Fog Honda Customer Service

[jagged]

After reading problems owners having with the fog lights, I thought I would contact Honda. I am just about to part with 20 grand on the 2.2 EX with glass roof and hopefully some more extras as I will be paying CASH.. I digress. I asked via Honda's contact page about the fog lights and dash problems... This is what they had to say...

Thank you for contacting Honda UK.
We are not aware of any common problems with the dashboard regarding the Honda Civic, we have received a small number of calls from customers regarding the breakage of the fog lamps, however these have all been due to stone chips hitting the lamps at force causing them to break. This is not classified as a manufacturing defect so therefore is not covered under warranty.
Should any faults ever occur with your vehicle, your dealer will inspect your vehicle and treat any fault on an individual basis..
If you have any further questions or feedback, please complete our feedback form at www.honda.co.ukor call our Honda UK Contact Centre on 0845 200 8000.
Kind regards
Stephen
Honda UK Contact Centre






jagged

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by jagged

After reading problems owners having with the fog lights, I thought I would contact Honda. I am just about to part with 20 grand on the 2.2 EX with glass roof and hopefully some more extras as I will be paying CASH.. I digress. I asked via Honda's contact page about the fog lights and dash problems... This is what they had to say...

Thank you for contacting Honda UK.
We are not aware of any common problems with the dashboard regarding the Honda Civic, we have received a small number of calls from customers regarding the breakage of the fog lamps, however these have all been due to stone chips hitting the lamps at force causing them to break. This is not classified as a manufacturing defect so therefore is not covered under warranty.
Should any faults ever occur with your vehicle, your dealer will inspect your vehicle and treat any fault on an individual basis..
If you have any further questions or feedback, please complete our feedback form at www.honda.co.ukor call our Honda UK Contact Centre on 0845 200 8000.
Kind regards
Stephen
Honda UK Contact Centre






jagged

I have a letter from HUK and they are not impressed that people discuss their problems on this forum, they said;

"Honda (UK) is aware of the website "Civinfo.com" and of the contributors to it, I am however unable to comment on individual customer resolutions; which should all be private and not to be disclosed to a third party. Our Customers Relations team are tasked with treating each customer and their concerns as individuals, encouraging a more personal approch. This offers greater flexibility and does not contrain our area advisors to a matrix based goodwill system. Independant customer surveys of people who have contacted our customer department show this to be not only to their preference but also rate our performance within the top six from any sector."

[Mike Overton]

Originally Posted by jagged

After reading problems owners having with the fog lights, I thought I would contact Honda. I am just about to part with 20 grand on the 2.2 EX with glass roof and hopefully some more extras as I will be paying CASH.. I digress. I asked via Honda's contact page about the fog lights and dash problems... This is what they had to say...

Thank you for contacting Honda UK.
We are not aware of any common problems with the dashboard regarding the Honda Civic, we have received a small number of calls from customers regarding the breakage of the fog lamps, however these have all been due to stone chips hitting the lamps at force causing them to break. This is not classified as a manufacturing defect so therefore is not covered under warranty.
Should any faults ever occur with your vehicle, your dealer will inspect your vehicle and treat any fault on an individual basis..
If you have any further questions or feedback, please complete our feedback form at www.honda.co.ukor call our Honda UK Contact Centre on 0845 200 8000.
Kind regards
Stephen
Honda UK Contact Centre






jagged

Be aware that the people at the contact centre, based in Thame, do not
work for Honda UK.

A bit like 'phoning your bank or building society on the sub-continent!!!!!!!!

Mike.

[Pottsy]

Jagged,

The fog lights on the Civic are big and low (by far the lowest in it's class), so are going to be more susceptible to breakage than other cars. That said, the material is the same as other cars, and I suspect Honda may well be looking at new materials to reduce the breakage rate in the future.

I believe the retail price for replacements has been reduced to help out, but ideally you may want to fit protectors, or delete them altogether. That said, the vast majority have not had a problem.

TC, I can understand HUK getting a bit twitchy about certain details of individual cases being discussed, especially if the details are "in confidence". They would certainly not discuss their side of things with third parties. However they are very aware of this site, and accept that these type of sites exist, and are making an effort to be as positive as possible about the situation. I, for one, am convinced that they* really do want to make owners happy, given the financial and time constraints that exist (they can't spend hundreds of hours on one customer when there are many others that can be satisfied with just a few minutes work each).

