sgmotoring

from craigslist.org letter from an Ex-Acura Technician

Letter to Acura/Honda owner, dealer and American Honda



After 12 years of working as a technician, I finally decided to quit working for Acura. What a relief! No more abuse from picky customers. No more fixing endless squeaks, rattles, wind noises, and etc., especially under warranty. No more B.S.
To nasty, picky Acura customers (you know who you are): Technicians did not design your car. If you hear rattles while going on your driveway or if you hear wind noises while driving over 80 mph, stop speeding or turn your radio volume up. When you bring your car in for an oil change, we did not declare that your damn oil change and free wash would be done in 30 minutes. So stop bitching!! Have you gone to the DMV lately? Just because it is during your lunch hour, it does not mean that you are the king of the world. Yes, we take our lunch break, too. Usually that happens to coincide with your precious lunch hour. Filling out a bad survey may be funny to you, but we take it very seriously. Let me tell you a secret. We know who you are! The next time you visit your dealership and did not receive the service you want, think about what you wrote on your survey and what I said. We are not the Red Cross either, so do not expect a free diagnostic. Technicians are not the ones taking money from you. Don’t hate us because the dealership is charging you $100 per hour. If you think they are charging too much, stop taking all those complimentary sodas and juices homes. Those beverages are there for you to enjoy while you are at the dealership, but not for stocking your refrigerator at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the auto shop around the corner only charge $60 per hour, but do they have a nice clean waiting room, restrooms, comfortable seats, big color TV, complimentary beverages, cookies, newspapers, magazines, or a free car wash? Hell, do they even have a service writer or cashier? Well, perhaps you should stop asking for a free drink or car wash? Maybe that will stop them from raising the hourly rate, but please do not take it out on the technicians. We just work there and we only make a measly fraction of that $100. Don’t forget that we also have families to feed.
To the dealerships: We are trying to deal with customers complaints and problems to the best of our knowledge. We try to fixed their problem(s) the first time, but the cars just keep falling apart. Remember we did not design them! Furthermore, why the hell is Saturday a regular workday? A few years back, Saturdays were supposed to be an easy day to help customers with easy tasks, such as oil changes,service, and minor problems. We have better things to do on a Saturday than to listen to annoying customers bitch and moan.
To American Honda: Technicians did not design any of your cars either. Why make us pay for your f%#k ups? Cutting warranty flag times are not going to lower your costs. All it does is piss the technicians off. Yes, we can find other things to flag to cover for our lost flag time. If Acura wants to gain back its early 1990s reputation for being #1 in customer satisfaction, build better cars! . Humm… we might be asking to much? How about just fixing the transmission problems and sunroof squeak for start? Building mediocre cars but having the best technicians patching up your mistakes are not going to take customer satisfaction surveys to the top. Finally, we do not care about surveys or customer satisfaction if we cannot make enough money to feed our families.



Sincerely Ex-Acura Tech

01bluecls

That's is just funny as hell since he actually made a letter for it. In a way I do feel sorry for him since most people do take things out on the dealer or techs when they have no right to. To all the Technicians out there I salute you!

Shawn S

I wonder if Jens wrote that ???
He was pretty frustrated and in the process of leaving Acura (and the USA) last time I talked to him.

TypeS_boi

Great, tell even more people how fucked up our trannies are. I can't even get a reply on Craigslist and I've listed my car for sale on that site like 5-6 times already. Oh well, he's tellin' it like it is.

gocubsgo55

actually kind of sad to me, but kind of humorous

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

hate your job? join the world.

...whoever wrote that letter sounds just like the customers he describes!!

typeR

thats old i think...ive read it before

iamhomin

I went in for warranty work 4 times this year

AMorgCLS

I just got my CLS 2 weeks ago and i've been to the dealership twice for minor warranty stuff.

UNCTYPE-S

thats what its for right?

Ant7701

OMG...it's like someone picked my brain. I go thru that same bullshit everyday!!!
Oneday I hope to write a letter like that

Red Rider

Glad that Fucker hasn't been working on my car

subtledreamer

CLASSYCLS

had to do tht Ant

Red-CL

I was thinking that too.

