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I must spend this time to tell all on this board x 7 of my recent experience having my Element serviced by a Honda Dealer, Hendricks. I do this in hope that all will be aware of this dealer here on STX taking advantage of islanders. I called and made an appointment to have the AC serviced as it was not blowing cool air....simple right? Well, to my dismay, $821.00 later I still do not have my AC repaired! Those parts have to be ordered and it will be a week getting them here to the island. I still have to pay $419.00 plus labor to attempt to have an AC repaired. What a joke, how stupid can one guy be! What a sucker! After I dropped off my 03 element I received a call telling me the brakes needed new pads, etc. The approximate cost was $300 + dollars, so I approved. I mean everyone needs brakes, right? No other phone calls were made to me. When I went to pick up, the story was that the "maintenance required" light was on and that required the vehicle needed servicing. I actually thought the "maintenance required" light was for the AC, how ignorant of me! I had just had it serviced 4 months ago, but who asked? I was not given the option of rejecting. That is the balance of the $821.00. The labor was $484.00 for 5 hours of work! I jokingly asked the person responsible for fleecing me if they paid the mechanic $484.00 for his time........? All I got was a cold look and a laugh at my question! I inquired as to how they expected anyone to patronize their business more than one time based on how they treated me? Again, the same look and laugh.....Now this is really getting funny! The young lady, concerned about her appearance while addressing me said that I would have to prepay all of the parts prior to them ordering....Ok, $821.00 plus $319.00 for AC parts and maybe I would not have to prepay for the labor to be done later!!! What a deal? I have to admit, I was warned this would happen, but I said no way anyone would treat fellow islanders like this? Maybe tourist or day visitors, but residents.....no way! I mean I drive past them everyday and wave! I want to patronize local's, all are having hard times... What a disappointment. I know I have to endure even more pain and smile all the way thru the AC misery...... it reminds me of my many colonoscopy's! It is just about as expensive! At least they kiss me when I leave!
Maybe this is why I see the same cars parked and reparked on the lot for months....? I no longer wonder how such a business is capable of staying around.....maybe I should have a seat on the board or at least be able to claim a pothole in their parking lot! I am now such a believer in Hendrick's....they are definately looking out for me......like, here comes the sucker again! ChaChing!!!!
Hopefully I will have further comments after the AC is repaired......I mean who wouldn't want to see how this ends!!!!!!!!!
Posted : September 24, 2010 2:57 pm
i do, i do
Posted : September 24, 2010 3:17 pm
I have a Honda still under warranty. I come from a "Honda House" in that my first "new" car was a Honda Civic, my parents bought 2 Civics after they saw my satisfaction with mine. I then bought a CRV in 2008 and my parents bought a CRV as well after riding in mine and seeing how nice it was.
That said, I will be buying a new car next year and because of the service department of Hendrick's, for the first time in a while it will likely not be a Honda. Our MP3 jack in our CRV went bad a year ago and they still haven't gotten the part in to fix it despite countless phone calls and assurances that it was on order. The warranty is up in a few months so we are going to have the car looked at by someone to make sure nothing is wrong before then and get it fixed under warranty. But after that I will not be taking my car back to them for repair. Very poorly run operation in our experience.
We also did not buy our car from Hendricks as their price was $5,000 higher for a year "older" model (2007 when the 2008's were already out) even after shipping/customs etc. The dealer was up front and honest with me though saying "someone will pay this price, enjoy the one you ship here" which I can at least respect.
I wonder if Honda Motor's of America knows how this dealership is staining their name. I was pretty much a Honda guy for life before coming here, the loss of sales to Honda over the course of my car buying life could end up being in the hundred's of thousands going forward as I more intensely investigate other brands.
Sean
Posted : September 24, 2010 6:02 pm
Topic starter
Sean, it is not restricted to Honda. I recently shipped my mini cooper to island and it is under warranty. The fuel pump went out and ultimately determined there was a recall from BMW for the fuel pump. BMW is aware of faulty pumps. I politely wrote BMW of North America and explained to them that I had shipped the car to the USVI. I further admitted there were no certified BMW mechanic's (not to my knowledge) on island but I did have it repaired by a shop in Orange Grove with certified parts. The mechanic (Handley) did an excellent job and all was fine! I was very up front with BMW thinking they would at least offer to replace the defective fuel pump, since there was a world wide recall! The rep that phoned me to explained that since I had removed the car to a foreign country?, and work done by a non certified BMW mechanic they were "off the hook"! Wow! I asked him to take a deep breath and reconsider what he was telling me. I even gave him two days to reconsider. I wondered why BMW would not at least pay for the pump or send me a new one, but he refused. I explained to him that prior to moving to STX I had owned several BMW's all the way from 750IL to 330 wagon and that I was not dead yet and might want to buy another car in the future! He did not change his decision. I asked him to check my name and ownership records to verify I was telling him the truth. He could have cared less and said he understood that BMW's decision to not replace the fuel pump might mean I do not buy a 100K car or several in the future! What an attitude, so the no give a s___t attitude is spreading. I mailed the fuel pump to the president of BMW of North America and asked him to make it disappear.....where the sun did not shine! Safe to say, and I told them, I would be buying anything in the future other than BMW! I thought it is a cheap attitude to loyal customers.
Posted : September 24, 2010 8:28 pm
Interesting stories.
...but I vote for everyone to USE THEIR RETURN KEY to create paragraphs. 🙂
Posted : September 24, 2010 8:38 pm
vasecs, I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience with the dealer.
I bought a new 2009 Honda Fit Sport in April from Hendricks. I was treated very well by everyone.
When I brought my Fit in for the 90-day service, they were courteous and professional. The service was free.
( I agree with Neil. 🙂 )
Posted : September 24, 2010 8:57 pm
vasecs, I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience with the dealer.
Finally, a summary! Now I don't have to read those mega-paragraphs.
Posted : September 24, 2010 9:00 pm
I have to agree. Lack of paragraphs making reading long posts very difficult.
Posted : September 24, 2010 9:15 pm
They were fine for my routine Service Edward, but I hope you get better service than I and others have gotten when something actually goes wrong. It has been funny in that "if I wasn't laughing I'd be crying" kind of way that happens so often down here dealing with this silly .02 MP3 jack issue. I have other colleagues who have had stories like the OP's. One of which is a local who went to school with the owner and was kind of friends with her but still had to deal with sub-par service.
I am really surprised that BMW would be pulling that kind of thing...why by a luxury car if they won't give you luxury service?
Sean
Posted : September 25, 2010 4:37 am
We had terrible service from our "local" BMW dealer in FL. There were several leaks in the car -- leaking on the driver's leg -- but the dealer said he couldn't find anything wrong with the car. That is, they couldn't find anything until it was no longer under warranty; then they replaced liners in all the doors (at our expense), but the leak persisted. While on a trip, we took the car into a shop in CO to get an electrical fault repaired; they asked how long the car had been underwater! It took them all of ten minutes to find that the drain from the sunroof tray was blocked and leaking down the A pillar.
I wrote BMWUSA, advising them of the poor service I'd received in FL and of the great service we'd received in CO -- but suggesting that BMW owed us for the various repairs, since the local dealer had, essentially, done nothing for us while the car was under warranty and then did it TO us afterwards. In the end, BMWUSA made good all the repair costs for the car -- including replacing the rusted-out electrical contacts under the sound dampening materials under the driver's seat.
Posted : September 25, 2010 7:06 pm
