Civic First Free Scratched Service

[roovee]

I gave my Civic for the first free service yesterday after one month and about 660 km. It was a free service, with absolutely no charge -- there was really no issue at all with the car.

This morning, after they gave the car, I noticed that they had managed to create a scratch about 4 inches long, on the right rear door!!!!! It appears that someone at the dealrship knew about the scratch before handing over; tried to "touch up" and had done a terrible job of it.

When I told the service manager, he asked me to leave the car with them for another day and promised to have the scratch painted up so that it would not show. Am hoping they would do a good job.

After reading all the awful incidents with dealers here, I inspected the car very carefully before taking delivery, else would have easily missed it.

Another area of frustration with Honda is that they still dont have accessories. I have been following up for Fog Lamps and they still dont have any. Honda has "allotted" them 3 sets to be received towards the end of this month. And the dealership manager suggested to me to make an advance payment of 15k to get it faster. I told him that I have had enough of paying and waiting with Honda and that I will take it later when the have enough stocks.

Its really terrible that Honda is unwilling to stock adequately on their cars as well as accessories. Takes us back to the days of scarcity, rationing, paying advance and waiting..... I hope they have spares readily available, else it would be a long wait without the car.

However, the car is just fantastic and I am waiting to take it out for a looooong drive.

Cheers.

[superavi]

Which dealership? Dakshin honda fitted a set of fog lamps on a relative's car. Have you talked to the manager?

Superavi

[roovee]

Superavi, it is Dakshin. The manager was the one who made the suggestion of paying in advance. In fact I have been following up with them for one month since taking the car. I am surely not going to pay them in advance, will wait and fix it later.

[nitrous]

In Chennai, its pure monopoly with the Honda service.
There's only one run by the Sundaram group and sometimes they even refuse to take cars which have been worked on at a different place.
I wish Honda take a serious look into the matter.

[Jaggu]

they have problems because these part are imported and they themselves fight over who will get the batch shipped in, faced the same issue with another dealer when Crv was delivered, regarding dealers scratchin and stuff, PRAY if u believe in god before handing over

[extreme_torque]

15k's for a pair of fog lamps!!! Isnt it too much?

[Jaggu]

naah price is justified, these oe stuff are exhorbitant

[narayan]

Originally Posted by nitrous

In Chennai, its pure monopoly with the Honda service.
There's only one run by the Sundaram group and sometimes they even refuse to take cars which have been worked on at a different place.
I wish Honda take a serious look into the matter.

i had a couple of issues with sundaram recently and sent a mail to honda guys. they are very prompt in calling u immeadiately and forwarding your complaint to sundaram guys. but secrelty they admit little can be done.

sundaram guys work strictly from 9-5. by 5.30 every one leaves. last week i gave my car to chek out on some sounds coming from steering when i just start off. something like a "tuk tuk " sound. case of worn out tie rod ends. the guy who came to diagnose the problem had no clue. he just said " saar give the car, we will figure out and call you " . evening another guy calls and says, both tie rod ends and inner ball joint needs to be replaced. they take 4 days for this and on 4th day, they said, inner ball joint for the left side alone is not in stock. i ran out of patience, went to dealership and paid up and collected my car. the parts cost some 500 bucks but labour was Rs1000 !!! immediately after i took the car and drove it for half km , i started hearing heavy grinding noises from the front end and i could feel vibrations at the floor. took the car back in utter disgust to sundaram and shouted at them. by then it was 5.30 sharp and there was no one to attend the car. they dont even have time to test ride a car after they replace parts..after this they took another day to solve the problem but they arent saying why this noise came in the first place..!! all this for owning a 8 lakh car!!!

[ravibhat]

Very sorry to hear scratch story and over charging. Unfrotunately If we start complaining they make us run behind them and we end up with spending more than what they over charge.

what I have realized in India is only lucky people are happy with dealership and their car, its not just cars every where in India service is pathetic, very bad for sure, every one just money oriented, I am waiting for the day where I can see prompt service in all fields. Every problem of my swift is fixed now but very sad to say when I issues them legal notice, dealership and car manufacturer's staff are all waste I realized its not only with MUL same story with others, I feel based on my exprience only 20% of the staff (manager to mechanic) know their job responsibilities. Others are totally waste.

Ravi.

[roovee]

Jaggu, like you said, we have to Pray fervently before sending cars to dealers these days. The number of horror stories one hears from dealers, of almost all cars, is worrying.

Regarding Sundaram, it seems to me that it is a case of them being stretched out with the volume of cars. I bought my OHC City in 2001 at Hyderabad and had it for two years at Hyderabad and one year at Chennai. Sundaram serviced the car both at Hyderabad and Chennai and I had absolutely no problems.

I noticed this at Dakshin Honda too. There are just so many cars and it seems chaotic. This directly leads to lack of attention.

One thing for sure is that Honda has to pay attention to after sales support. The dissatisfaction level among the customer base is definitely increasing. I feel this deterioriation distinctly in the years between owning their two products --- OHC as mentioned above and Civic now. It has really deteriorated.

Lets hope for the best.....

[theMAG]

A case of demand overwhelming supply? Perhaps Honda had more sober expectations of sales, rather than the current run-away situation ?! Having said that, from my own experience with my Swift's SGA rear spoiler, successful new models in India typically require 6-10 months since their launch to stabilize non-core parts to be readily available

[subbarp]

Everybody,
The demand on Civic is higher than what Honda expected. Same would be true on spare parts for now(they would be short of them). Take it easy. Things will resolve once things get to steady state.

Regarding service, not that Toyota is bad at all, but I miss the fabulous service Hyundai was offering all these years. Wish they had a good car in the C+ segment. Wishing to go down a segment for Verna. TRust me, it feels good if your car is handled with care.

subbarp

[subbarp]

One more thing...

With Toyota and Hyundai, with their service centers not exactly in the best parts of town, it sometimes becomes painful to reach out and show something for minor irritants. Just like its good to have doctors close by, it helps to have the service center not too far away.
This is where Hyundai scores again. Both Advaith and Trident have umpteen service centers all over the place, lalbagh, domlur, JP nagar, Kanakpura road etc. etc.
I am sure Maruti has this kind of stuff as well.
With the Toyota's and Hondas (dont know about GM), the single service centers per dealer could become a choke.
At Hyundai, you can call up and check the load at different service centers of the same dealer and give where the load is lesser for better attention and service.

[grvanand]

I too feel Hyundai does a better after sales compared to any other company in India. But scratching the car is no excuse and its sheer negligence on the part of the dealer.

[subbarp]

Originally Posted by roovee

I noticed this at Dakshin Honda too. There are just so many cars and it seems chaotic. This directly leads to lack of attention.

Not sure whats applicable to you but in general,

Some useful things to watch out for:

a). Never give it for service on a holidays/saturday. The service center guys are invariably busier and will pay less attention

b). Dont give your car on a saturday. Another reason not to give on saturday is that if service center is closed on sunday, then you have to wait that extra day.

c). Leave your car early so that service is over and it can be cleaned in broad daylight and not in the evening hours when the place is crowded and people are trying to do things in a hurry. Early in the morning, the service guys might take better care of your vehicle.

d). Try and retrive your vehicle in broad daylight.