Brakes What do you think???

[braddie]

Hi Guys

I bought a Civic 1.8EX back in May of this year (privately) for my wife with 13000 on the clock, no problems at all.

Last week she complained of a loud grinding noise at the rear, after taking it for a ride i knew straight away it was the brakes.

Sure enough on inspecting the drivers side rear pads through the wheel slots i could see the brake pads looked down to the metal & hence the grinding noise.

This just seems odd as all the other wheels look to have around 5 or 6mm of brake pad left.

I rang the local Honda dealership up & was told straight away the VSA had been engaged & caused the break wear & was completely normal, this was even without an inspection!!

They offered to check it over so i took it in straight away (last Friday), the service guy i dealt with was so rude & unhelpful & has subsequently been reported to Honda head office, anyhow after a while we got a call (from the same guy) & were told it was a chargeable repair for pads as it was normal wear & tear, he then told me the disc was also knackered & that would need replacing also.

I was completely dismayed at this & told them to leave the work as i wanted a 2nd opinion, i rang another 2 dealerships & spoke with the service guys there & they agreed with me that this was not NORMAL as how could only 1 side wear down so much more than at least the other rear brake & that's not taking into account that the front brakes do most of the braking.

The most annoying point of this saga is how rude we were dealt with, i have spoken with Honda head office this morning & they are supposedly looking into the matter, i don't hold much faith though as i got a call back from the girl at head office to say she had spoken with the dealership involved & they say it's normal wear & tear, i replied that they would say that though so i then (again) told her i had had different opinions from 2 other dealerships, we'll now wait & see what happens as this is now a matter of principal.

What do you guys think, the car was serviced the same month we bought it & since then my wife has covered around 9000 miles, also the visual inspection sheet from the last service showed 10% wear on both rear brakes!!

Sorry for the long winded book / rant.

[HappyMan]

I think the other 2 dealerships where right and the dealer you went to was wrong. There is never any need to be rude to a customer ever(although if you lived in poland you wouldn't even bat an eye at it) I think Honda UK should deal with this but at the moment they have your word against the dealer ( for the rudeness ) Go to the other dealer and get the work done there and don't use the original dealer again.

I would ask one thing, why didn't you ask to speak to the dealer principal about the rudeness or was he part of it?

[Korkut Varol]

No techniques of driving would wear one side that significantly more than the other, so as far as your words are concerned, it is a matter of some mechanical disorder. The car is under warranty, and they (2 sets of rear pads and 1 disc) should be replaced without cost.
Rudeness is another issue. Sometimes you wish you had some sort of recorder so that it could be evidence... But only an accusation without witnesses wouldn't help much I think. Whatever, if I were you, I would never go that service again.

[braddie]

Well, after not hearing anything else from Customer Relations i rang them back myself to be told the girl dealing with my case was just finishing up with her manager & would ring me back very shortly, that was 2 hours ago, i now cannot get through as apparently all their advisors are busy!!!

So, i 've now emailed Honda to see if i get anywhere with that?

I must say this is a disgusting way to treat a customer & there's no way in hell i would ever consider buying another Honda, we're now in the ridiculous situation of not being able to use the car, what do i do, go buy the pads & fit them my self or wait for a reply from Honda???

[Unknownsoldier]

I nearly always record my conversations when complaining with a hand held dictaphone, it then goes straight on my computer and is put on a disk. Saves a lot of trouble.

Tom

[HappyMan]

Originally Posted by braddie

Well, after not hearing anything else from Customer Relations i rang them back myself to be told the girl dealing with my case was just finishing up with her manager & would ring me back very shortly, that was 2 hours ago, i now cannot get through as apparently all their advisors are busy!!!

So, i 've now emailed Honda to see if i get anywhere with that?

I must say this is a disgusting way to treat a customer & there's no way in hell i would ever consider buying another Honda, we're now in the ridiculous situation of not being able to use the car, what do i do, go buy the pads & fit them my self or wait for a reply from Honda???