* Customer, manufacturing, Japan, R&D and so on.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Pottsy

Jagged,

(they can't spend hundreds of hours on one customer when there are many others that can be satisfied with just a few minutes work each).

A quick phonecall, letter or email doesn't take hundreds of hours though does it?

The courtesy of a reply, or even telling the truth would be nice instead of pretending they dont know about certain issues etc

[Charles_Harding]

'The courtesy of a reply'

I even sent my 2nd letter 'Recorded' to ensure it arrived.

That it did.

......but the reply?

Still awaited.

......My letter was sent in January!

I'm not bothering anymore.

That gives them more time to ignore someone else's letter now!

"When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a bicycle. Then I realised that God doesn't work that way. So I stole one and asked him to forgive me!"

Charles H.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Charles_Harding

'The courtesy of a reply'

I even sent my 2nd letter 'Recorded' to ensure it arrived.

That it did.

......but the reply?

Still awaited.

......My letter was sent in January!

I'm not bothering anymore.

That gives them more time to ignore someone else's letter now!

Charles H.

Ah well you see CH thats obviously because they have far more important complaining customers to deal with !!!

Maybe they have been filed with all of mine

[ciderman4]

Originally Posted by Pottsy

TC, I can understand HUK getting a bit twitchy about certain details of individual cases being discussed, especially if the details are "in confidence". They would certainly not discuss their side of things with third parties. However they are very aware of this site, and accept that these type of sites exist, and are making an effort to be as positive as possible about the situation. I, for one, am convinced that they* really do want to make owners happy, given the financial and time constraints that exist (they can't spend hundreds of hours on one customer when there are many others that can be satisfied with just a few minutes work each).

.

That's all well and good being philosophical about the issues however, as we know, there are some fundamental design flaws with this product and that's just not acceptable. Certain Honda dealers refusing to acknowledge this just irritates me. As for not discussing these issues - sorry, that's human nature and I for one would welcome being made aware of the problems prior to parting with my hard earned cash.
The bottom line is there has been insufficient investment in the quality auditing of this car prior to it being put to market.
Furthermore, I have to say that I very much agree with TC's comments.

regards,
Steve

[jagged]

Pottsy, Thankyou for the comments. I had no intention to break any forum rules or breach Honda's trust. My comments on the post were to be honest, helpful and selfish! I would not normally have 20 grand to spend on a car... We have only come buy the money due to the death of my father-in-law.. So I want to make sure that I spend the money wisely. As you mentioned; you suspect that Honda may be looking for other materials to replace the lens with. I guess I thought that I may get a reply saying the same kind of thing..even better still that Honda had now changed the crystal in the lens etc; I had no intention of breaching anyone's trust. I consider the matter now closed and will trundle off to order ( haggle ) for our new car at the weekend ( Sill can't make my mind up about glass roof ( Yes/No )
respectfully
jagged

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by ciderman4

.

That's all well and good being philosophical about the issues however, as we know, there are some fundamental design flaws with this product and that's just not acceptable. Certain Honda dealers refusing to acknowledge this just irritates me. As for not discussing these issues - sorry, that's human nature and I for one would welcome being made aware of the problems prior to parting with my hard earned cash.
The bottom line is there has been insufficient investment in the quality auditing of this car prior to it being put to market.
Furthermore, I have to say that I very much agree with TC's comments.

regards,
Steve

Thank you

Jagged - I think Pottsy's remarks were aimed at me and not you. If Honda do not write "private & confidential" on their letters then as far as I am concerned its free to be discussed !

[jagged]

Thank you for comment... At the end of the day, I guess we all want a happy resolve to any problems... Chow

Jagged

[geoff]

I have been without my civic for 6 weeks now due to a move to France and awaiting a new LHD Car

I have missed the Civic but the best thing about the last 6 weeks

Was No constant battles with my Local Dealer trying to get what I paid for

My Son In Law is happy with the Civic but then he didn't pay £18K for It and was aware of all the problems

As Regarding Honda UK they are the worse company I have ever had to deal with.

