Taking my car in for its first service, they will check tranny fluid but not top off if low

[Avoidin Deer]

That's unfortunate to say the least.
This reminds me of my own experiences.
I had an independent guy who ran his own shop with one other mechanic.
He was great. Honest to the core. I went there for years.
He eventually shut it down to take early retirement, and to this day I have not found a replacement that I trust as much as I trusted this guy.

My other experience was with a locally owned Nissan dealer.
I bought four cars from them, and regularly went back for service.
They had one tenured mechanic in particular there who was just great. Told it like it is and didn't pull any crap.
There was very low staff turnover there and it was obvious that it was a good place to work.
Not very often can you say good things about a dealership.
About five years ago the owner retired and sold the dealership to a conglomerate.
I've never seen a business go down the sewer faster than this place did.
Within six months, there was 100% staff turnover. Everybody bailed out.
It was a horrible place to visit and do business. I bailed pretty quickly myself.
The on-line reviews have been terrible the past few years as well. I don't know how they stay in business.
They actually downsized and moved to a smaller building, making things even worse.

I guess it's true: Do the work yourself if you have the skills, or if you are lucky enough to find a guy like your brother, stay loyal.

I think you've told part of that story before. Didn't the service manager land on his feet elsewhere? I'm telling you, these people who are motivated by getting away with something screw the pooch for the rest of us...and that applies on so many levels.

I'm having my under-warranty oil changes done by the dealer. I drive so little they're close to being an annual event, so the cost is iminmal. It will give me a chance to establish a relationship and see how they operate on this low-risk work. I now know the Service Manager because of The Great Tranny Fluid Escapade. I'm not certain what this might benefit me in the future.

Quite frankly, there are so many weird nuances with these cars that I'd be afraid to take it to a generic mechanic. I mean, can I trust them to know about the EPB issue when they replace the rear pads? Can I trust myself to know every weird thing so as to give them a heads-up? I had a CEL issue (loose gas cap) in the summer of 2019 and the guy I use for my truck was gonna clear it for me, but had not updated his OBD Reader software yet! He told me the CEL would not clear on its own...it did.

 

[Unobtanium]

TL/DR:

OP has trust issues because his dealership sucks. His transmission fluid level is allegedly normal. The vehicle has never malfunctioned in any way related to the driveline or fluid levels thereof.

 

[erhayes]

I agree with Unobtanium. This thread has become a theses for a Psychology major. I'm done with it. Ed

 

[RedBaron]

I've been done with it for a long while, but I have to keep clicking on it to turn off the "unread" bolding each time I scan the threads

#FirstWorldProblems

 

[Buzzman12]

I think you've told part of that story before. Didn't the service manager land on his feet elsewhere?

I might have done so. I can't remember. I apologize if I repeated myself.
Two of the former Nissan techs and the parts manager now work at my local Mazda dealership.
Maybe that's the part you remember.
Cheers.