If I may be a voice of calm, for now, I understand that you have a problem with your car which is in itself rather annoying and the service you are getting does seem to be substandard. However, unfortunately these things happen but we have to patient ( having said that I am not exactly the most patient of people myself ) as my tells me the only person getting angry in a situation is generally me.

Braddie, may I suggest you take a deep breathe and count to 2 trillion as I know from experience nothing will happen as long as you are driving yourself up the wall. What you were told on the phone about the person about to call you back may not have been the truth, not because the person was lying to you so to speak, but the person you wanted to speak to actually had planned to or had to do something else for some other customer or manager. They could also be waiting for information about your case - although I never understand why the can't call you and tell you that - but hey ho.

It will be resolved and everything will be sorted. I personally think you have a very good case for warranty work and having taken on BMW on the issue of warranty I encourage you to continue but patiently and calmly and resonably.

If they don't call you back tomorrow I would be shocked!

[braddie]

Well guys, after hearing nothing by 10am this morning, i again rang Honda customer relations & asked to speak to a manager, to be honest though i don't know whether i was passed to the manager or not??

I told her the situation & who i spoke with the day previous to be told that the girl i was dealing with had gone home in the afternoon for personal reasons & wasn't in today & was apologetic about my situation etc etc..., she then asked me about my problem as my files were locked out in the other girls pc, so again spent another 15 mins explaining my situation regards the brakes & how i have (so far) been dealt with, she was very sympathetic & told me she would look in to this & ring me back shortly......guess what, no bloody call back again, by now i was ready to blow my lid so at 3.30 i rang Honda customer relations to find out what the hell was going on & again was put on hold automatically with the same old line "all our customer advisors are on other calls, please hold", after 10 mins of being on hold i gave up.

As we have been without the car since Saturday decided to do the brakes myself, cost me £35.00 & 20 mins work.

Just in case anyone from Honda does visit these forums, i am totally disgusted with the treatment (or lack of it) i have received, i for one would not buy another Honda, my next port of call is a letter to Honda, but i don't suppose i'll get anywhere with that either!!!!

[Unknownsoldier]

Go for it mate, and I'd try watchdog too. If enough people keep complining, then it'll eventually get through. Me I had one real problem and it looks like it'll be fixed, so other than having a Jazz automatic for a day, it's been fine for me, no consolation to you I know, but it just goes to show it's only some dealers and ome cars (I'd try another dealer in future.)

Good luck mate.
Tom

[HappyMan]

Originally Posted by braddie

Well guys, after hearing nothing by 10am this morning, i again rang Honda customer relations & asked to speak to a manager, to be honest though i don't know whether i was passed to the manager or not??

I told her the situation & who i spoke with the day previous to be told that the girl i was dealing with had gone home in the afternoon for personal reasons & wasn't in today & was apologetic about my situation etc etc..., she then asked me about my problem as my files were locked out in the other girls pc, so again spent another 15 mins explaining my situation regards the brakes & how i have (so far) been dealt with, she was very sympathetic & told me she would look in to this & ring me back shortly......guess what, no bloody call back again, by now i was ready to blow my lid so at 3.30 i rang Honda customer relations to find out what the hell was going on & again was put on hold automatically with the same old line "all our customer advisors are on other calls, please hold", after 10 mins of being on hold i gave up.

As we have been without the car since Saturday decided to do the brakes myself, cost me £35.00 & 20 mins work.

Just in case anyone from Honda does visit these forums, i am totally disgusted with the treatment (or lack of it) i have received, i for one would not buy another Honda, my next port of call is a letter to Honda, but i don't suppose i'll get anywhere with that either!!!!

I am really sorry to hear that they continued to not deal with your problem and I am little shocked also. I know what I wrote last time about taking it easy and so on but I was really of the opinion they would contact you today and try to resolve the problem together with you. I would persist now with a letter to Honda and try for some recompense. There is no excuse for bad customer service in today's world.

Is your warranty affected by doing the brakes yourself?

[illegalhunter]

Sounds like the dealers trying to shaft you.

