lland

Acura Service

Most of you probably don’t remember as it was a while ago but the day I picked up my RL, literally pulling out of the dealership, the CMBS system went out. 9:00 at night in the rain. I turned around and told them they sold me a broken car. They gave me an MDX loaner and off I went…without my new RL. It took a few days (had to order parts and new calibration equipment) but it was fixed and all was well…until the past Sunday.

I was out with my 16-year-old son and his new learner permit (scary) and while trying to get him to go around a circle, in reverse, without using the rearview camera, the CMBS fault warnings came back on. They stayed on so when I got home, I called my service rep. and left a message.

He called me back at 7:40 Monday morning and told me to bring the car in. I dropped it off and also mentioned the brakes still squeak (I already had the brake squeal TSB done), the intermittent door handle lock operation, and steering recall. Also, even though I was at 40%, I figured I’d get the oil changed since they already had the car. I drove off in the ’07 TL he already had waiting (approx 5,000 miles and a buzzy rear center speaker, a few other squeaks…but that’s for another thread).

Late Tuesday he calls and leaves a message (my comments in parenthesis):

“We took care of the CMBS (apparently it was a “dirty sensor” warning not a system failure, which I don’t quite understand since the car was pretty clean). The tech also didn’t hear the brake squeal until this morning and it’s actually the rear brakes so we’ll take care of them (which aren’t covered by the TSB). The door handle worked perfectly for us but I ordered a new one since they have had some complaints in the past. Your car should be ready later in the day tomorrow (Wednesday).

I get a call at 7:35 Wednesday morning that my car is ready and as I’m not yet at work, I go pick it up (snow in the forecast so I prefer to have my AWD). It’s sitting out front, freshly washed (even had the tires shined up) and ready to go. The work done:

Repair (reset?) CMBS
Steering recall (no fender scratches)
Replaced door handle
New rear brakes (to go with the recent front brakes)
Oil change

Total cost: $0.00 and when I get into my car, there is an Acura air freshener and two mints sitting on the console. Nice touch.

That’s why I keep going back to Acura.

LL

GoHawks

Similar experience I had with the door handles. I had the passenger driver's side replaced almost a year ago, but recently the driver's side started acting up along with the passenger side again. The difference was that the driver side wouldn't lock (by touching the dimple) where as the passenger side wouldn't open. A couple months ago I take my car in for the power steering recall and I mentioned the door handles. As you might expect, when I drop off the car, the door handle is working fine. They said they would still check it out.

They washed the car several times but both handles still work fine.

They consulted with ACS and since my driver's side was never replaced and that there's a known problem they would replace it. Since the passenger side has the redesigned handle, they couldn't replace it if they can't get it to act up.

Fine, it's the passenger side which is not where I open to unlock most of the time anyway.

Sure enough it starts acting up. Again, by the time I schedule the appointment it's acting fine again. They wash the car, and then let it sit outside (in the dampness), but still no luck.

I get a call back and they say they're going to go ahead and order the part and replace it anyway since I'm now on my second trip in. They also told me to just keep the loaner car until it's done so that I didn't have to keep making trips into the dealer.

It took a couple of days, but the part came in and they replaced it. I asked them again if they were able to get it to act up again after it had been sitting, and they said no.

Regardless... it's fixed.

neuronbob

Sounds like you guys have class dealer service. Mine does pretty well, too, and I wish everyone's did as well.

to Acura Service advisors who do their jobs well and look out for the customer.

geronimomoe

These are the kinds of stories that keep me with Honda/Acura/Toyota.

Until the other brands figure out that customer service at the dealership level and the manufacturer's level are a big factor in car sales, I'll never buy their cars again.

Chuck091279

I completely agree with this thread. It is the service quality that I really appreciate. Generally, it's just taken care of.

geronimomoe

Oops, forgot Lexus...

TampaRLX-SH

It is good to hear. I too have an excellent dealer / service experience. I do factor dealership/salespeople/service center into new car purchases.

The references posted in the Tier 1 thread speak of dealership experience being address in the Tier 1 approach. I am very interested to see what that may be.

