I would genuinely appreciate it if someone has a contact at Acura North America that they could provide. I have had an absolute miserable ownership experience thus far due to Pohanka Acura's (Chantilly, VA) terrible post-sale customer service. I have tried the customer service hotline, however that is merely a procedural task and I doubt anything will be accomplished. I would really like to speak with someone at the Corporate level. Any input/info would be greatly appreciated.

Below are details of my story with Pohanka Acura for your reading pleasure. I apologize for the length in advance.

I purchased my 09 TL Base (w/tech) from Pohanka Acura in April of this year and should have known by the sales delivery what my ownership experience was going to be like. When I purchased the car it was delivered with plastic still on it and the salesman told me that his porter was gone so I would have to come back the following day to have it detailed. When I came back the following day they merely ran it through the auto wash and gave it back to me still wet and with plastic still on the interior.

Fast forward to May; the leather pulls out of the drivers door panel so I return to have it repaired. The proceed to tell me after looking at it for 3.5 hours that they are going to need to order a new one.

Fast forward two weeks later; I call the dealer inquiring if the panel has arrived and they say yes, it was here the following day after your visit two weeks ago. I say thanks for the update and set an appt for the following Saturday.

Fast forward to the following Saturday; I arrive for my 7a appt and at 10a they tell me it's installed and good to go. Upon getting in my car I immediately notice that the door panel they installed is incorrect. They installed a black leather door panel with white stitching when my panel is supposed to be black with black stitching. And they tore the leather on the arm rest while installing (the arm rest is a separate part from the door panel). So they proceed to reorder everything and tell me parts should be in in two weeks.

Fast forward two weeks later; I arrive for my 7a appt on a Saturday morning and at 3p (YES, it took 8 hrs) I receive a call that they have just noticed that they ordered the wrong door panel again and also ordered an arm rest for the passenger door. They will need to reorder all parts; however now they are on back order and it will be a month (mid-July).

Fast forward to mid-July; I arrive again on a Saturday for my 7a appt and again by noon, I receive a phone call telling me that again, they have the wrong parts; AGAIN the parts are on back order, and AGAIN it will be another month. So the parts are "ordered" AGAIN. On to August...

Fast forward to a week and a half ago (third week of August) and another Saturday morning service appt; WOOHOO, it turns out that they have a drivers side arm rest...however after they install the arm rest, the stitching is black and the leather is as well, however I now notice that the texture of the leather is not the same as the other doors. The service advisor proceeds to tell me that leather is like that and the texture is part of the "character" of the leather and that every cow is different. I proceed to tell him that no way in hell is that actually leather first off (there might be 3 sq ft of leather in the whole car) and second, why does the new door panel have the texture of a football and the seats and other door panels have the texture of a leather jacket? Again, he tells me it's the right door panel. I'm pissed but I depart.

Two days later the "leather" door panel is nagging me (sorry, I'm anal) so I return to the dealer and begin looking through other TL's on the lot. I quickly begin to take notice that some of the TL's have the textured leather arm rests and door panels and others have the smooth leather. As it turns out, I come to the conclusion that it is non-tech TL's that have the textured leather, and the tech TL's that have the smooth (on the SH you can get the white stitching). This is where it gets funny...I actually had to argue with the service advisors and manager to get them to finally realize that my car STILL was not repaired correctly. The finally relented, however now they have to order a new door panel once again...and YES, it is AGAIN on back order till October now.

So assuming that the correct part is ordered this time (keeping in mind that it has not been done so in four previous attempts), my car may be completed by mid-October, taking them 5 months to do and 8 trips to the dealership.

On a side note; I have been in contact with the dealership customer relations manager who has been no help. I have tried in vain to get in touch with Pohanka Acura's GM with no luck (literally over 20 voice messages left). I have even left messages with the VP/COO of the Pohanka Group and have received no response. I would love to contact Geoff Pohanka, CEO, however I'm sure the lack of response at this time would continue.

If you are to this point, thank you for reading and I would welcome your response, good or bad.

Kind regards,

 

First, you might want to check out this thread. Might be similar to your problem.

https://acurazine.com/forums/4g-tl-problems-fixes-297/drivers-door-leather-736661/

Wow, that is painful. There nothing wrong expecting the car you just paid $35k+ to be perfect. As in the post I linked, I think there was a problem with the labeling of the parts from the Honda distribution center that may have caused the backorder and wrong parts ordered repeatedly. Still though, it should not have taken this many trips and this long to get the thing right.

You definitely need a new dealership.

Just curious, I did an online questionnaire and a call from Acura (or their outsourced survey company) couple weeks after my purchase asking me about my experience with the dealership. Did you get a chance to put in your problems with your dealership through the survey or it was already too late?

 

I don't have specific contacts but...

CONTACT ACURA CLIENT SERVICES

For further assistance, feel free to contact Acura Client Services. You can get in touch with us several ways:

• By Phone(800) 382-2238 toll free
  Monday through Friday
  6:00 AM to 5:00 PM
  Pacific Standard Time
• By Fax(310) 783-3535
• By MailAcura Client Services
  1919 Torrance Blvd. M/S 500-2N7E
  Torrance, CA
  90501-2746

 

OP- you my friend have alot of patience. Good luck w/ the repairs.

