Five weeks ago when I picked up my TSX, I had the dealer add a cassette deck. That is when the problems began. During the install, the tech broke the trim around the shift boot. I took the car back the following week to have the dealer look at it. They said that they would have to order the part and I could come back the following week. The dealer is over 50 miles away.

I brought the car back the following week, and 6 hours later, received a call telling me that the replacement part was broken and I will have to come back the following week when another replacement part comes in. This week I took it back and the part was replaced. Before leaving, I carefully inspected the work and discovered that they left screwdriver gouges in the console where they had attempted to remove the old surround.

I brought this to the service manager's attention. He turned to the service writer and told him that he did not want the tech ( a kid about 18 wearing a very professional looking backwards baseball cap) who worked on my car to do anything but oil changes from now on. He told me that I would have to come back a fourth time to have the console replaced, but to compensate me for my time, gas and 400 additional miles on my car they are going to give me a free $29.95 oil change.

Wow! What a lucky guy I am. The professional who gouged my console with a screwdriver will now be giving me a free oil change. I can't wait I cannot believe how incompetent these people are. Just give me the part and I will follow the instructions in my service manual and replace it myself! I know I can do a more careful job than this!

 

why did you get the cassette? Your CD should blow it away.

 

The CD is great for music, but on long trips we get tired of music and listen to books on tape. There are books on CD which we prefer, but the selection is limited right now. I would like to add a Sirius or XM system at some point.

 

I installed the cassette deck myself (and the fog lights and cargo net) so I'm not at all surprised that even an experienced tech might have had problems doing it and broken a part or two. Honda uses very close manufacturing tolerances and the parts just do not come apart easily. (It also must cut down on squeaks and rattles as the car ages.) So it's awfully difficult bordering on impossible to get Honda plastic trim pieces apart without breaking anything.

There are vinyl repair specialists who work out of vans and travel from dealer to dealer ("Have airbrush and heat gun, will travel") to touch up imperfections like screwdriver gouges in consoles. This is very common. Sorry about the 50 mile driving distance but the traveling vinyl repair guy has fixed my cars in my driveway. The repairs (on Honda, Acura, Volvo and Porsche over the years) have been invisible. I'd suggest finding out who does this for the local Mercedes and BMW dealers and send the bill to the Acura dealer.

 

Bet you $100 that kid is still pulling apart cars next week.

 

Yeah, I think that was all an act. Being in my fair share of temp jobs, I know that no boss, no matter how dumb his employee is, would point it out in front of the customer. For one thing, it reflects on him ("Well why was he hired?") and it also sets him up to actually do something about it.

 

When I look back at previous cars that I have owned, the problems that developed were primarily dealer-installed or after-market installed things.

Here's a weird one that I experienced. Took my TSX in for rattles in the ceiling area. Dealer adds insulation or felt or something in suspect area, but scratches the reading light assembly. (It was an accident and I appreciate the dealer's honesty in mentioning it.) Rattles are gone. A few weeks later, the dealer replaces the reading light assembly--a Thursday. I drive away and instantly have rattles galore. I made an appointment to come in Tuesday. Meanwhile from Thursday through Sunday, it's Rattle City big time. On Monday on my way home from work, the rattles totally disappear. On Tuesday, I show up at the dealer to drop off my car, but I told them the rattles stopped! They couldn't do anything about the rattles that no longer exist, so I leave. It's been two weeks now, and the car has been rattle free. WEIRD!

Why would the car rattle non-stop for 3-4 days and then totally stop?