No, I told them I'd keep my $1200 and sort the problem out myself. The clutch is the only thing that's still good.

 

Either your writer was just being pushy or you misunderstood. I've told a customer the same thing. Had a 370Z come in that was acting like it had a bad clutch. The trans was still under warranty, but Nissan won't pay me to pull the tranny to check the clutch for wear. I had the customer authorize replacement of the clutch if needed before I'd pull the tranny. I'm not going to do all of that work to remove the trans because the customer says it's bad if I think it's actually the clutch because if it does turn out to be the clutch and the customer declines the repair, then what? I now have to put the tranny back in with a bad clutch and I'm not getting paid a dime for all of that work I did. What I told the writer was that I believed the clutch was bad and that if the customer pre-approved the replacement, I'd remove the trans to inspect it. If the clutch was bad, I'd replace it and save the old one to show the customer. Also, if after replacing the clutch, the car still had a problem, I'd eat the labor. What the writer actually told the customer, I have no idea. This is probably what happened to you, but the writer made it sound like he wanted you to pay for a clutch whether it turned out to be bad or not.

 

They made it really clear that I would have to pay $1200 for a clutch regardless of outcome.



Also, the troubleshooting flowchart in the factory service manual pointed clearly to transmission issues, not clutch issues. I actually showed them in their manual and was told that it didn't matter, if I wanted them to look at the transmission I would be paying them to put in a new clutch.

 

No, you're wrong! Dealership mechanics are highly trained and well paid saints!

 

is true, sadly.