[sa_kiran]

I'm surprised and disappointed by the quality of Honda dealership. I bought the car from Crystal Honda and I'm not happy with their finance people and servicing. I sent the car to Deccan Honda for the 4th paid service, a disaster. I wonder why Honda tolerates such dealerships while Maruti dealerships fare far better (at least Sai Service in Pune).

[samyakmodi]

@honeybee

6 months of waiting just to get the car repaired falls in the "being patience" category. now being patience is falling under being stupid category. that's the whole problem.

[blackasta]

I spent 8 months following up with Hyundai for a SRS control module - and had to send a mail to H W Park to get it resolved.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2344683

Is this becoming the standard across automobile industry in India? Escalating every other issue to MD / CEO etc?

I would lose my job in a second if some fault of mine is escalated by the client to CEO of my company!

[samyakmodi]

It's been exactly 28 days when I wrote to the higher authorities of Honda, and still the car hasn't been made ready.

On 23rd when I created a small ruckus at the dealership, they committed that the car would be ready latest by tomorrow - i.e. 24th of June 2011. They still haven't called or informed regarding anything related to the car.

I think this is the limit.

Request you all, to help me draft a proper complaint in the consumer forum for this.

[honeybee]

I hope you have all the written correspondence, job cards, photos, emails etc. of this whole matter ready with you. Put them in a file, make a few copies of the whole bunch and attach them to your complaint.

The complaint should have a cover letter, a summary of the case and then the whole bunch of documents.
Documents should be attached in chronological order.
Create an index of the documents and add it to the complaint for easy reference.
Create a summary using the document index to briefly outline the sequence of events.

It's better if you talk to a lawyer about the correct wording/phrasing to be used.

[navin]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

6 months of waiting just to get the car repaired falls in the "being patience" category.

Samyak,

1. 6 months is a terribly long time. You should have started your thread on TBHP in the 2nd month itself.

2. Have you emailed the people recomended by shortbread and arjab? Did you in your email explain to them that you have been getting the run around from your dealer. I agree with GTO here, 6 months to procude a head gasket is an unreasonably long time. Either the dealer is being complacent or downright dishonest.

3. Your best bet would be contact a local lawyer and ask him to draft a suitable letter to the dealer (CC the letter to Honda managers listed by shortbread and arjab).

In the end it is not the dealer's name that get sullied by these practices but Honda's. A Honda dealer can simply shut shop and shrt up again under another name (this has been done before by other dealers) but it is Honda that sells cars based on it's brand's reputation. If Honda wants to help they can. Honda (as well as most other car companies) can really make a dealer squirm if they believe it is required. I would present your case directly to Honda. Let them put pressure on the dealer.

[samyakmodi]

@honeybee

there is absolutely no written document with me.
All the documents that can be provided are :-
1. date of vehicle sent to the dealership
2. payment which was made in feb 2011
3. telephone call details
4. e-mails that were sent to the officials


just as i was posting this, the service centre's manager called up - stating that the car has been ready from past 3 days and should they send it over?

[honeybee]

Well, take up the offer, inspect the car and if everything is fine, turn a new leaf.

If you don't have the evidence, summarize the issues, summarize the events with date/timelines and the workshop/Honda replies and send this summary to the workshop manager as a complaint. Get his acknowledgement on the same. If he does reply, use the reply along with your acknowledged complaint letter. This should prove sufficient.

I hope the car is now troublefree and you can put this whole ugly incident behind and enjoy the car.

[Cyrus43]

Usually, id advice letting it go after getting the car back, however, I think you should pursue this with a consumer court complaint or sue them for the above stated nonsense.

[samyakmodi]

now since the car is ready, i doubt the case would hold any "metal" in the consumer forum.

the car dealership has offered me one year of free labor each time the car goes to them for any service OR repairs. i doubt the car would do even 10,000 kms this year onwards as this would be purely replacement OR standby car.

what should be the compensation i should be looking for?? considering the car has been with them since november 2010, and they had said that it would take about 2 months to repair it completely. a payment of 1,00,000 was made in the month of february.

should I take up this offer and ask for no more OR should I haggle for some better compensations?

[honeybee]

Don't assume just because they have returned the car you cannot take them to court. You could still sue them and claim damages for the delay, because the delay has indeed occurred.

