Benton Nissan of Columbia — Local services in Columbia

Read through other reviews & learn from my mistake of allowing Benton Nissan to "work" on my vehicle.

Ineptitude or incompetence all around

Went to Benton Nissan of Columbia for a simple spark plug change a few months ago.

Technician took 2 hours to diagnose the issue. Of sparkplugs needing to be changed. Authorized the spark plugs being changed, declined the exhaust clean/ brush out. Declined a few other services.

Since then we've had to change out the transmission completely ( they didn't know how to drive a manual).

The electrical system has been acting up which started after we got the car back. Catalytic converter throwing codes as well. Convenient that they found an issue in the exhaust.....

After we declined the additional padded services they took another 2 hours to change the spark pugs

( We got there at 7 and left at noon).

• In addition to that there are 3 employees that all they did was go around and ask people if they want some water or something to drink. Seriously we heard this every 5 or so minutes.

• Also they try to charge some ridiculous " benefits" package $3,000+ to new vehicle purchasers.

*Bottom line I don't know if the sabotage was on purpose in order to sell more services down the road or if the technician was under the influence.

Will not be going back, there are more trustworthy places.

Edit: reread my review 12/30/24 10:30 am and wanted to add this.

Other services: realignment which had been recently done.

Exhaust clean out, we checked with an endoscope after the catalytic started throwing codes, we saw nothing.

** After the service we have been experiencing wiring/ electrical issues, catalytic issues, sticking valve risers which we have fixed ourselves.

** The whole experience 7:15 to noon was tiresome and disheartening.

They seemed to be overstaffed and are trying to invent issues for them to solve to be able to pay for the excess in staff

$3,500~ benefits package that's worth... Maybe $500 no thanks.

2nd Edit, dealer responded.

TLDR:

Problems arose shortly after getting spark plugs changed here. A 1hr service took 4-5 hours ( they weren't that busy and had a least a dozen employees up front)

Some advice for the owner: Don't over hire Don't charge a $3,500+ "benefits" package for new vehicles. Read your 1&2 star reviews and actually read them so you will continue to be in business.

Ps. Those 5 star reviews ( that you're really proud of) are mostly shills, or those compensated to...

Here’s a quick heads up for the average consumer who lives on a budget and does the best they can and works hard to have something. PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH ON THE CVT TRANSMISSION VEHICLES THAT ARE USED IN THE NISSAN AUTOMOBILES. Just review and look up and do your research because Nissan Corporation has settled a nearly $300,000,000 lawsuit regarding the failure of the CVT transmission equipped cars and it has been proven that nearly 6% will fail around the time the warranty expires. The warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles and it will cost you several thousand dollars to replace the transmission and there’s nothing you nor anyone else can or will do to help you. If you are traveling and put a lot of miles on your car DO NOT BUY ONE WITH A CVT TRANSMISSION! Remember 6 out of 100 will fail and when it does get ready to be towed and also keep in mind that when that happens you’re talking $100 give or take to be towed and then another nearly $200 just to be advised your transmission needs to be replaced. It’s pathetic and I’ve even considered getting local politicians involved to at least do what they can to protect the consumer. Our car had 70,012 miles. My wife works in home health care. The fuel mileage was fantastic but from the first week we experienced issues. Of course there wasn’t any light and the dealer couldn’t see any codes or duplicate the slipping so we thought everything will be fine. WRONG! Our 2022 Nissan Kicks was serviced faithfully and other than the CVT Transmission we never had any issues. The whole point of this is to educate consumers and maybe this can help motivate JAPCO and Nissan to maybe start using a good transmission instead of causing the consumer more headaches in this already hard time as far as everyday life is concerned. The numbers I posted are numbers that where researched and not in anyway made up so this isn’t a sneer campaign it’s simply doing all I can to save everyone else the additional stress I’m going through right now. Remember 6 out of 100 CVT Transmissions will fail near the end or right after the warranty expires and you’ll be on your own to...

I have regretted buying a car, I like my car but it's not what I wanted. The one thing I ask for was heated seats in a Nissan kicks. I went in with financing done told the 2 salesmen I had financing, they still ran my credit 5 times and my credit score took a hit and those 5 reports will stay on there for up to 7 years. They did not have a kicks on the lot with heated seats, nor did they offer to find one or order one for me. They convinced me that they could have heated seats installed and they would be just as functional as the factory heated seats. I should have known better. I agree and pay a addition 650.00 for heated seats to be installed with a company that they hired to install them. Benton did give me a loaner car while the seats were installed they ask that I fill the car with gas before returning which I did because they were gonna charge me 7.00 a gallon, however I got my car back with new seats and no gas nice. The seats worked for one day then nothing. Contacted Benton sent my car again for repairs again giving me a loaner which I filled up and I got my car back with the gas light on. The seats worked again for one day and still do not work. I have filed a review with the BBB, reached out to Nissan corporate and they seemed to care......they politely said sorry independent owners we can't help you. I should have never bought a Nissan I have always driven FORDs and will be back in a Ford soon after this debacle. I have not heard from Benton in over 6 weeks and when they do reach out it's just bs. The sales manager Roger is unprofessional so I went to the controller Jason only to be ignored. Fair warning STAY AWAY from Benton Nissan but...