Honda Car India does not even bother to respond to customer complaints
I had mentioned in my earlier post about clutch and flywheel of my Honda City getting burnt and Honda dealer blaming me for the same. Well, after receiving the response from the Honda dealer, I decided to pursue the matter with Honda Car company itself. So far my effort to get them to even say even a word has been unsuccessful. It seems that Honda Siel Car India believes that keeping quiet is the best way of building relations with the customer.
July 20, 2009 – I wrote to Customer Relations of Honda Siel Car India
Mr. Jaspreet Singh:
I have received a reply from Prime Honda regarding my clutch problem which is of no surprise to me. The first reaction of all manufacturers is to blame the customers and it seems Honda is no different. I have taised a number of issues which nobody has bothered to address. I am very dissatisfied with the reply from Prime Honda. I don’t think the fault lies at Prime Honda as they are directed by you on this issue.
I have asked Prime Honda to return the damaged clutch and flywheel to me. I may need the same as evidence. As such, I would appreciate that the parts are returned to me within the next 2/3 days. I have also spoken to Avinash Ladd at Prime Honda about this.
In the meantime, I would appreciate if you could:
(a) Let me know more about the functioning of your clutch systems, that is, how sensitive it is as well as the do’s and don’ts.
(b) Give us a demo as to how one should use the clutch while driving the car and also suggest to us as to what we are doing wrong while driving. It seems that driving Honda City requires special skills or special kind of driving which we are not aware of.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
thanks
Avinash Narula
July 23, 2009 – Sent a reminder
Mr. Jaspreet Singh:
I regret to inform you that I have not received any response from your end to my mail given below. I have also not received a reply from Prime Honda as to when I can collect the parts. I am a little surprised at the response I am getting from Honda. I would appreciate if you could confirm the following:
(a) When can I have the Clutch and flywheel collected?
(b) When will I receive more information about the clutch system?
(c) When will I get a demo as to how to use the clutch? I think it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to educate the customer as to how to use the product.
I would appreciate if you can send a response, negative or positive. I think I deserve this courtesy as a customer of yours.
thanks
Avinash narula
July 27, 2009 – Still no response. Sent another reminder
Mr P Chakravarty GM, Service
Hi!
Since your so called “Customer Relations” don’t want to respond to my emails and maintain “relations” with us, I am writing to you. I do hope that the service department would want to provide proper service to Honda City car customers.
I have been told by you through your dealer indirectly that I don’t know how to drive Honda City and that is why the flywheel and clutch got burnt within 30,000 km of running. As such, I had requested your “Customer relations who don’t want to maintain relations” to show us how to use the clutch while driving Honda City but I have not received any reply from their end. I have also asked for some instructions as to how to use the clurch while driving the car because I have been told now that the clutch system is very sensitive. I do not want to incur an expenditure of Rs. 20,000 again. I am also sure that you would want us to have a good driving experience and would give us all the necessary information so that we can drive the Honda City without getting the clutch and the flywheel burnt.
We would like to know what we are doing wrong while driving Honda City. So let us see if you would like your customers to have an enjoyable driving experience that your company literature and avertisements keep talking about.
thanks
Avinash Narula
Your dissatisfied customer
Your customer who doesn’t get response
Your customer you dont want to maintain relations with
I have not received any reply till date.
Now let me mention here that Honda probably has a team of people who continuously work to ensure that their ratings in JD Power customer service survey are high. I am sure that like other car manufacturers, Honda tracks every criteria on which the JD Poer bases it ratings. But there is no one to give even an automated reply to a dissatisfied customer who had to spend Rs. 20000 to change a clutch and flywheel after just 30000 kms of running.
The conclusion I am arriving at is that before you buy Honda City car, you should learn how to drive properly so that you don’t burn your clutch and flywheel and risk your life if the car catches fire. I think it may be a good idea for Honda Siel Car India to open up a driving school as a profit centre for the primary purpose of ensuring that Honda City car buyers learn how to drive their car. Or maybe they find that they will make more money selling clutch and flywheels as spareparts when they get burnt.
So if you are thinking of buying a Honda City car, my suggestion is that you take some precautions mentioned below:
(a) Go to driving school again.
(b) Ask the Honda car dealer or the company to teach you how to drive.
(c) Make a fixed deposit of Rs. 15,000 for three years so that by the time you have driven 30,000 km, your fixed deposit will give you the money to replace the clutch and flywheel.
