[arunksaral]

Looks like General Manager of Dakshin Honda is on vacation and no one is available at senior level to take care of customers issues.

I purchased my Honda City 1.5 VTECT from Dakshin Honda, Singasandhra, Hosur Road, Bangalore dealership in April 2007. Since then to till date (ALMOST 4 YEARS NOW), my car has been going ONLY to Dakshin Honda for all kinds of repair and service. Initially the service was good and I used to recommend my friends and relative to Dakshin Honda. Since my past 3 experiences over last 1 year, I've observed that Dakshin Honda seems to be taking me for granted. I've had many bad experience with Dakshin Honda. The latest and hopefully LAST experience with them, I'm detailing here.

Customer is Myself.
Dealership is Dakshin Honda, Singasandhra, Hosur Road, Bangalore.
Honda is Honda Siel Cars India Ltd.

Last Service done on June 2010 nearly 38,000 kms - Idler Pulley replaced.

Customer provided service feedback to dealership: Increased vibration in the car while engine is running.
(NOTE: NO ACTION TAKEN BY DEALERSHIP)

After 6 months.

Car met with an accident in December 2010.

Car handed over to Service Advisor SAVITHA for body repair work.
Body repair work includes:
LHS head lamp assembly replacement.
Front bumper replacement and painting.
LHS Fender tinkering and painting.
LHS rear view mirror painting.

Inventory taken by Service Adviser SAVITHA.

Body work was completed and car was internally handed over to Service department under supervision of Service Adviser Mr. SUNIL.

Customer reported following issues:
1. Increased vibrations after last service.
2. Clutch pedal making noise.
3. Low pickup.
4. Fog Lamps should be fixed properly since body shop replaced the front bumper.
5. Cigarette lighter not working.

Expected time of delivery of car after service was informed.

Car was not ready by the delivery time informed. Time was extended by one day.
(NOTE: EXPECTED TIME OF DELIVERY NOT MET)
Car was ready this time and Customer reached the dealership for pickup.

During inspection customer found:

1. New scratch mark on the rear bumper which was not existing earlier. Also not marked in the inventory. Customer holds the original copy of inventory for

proofs.
(NOTE: CAR SEEMED TO BE MISHANDLED)

2. LHS fender not tinkered properly. It was little towards inside than it is supposed to be.
(NOTE: JOB NOT DONE PROPERLY, MECHANICS NOT SKILLED)

3. Extra lacquer running on the mudguard line of the LHS fender.
(NOTE: JOB NOT DONE PROPERLY, MECHANICS NOT SKILLED)

4. Increased gap between the LHS fender and Front Passenger door.
(NOTE: JOB NOT DONE PROPERLY, MECHANICS NOT SKILLED)

Customer reported the issues to Service Adviser SAVITHA. Initially SAVITHA is not ready to accept these mistakes and ended into an argument. She claims that the new scratches on the rear bumber was already existing when the car was handed over to her. OK fine, let's look at the inventory.

Note: Scratch marks are ONLY visible from the BACK-SIDE VIEW of the car.

In the inventory, NO scratches were marked on the BACK-SIDE VIEW of the car. Yes, some scratched were noted on the LSH view and RHS view. SAVITHA claims that this is how she has marked them. Looks like the scratches visible ONLY from BACK-SIDE view are marked on the RIGHT-HAND-SIDE VIEW in the inventory.

(SERVICE ADVISER EITHER NOT TRAINED/EDUCATED PROPERLY)

Body shop manager Mr. MUNEER was called at the inspection site. Mr. MUNEER accepted the mistakes and requested some more time so that the problems can be rectified.

Customer agreed on the condition that customer should be given a drop till office. Already it was 12:30PM.

Car was immediately taken and was promised to be delivered the same evening.

Customer again came for car pickup in the evening.

Everybody seemed to be closing down their business and in a hurry to go home for the day. Road test was not given. Customer inspected the car in dark (whatever possible) and taken the delivery after making the payments.

While driving back home, customer switches ON the AC of the car and founds that AC is not working. Not even the blower. Customer immediately informed Mr. MUNEER and Mr. SUNIL.

After many conversations mechanic was sent to customer's house to fix the AC problem the next day (Saturday). AC wires was not plugged in properly and I was informed that they were possibly removed at the time of cleaning the AC vents.