[Kremmen]

I really don't know what happens in them or why companies have head offices? Over the years on many forums this story of failed call-backs and deaf ears is all too common.

I know of one customer who parked a Citroen outside their HQ in Slough with all manner of placards advertising the faults on the car and the failure with Citroen to fix them. The company were more concerned with getting the car and owner moved than actually listening to him which seems to be a typical reaction.

The standard reply from all HQ's seems to be "see your dealer".

In this case, if it gets out of hand, I wold seek an independent engineers report and see them in the small claims court if they refuse to rectify the fault if found to be a manufacturing defect.

Both pads on one axle should wear at roughly the same rate.

[emmaloula]

Honda as a company in general are bad in all areas of their customer service by the sounds of it.

I've had my Civic for about a year and a half now and have never received a phone call from Honda until the other day (on behalf of Honda) where I was asked for feedback (that was a shocker!).

Of course most of my feedback was less than complimentary regarding the treatment I have received from my dealership and that this is the first communication I have received from Honda. (Anyone else get regular post inviting them for a test drive in the new Honda Civic?!?!)

As my feedback wasn't very positive and I stated that I am unlikely to purchase another Honda she would make sure Honda UK contacted me to discuss further. (The young girl on the phone said she was very surprised at my dissatisfaction as everyone else she had spoken to was very happy - but then she did mention that they all owned the Jazz!)

This was three weeks ago and (you guessed it) no contact from Honda UK!!

Unfortunately, it's hard to come across good customer service these days.

[emmaloula]

Oh, I was also informed during this telephone conversation that the dealership should follow up on all visits with a courtesy call - I've never had one and I've been to the dealership MANY times!!

[Bog]

Originally Posted by emmaloula

Unfortunately, it's hard to come across good customer service these days.

I agree and Honda are really bad! The dealers only want a sale, and don't give as stuff about after sales (unless they can charge you for something) and Honda UK just bury the heads in the sand!

Never another Honda for me!

Braddie - As others have said, the dealer is trying it on with you!

[braddie]

I rang Honda customer relations again this morning & asked to speak to the manager, i was told he was in a meeting but would definately ring me back......need i say any more!!!

No bloody call back again, three days on the run, diabolical service, where to take it now as obviously no one there gives a stuff, just makes me wonder who pays their wages because as far as i can tell they aren't doing much work??

[Morris Minor]

Braddie - you need to be persistent, I can't believe what an awful service you are experiencing. I once had a similar brake issue on a Ford Mondeo. At first the dealer said normal wear and tear, which I challenged since I can't see how rear brakes would wear out before front ones, given the way they are balanced more to the front. Turned out that the hand brake had partially seized up and worn the pads out and then damaged the disc. Did you see evidence of a fault when you did the work?

[TTDegs]

Whilst I fully agree that the particular dealer in question on this thread (and others that have been mentioned) seem to be falling well short of acceptable (let alone good!) service, not all dealers are the same. Luckily.

For example, I would be more than happy to recommend my local(ish) dealer - Bassetts Honda in Bridgend - to any Honda owner


But it doesn't help if your dealer's hands are tied by Honda UK

[Unknownsoldier]

Bridgend, now that takes me back, wasn't a great place when I visited it, the petrol station I seem to remember using was at the beginning of several miles of lanes leading to the sea and an old ice-cream parlour.

Tom

[rambo]

Dear Braddie. Ihave a Honda 2.2 cdti,1 year old ,paid cash. Ilove cars but motorcycles are my passion.Ihave had over 21years of my life,15 Honda motorcycles and they have been faultless, but the dealers have been spot on.Wether you pay £500 for a car or £17000.Customer servicing and treatment maen more to me than any expense.This is where Honda have not quite got it right.No matter how **** the product,if youhave it sorted free of charge and with some courtesy,you will always go back.

[TTDegs]

soldier - I'm not sure that I'd go to Bridgend for anything else except Bassetts

though Ogmore is nice, just a couple of miles down the road