wanting to know where their car was. I explained that I had turned it in, on time, and then faxed them all the paperwork proving that. They apologized for bothering me and assured me they would straighten out the glitch in their records. I do not exaggerate when I say that we have repeated that exact sequence, or something dangerously close, around twenty times in the past year. We finally got fed up and tracked down the USA silverback of Infiniti Financial. He apologized profusely and sent us a clearcut letter stating that we were perfectly square with their organization, owed nothing. All was well for a few months; now I've started receiving threats from a collection agency, telling me all the mean things they're gonna do to me. It's a fricking nightmare that refuses to end.
MM
I used an old spare Dodge truck for a year before getting anything else, and decided to go cheap instead of pricey this time. Bought a new '04 Sebring a few weeks ago; sticker price was $20,325. Got it at invoice less $4000 factory rebate. $15,231. GREAT driving car.
MM
Time to think outside the box, just a bit. Call the office of the District Court clerk for your county and ask someone if they could run a quick search for "Infiniti Financial" in the court docket computer. If they find lawsuits which list Infiniti Financial as a party, have them look at the most recent case and get you the name and telephone number of the attorney representing Infiniti.
Call the attorney and explain the problem that you're having with having with his client. Fax him copies of the collection notices, as well as the letter you got from Mr. Silverback.
Tell the attorney that you want this problem fixed and any damage to your credit history repaired. Include a sentence or two, stating that you are not presently interested in litigation and all of the associated costs to all parties involved, but that since a collection agency is hounding you, that's where it may obviously end up.
Of course, the attorney *wants* it to end up in court, that's how he gets paid. Sooo... send a cc of the letter to Mr. Silverback. That way, if the attorney does nothing to avert this legal problem for Infiniti, his neck is in the noose.
In all probability, the people who that lawyer deals with at Infiniti Financial are the ones who can actually correct this problem. Plus, if this approach works, Infiniti gets billed for the lawyer's time instead of you. Hey, it's worth a shot.
Good idea, Martel, and one I'd not thought of. Hard to believe a major corporation could be in such fundamental disarray on an issue like this. As I noted before, I'm not exaggerating when I say they've called me probably TWENTY times wanting to know where their car is, or saying I owe them money or whatever. And each time, we have to start completely from scratch with the explanations. They can say "hold on a moment," transfer me to another person, and I'll have to explain it all yet again.
Tangentially related anecdote: Speaking of the nightmare of dealing with apathy and incompetence in big corps, around ten years ago I bought a $10K professional Sony VCR. It was trouble from Day One. I returned it to the vendor, they replaced it, and the replacement unit had the same issue. Turned out to be a design flaw, one they admitted, but they wouldn't do anything about it other than to declare that it was within their tolerances and I'd have to live with it. I called all over the country, and it got to the point that they wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't call me back.
I got fed up and FedExed a detailed account of the entire affair to the CEO in Tokyo. A few hours after that letter hit, my phone started ringing off the hook. Sony people far and wide were suddenly SO concerned about my problem. They flew the head U.S. tech from Teaneck, NJ to my little Mississippi hometown. He walked into my office, verified the problem with my VCR, and within days I had a refund check for the entire amount in hand. Sometimes you do indeed have to get outside the box.
MM
Yep... but it happens all the time, I've seen this exact same scenario play out several times. The corporation screws up and by the time you get them to review their records and correct it, the matter has already turned up on some list of delinquent accounts that is sent out to a collection agency. Even though the corporation now says your account is paid in full, etc., they don't manage to recall your line item from the collections list.
To make matters worse, sometimes collections agencies are backlogged with work. Your file is at the bottom of the stack, and my even be sold off to another collection agency before you get a call or letter that tells you that something is amiss.
Anyway... back to the automotive discussion. I'll get us back on topic by blaming the Japanese. They're the ones who first loaded cars with electronic gadgetry. My favorite is the rain sensor that automatically turns on the wipers - as if that's something that needs to be automated. Then there was the questionable use of synthesized speech in cars to warn the driver that the headlights were on, a door was ajar, ect. That gimmickry was refined somewhat, but once the Japanese luxury models really put the heat on Mercedes, BMW, et al, those Euro carmakers felt obliged to offer similar "stuff" in order to justify their prices.
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