(MECHANICS NOT TRAINED/SKILLED PROPERLY, THEY FORGOT TO PLUG-IN THE WIRES BACK)

Customer inspects the car in the day time and founds these new issue the next day:

1. New oil marks on the driver side foot mats and carpet.
2. Rear bumper that was painted half in return of rectifying the damage caused by dealership. Bumper protector not fixed properly after doing the paint job.
3. Passenger side door not closing properly.
4. Low pickup problem was not addressed.
5. Increased vibrations problem was not addressed.
6. New rubbing mark on the passenger side door.
7. Car was not at all cleaned for which the body shop charged Rs. 1350/- from the insurance.

Looks like I gave the car to the DAKSHIN HONDA to solve some problems and car came back to me without those problems solved and I got bonus problems also.

Looking at the situation, Customer registers a complaint with Honda One2One.
Dealership (Mr. MUNEER) calls customer and requests to give the car ONE LAST TIME to rectify the problems.
Customer not ready to take chances this time decides to move to MAGNUM HONDA and says NO to Mr. MUNEER.

Dealership (Mr. MUNEER) again calls and requests the customer to give the car.
Customer very clearly informs that Customer need the car for urgent work and cannot afford to give the car.
Dealership (Mr. MUNEER) promises to provide the standby car to the customer after dropping the car.

Customer agrees one more time (STUPID CUSTOMER that's ME) and goes to DAKSHIN HONDA and reaches their by 1:20PM. Explains the issues to Mr. MUNEER and Mr. Service.

Within 5 min the rear bumper protector was re-fixed. (Though it came out again after 2 days)
Withing next 5 min the passenger side door was checked and identified that the beading is causing the problem. It was also fixed immediately.
Service Engineer arrived and we went for the road test. Service engineer agreed that their is some problem due to which we experience increased vibrations in

the car while the engine is running.
By this time it was already 40 min. over. Service engineer requested for 15 min to wait as he checks out the car.
After 15 min. customer want to find out if I can go or not. Are you giving me the car or not. Dealership again asks to wait for 30 mins more.
(NO VALUE FOR CUSTOMER'S TIME)
(HERE DEALERSHIPS TRIES TO ACT SMART. THEY WILL TELL YOU 5 MIN then 15 MIN then 30 MIN and this is a never ending story)
Customer again calls HONDA One2One to report the scene. Honda ONE2ONE calls RADHA, Manager, Dakshin Honda. RADHA gets angry on the staff. And Mr. MUNEER is

now missing from the scene, who promised to provide a standby car. RADHA tells customer that they don't have any standby car, they can just provide a drop.

RADHA's words "I don't know why Mr. MUNEER promised to give you a standby car when we don't have it." POOR CUSTOMER...
Customer agrees that you provide a drop. RADHA asks where you want a drop sir? Customer tells DEVANHALLI. RADHA looks stunned...DEVANHALLI????

DEVANHALLI is around 75kms from DEALERSHIP.

Big deal!! They can't even do this for you. I was like then WHY TO GO TO SUCH A DEALERSHIP WHEN THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR TIME.
They treat customers like a jobless person. As if they are the only people working and customer is sitting job less so I can come to their service centers

and sit for the whole day. What non-sense is this?

Finally the problems are NOT rectified. Customer's car was immediately brought out and handed over to customer.

Overall Customer's loss:

1. Paid service Charges
2. Paid washing charges.
3. Traveling to Dealership by own car 4 times.
4. Traveling to/from dealership by other conveyance 2 times.
5. Loss of office hours, time spent at dealership and on call with dealership.
6. Mental disturbance.

FINAL WORDS:
1. Mr. Service Manager is HIGHLY UNRELIABLE. Hence DAKSHIN HONDA becomes HIGHLY UNRELIABLE.
2. MECHANICS NOT SKILLED/TRAINED PROPERLY. They damage other parts of your car while repair.
3. NO TRANSPARENCY.
4. NO VALUE FOR CUSTOMER'S TIME AND MONEY.

I know of many good staff from Dakshin Honda who have now left around 8-10 months back. Few of them working at Carnation, Hyundai and Toyota.

