Honda Australia Vs Dealerships
10-20-2003, 01:51 AM
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Honda Australia Vs Dealerships
I was reading through Fireball's thread and in particular the post by rjh666, and I begun to notice that there is an amalgamation that is occuring in peoples' eyes. Keep in mind that this thread is not criticism just imformation that I feel should be clarified.
Something that I feel must be recognised is that the Honda dealership and Honda Australia are two seperate business entities and that the warranty that is part of your new car purchase is with Honda Australia and not the dealer that sells you the car. In the same
The role of the dealership is to liase with HA as your representitive while remaining as objective as possible. It is your Honda dealer's duty to assess the said problem and then relay their findings on to HA for assessment wrt onus.
In actual fact the dealership should actually be on your side since they gain your business at no cost to themselves.
I know that a lot of you will be standing on your tippy toes trying to get the
flag as high as possible on this one but I am only taking this from my experience. This was the approach that my dealer took with my clutch work and it is also the way that they explained the situation to me.
However, I do understand and sympathise that it is far from being the norm.
Another problem that appears in the system is that if the dealership presents the problem, and offers a particular solution and HA approve the fix, then if this solution doesn't resolve the issue then it is on the dealership to cover any further costs that relate to that particular issue.
This problem occured when my driver speaker was losing volume intermittently when playing a CD and my dealer didnt assess the problem fully but went with the first obvious solution and changed the speaker. Turns out this doesn't fix the problem and after speaking to Dhess later I found that the source of the problem was in fact the stacker. But as per the rules it was no longer HA's responsibility so the dealer began to work against me somewhat.
Before I slip into my flame suit I'll just recap the main point of this thread. Honda Australia are seperate to any given dealership, not only as a business entity but more importantly in their responsibilities and duties to us as a customer. I am in no way justifying the way any one has been treated by either groups and I am always very supportive in striving for better customer service from both as you will find in my previous posts on this topic.
Im interested to hear other people's views on this and Im sure that many would like to voice their valuable opinion. I will ask though, that while there is no problem posting your experience as evidence, Id like to keep this thread non abusive and ask people to refrain from using it as a soap box for abuse.
Cheers guys
Something that I feel must be recognised is that the Honda dealership and Honda Australia are two seperate business entities and that the warranty that is part of your new car purchase is with Honda Australia and not the dealer that sells you the car. In the same
The role of the dealership is to liase with HA as your representitive while remaining as objective as possible. It is your Honda dealer's duty to assess the said problem and then relay their findings on to HA for assessment wrt onus.
In actual fact the dealership should actually be on your side since they gain your business at no cost to themselves.
I know that a lot of you will be standing on your tippy toes trying to get the
flag as high as possible on this one but I am only taking this from my experience. This was the approach that my dealer took with my clutch work and it is also the way that they explained the situation to me. However, I do understand and sympathise that it is far from being the norm.
Another problem that appears in the system is that if the dealership presents the problem, and offers a particular solution and HA approve the fix, then if this solution doesn't resolve the issue then it is on the dealership to cover any further costs that relate to that particular issue.
This problem occured when my driver speaker was losing volume intermittently when playing a CD and my dealer didnt assess the problem fully but went with the first obvious solution and changed the speaker. Turns out this doesn't fix the problem and after speaking to Dhess later I found that the source of the problem was in fact the stacker. But as per the rules it was no longer HA's responsibility so the dealer began to work against me somewhat.
Before I slip into my flame suit I'll just recap the main point of this thread. Honda Australia are seperate to any given dealership, not only as a business entity but more importantly in their responsibilities and duties to us as a customer. I am in no way justifying the way any one has been treated by either groups and I am always very supportive in striving for better customer service from both as you will find in my previous posts on this topic.
Im interested to hear other people's views on this and Im sure that many would like to voice their valuable opinion. I will ask though, that while there is no problem posting your experience as evidence, Id like to keep this thread non abusive and ask people to refrain from using it as a soap box for abuse.
