Nissan SA total lack of support for Vehicle under Warranty

Very Very disappointed with the poor back up and lack of service by Nissan South Africa and more specifically Nissan EAST LONDON Dealership. Both seem to have very little interest in resolving " After Sales " issues even though the vehicle is still well within Service and Warranty cover. 4 months of frustration so far simply because NISSAN South Africa and Nissan East London apathy in resolving problems with vehicles after they have been sold. I purchased a "young low mileage" used vehicle , a Nissan Magnite, from Nissan East London in June 2024 via their online platform. I live in Durban and the Dealership salesman received the online enquiry to purchase and was very eager to conclude the deal but right from the beginning that process seemed to be tedious and was filled with errors from the Dealership side so the transaction took much longer than it should have due to incomplete paperwork and other issues. Eventually after concluding the deal and being charged the extra fee to have the vehicle driven up to Durban I was assured that the car had been thoroughly inspected against the PDI checklist and all boxes had been checked and that the car was on the way. I was then sent the Pre Delivery Inspection sheet by email asked by the Salesman to sign his Checklist and return it to him BEFORE I had received the vehicle.. I advised that I could only compare his checklist against the vehicle AFTER the car arrives in Durban - which is pretty logical. So 2 weeks after starting the purchase process the car arrived in Durban and I asked the Delivery driver to accompany me while I give the car a check over and compare versus the Dealership Checklist and to take the car for a short drive. Within minutes we found undisclosed damage to the rear seats which had very visible holes in the upholstery, a missing door lock knob on the rear door, a faulty onboard computer error/warning saying that rear tyres were under inflated ( even after being inflated ) and then a continuous irritating rattle coming from inside the Dashboard. The Driver who had just driven the card for 12 hours confirmed that the rattle sound was always present when the engine was running. I recorded this information on the Inspection sheet and returned it to the salesman in East London. His response was one of total surprise saying that he had inspected the vehicle and hadn't noticed the torn upholstery or missing door lock knob, hadnt seen the onboard computer "error" about the tyre pressure.. and that when he test drove the vehicle he did not hear the rattle noise in the dashboard which is why he had marked the Inspection sheet with "No Rattles".

When I insisted that these problems had not been disclosed before purchase and that the car is still inside Service and Warranty cover and the issues needed to be resolved I was told to " take the car to closest Nissan Dealership and they will fix it". I have dealt with Datcentre Nissan in Durban for over 10 years and have always had excellent service from this Dealership so i took the car to them to have the "niggles" fixed. The Datcentre Service Dept manager and staff were very helpful with the issues they could assist with quickly - and then mainly the irritating rattle noise from inside the Dashboard and they asked me to leave the car overnight to insect further. Well overnight became 10 days of no car because they had to remove the entire inner dashboard to find the problem - which they did. The rattling noise turned out to be an issue that Nissan South Africa were aware , the plastic welding of the inner dashboard was faulty . After 10 DAYS of having the car in their workshop with interior totally stripped the Datcentre Service manager called me to advise that he had reported the problem to Nissan SA and Nissan SA said that they would authorise to replace the inner dashboard component . I was told that It would take a few days to receive the new dashboard so they would put the car back together and I could collect it and then they would phone me when the parts arrive to complete the repair. That was in JULY. By End OCTOBER after months of emailing and asking Datcentre if the parts had arrived yet the tune changed , I was told that Nissan SA now said that they wont supply a new inner dash component and that I must bring the vehicle back so they can repair the faulty plastic welding problem. I was told this would take 48 hours to complete. I returned the car back at Datcentre pm Tuesday 29 October as requested for the 2 day job and today, 1 November ( 4 days later) I was advised that issue actually cannot be repaired so the inner dashboard will have to be replaced (which is the same diagnosis as 4 months ago) . This means they will order the part today and it will arrive next week Tuesday and then take 1 to 2 days to install , and once again I will not have a vehicle for another 10 days so the costs of Uber and lift sharing comes out of my personal time and money . I have happily owned a few Nissans in the past, but unfortunately I think this will be my last one. Nissan SA does clearly NOT support their dealerships properly which in turn means their consumer warranties don't actually stand for much. If anyone reading this "experience " is considering purchasing a Nissan Magnite I would suggest that you reconsider carefully before buying - and secondly if the Dealership is Nissan East London then dont hold your breath for professional service and follow up - because from what i have learned that doesnt exist at all.