graphicguy

OK....here's the way it went down. Understand that I was skeptical of how this was going to happen, given the way I had been treated over the last couple of weeks or so.

Walked in to the dealership. Was greeted by the General Manager and my Sales Person (who said he was on vacation and in Chicago accepting a sales award for being "good") while this was going on.

My big qualifier was I didn't want the ebony interior (no offense meant to those who like ebony interiors). They had a CBPP with ebony in the showroom. They also had a PM with taupe and a WDP with taupe in the showroom. All were SH AWD w/tech.

The sales person asked me to "pick one", or to walk the lot. I really liked the WDP w/taupe.

He said whatever it was I wanted, I could have. I picked the WDP w/taupe.

He wrote up the deal. showing full retail, asked me to sign it.

Whoa.....that's not our deal.

He said not to worry. I would be taken care of.

I wanted to see the deal. They showed an even swap for my "old" new TL, and the new WDP as being equal value for the trade (which had all of 8 miles on the odo).

I signed the paper. They issued me a "due bill" for the tint and clear bra, which I accepted. I knew they used the same guy I did (who uses 3M and "Venture Shield" for the clear bra). I'll get that done later. I also got a check from them for the tow bill, and a cert for A1 service. The GM said he'd go to battle with Acura corporate. He said he was sorry for their behavior towards me. And that he would let them know of my dissatisfaction

In short, exactly what I'd asked for. I agreed to give them a "great" CSI (although not required for the deal).

Interestingly, I received a call from ACS, telling me via vmail that they were going to readdress my case. Coincidence? Don't know. I'll call them back tomorrow.

Here's the deal....I walked out with a new TL, exactly like my other new TL, except for color.

The dealer, Superior Acura, of Fairfield, OH stepped up and took care of me. I'd recommend them highly.

What did I learn?

-as someone else pointed out, you may want to chase that last $100-$200 or more. But, of more importance, who do you trust to go to bat for you when it comes to your dealership? Some place a 100 miles away? Or, your local store 10 miles away? I'll choose the latter.
-Acura Corporate really doesn't give a shite about us as customers, making your dealership all that much more important.
-if you feel you've been wronged.....FIGHT! Use EVERY means at your disposal. Don't give up (cause Acura wants to stone wall you until you do).

Finally, thanks to all of the fine folks in the AZ community. Without you all urging me to fight, and to write letters, make phone calls, contact everyone possible, I never could have got Acura to do what's right by us.....their customers.

Again, thanks!

PS....I've got pics of the new ride, that replaced the other new ride. I'll get the downloaded and add them to my siggy.

charco

Congratulations GG,

you are lucky that you have a great dealer that is on your side.
your dealer should take the bonus for all those bad apple in Acura at year end, as your dealer is the one who actually helped Acura to maintain customers, not only you, but everyone who reads this thread.

JM2010 SH-AWD

Gguy-

So glad it worked out for you. Kudos to your dealer too.

Look at the bright side - you got to experience that "new car drive-off" feeling twice within a month!

Cubanaso

Congratulations, That is why one should never give up...!

xrays

graphicguy,

Great to hear that you finally got a good outcome. I've been glued to this thread and really interested to hear your (and others) experience and opinions.
Very nice to learn that the dealership stepped up and took care of the Acura customer.
All the best in your new TL.

Sapere

Congrats on the replacement at last!

apnorm

iTrader: (3)

wow. I just read this thread from beginning to end. What a roller coaster ride filled with emotion...and it didn't happen to me! So glad that the dealership stepped up at the end. Congrats and enjoy your new car!

jangkai

I'm glad everything worked out in your favor at the end. You really had to fight for it, but it was all worth it no doubt.

Congrats on your 'new' ride and hope everything will go smooth with your new WDP/Taupe. Drive safe!

brassai

Glad the dealer stepped up, glad you're happy GG. Most especially happy that SOMEONE at Acura did the right thing and we're all happy you hung in there.

I still think you need to publish the VIN.

D.

Hapa DC5

Outstanding! I'm truly happy for you man. Use your ride in good health.

08A-SPEC

iTrader: (3)

wow! glad it all worked out in your favor!!

tmnhs81

Glad the dealer stepped up and solved this issue. Congrats on second brand new car..

George Knighton

I'm sorry that it took so long for this to happen, and happy that you are satisfied.

graphicguy

Thanks, all! Again, I appreciate the AZ community support.

