I'm afraid that I'm starting to get very depressed about the whole Honda experience. I've now had the new engine loom fitted and a second replacement gearbox. The work has been carried out very well, but unfortunately neither has completely solved all the problems. the car still seems very lumpy at low throttle around 3,000 rpm. First gear seems a huge improvement, but still have trouble selecting second or sixth when cold and now I find I cannot get 2nd when changing down from third.

I've tried speaking to Honda Customer Relations, but no joy. They have had my letter on their system since 5th April, but it takes 2-3 weeks for Customer Relations to look at it I've been told I shall have to wait for a response from them. My car has been off the road for about 22 days so far this year, yet it still doesn't run right. This is before I include the faults that I've had since the day I picked it up

Any suggestions as to what I should do now? I'm tempted to leave it in Honda's main reception I'll try to arrange a test drive of the '02 to see how different it feels. I guess I'm fairly safe with the salesman, he's got a nice sales pitch, but knows sweet f.a. about the S2000. Should I give Honda an ultimatum before I start talking to the media?

Sorry to start the week on a sour note. I picked up my car on Thursday afternoon, looking forward to a new driving experience, sadly I'm feeling very disappointed.

 

Tell them you are going to be talking to the medis tomorrow at 9am and that you look forward to their response before that time. Then Id go for the parking it outside their office with the media in tow!!!!!

Make them aware of which media you are calling and that you intend to bring quite a show to their offices. Maybe on a launch day or some other important day to them!

Cheers
Churchy

 

Personally I'd ask to speak to the manager of the customer relations department....and dont accept no for an answer...or the excuse of them being in any meetings etc...eg if their in a meeting ask for them to be brought to the phone, after all your doing them a favour by giving them a chance to prevent an embarrasing media situation that wil almost certainly result in them needing to send out press releases about how they cant fix their cars.....If they say the manager is out then ask to speak to the managers manager etc....eventually they'll get the point that you're not about to go away..

This should probably get them to the phone, then you just have to persuade them to do somthing about your car....

Make sure that you have ALL the details of any communications/work done/time off the road etc etc etc...ask them how they intend to resolve this to YOUR satisfaction, and ask them what they intend to do next...Only threaten to go to the media if you run out of options....coz at this point there likely to feel threatend and possibly will go in to ass covering mode rather than helpfull mode, which wont do you any good.

So bottom line, make sure you talk to the organ grinder and not the monkeys....PS feel free to threaten the monkeys it normally works....
If you need any help let me know...I love a consumer battle!

They probably wont be able to fix it there and then, as they'll probably have to go off and find out further deatails etc (which is fair enough) but make sure you get a firm commitment as to when they will contact you and make sure that if they dont stick to it you note it down and then escalate the fact to the next manager etc....eventually you'll get some success....

HTH
M.

 

hmmmmm...just thought of another good one to bring up as well, but have to go out for dinner or I'm dead....will post when i get back!

M.

 

Just looked up the US site for problems and a chap had a issue with his S2k, similar problem his was down to a weak clutch, when they replaced it the springs fell apart!!!

Might be the same problem.

rpd

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rpad
[B]Just looked up the US site for problems and a chap had a issue with his S2k, similar problem his was down to a weak clutch, when they replaced it the springs fell apart!!!

 

Thanks for your advice. I got through to someone in Honda CR this morning. They are waiting for the senior service advisor from the dealer to respond to them. Unfortunately, he has been off sick all week, I've been trying to speak to him myself. I guess I can't blame Honda for that, but at least it's logged!

I've arranged a test drive of an '02, so it should be interesting how that feels and sounds. Assuming that it's a joy to drive , I'll write direct to Honda listing my complaints. I shall probably request that the front end (headlights / bumper), rear bumper, roof well trim, dashboard are all stripped down and re-fitted to cure the rattles, missing fixings and alignment problems. Then I'll want an entire new drive-train, to solve the gear selection and clonks when taking up drive. I think the gear selection problem is external to the gearbox, maybe the mounts or spigot bearing? I've also got heatshield rattles to add to the list! Not sure what to do about the hesitation, should I ask for an engine as well? The roof rattles now, but that's entirely new and I hope unrelated

Does this course seem fair and reasonable? I want Honda to take ownership of these problems, largely because I do not trust the dealer who carried out most of the work. If they do not respond positively, then I am prepared to take it further, as it has already cost me many hours of wasted time and about 400 of the last 2650 miles (15%) have been to dealers.

 

how old is the car?

On the new honda web site it says this:-

(I've edited out the non applicable bits)


[QUOTE]You don't want promises, policies or pieces of paper - you want results. When something goes wrong, you want it fixed. Better yet, you'd rather nothing went wrong in the first place. You need help, advice, reassurance - this is a big thing you're doing here.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by markcu
[B]how old is the car?

On the new honda web site it says this:-

(I've edited out the non applicable bits)

 

Hi Rob


That would be the Honda dealer in Crawley then - is it Southern Counties? I drove her car on a test drive and know where they live - if you want to leave your car on their drive!

John