Cheers guys
10-20-2003, 02:15 AM
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So does Honda Australia covers Queensland or is that covered by a different specialised department? I am sure the QLD ppl know what I am talking about **hint hint buzzzzz, buzzzzzzzzz***
10-20-2003, 02:31 AM
#3
with Austblue. Some of the generalisations are pretty ignorant. The dealer actually gets paid by Honda Australia to perform warranty work so you'd think it was in their best interest to OK warranty work.If you are pissed off at Honda and other distributors for denied warranty claims then you have to put some of the blame on all the dodgy claims we all know about. Who here doesn't know of someone who has abused a car and claimed the damage under warranty? There was a classic case in the US of a guy who wanted his diff fixed under warranty as he'd never abused it. The dealers found drag strip print outs in the boot. He then claimed that they had no right to search the boot. Apparently inthe US you have a right to lie!
You can't blame Honda for being guarded. Sure they can take it too far (blame the abusers) but in my experience it you are fair with them more times than not they are fair with you.
10-20-2003, 02:41 AM
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i can say that my dealer (insert plug here) kloster honda, have been on my side with all servicing and warranty claims. in fact, it was the mechanic that pointed out that my clutch was buzzing, im the type of person that doesnt notice things like, unless it is really obvious. so he pushed the honda rep to make an appointment when he was in the area. i had my car booked in when the honda rep was in newcastle and the mechanic said he had my car buziing like a bee for him to listen to. they got the warrantly ok'd straight away and they had the car for 3 days while they gave me a honda jazz.
they even said after they finished that it was a mother of a job and wouldnt want to do it again.
so it pays to have a good repoire with ur dealer and to especially the service manager, it helps when they have to fight for u when claims come up
they even said after they finished that it was a mother of a job and wouldnt want to do it again.
so it pays to have a good repoire with ur dealer and to especially the service manager, it helps when they have to fight for u when claims come up
10-20-2003, 02:48 AM
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As far as I know Honda Australia operate as one overall entity however they do have regional service managers that look after certain dealerships. This feature contributes to much of the non-uniform behaviour that we view and compare as a nation-wide audience as you so subtly hinted towards.
I see no justification for any customer receiving inconsistent dealings based on their location let alone any other socio-economic characteristic but I can understand that it is a challenge. A challenge that could most likely be eliminated by globalisation however the trade-off could be that we give up human interaction and accept our bid through electronic communication and non-personal transactions.
To achieve nation-wide consistency to the extent which we would be completely satisfied would be impossible using the current system of regional managers, however, HA have not taken to this challenge and hence do a piss poor job of obtaining a slightly reasonable playing field across the nation.
. I see no justification for any customer receiving inconsistent dealings based on their location let alone any other socio-economic characteristic but I can understand that it is a challenge. A challenge that could most likely be eliminated by globalisation however the trade-off could be that we give up human interaction and accept our bid through electronic communication and non-personal transactions.
To achieve nation-wide consistency to the extent which we would be completely satisfied would be impossible using the current system of regional managers, however, HA have not taken to this challenge and hence do a piss poor job of obtaining a slightly reasonable playing field across the nation.
10-20-2003, 03:16 AM
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Yes, from what we've seen on this forum there does seem to be some difference in customer treatment in the outlying states (Qld & SA).
There are quite a few of us in Melbourne & Sydney who have had important bits replaced under warranty with no arguments or hassles.
Fireball, I notice in the other thread that a number of people have suggested thay you approach Honda with the problem and ask for their assistance but you have seemed most reluctant to do so. Did you have an initial knock-back from your local dealer? Was there some reason why you didn't want to take it to your Honda dealer?
There are quite a few of us in Melbourne & Sydney who have had important bits replaced under warranty with no arguments or hassles.
Fireball, I notice in the other thread that a number of people have suggested thay you approach Honda with the problem and ask for their assistance but you have seemed most reluctant to do so. Did you have an initial knock-back from your local dealer? Was there some reason why you didn't want to take it to your Honda dealer?