(d) Ensure you have medical and life insurance
Avinash Narula
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Comments
I gave my car DL 3C AK 2353 for denting & painting to Hona authorised workshop Saket motors pvt ltd at mathura Rd, New Delhi for denting & painting. Bad job done. HONDA conpany Is not not taking care of Quality jobs. Total bill paid Is Rs 24034/-
Anita kalra
contact no; 09810133404
Hi,
I had got Honda City S MT on 23rd Oct, 2009. The car was run for only 88 KM. Now itself, its clutch plates got burnt out. Currently the car is for servicing…I am just wondering what could be the reason behind this…has anybody faced any such similar issues..Its very unfortunate to get the car at such an early stage to the servicing centre..Please advise.
Thanks
It is true the dealers are only interested in selling alternative products in which they have hefty profit margins – like accessories and paint protector finishing etc. I visited Divine Honda at Roorkee for the 1st free service of my new Honda City V MT, asked them to adjust the headlight level (it was far too low for highway driving). Their service staff (including service manager) did not know how to operate the adjusting machine. After spending over ten minutes fiddling with the equipment, they sprang up to say “it is done”, when I challenged them that they hadn’t even held up a screwdriver to the adjuster screws, they whimpered out saying that the level is already okay as fixed by the company during manufacture – just imagine their guts of trying to fool the customers.
From: Y V Kumar_gmail
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 10:37 AM
To: s.balakrishnan@primehonda.com
Cc: Customer Care ; Vinod@Primehonda. Com ; Divakar Menon ; aji@primehonda.com ; customer_relations@hondacarindia.com ; saba@hondacarindia.com ; ravisharma@hondacarindia.com ; anita@hondacarindia.com ; suniti@hondacarindia.com
Subject: Re: Unsatisfactory services of Prime Honda – DL7C C 8126
Dear Mr. Balkrishnan,
It seems you have not understood the car stereo issue, even after writing many times in my previous emails. And I am narrating again about the car stereo issue.
1. I had given my car for regular servicing six months ago ( I do not remember the exact date) along with my car stereo fitted in the car in a working condition.
2. I got the car back after servicing (dropped at my residence).
3. I found that the car stereo was not working, when I got the car back.
4. I reported about this car stereo not working to your customer relations by phone. They replied that it is a coincidence that you got the car back from Prime Honda and your stereo stopped working. (A standard and very intelligent answer from Prime Honda customer relations department). And I kept quite and stopped using my car stereo since that time.
5. When I had given the car for repairs recently, then I had asked Prime Honda to check the car stereo and reply to me what is wrong in this stereo.
I already very bad experience while dealing with Prime Honda in all respects, which were already mentioned in my previous mails.
There is no penalty charges on Prime Honda for -
a) returning the car with damaged stereo
b) giving the car without proper fitting the pipes of coolant, which resulted into heavy tensions, time & monitory losses for me.
c) non-cooperative behaviour and wrong diagnosis of employees of Prime Honda
d) I had to spend too much of time in calling Honda Siel customer relations, preparing & sending emails for all my problems and experiences with Prime Honda.
Now, I am afraid to deal with Prime Honda in future.
I expect the Honda Siel being a Japanese company, all the dealers of Honda Siel shall be following the Japanese company principles like quality, perfectness, systematic work culture, systematic/smooth/friendly behaviour with customers, correct/proper billing/invoicing procedures, reasonable charges, ensure customer satisfaction etc.,
And unfortunately, I found that – no perfect work, no proper quality check, unfriendly behaviour with customers, improper billing, exorbitant charges, no customer satisfaction etc.
But I am not just satisfied with your email, as I have not yet received the response on any of my points, which I am mentioning again for your reference:
As informed in my earlier email, I was very much disappointed and unhappy with the functioning and services of Prime Honda.
I want to inform you again clearly my points for your reference and necessary action:
1. Even without any fault in the radiator, they cleaned the radiator and charged me for the cleaning of the same.
Even after cleaning radiator, they have not bothered to check the coolant and radiator. They kept the vehicle with them for about 5-6 days, but still they did not check the vehicle properly.
After delivery of vehicle, after two days, I found that the coolant was leaking from the car.
It clearly shows the casual nature of mechanics at Prime Honda.
2. I reported this matter to Mr. G D Francis, a senior official at Prime Honda, he was so un-customer friendly, non-cooperative and unsupportive. Because of his negative attitude, I was in big tension.
