boofer

their service department opens at 6am, and i got there at about 6:15. there was one person there before me.

i explained to the service guy that the steering wheel was off a few degrees, so that if it were held straight, the car would drift left. he took this down, then asked what kind of car it was. i told him an S2000, i bought it a few weeks ago and this has been off ever since i took delivery. i asked how long it would take (some people here have said it takes but a few minutes, so i'm thinking at least under an hour) and he says the FUNNIEST thing to me, ever.

him: "well, we'll have to wait until after rush hour."
me: "wait...what'd you say??"
him: "we have to take it out on route 66 to see if the wheel is aligned properly."
me: "um, why can't you do this on any residential roads here?"
him: "umm...we cannot lawfully release the car to you until we take it out on Rte 66..." (silence)

if you read between the lines here, you'll notice that he wanted to take it out on a highway free of cars so that he or his goon technician guys could rev the hell out of it. Honda cannot LAWFULLY RELEASE THE CAR TO ME without taking it out? WTF are you talking about? i told him NO, i will be the only one to test drive the car after to make sure it is correct. he acquiesced and i sat down in the waiting room, paranoid.

meanwhile, at least 12 people sit down in the room while i wait, and all of them get their names called before me. it takes them 2 and a half hours to call my name, at which point, there is only one person left in the room aside from me. i'm pretty annoyed at this point, but i can understand that maybe they ALL had oil changes or something (which they didn't...i overheard a few of them talking about major 30k service). anyway, the tech comes up to me and asks if i'm ready to test drive my car. yes, i am. we get in, and low and behold, there are .4 miles on the car that weren't there when i handed the keys over, meaning someone took it out BEFORE they came to me. way to go. we go out, and the alignment is ever so slightly off to the left now, even given the crowned roads.

as you can imagine, i'm not happy about this. i took it in at the ass crack of dawn, got leapfrogged by a dozen people, had my car toyed around with without me in it, and the problem isn't even fixed! pathetic. i didn't have time to stick around again so i just told them whatever and left. the only silver lining to all of this is that the toe/camber was slightly out of spec in the rear, which they "fixed." i'm sure "fixed" means "completely botched," though.

all in all, a crappy morning so far. there's now two dime-sized indentations aft of the driver's side door, a crapton of dirt on both carpets (which i vacuumed not 3 days ago), and grease/oil all over the driver's side door, steering wheel, center armrest, and gearbox. thanks for nothing, honda. i had only marginally better experiences at the Acura dealer where i used to take my Acuras.

are there any Honda dealership service centers that are competent, where english might be their first language and their shadiness isn't overflowing? please, someone tell me. i'm willing to drive 100 miles in any direction from DC to find one.

shy_guyAP1

Well Honda rotated my tires down here. I know the service manager's son in the next town over so I'm thinking about taking the car there for the 30k.

I would be a total dick to them, say that I know the mileage, there isn't a single dent on the car and if I got it back and anything is changed I would raise hell. I mean as much as we pay for these cars I think their managers would take care of us.

As far as the steering wheel alignment.... I think they just put it on the alignment rack get everything straight then make sure you're steering wheel is straight. I had the same problem with my civic and my friend did it in front of me.

MitsukillinS2K

ouch that sucks man sorry to hear about that

KnowledgeIsPower

if only honda corporate reps were on this board to see how things really work. its one thing to just say Honda Honda Honda, but its sad to know that Individuals are that shady. i would imagine mechanics have some affinity for cars and would respect peoples property because of that, but i guess not.

AlX Boi

Where and what is the name of the dealership?

boofer

it's Brown's Arlington Honda. honestly, the buying process was a piece of cake, with zero pressure, and no games in the finance room. i was very happy with everything, but getting this taken care of is turning out to be quite a chore. i don't mean to drag their name through the mud, but from a service perspective, this is complete horsesh*t. i've left the service director a voicemail and if he doesn't respond, i will head over there immediately after work to speak with him directly.

S2KBG

sorry dude for your unfortunate experience,but what the english language have to do w/ your story? No hard feelings though...Good luck!

iKMTi

take it to a better deleaership

boofer

well, i would if i could, but i've heard nothing but bad things about all of the dealers around here. Ourisman, Brown's, Landmark, Sheehy, Fairfax/Tysons, you name it. i guess if i have warranty work i just have to suck up having my car get abused and dirtied up every time.

07BlackS

I'd recommend Ultimate Performance in Dulles or Leesburg Honda. I've had good experiences with both places. Might be a bit of a drive from Arlington though.