10-20-2003, 03:18 AM
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hey aust blue,
how did you fix the lost of volume in your car, coz i'm having the same problem and the dealer could not find the problem as it only occurs occasionally. And now that my warranty is expired, it's no point taking it back to them to have it repaired.
how did you fix the lost of volume in your car, coz i'm having the same problem and the dealer could not find the problem as it only occurs occasionally. And now that my warranty is expired, it's no point taking it back to them to have it repaired.
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10-20-2003, 03:26 AM
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Originally posted by blacks2k
i can say that my dealer (insert plug here) kloster honda, have been on my side with all servicing and warranty claims. in fact, it was the mechanic that pointed out that my clutch was buzzing, im the type of person that doesnt notice things like, unless it is really obvious. so he pushed the honda rep to make an appointment when he was in the area. i had my car booked in when the honda rep was in newcastle and the mechanic said he had my car buziing like a bee for him to listen to. they got the warrantly ok'd straight away and they had the car for 3 days while they gave me a honda jazz.
they even said after they finished that it was a mother of a job and wouldnt want to do it again.
so it pays to have a good repoire with ur dealer and to especially the service manager, it helps when they have to fight for u when claims come up
i can say that my dealer (insert plug here) kloster honda, have been on my side with all servicing and warranty claims. in fact, it was the mechanic that pointed out that my clutch was buzzing, im the type of person that doesnt notice things like, unless it is really obvious. so he pushed the honda rep to make an appointment when he was in the area. i had my car booked in when the honda rep was in newcastle and the mechanic said he had my car buziing like a bee for him to listen to. they got the warrantly ok'd straight away and they had the car for 3 days while they gave me a honda jazz.
they even said after they finished that it was a mother of a job and wouldnt want to do it again.
so it pays to have a good repoire with ur dealer and to especially the service manager, it helps when they have to fight for u when claims come up
i love to have a honda service like that in SA
BTW why did it take 3 days to do the job? My mate only took less than 6 hours to install the exedy fw/pp/clutch.
10-20-2003, 05:12 AM
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it's not like i didn't goto my honda dealer.... i went to them asking them to give me a simple quote on labour costs to remove the head. the service manager goes anywhere between 500-30000. 
the atitude from the service manager from 2 different honda dealerships was not reassuring or that helpful i thought.
of course i went to the sales manager of the dealership to talk, and basically he says if a valve touches a piston then honda australia won't even want to know u and will just claim driver abuse. there has got to be something wrong here. what is the definition of abuse then ??? vtecing 1x/day ? 1x/week ? in my case i vtec
the atitude from the service manager from 2 different honda dealerships was not reassuring or that helpful i thought.of course i went to the sales manager of the dealership to talk, and basically he says if a valve touches a piston then honda australia won't even want to know u and will just claim driver abuse. there has got to be something wrong here. what is the definition of abuse then ??? vtecing 1x/day ? 1x/week ? in my case i vtec
10-20-2003, 05:51 AM
#10
Don't talk to foot soldiers. Their job is to take what you say and use it to turn you down.
Write to a district service manager, or someone at Honda Australia. Explain what you did, how you treat your car, and what happened. Explain that you have been told by <whoever> that the S2000 is a weekend car and you didn't think that was the case. Explain that you thought it was OK to rev to 9000 4-5 times a day but the dealer tells you otherwise.
Just understand one thing. You have no legal basis for this claim. You are solely applying to Honda's goodwill and would be greatful for any assistance. Anything you say to Honda or their representatives that gives them any feeling that you have either abused the car, or have lost any respect for Honda will work against you. Anything you say that portrays you in a good light and Honda the same will work in your favour.
Write to a district service manager, or someone at Honda Australia. Explain what you did, how you treat your car, and what happened. Explain that you have been told by <whoever> that the S2000 is a weekend car and you didn't think that was the case. Explain that you thought it was OK to rev to 9000 4-5 times a day but the dealer tells you otherwise.
Just understand one thing. You have no legal basis for this claim. You are solely applying to Honda's goodwill and would be greatful for any assistance. Anything you say to Honda or their representatives that gives them any feeling that you have either abused the car, or have lost any respect for Honda will work against you. Anything you say that portrays you in a good light and Honda the same will work in your favour.