And I had to call Prime Honda many times to resolve this issue, but finally I had to contact the GM of Prime Honda for my help. You pls see the agony that I had undergone because of casual and poor workmanship and bad attitude of Prime Honda personnel.
3. The invoice had two mistakes as mentioned in my below email. How can they make mistakes in the invoice?
4. They charged exorbitantly high for the repairs and then they gave me many troubles as mentioned, so I want them to reimburse me at least 50% of this invoice value.
5. My car stereo set was perfectly alright and it stopped working after dselivery of vehicle. Now, I want Prime Honda to rectify it at their cost.
I request you to kindly do the needful, so that I get justice as mentioned in my email.
I look forward your email as above.
Thanks
Y V Kumar
Avinash Narula Reply:
April 8th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
YUK hi!
I have forwarded your complaint to a senior official at Prime Honda. I hope everything works out for you.
thanks
avinash
I am a resident of Punjab and I bought Honda city from delhi.When the local dealer prestige honda, patiala came to know about this purchase, a whole team comprising of location head Mr Sarabjit Singh came to my house , misbehaved with me and used abusive language.They even confronted me of buying this car from delhi (and not from them) and told me that they will damage the car completely if I took it for service to them.
I am left with nowhere to get my car serviced.It can turn out to be a life threaten to me.
Pl help.
My car is under repair from last month & i wrote so many letter to honda relation manager.But they even reply or bother about my complaint.
Looking todays market scenario honda should care the customer/complaints
I gave my car for clutch plates and service to Hona authorised workshop Lally motors pvt ltd at Ludhiana Bad job done. HONDA conpany Is not not taking care of Quality jobs. i pay Total bill amount
I have made booking of Honda Jazz on 29.08.11 and was confirmed delivery on 28.09.11. But now it is being informed that delivery will be available only by the end of November ‘11. The dealer is selling the booked product at premium to new customers.
To,
The Manager
Honda Cars India Date :18th Oct 2011
Respect Sir/Madam,
This is to bring to your notice that I , Anuj Kataria has given my HondaCity – I Vtec no: HR 26 BA 7676 on 05 Aug 2011 at, for accidental repair at Ring road Honda Basengineering PVT. LTD. , PLot no 33 , Sector 18 , Gurgaon and they promised me to return my car within 40 to 50 days in after repairing my car and would return back in a good condition but that’s not happening. When I tried to get hold of the Honda service center people to know the actual status of my car, they told me that they are waiting for spare parts to come but it had been over 50 days that they are telling me the same thing about unavailability of the spare parts.
I am Real Estate Developer by profession and due to non availability of my car i am suffering mentally, physically and financially. This is a great loss to me as i am even not provided with any conveyance and my work is getting affected adversely.
I don’t wanna take help of the Consumer Court in this case as it would be hassle for you and me both. But if not immediate actions taken from your side i would not be having having any other choice than going to the court as the service center made a commitment and I am totally fed up from the false asurance given by the Serve center.
So , I a request you to kindly take some action as soon as possible in the prior situation and contact me 09899286217 , 09212126217.
With Regards
Anuj Kataria
09899286217 , 09212126217
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Hi Avinash
Can you send me the contact details of Honda senior management in India? I have multiple problems with my new Honda City which i want to take up and then based on their response( or non response, as in your case!) take it up with the right legal authorities.
thanks
Nitin
Reply
Avinash Narula Reply:
September 5th, 2009 at 7:09 am
nitin hi!
Your problem seems to be just like mine. I am giving below the contact details of people in Honda. Please write to them and see if you can get your issues resolved.
1. Jaspreet Singh, CRM, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. (customer_relations@hondacarindia.com)
2. Mr. Masahiro Takedagawa, President & CEO, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., Plot No. A-1, Sector 40/41, Surajpur-Kasna Road, Greater Noida Indl Dev Area, Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar 201306
3. Mr. P Chakravarty, GM-Service (same address as above)
Also send them my customer dissatisfaction cards. You know I am thinking of establishing a website http://www.harassedhondacustomers.com. What do you think? Would you be willing to tell your story there and also send out mails to your freinds and family about the quality of Honda cars?
Thanks
avinash
Reply
Avinash Narula Reply:
September 5th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Nitin hi!
Could you send me complete details of your problems as well as those living in your building. I want to prove to Honda that there is a problem with their clutch and that they should resolve the same.
thanks
avinash narula
Reply