Soon after this my car recently nearly caught fire.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2216318

I'm now getting in touch with MAGNUM/WHITEFIELD HONDA, BANGALORE.

Please provide feedback and share your experience about MAGNUM/WHITEFIELD HONDA, BANGALORE.

[arunksaral]

Response from HONDA SIEL CARS INDIA:

from Customer Relations <customer_relations@hondacarindia.com>
to Arun Saral <arunksaral@gmail.com>
cc service@dakshinhonda.com
date Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 4:17 PM
subject Kind Attn : Mr. Arun Saral

Dear Mr. Arun,

This is in reference to your mail received by us on 20 January 2011.

We regret to hear of your feedback.

We are understanding the details of your concern from our dealership M/s Dakshin Honda, Bangalore and we request you to kindly bear with us till then.
In the meanwhile we will advise our dealership to revert back to you and address your concern.

For any further concerns/queries, please contact us at 1800-113-121 or 011-39898918.

Assuring the best of our services at all times.

Regards,
Customer Relationship Management
Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. ,Greater Noida

[arunksaral]

Response from Dakshin Honda:

from service@dakshinhonda.com
to Customer Relations <customer_relations@hondacarindia.com>
cc Arun Saral <arunksaral@gmail.com>
date Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 4:35 PM
subject Re: Kind Attn : Mr. Arun Saral

Dear san,

Greeting from Dakshin Honda !

In reference to Mr.Arun saral san concerns,we requested and fixed an appointment on 29/02/2011,9 am as convenient to Mr.Arun san for diagnosis and fix up the concern on priority.We will update the status after diagnosis on 29/01/2011.

Warm Regards

[arunksaral]

But Now, I do not have enough faith in Dakshin Honda. Not sure if I should visit them again or not?

[ajmat]

They are trying to reach out - what do you have to lose ?

[Eddy]

Of course you should take your car to them.

[tazmaan]

You have had a really bad experience and I feel the Honda dealers are out of control. I had the similar experience of car not washed, dirty interiors, half of the bumper guard that cost a bomb missing etc etc. All this during the delivery of the brand new Accord. I also had a bad experience during 1st service and my brand new Accord rattles more than my 5 years old innova.

Honda is loosing on sales =>dealers are not making profits => dealers try to cut cost => the consumer suffers =>sales further go down on feedback and suddenly you end up in a pit very difficult to come out from.

Even after complaining to Honda, only the dealer has called me and apologized saying it was due to lack of training but the parent company is not interested in knowing what the customer is suffering, they don't even want to talk to you!!! oh by the way that email i got is the same mail you got so its computer generated dont have high hopes!!

I am stuck with a new Honda I suggest move from Honda there are better companies out there with better quality, cheaper price and better A.S.S

[arunksaral]

Originally Posted by ajmat

They are trying to reach out - what do you have to lose ?

Originally Posted by Eddy

Of course you should take your car to them.

Everytime I go to Dakshin Honda, I come out with new problems in my car. They are not even transparent enough that they allow me inside the workshop. Any they keep doing false promises.

They had very good managers and staff till last year I guess. Their Service Manager, Bodyshop Manager, Tinkering and painting specialists, they were really good.

We even got 2002 Honda City Vtec completely painted from them. They removed each and every single part of the car. Painted completely in and out and assembled it back. They did quite a good job. But Dakshin Honda is not capable of retaining all good people.

I'm worried to give my car in those hands, well..I'll take your advice as a serious consideration.

@tazmaan: You are one of the customer like me, who have had a really bad experience with Dakshin Honda. I feel sorry for that.

I'm 100% sure that there are many out there who would have had worst experience than this. But most of them just take it as it is.

I purchased my dream car by pulling in so much of my hard-earned money. I cannot see somebody mishandling my car.

For the matter of fact, all these four year I've been washing my car on my own. I never employed anyone for the job. Just because I care and I love washing my car over weekends. I spend 3 to 4 hrs washing and polishing my car whenever required.

But IMO, we should not leave the dealership like this. Afterall I have faith in HONDA. The only difference is that our concerns should reach out to the right person.

Dealership cannot do whatever they want. They have to abide by certain standards of Honda. They get the name of HONDA not to spoil that name but to increase trust of customers and listen/rectify their concerns.

If dealership is incapable of same, just because of some employees and managers. I would suggest this to be reported strongly.

