Novice

Somewhat related issue....

Some of you know that I had to ask my dealer to replace the seat cover because of the peeling problem, not because of the butt prints. While they were doing that, they scratched plastic pieces around the seat and the rocker pannel. This dealer in Bethesda, MD made me wait 5 freakin weeks to get those two plastic piece and finally called me to bring in my car. At the end of the day, I had to call them to see if the car was ready. They said the parts didn't come in and they had to order those pieces. So, I wait another day without any calls from the dealer. I finally went to the dealer after 7pm tonight. The car was ready. I opened the door only to find that only one piece was replaced and the second piece still had deep scratch marks made by someone who was replacing my seat cover. On the top of that, the cover that hides the seat motors and wires was loose as if someone pulled it off the seat. The rocker pannel that was airbrushed didn't look good either.

I've never been treated this badly in my life whether it is a car dealer or a grocery store. The worst part of the story is that this a-hole didn't even call me to let me know when the car was ready (the last thing I wanted to deal with after a 10 hour work day trying to cure a disease in a clinical research lab).

I hope this is an isolated case as I don't want any of you guys to go through this sort of experience. I know it is ridiculous to say this under the title I have on the top, but this whole exp. started with the seat cover. I know that 50% of dealers will do some damages to your car no matter what they are dealing with. But, if the seats are not DAMAGED, just think again.

The night service guy asked me to bring the car in tomorrow and talk to the service manager. I am not going to do that as I will give this a-hole even more satisfaction of seeing me all aggravated. If those screw driver scratch marks bother me later, I will just spend $30 to get it and install it myself.

Thanks for listening. Writing this story already made me feel better.

Novice.

PS) The TSX loaner I got had three stitches on the seat cover-guess what-there was a butt print.

Bluenote

Novice,

Sorry to hear you've had this problem. I do think the service manager deserves to made aware of the issue, and to visually inspect the vehicle. I know the last thing you want to do is truck back to the place that damaged your baby-I hate going back to places that tick me off.

But, if you don't go back & show him, how will he know he has someone working on customer's vehicles that is sloppy & uncaring?

I know mistakes happen when working on a car. But if someone doesn't have the cajones to tell me they've damaged a customer's car, then they don't deserve to work for me. That's why a very large part of my day is spent performing quality control inspections, and why my shop foreman spend more time training my technicians than he does turning wrenches.

Showing the service manager the damage they caused may just keep one of us from going through it in the future.




on, BTW, my mother lives off of River Rd. Small world, huh?

oidvoid

I've always heard that Chevy Chase sucks. Of course, I mean the comedian, not the Acura dealer. I agree with you about not taking it back to be fixed again. It's kind of like going to a hospital - why would you do that unless you absolutely had to?

Hey Bluenote, is that your Strat? Looks like nice wood, but a little hard to see in your avatar.

Cheers,

oidvoid

Bluenote

It is indeed. Finished and assembled by yours truly.

check pics at www.pbase.com/bluenote

rets

Man, sorry to hear this. I prolly just cannot take it.


Please keep us update after talking to their SVC manager. Good Luck.

orrorin

You should let Acura Cusomer Service know about it and let the deler know about it.

Don't get mad, get even.

JetJock

Novice, thanks for all the information you've posted regarding the buttprint issue. I've learned from your experience that the solution is worse than the problem. I'm sorry you had the problems, but thanks to you, others may decide not to go thru the hassle for the buttprint thing. Many thanks.

mxtt

Sorry to hear about your exp.

Novice

Bluenote: A small world indeed!

oidvoid: Not just comedians. Rude comedians although not everybody there are like the guy I dealt with. Then again, there are only two people who can deal with customers for repairs, etc. He didn't give me a service write-up this time either.

rets: Thanks. I will.

tomhanx: I don't think they will care that much. They will say each dealer is owned and operated independently.

JetJock: Good!

mxtt: Thanks.

For those who live around DC suburb, I would avoid Chevy Chase Acura for any service related problems.

Bluenote

Novice,

Unfortunately, Client Services will document the complaint & transfer the info to the dealer, but that's pretty much where their involvement ends. They will follow up & sometimes they recommend a course of action, but it's up to the dealer's service department to follow through.

srhewes

Sorry to hear about all the bad experiences in Bethesda. My daughter is thinking of getting an 05 TSX and she lives in Bethesda. Should she look in Gaithersburg or elsewhere? Sounds like the Chevy Chase place (closest to where she lives) is not real good.

She's also big on getting a free car wash -- does the guy in Chevy Chase have the facility for it? I'm assuming the Gaithersburg guy does, since there is more room out there.

Any dealer advice is appreciated.

Novice

srhewes:

Chevy Chase rarely gives any discounts because it is in Bethesda (you know what I mean). I think she should shop around in VA and Gaithersburg.

The free car wash thing is a hype. For example, if you go to Rosenthal Acura in Gaithersburg and have a work done there, they will wash your car. If she wants a car wash at CC, she will probably has to call the dealer and make an appointment. Besides, the quality of their car was is not good-last night my car was full of water droplets. I think they just spray water and wipe it off with towels or something.

Good luck! If she wants to save some money, I recommend her to call around as far as NJ (that's where I got my car with something like $2700 below MSRP).

I hope this is helpful!

srhewes

Novice,

Thanks for the feedback. I have an 04 TL that I bought in Columbus and the dealer will give her around 5% off for a repeat customer. I'll probably buy here, break it in for the 1st 600 miles, then have her fly here and drive it back to Bethesda (400 miles). I'm assuming no problem with getting the car serviced where it was not bought. We will also shop in MD and VA, too.

