6 years ago
Disappointing customer service from employees and management
I want to talk about my experience with Sherwood Honda to enlighten people that may be thinking of purchasing a vehicle through them. First of all, the buying experience was great. They worked very hard to get me a great deal on exactly what I wanted; They would have done anything to accommodate my concerns and questions about buying my first new vehicle. Sherwood Honda even had the sales manager agree that if I wasn’t able to make it in from out of town for a service appointment, that they would provide complimentary pick up and drop off of my vehicle. Wow, right?! My husband and I were completely impressed with the customer service of a company that seemed the genuinely care about the customers. Until there was a problem, that is.
The first few services were great, they had kept to their agreement of complimentary oil changes for the life of the vehicle. Fast forward 8 months after the purchase of my new Honda CRV Touring, I took it in for a tire rotation and oil change. This is where they also did a quick inspection to ensure everything was running smoothly. To my surprise, they approached me with concern that my tires that failed inspection. These are the tires that came on the vehicle, they were Hankook Kinergy GT all season tires. I asked how they could have possibly failed inspection after less than a year of use (at that time I only had 25,000 kilometres). They showed me their measurements for my tire treads being 5/32 and 3/32. The service lady (Names of employees I’ll keep confidential) shared my frustration and said she hadn’t seen other tires wear that fast on a brand new vehicle; She gave me the number to Honda Canada Customer Relations and said I should call them and try to get new tires from them. When I called Honda Canada, they said that Honda dealerships have independent owners and deal with issues as such, locally at the dealership. They asked if I had bought extended tire warranty, something of which I turned down at time of purchase. Why should I bother with extended warranties on a vehicle that Honda won’t even stand by? Should I have not been in warranty within less than a year of a purchase of a vehicle that has never driven before? Honda Canada told me it was my issue to work out either with the dealership or Hankook tires.
Next step was contacting Hankook customer relations. The man from Hankook was very straightforward: They don’t deal with customers, they deal with dealerships. Hankook told me if I wanted them to look at a claim about my tires, I needed to go back to the dealership to send I’m a claim that included pictures and history of service on the vehicle.
So then I get sent back to Sherwood Honda. I had to argue with them to do a claim to send in..they told me it was useless because Hankook won’t do anything about the tires, nor would Honda. The service guy at Sherwood Honda went as far as telling me that they see this lots with Hankook. Naturally, I’m wondering why Honda chooses to partner with a tire company that they know puts shitty tires on their vehicles, as all the CRV’s have the same line of tires. At this time, I had 2/32 and 3/32 tread life on my tires and 32,000 kilometres.
The service guy reported back to me that the claim has been sent into Honda Canada and that I had an R.O # to reference when I call in and check up on the claim. He told me to “not hold my breath, as he has seen it take up to 6 months to hear a response from these guys.” Very reassuring.
About a week later, I call Honda Canada to touch base. They tell me Honda Canada has no way to trace the status of this claim, nor could they use an RO number to track anything. They tell me it’s the Honda dealership that is able to follow through with it. I call Sherwood Honda, this time to talk to the service manager. She didn’t answer and I left her a voicemail explaining that I had concerns to discuss and would like a call back. I never got a call back, now it’s been over a month. Haven’t heard anything. Honda keeps passing the blame, employees of Sherwood Honda are telling me to call Honda Canada, and Honda Canada is saying it’s up to the dealership to figure out.
My husband writes an email of complaint to Sherwood Honda. We get a call back the next day, Sherwood Honda said that the claim had been looked into and rejected. The service guy was nice enough to give us an “exclusive offer” on the purchase of tires at a price of $1100.
Why did I pay $40,000 for a vehicle in which I have to replace tires under 30,000 kilometres and less than a year of purchase? Why did I invest in a company that does not stand by the integrity of their products, or the partners in which they choose to do business with? Why does Hankook not warranty tires that have been put onto vehicles, when the exact same tire of purchase is warrantied up to 115,000 kilometres (warranty information on their website)?
Why does Sherwood Honda bend over backwards for my sale and customer satisfaction, until there is a problem and then they ignore me and pass me onto someone else to deal with?
Honda kept saying that it wasn’t their make of tires so they cannot be responsible for them. Sure. I understand that, but, when employees are telling me they see this happen a lot with Hankook, why is nothing being done about why Honda choose to partner with Hankook, a company in which supplies tires for an entire line of Honda vehicles.
Alas, it does affect my experience of owning a Honda. So far in my Honda experience I’ve been lied to, passed onto someone else, ignored by management, and still, no one is accepting any sort of responsibility. Other than myself with dealing that I choose Sherwood Honda, and am now regretting it. This has been my only concern with Honda, and if it was dealt with professionally and fairly, I would have been satisfied. But, it has not been. This experience has tainted my view of Sherwood Honda and Honda Canada as a whole, how they deal with customer satisfaction, and how they believe in the quality and safety of their own products. Tires with 3/32 and 2/32 tread life by 32,000 kilometres, of mostly business and highway driving, should be classified as defective. It would have been easier to help me get them warrantied, but now they have blatantly disrespected the customer (and yes, have tried to blame my driving style) for being responsible for the wear on the tires. I don’t know why I did all this research into getting the best vehicle in the market in my price range, only to have such issues. All I wanted was a safe and reliable family vehicle. That’s okay, we’re a part of a consumer market and I can share my experience so hopefully it can enlighten others to some issues they may encounter. Not to mention, after this experience I will never want to buy a Honda again, and so I will ensure my friends, family, and acquaintances are properly informed of my experience with Sherwood Honda and Honda Canada.