This is the first "white" car I've ever owned. Different looking sitting in the garage. I'm hoping for many trouble free years, and many trouble free miles with this one.

As requested, here's the vin# of the "bad" TL....

19UUA9F53AA005230

nj2pa2nc

excellent news-many miles of problem-free safe driving to you and your new TL.

GunnerX

Congratulations! This is a big win for us consumers and it's really good to see there are still great dealers out there willing to win our business. I've watched this thread from the day you posted it and I'm truly glad it ended with you satisfied!

007Acura

Congrats! I would e-mail this thread to Autoblog.com so more people can see your nightmare story that has a happy ending.

Sapere

I think you'll love the white one more simply because the beak blends in well with the color...

PetesTL

Congrats graphicguy! Just curious, why did you pick WDP this time?

MyT6MT

Congrats! Don't be afraid to push your new TL. Chances of the same thing happening are next to none! Drive it with confidence! Again Congrats!

graphicguy

In all frankness, I would have been happy with another CBP. I did not want ebony interior. Around these parts, around July, August, Sept, it gets very hot and muggy. Every black interior car I've ever owned gets real clammy in the summer.

So, when I talked to the GM, he said he had a PMM with taupe, and a WDP with taupe. I hadn't even seen the WDP that he was talking about. But, I preferred it over silver or gray based soely on the pics I'd seen posted here at AZ.

Looked good when I arrived at the dealership. Honestly, I was tired of messing with this whole fiasco, too.

I guess if I really wanted to be prickly about it, I could have demanded a CBP with taupe. But, I was OK with WDP. I've had a bunch of black cars. I like them. This is a nice change of pace for me.

graphicguy

'Ya know, on the CBP TL, I was real easy on it for the first 600 miles, just like the manual "suggests".

I may come out of the shoot and drive this one like a scalded dog.

I've only driven this one about 10 miles, from the dealership, ran an errand, and back home.

But, this one drives different than my CBP. Could be a lingering sign of the issues with the first one.. Tranny is smoother. No surges, no jerks (which was a phenomena with the first one). Power delivery seems more immediate, too.

Originally, even before the first one died, I thought once it was broken in more, those issues would have gone away. They never did, and actually became worse after they allegedly fixed it.

I'm still convinced there are issues that weren't addressed affecting the first one.

No matter. It's gone.

brassai

Ok gang... let's keep an eye on this one and see what happens. There are currently 3 entries in the Carfax database... likely the transfer to the dealership, the ODO report to the state, and the title transfer to GG. I'll be looking for more.

D.

Bearcat94

Hard to say what may have or will go on behind the scenes, between the dealer and Acura. You can be pretty sure the dealer won't take it lying down; that they'll fight with Acura to get some consideration.

Regardless, if the dealer hadn't stepped-up, this wouldn't have gotten done.


As far as the outstanding call from ACS, tell them, there is nothing you can do for them and they'll have to take it up with the dealership. :lol:

OR

Make 'em give you some swag for being assholes.

graphicguy

Bearcat....I'm not done with ACS yet. I'm still pissed at my "case manager". And, you can bet that we'll have a conversation where they will absolutely know how I feel.

Some swag will be only the beginning of what they'll need to come up with before I cool off.

emceeR

Congrats!!!!!!

Sandals

iTrader: (2)

It's great to know the GM of the place knows it's the reputation of the place that is at stake. When you think about it, it's a 40K + car and you would expect with the low sales of this car they would treat everyone very well.

I'm happy that when push came to shove everything work out for ya.

Type34

Wow, you don't hear that every day.


Glad to hear the owner stepped up...as I mentioned, that was the case with me as well. Once it reaches the owner's ears and it's deemed a legitimate "problem", he'll direct his minions to take care of it.

So glad to hear they did the right thing...enjoy your new TL

Bearcat94

Go get 'em tiger.




BTW - do you still intend to report the initial incident to NHTSA?

That report is not about what Acura did or did not do for you. IMHO, it's about keeping someone from having a similar close call (or, God forbid, ending up in a serious accident). In other words, it's for Public Safety.

graphicguy

You guys are right about the owner of my dealership. In casual conversation yesterday while the business manager changed title, got odo readings, etc, the GM said about the owner.....

"He owns the building. He owns the business. He says do it, I do it."

It still amazes me how all of this could have easily been avoided, but wasn't, at just about every twist and turn.