 

dtc5: I was contact telephonically to participate in the new car purchase survey and the dealership did not get the 5's that they love to bribe you with. Perhaps that is why I receive VIP service every time I am at the dealership.

danimal: Thanks for the info, but at this time I am very familiar with Acura Client Services as I have built a near intimate relationship with my "case manager" over multiple 30 minute phone conversations. Although they have been great at listening, they don't seem to have the ability to make the dealership right their wrongs.

Thanks for the input; I'll keep everyone posted as to the progress.

Have a safe and happy extended holiday weekend! Cheers!

 

UPDATE - Pohanka Acura again ordered the wrong part! I'm in contact again with Acura through the customer service group and will update as to the status again shortly.

 

Aw HELLS NAW!

At this point I'd be insisting that if the parts are available on a car on the lot that they take parts from that car, perform the repairs while you wait and if it's not right, you're leaving the car there and getting an attorney.

That, my friend, is insane.

Patience? Wow... You've got an AMAZING amount of patience.

 

you're kidding me!!! freaking UNREAL! you can't go to another dealership? i'm sure people on the forums here have recommendations of good dealerships in your area. maybe call them and ask what they can do for you??!

 

I had some problems with my '09 TL as well (broken weld on the B-pillar, that caused some really annoying creaks). Working with a case manager (named Leon) through Acura's customer service line proved to be very helpful. It took some time, but the dealership fixed the car, Acura sent a rep to test drive it before considering it fixed, and my case manager followed up a few days later.

With regard to leaving the car on the lot and getting an attorney, DO NOT DO THAT. I contacted the attorney general in the state where I bought the car (NY), and was told to never leave the car on the lot. If you are not in possession of the car, and up to date on payments, you do not have a lemon law case. Was also told that the dealership is not responsible for the car if it is left on the lot, so who knows what could happen there.

My advice, contact your state attorney general's office and speak to whoever is in charge of Lemon Law applications. Get the person's name, and then contact the dealership manager, the service manger, and the service consultant working on your car. Tell them the person in the attorney general's office has asked that the dealership provide written hard-copies of all of the work that was done to the car (which will actually be the case). They will take you seriously then.

Once they know you're not going away, and they could potentially have to give your money back for the car, they'll fix it right.

 

Wow! I admire your patience. I bought my 4G from Pohanka also. I've had mine in for an annoying rattle in the steering wheel area twice and also rusty rotors and both problems are still unresolved. I'm just taking mine to a different dealership closer to my home. I was driving an hour to take it to Pohanka because I assumed you only got a loaner if needed from the dealership where you bought the car. According to the service advisor, Acura provides loaner cars to the dealership and it is an Acura courtesy, NOT the dealership. Next time I will go somewhere else. I will say, no one came close to Pohanka's price, on both the 4G and my trade...

 

Okay, so the problem is fixed! Turns out that the dealer (after many long conversations with many people at many different levels) decided to replace the door panel with a matching one from a car on their lot (which, funny enough, is a solution I had prescribed nearly 4 1/2 months ago, but the dealer no at that time; now they claim it as their brilliant idea in customer service). I still don't understand why the dealer cannot get the right part or why Acura Corporate cannot run their parts distribution business, but nevertheless, at this point, my car is fixed and I'm not spending every other Saturday at the dealer.

I'm still up in arms in trying to point the blame (dealership or Acura NA). The dealer says that all parts are ordered by entering in the specific VIN of the vehicle and therefore the correct and matching door panel should have been orderded. Therefore, the dealer is saying they followed the correct procedures in ordering. The funny part is that Acura NA is saying that the parts were not ordered correctly. Therefore, I'm not sure who is lying but both sides seem to be finger pointing (all the while, I was stuck with the wrong door panel installed on my car). Funny enough, I asked both Acura NA and Pohanka what they could do to take care of me and they both said that it was not their fault and to speak to the other party to see if anything could be done (ie: free maintenance, oil changes, $, etc). To this day, no phone calls from either Acura NA or Pohanka have been returned since the completion of the repair.

Needless to say, this will be the last Acura/Honda I will ever own. This is my 4th Acura/Honda product and it appears as though brand loyalty means nothing to this Company. Although the repair has been completed, neither of the party's involved (Acura North America or Pohanka Acura) has provided me with any type of consideration for my time and the hardship they had put me through.

I have made some contacts with Acura NA due to this matter however, so if anyone is in need, please PM me and I'll provide them directly.

Thanks to all for the input/feedback; it is much appreciated. Cheers!

 

I am glad things are finally resolved. You are a better man to keep up with this shit. I would have had a coronary dealing with this issue. Move on and run as far away from Pohanka. I hope you change your mind about not buying another Acura, maybe time can change your mind. When it comes to luxury and performance put in one, no one does it better than Acura other than BMW. I can totally understand why you would never want to own another H or A but I am just glad your issue is fixed.