Novice

5% sounds pretty good. But, be sure to look into some dealers in NJ! Yes, you can have your car serviced anywhere. Just remove the license plate frame (if it has a dealer add on it). I don't think they have any way of knowing whether you bought it at their dealer.

Bluenote

Au contraire, Novice. We can find out which dealer you bought the car from.


honestly though, this is almost never really important. I'll service cars bought anywhere.

Novice

Ha ha. I believe you BN. I have a question though. If a service guy doesn't give me a paper describing the problems and fixes when I pick up my car, what does that mean? He always says he would mail it to me, but he never does. The guy there I used to deal with (now he is gone-go figure) always did.

Bluenote

Simply put, he's not very good at his job. A service advisor should always have an invoice available to a client when they arrive to pick up the car. Acura and Honda feel very strongly about this, and this is a big no-no.

Personally, I wouldn't accept a vehicle without an invoice, even if there is no charge. The invoice is a legal document & is for your protection. I would call & ask for all of your invoices to be reprinted. I would also suggest going to pick them up, instead of having them mailed to you. Why? Because follow through seems to be an issue.

Sadly, I know for a fact this happens where I currently work (nameless Honda dealer.) I am trying very hard right now to break some old bad habits exhibited by the service advisors. We've already improved greatly in the 9 months I've been here, but for every issue I fix, there's another one to take it's place.

No rest for the weary.

Novice

Thanks, BN! Too bad you don't work at an Acura dealer where I can go to!

Much appreciated.

Bluenote

Honestly, I've had my fill of Acura owners. Generally speaking, they're really hard to please. The unreasonable ones just suck the life right out of you.

The people of which I speak are the ones who think they own you if they've spent $.50 at your shop, and equate every failure with something you've worked on in the past. I almost got out of the business back in January and started a Snap-On franchise, but I got cold feet.

Sigh.

Novice

Really? That's interesting. I had a 2003 Honda Accord EX before I bought a TL. Personally, I really like a couple of Honda dealers I used to go to. They used to call me 2-3 times a day to update the progress on my car whenever I brought it in for service.

dsc888

Novice,

Sorry to hear about your experience. I had my leather covers replaced both on the seat cushion and the back portion on the driver's side and mine came out really well. No scratches were found. Acura of Boston subcontracted the job out to a professional upholsterer. I have no complaints so far.

dsc888

wstevens

I've been to a few dealerships in the DC area for service, and so far Pohanka in Chantilly, VA is probably my favorite. I don't think I'd ask them to replace the seat covers, though. That just seems like asking for trouble.

Also, DO NOT accept the free car wash from ANY dealership in the DC area. The machine they run it through is just like any other automatic car wash and WILL scratch your rims.

J RIDE 81

Man it bothers me just thinking of what happened to you. I'm sorry to hear that and hope it all eventually works out for you!

Lore

First, let me say that I had my seat covers replaced by a professional upholsterer that the dealer outsourced to and it looks great.

DO NOT accept the courtesy car wash at ANY dealership, PERIOD! They hand wash my car and man, it was a mess after the wash. Scratches and swirls EVERYWHERE. The worst part is after I took it back to the dealership and showed the new Service Director (one guy up on the totem pole over the Service Manager) he denied that his people did the scratching and insisted that they were already there. No matter what I said he wouldn't budge. Finally had to write some letters to get some action. The General Manager called me and we had a chat - while he wouldn't allow a re-paint under any circumstances, he did allow me to get it detailed at a professional detailer of my choice. Most of the scratches/swirls are gone now, but some remain so I'll be taking it back for a follow-up detail session.

ACS is also following up on this now too and had informed me that while they typically only work with warranty issues, they can help restore the goodwill aspect of this situation by offering free services for the car or a free accessory. I told them that the remaining scratches are pretty deep in the paint so it might need a repaint of those panels to get rid of the scratches, and the case manager said that wasn't too unreasonable to ask.

However, I don't think the General Manager would go for that. We shall see after the follow-up detail.

oidvoid

Bluenote: Nice pix! I really have always liked the tiger stripe. Even though I'm a keyboard player, I can appreciate a really nice guitar. A friend of mine owns a '48 (yes, '48) Broadcaster. He says it's going to pay for his daughter's education.

srhewes: I bought my TL in Oct. at Rosenthal. I had a very good buying experience, absolutely no BS. Ask for Arthur. I don't have much experience with their service dept., but they seem on the surface to be very professional. I will agree about the car wash, though. Just say "No."

Novice

Just called Acura Customer Services in Torrance, CA (funny that's where I am going for Christmans) and told this nice gentleman what happened. He was typing everything I was saying and will be sending a copy to the highest management at this dealer. Oh, well....

Lore

You could follow-up with your very own letter too. Probably would result in a much faster response. Your situation sounds much like my car wash one, except the scratches in my car will take a lot more than $30 to fix!

Novice

Neh, I think I've done enough. Thanks!

Novice

Wow. I just discovered another gift from Chevy Chase Acura. A nice scratch mark on the rear driver side door. I tried Mothers Scratch Remover-still some lines are visible. I am not going back to that dump dealer though as I will get more scratch marks.

oidvoid

Novice -

CC has done more harm than good. Next service bring it up here to Gaithersburg and Rosenthal Acura. Hopefully they'll do you right. Can't say whether they'll give you a loaner, seeing as you didn't buy from them, but they will give you a lift to the Red Line at the very least. Should be a pretty painless trip getting in to work.

oidvoid

Novice

Thanks. I am not going back to CC even if they fire that a-hole and give me a new car. I've been to Rosenthal. They did give me a loaner even for one hour. It is about 12 miles away from where I live. I think it is still worth.