For those of us who aready have good experiences, it may be moot to us. Bit I certainly would like to see some common baseline of service practiced by all Acura dealers.

Zipho

I get excellent service from my loca acura dealer, and I did not buy my rl from them. I've never trusted dealers before, but when I tested them with my old legend they were straight up good service. I go to them for all work now, except I don't know if I can get them to install a custom aluminum crank pulley when I do my T. belt job. one service person said they only install oem. but another said that if I was bringing them my T. belt job they might be flexable. we'll see I guess.

on the other hand some dealers in eastern canada have inspired this web site
www.acurasucks.com

geronimomoe

There will always be bad dealers, regardless of brand. It is up to the manufacturer to hold the fire to the feet of the dealer to uphold the brand name. If they don't the manufacturer should have the right to strip the dealership of it's "franchise rights" (basically not being able to sell or service cars of that given make)..

Even if the manufacturer doesn't strip the "franchise rights", ultimately the dealership will fail and fold due to lack of customers. As they say, survival of the fittest.

The dealerships/manufacturer's that do the "right thing" for customers thrive.

Sideswipe

I'm a repeat Acura owner and I've had nothing....nothing but top notch care at every Acura dealership I've been to. I just picked up my 02' CLS from the shop with a brand new tranny in it. I dropped it off last Saturday. The guy had all the confidence almost to the level of cockiness when he told me it would be ready by the middle of the week. I'm thinking to myself, yeah right. With Monday being a holiday I'd be lucky to hear from this guy the following Saturday or even next monday. Sure enough he left a message on my voicemail smoothly telling me to pick up my ride at my convenience TODAY.

I got there at the shop and the dude was literally waiting in his office for me to show up. HE WAS THE ONLY EMPLOYEE THERE. I turned in the 08' TSX, jumped in my perfectly detailed CLS and spun out of the parking lot like a 5-year-old kid on Christmas morning. Even at my favorite mom and pop Acura garage they can tell me what's wrong with my car and even estimate the cost down to the penny without even touching a computer or thumbing through a parts book. You have to understand when I've been to other places to get my car serviced I'd get some dumb motherfucker that would look at me like I was crazy when I asked if he could tell what was wrong with my car from description and quickly say "YOU'LL HAVE TO JUST LEAVE IT." And of course my reaction is : But with Acura I'm always treated like I'm the only customer they have.

jftjr

Wish I could say the same. My service department seems unable to fix simple issues without repeat visits, and I grudgingly get loaners or a wash, let alone mints on my pillow.

geronimomoe

I guess you're very far from other dealers? If so, that really stinks.. One thing about Acura in NJ, here are a lot 6-8 Acura dealers within 1 hrs drive. I'm within 20 minutes of 2.... My office is very close to one, another reason I am leaning towards Acura...

As they say, Money talks.....

lumpulus

Of course they should give you great service...they sold you a broken car(you even said this yourself)....I would have demanded a different vehicle.

lland

It worked fine during my 2-day test drive (my sales guy threw me the key and said to "bring it back tomorrow"). Things break. It just happend to break the day I signed on the dotted line. If they couldn't fix it properly, I certainly would not have accepted the car. If it broke six months later would you still demand a different vehicle?

How they fix it is what matters. They treated me properly then and have since. I bought my RL there because of the way the service department treated me with my MDX. When I bought the RL, I told them I came back for because of the service department.

When I had my Volvo, I had nothing but headaches from the service department from telling me a twice broken (and since redesigned) cupholder was "trim" and trim wasn't covered by the warranty to literally arguing when I asked them to ajust the temperature of the seat heater because it would barely get warm ("it must be right because that's how it was set at the factory"). They did all they could to alienate me as a customer, the exact opposite of my Acura experience.

LL

jftjr

Actually, I'm in NJ, but this dealer is 3 minutes away and the others are all about an hour or more.

So, I guess you can call it laziness but I really don't feel that I should have to drive an hour when there's a dealer 1 mile away....

geronimomoe

Wow. Care to mention the dealer's name, assuming that isn't against forum rules?