Is the delay the only cause of your frustration? Or did they cheat you of money or put substandard parts in the car or something more substantial or tangible?

If it's only the delay, they are already offering you free labour for one year. So they realize the pain you have gone through and are willing to take some steps to provide relief, which I believe is a good sign.

Evaluate the option of going the consumer court way. The case may take months to settle, assuming the dealer decides not to appeal (which again depends on the amount of damages you will claim). On the other hand, if the verdict is delayed, or is appealed, you may spend many more months getting involved in a protracted legal battle. So will the end result be worth it? If the answer is yes, then do not settle for the free labour and pursue the legal recourse. If the answer is no, then what are your options?

Bargain hard with them and see if they will waive off the labour (completely or partially) on the current work that they have carried out, while still keeping the one year free labour offer intact. That should result in some direct and tangible relief to you. You can always drop hints of taking the legal route which may prompt the dealer to make some further allowances.

The dealer probably knows as much as you that the car won't be returning to him for repairs, so the one year free labour offer may not amount to much. However it shows that they understand your loss and are willing to make at least a goodwill gesture.

If you ask my personal opinion, now that the car is back, take up the offer and bargain for a waiver or a substantial discoun on the labour for the repairs already done. Going into a legal battle will further cause distress. But then again, it's my opinion.

[samyakmodi]

@ all

I think I am being taken for a ride here. When I had inquired earlier, I was told that a total engine overhaul would cost somewhere between 80,000 - 1,00,000. And today I was told the total bill amount for the engine overhaul and some small knickknacks that were corrected while the car was there. I went through the entire bill and found lots of irregularities. for eg. one headlamp was claimed in the insurance but another one has been charged to me. wiper blades have been charged to the insurance people as well as me. and there are some more.

attaching here the proforma invoice generated by them. and as weird as it may sound - there was no estimate (written/printed) given by the dealership prior to the repair. The only estimate they had made was for the insurance surveyor. but absolutely nothing for the customer to get a nod to go ahead with the repairs. on the telephone the engine's repair job's cost was totally different than what is charged.

anyway, here are the 2 bills that i received.

p.s: conspicuously the names of the people who were actually taking care of the car (supposedly taking care) is missing altogether from the sheets.

[honeybee]

Don't sign on it, till you are satisfied there's nothing fishy going on.

Write a letter to both the insurance company as well as the dealer and Honda to explain these anomalies and demand an explanation. Make sure you send the communication by registered post (AD) and retain the acknowledgements with you.

[samyakmodi]

did anyone else also see some grey areas in both the invoices?

the one with the name "old invoice" was the one presented to the insurance company. "invoice 7234" is for the engine overhaul and all.

if I go by this - the car's total repairs come upto 3.5 lacs approx. which is obscene considering the car's net worth is about 1.5 lacs.

really need some help here.

[Cesc]

Not to demoralise you but you seem to be in deep trouble. Here is why I say that:

a) You paid 1 lakh to the dealer upfront.
b) The dealer has additional 1 lakh from the insurance company (and your car??).
c) You hardly have any written evidence.
d) You have exhausted all options except the legal one.

The dealer presented you with a bill for 3+ lakhs because he knows you will push back hard and bargain (because you have suffered) on any bill he puts forth to you. So what does he do - he presents you with a inflated one in the first place itself so that you spend all your time and energy in minimizing it and eliminating discrepancies in it and forget about your earlier troubles. In the end he will write off maybe 50-60k from the bill if you threaten and negotiate hard. Your other option is to go legal. IMO that also is not such a great option for you because:

1) It is VERY time consuming
2) The dealer will hide behind an 'old model' excuse saying he tried his best to repair a car that has been out of market for more than 8 years
3) You seem to have precious little evidence except the time it took for the dealer to repair your car
4) The courts rarely award damages for lemons - let alone delays in repairs
5) Even if the courts award damages they are simply not worth the time and money spent in getting them

My suggestion - talk directly with the dealer/owner and push real hard to get the bill reduced by as much as you can and get the discrepancies eliminated. Threaten legal action and whatever else you can throw at them. Settle that bill and then forget about the entire episode as a bad experience. I know it's not the route we would take in any world that is even remotely approaching ideal. But this my friend is far from an ideal world.