123456SPEED

Good riddance. Maybe he should go work for Mercedes or BMW where customers expect car problems.

SG81

iTrader: (1)

i've been in for warranty work a couple times this year myself

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Chet03TL-S

Does he expect anything different at another dealership?

Justin.CL

I would imagine this is like any other dealership, no matter what kind of car. Maybe he needs to consider a career change if he feels that strongly about it.

mclarenf3387

Yes, most other cars don't have sun-roof squeaks and tranny faliures as factory options.

And its not just that field but any job where you're the middle man. I get boxes down for customers and take down fixtures and pack them away for customers(work at a lighting store). Yet when a fixture comes in all f***ed up, its somehow my fault. And when you have to go pick up your kid from soccer and you don't have time to wait for us to find your fixture cause the retard that puts them away wrote down the wrong section again, its not our fault. Leave more than 5 minutes to pick up the fixture dumbass.

LIke I said, any job where you are a middle man and deal with customers.

Chet03TL-S

From what I hear even the MB S-Class, a very nice and expensive car has a few rattles. That is unexceptable for a car costing up to $140k. So I don't get his complaint about the crappy engineering.

The frustration with the customers I can understand.

TeamMidnightinvasion

I agree, you are a tech there to fix car problems, and if you dont like it then dont do it.

DDT-TypeS

Shit, this actually reminds me of the old days back with windows 95 and doing computer support for bitch ass people. "Why does it say computer has stopped responding (blue screen)?". I always use to tell them, I didn't design the O/S, the O/S just sucks. It's a microsoft thing. And it usually was

I agree with ^ and if you don't like your job, move on. What is lame is the fact he has to write something out like that and have it published on the internet.

zamo

Fuck, we pay 30 grand for a car; we at least expect some quality. Rattles should be gone at that price. Of course I will bitch.

I will also just forget about rattles and just use the volume knob, instead of dealing with mediocre service advisors, which all the time say the could not hear anything.

123456SPEED

As for bad service at dealerships, I don't blame the mechanics as much as the management. If management cared about customer service, problems would be fixed and addressed and not allowed to continue. If their mechanics complain about customers wanting defects fixed management needs to get involved.
I know a mechanic who has worked at a local Acura delear and the mgmt practices were poor in his opinion. He didn't have issues with customers, it was his job to fix the cars.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

What a freaking whinny baby! I deal with idiot all day at work. I'm sure we all do. But that is what our job calls for. We deal with it. Maybe when I get FIRED, I'll write a letter too.
It was definately a funny read though.
And as far as great techs....is that why when my tranny was slipping the service manager said it was my alternator?
Small side note: that "Rant" guy reminds me of my co-worker after she deals with our idiot customers.

Chaptorial

Well now there's no doubt that he worked for Acura.

zamo

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

The only rattle I have is the front license plate frame hitting the bumper every now and then. Guess I'm lucky

moomaster_99

Dude...its not our fault that he probably is a subpar technician.....someone who would complain that much about fixing warranty work and the customers probably wasnt very good. It is true...the warranty work cuts time down to the bare minimum...im sorry that he cant be a lazy ass. As for customers, I feel him.....but if he would fix the car correctly the first time and note any other problems....he probably wouldnt get as many customer complaints.

darrinb

some of these dealers can now do a tranny swap quicker than an oil change

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Yet another strong selling point for the Acura CL and TL!

sgmotoring

If an experiance Acura technician was to fixed every squeak, ratttle, noise, trims fitment and etc that he felt that are not normal on your car. You will probably never get your car back! Ask every technician that own an CL in this site. Do you heard any squeak and rattle in your CL? I am the first to say, HELL YEAH!!!

TypeS_boi

Since when did everyone on here become fobs! hahaha

allenn

At the dealer I go to in Atlanta, you never see anyone but the service agent. Now I know why.

moomaster_99

True.....some people do complain more than others....but that tech just makes himself out to be ass....subpar technician is what comes to mind from his rant