These managers and employee will move to other companies tomorrow. Hence they may not care about loosing few customers. But who is the looser here? It's the dealership and the customer. Dealership will loose a faithful customer and customer's will loose a good dealership.

There are only 3 dealerships in Bangalore. I cannot run from one dealership to other just because I face these issues. But I have to live with this system hence I have to make an effort to report my concerns to the higher authorities. Atleast whatever level I can do the best.

As of today, I'm planning to go ahead with Whitefield Honda. But I will keep this issue alive and take it up seriously with Dakshin Honda and HONDA. I will go as far as possible to get my voice heard.

I request others also, if you face any issues with your dealership kindly report it immediately to the parent company and make sure you get your complaints registered and make a note of the complaint numbers. These things will be helpful if you end up in serious issue.

[nirmaljusdoit]

Arunksaral - From my personal experience Whitefield Honda is equally bad if not worse. They made my life a living hell to get the door beadings & mirror housings replaced under warranty. Give the vehicle for service & free gift would be surely given (grease marks on upholstery, dirty glass, fingerprints on inner mirrors, scratch on body etc) One has to be really careful with them. Very poor response to complaints & their dealership management seems to be not interested in running the dealership.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by nirmaljusdoit

Arunksaral - From my personal experience Whitefield Honda is equally bad if not worse.

+1. Had gone to pick up a colleagues car after it went in for accident repair.

I was the silent spectator to the nonsense going on at their Whitefield Repair Floor.

Another person I know moved from Whitefield to Dakshin. Take your pick.

[arunksaral]

Originally Posted by nirmaljusdoit

Arunksaral - From my personal experience Whitefield Honda is equally bad if not worse. They made my life a living hell to get the door beadings & mirror housings replaced under warranty. Give the vehicle for service & free gift would be surely given (grease marks on upholstery, dirty glass, fingerprints on inner mirrors, scratch on body etc) One has to be really careful with them. Very poor response to complaints & their dealership management seems to be not interested in running the dealership.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

+1. Had gone to pick up a colleagues car after it went in for accident repair.

I was the silent spectator to the nonsense going on at their Whitefield Repair Floor.

Another person I know moved from Whitefield to Dakshin. Take your pick.

Thanks BHPians for the feedback rightly on time.

Any feedbacks on Magnum Honda?
Though their service center is located on Kanakpura road which is quite a bit distance from HSR Layout where I stay, I don't mind going to them.

Magnum Honda is new hence few things can be discounted for them but not with Whitefield Honda. These kind of things not expected from Whitefield since they have been in market for long time.

I'm ready to take chance with Magnum, unless I hear something very bad about them.

[tazmaan]

@tazmaan: You are one of the customer like me, who have had a really bad experience with Dakshin Honda. I feel sorry for that.

Sorry but I forgot to mention, I am in Mumbai and the dealer was Solitaire Honda. This is even more scary with more and more Honda dealers all over India building a bad reputation. But as you said Honda and only Honda is responsible for the quality of dealers since they are the one who are supposed to make sure that all the dealers are as per Honda standards. If Honda doesn't care so will the dealers!

God bless Honda!!

[arunksaral]

As of todays update, after sending the same contents of my original post to HSCI and following up with them, I've received reply from HSCI as well as Dakshin Honda. HSCI has fixed an appt. for my car with Magnum Honda, Kanakpura Rd., Bangalore as per my availability to get the issues rectified.

I'm visiting Magnum tomorrow. Let's see how it goes, will update the thread about my experience later.

[arunksaral]

I went to Magnum Honda, Kanakpura Rd, Bangalore as per the appointment. Lot of rush, may be because it was Saturday. Service Manager attended to the main problem which I had regarding the fire in my car and few other issues. He did not charge anything to me for the job done this time. Thanks to Honda for taking care of this.

[harryskt]

Hi arunksaral,
I appreciate you sharing the feedback on this forum. And yes, going through such problems, due to the unreliable dealerships of a reliable brand like Honda, can be very tough.

I am planning to buy a Honda Jazz and will be choosing Dakshin, because the wait period is months, whereas in Magnum and Whitefield it is 4 months. They are not giving any discounts though, which is surprising. I wish I dont go through similar problems with Dakshin.