Originally Posted by
ticklenow1
I must say that after reading this thread I am not suprised by any of it at all. My Local dealer is nothing short of shocking. I drive to Brisbane to get my Euro serviced now as the Gold Coast dealer is a joke..... Where to begin.....
It took them 3 goes to finally admit that they had to replace the clutch master cylinder. I just kept on taking it back. They must realise that this takes valuable time out of people's days. It is not easy to get time off work to take your car in on a weekday.
I had a noise in the clutch every now and then. I complained about it, but I have to admit that intermittant noises are very hard to find. Anyway, as soon as it ran out of warranty (of course), it got worse. They diagnosed it as a noisy spigot bearing. I said that it was reported whilist still in warranty and it had been documented a couple of times. The service manager said "too bad it is out of warranty and there is nothing that I can do". After many complaints I gave up. It cost me $1300 to get fixed (I did get the clutch replaced while the box was out as it was about half worn). The dealer in Brisbane (Austral) said that it still should have been fixed (even though out of warranty) as it is not a common problem, but one that is well documented. The fact that I complained about it (starting at 50k) meant that it still should have been covered under warranty.
The same dealer serviced my car, charged me for wheel balancing, but didn't do it. How do I know this you ask? Well they rotated the tyres and when I got the car back, at 100klm/hr the steering wheel shook so bad I had to sit on 90 on the M1. People giving you dirty looks all the time is not good. I took it back the next morning and I sat there for almost 3 hours. After an hour and a half I asked what the hell was going on. They said that their balancing machine had broken down and that the car had been sent away to get done. I suggested to the Service Manager that maybe the machine was broken the day before. He strenuously denied it. What did he take me for.
There were other problems but my blood is starting to boil just thinking about it so I won't bore anyone with them.
The general quality of their servicing is poor (Gold Coast Honda dealers) and their customer relations are pathetic.
I have now bought a 2008 Mazda 6 wagon and the dealer is amazing. The rear tail ight fogged up a couple of times (it doesn't do it now) but they are replacing the light anyway, no questions asked.
I love my Euro and I would have bought a new one but I was fed up with driving to Brissie to get it serviced as the Gold Coast dealers weren't getting any more of my hard earned. So I changed brands and bought a Mazda, very dissapointing to have to do so.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the individual dealers. If you get a good one then you are very lucky. If you get a shocker then the whole experience of owning a new car (no matter what make) is a bit of a downer. I am convinced that Honda make a good car, actually, a very good car but they are severely let down by individual dealers. I did not buy another Honda based solely on my experiences with the Gold Coast dealer. This is a shame. I hope that Honda do something about it.
To all the Euro owners, you are lucky, they are a beaut car to drive.