All the grief, all the frustration, all the anger, and for what purpose?

As I told the GM...."I've never known a company to go out of business by listening to their customers and retaining them."

Collectively, we're Acura's bread and butter. We're the reason they even exist, at all.

That's a lesson that Toyota has learned painfully recently. It's one that Acura has yet to learn, at least from my perspective....'ya know, one of their repeat customers. One of the people they depend upon to stay in business.

Personally, I have no doubt that there are some unscrupulous customers out there that they try to guard against. But, I'd say the vast majority of their customers are honest people, spending their hard earned cash (a lot of it, to be more specific) on Acura products. I'd tolerate that 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 who's trying to rip off the company, as not to piss off the other 90%-95% of the "good" customers.

graphicguy

Bearcat....at first blush, I probably should. However, given that the dealership intends to drive my "old" new TL for a few months to get all the problems sorted out, I probably won't. I don't even know that I can at this point, since I no longer own the car.

Can someone actually file a report on a car they don't own?

NJ SHAWD

Well done GG. Now I need to talk to my dealer about the flat tire I got on the way to work this morning!

I kid, I kid

Just some more food for thought. We manufacture construction equipment. There are times where things just happen. A bolt loosens, or maybe a component from one of our vendors fails. I have given new equipment to our customers on behalf of the dealers more than once. I also know that on more than one occasion the dealer made it look like they were taking the hit and being the good guys when we really took it in the shorts. There is a political fine line we walk with our dealers. On the one hand it would be easy for me to tell the contractor that we really took care of them, but doing so would make the dealer look bad for lying. No manufacturer wants to risk making the dealer look bad.

Taketwo

Your result makes me happy. You fought the good fight Graphicguy. I just got the identical car you did in your swap two weeks ago and absolutely love it. Now that you can get back to enjoying your TL consider the chrome grille and trim! I bought it and has it put on last weekend! Looks amazing and not so "beaky". I will put pics up in who's got wdp when I hit my 15th day!
Do you have an email for Superior? It would all be fun if we sent them emails thanking them for doing the right thing.

Colin

graphicguy

Nice thought. I'll find out about the email address. On the business cards I have, there are no email addresses listed.

smarty666

Graphic, I'm so pleased and happy for you that your dealership came through for you. If you can, I'd stay with them for as long as possible because dealerships like that are hard to come by. I know for a fact, that the three local Acura dealerships to me here in NJ, would never do this without the okay from ACS or a regional rep!

It has been my experience, with MB, Acura, Nissan, and Infiniti has in regards to replacing things, etc they always check with corporate and if corporate doesn't give them the okay they have left me out to dry. For your dealership to do this is remarkable. I guess they are one of the few true dealerships among all the stealerships out there!

Best of Luck with your new TL! Hope she runs great for you!!

graphicguy

Smarty....thanks, man. I appreciate it.

While I never went to the lengths as some I've read about chasing the very last nickel in any deal, I have done my fair share of "hard bargaining/shopping". This is the 2nd (I guess technically, now the 3rd) TL I've bought from my dealership. Their sales staff has low turnover. And, I've always gone to the same sales person.

The GM has been at the dealership since its inception, about 24 years ago when Acura first entered the market. My sales person has been there 10 years. He's a consistent award winner....and overall, a good guy. No BS that I read about with some other dealerships. I've read some crazy stuff on some of these forums regarding what dealerships do.

In fairness, I've read some crazy stuff some customers do, too....chasing that "lowest possible price".

While this is my first interaction with the person that owns the dealership, with his other family members (they also own a Honda, a Hyundai, a Kia and a Chevrolet store), I'm glad I was able to speak with him, too. His customer concern obviously carries through the entire company.

They wanted to keep my business, and they stepped up to do just that.

Acura is very fortunate to have them representing their brand.

Anyone can buy an Acura wherever they want, for any reason they want. At the end of the day, it comes down to service. Who do you trust to have your back? The $100, $200 you saved by going from dealer to dealer doesn't amount to a hill of beans when things go sideways and you need someone you trust to go to bat for you.

Bearcat94

Of the new WDP TL.

PsychDoc

BTW, just a bit of an afterthought but did anyone fork over that $300 for the tow?

Corporate Acura has really shown itself to be a bunch of duplicitious scumbags in this case.

They should really be ashamed of themselves.

TLNV

^^^^
He sure did whoot!