I have just bought a ride on lawmower and the Honda was 1000 euro's more than the Husqvarner

No complaints about the aircon or the radio just fresh air and an ipod

Regards to all
(even brodrick)

[Kremmen]

The wanderer returns

So far I have had no cause to complain but if I did and got the same as you did then any company would not get any more business from me.

[Charles_Harding]

Originally Posted by Topcat

Ah well you see CH thats obviously because they have far more important complaining customers to deal with !!!

Maybe they have been filed with all of mine

More important customers?

More important customers?

That's another thing I'm gonna complain about!

I understand that all the complaints letters are put in a hat, and at the end of the month one is drawn out for a reply.

I've been told that if I write any more nasty letters I wont even get into next months draw!

"After you have heard two eyewitness's accounts of the same accident, it makes you think about all that History you were taught in School!"

Charles H.

[Pottsy]

Originally Posted by ciderman4

.

That's all well and good being philosophical about the issues however, as we know, there are some fundamental design flaws with this product and that's just not acceptable. Certain Honda dealers refusing to acknowledge this just irritates me. As for not discussing these issues - sorry, that's human nature and I for one would welcome being made aware of the problems prior to parting with my hard earned cash.
The bottom line is there has been insufficient investment in the quality auditing of this car prior to it being put to market.
Furthermore, I have to say that I very much agree with TC's comments.

regards,
Steve

Steve,

My comments about Honda wanting to discuss issues with owners on a one-to-one basis was in response to TC's comment:

Originally Posted by Topcat

I have a letter from HUK and they are not impressed that people discuss their problems on this forum, they said;

"Honda (UK) is aware of the website "Civinfo.com" and of the contributors to it, I am however unable to comment on individual customer resolutions; which should all be private and not to be disclosed to a third party.

No one is saying we should not discuss the issues - there's more than 8000 posts here discussing the issues!

As for being philosophical, maybe I am more relaxed than most. The two fundamental design errors (fuel filler cap and rear dampers) can be replaced for free, no questions.

Other areas where the design has been less than brilliant (for example using standard glass on low and large fog lights, or using a shiny material that scratches easily as a dashboard) are just that, low quality thinking. Now maybe it's because I've owned many cars that are in a totally different league to a Honda Civic (numerous Porsches and so on) that suffer even more "low quality thinking", or because I used to be involved in manufacturing and understand the difficulty of getting it perfect first time, I tend to try and work round the issues rather than get worked up by the issues. I also find that keeping the dealer and the manufacturer on "my side" gets better results than making them the enemy. Not always possible, but worth attempting. I agree that it is frustrating that dealers are less aware of official bulletins than we are, but I am working on this problem.

Originally Posted by jagged

Pottsy, Thankyou for the comments. I had no intention to break any forum rules or breach Honda's trust. My comments on the post were to be honest, helpful and selfish! I would not normally have 20 grand to spend on a car... We have only come buy the money due to the death of my father-in-law.. So I want to make sure that I spend the money wisely. As you mentioned; you suspect that Honda may be looking for other materials to replace the lens with. I guess I thought that I may get a reply saying the same kind of thing..even better still that Honda had now changed the crystal in the lens etc; I had no intention of breaching anyone's trust. I consider the matter now closed and will trundle off to order ( haggle ) for our new car at the weekend ( Sill can't make my mind up about glass roof ( Yes/No )
respectfully
jagged

Jagged, quite the contrary, you have used the forum for the purpose that it was intended. There has been some confusion here! No manufacturer will tell anyone about fixes or changes to the spec or production process until the change is finalised. Otherwise you can disappoint owners or potential owners if the fix never happens due to (say) it being as rubbish as the original problem.

Enjoy the car, don't worry about the fogs (have a look at the survey) and test drive with and without the glass roof. Those who have it, like it!

[geoff]

Pottsy May have more info on manufacturing than me
But I spent most of my working life selling vehicles and if I had treated my customers like honda have treated some of us I would of lost them all
Most of my sales were by word of mouth


And everybody Knows what I think of Honda and I am not alone


Must Log out (silly me I forgot)

[elfa7]

So from that Pottsy, we can take it that your in touch with the big "H" requesting that they make sure their Dealerships pull their socks up and sing from the same hymn sheet, as it were.

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Pottsy

My comments about Honda wanting to discuss issues with owners on a one-to-one basis was in response to TC's comment:

I also find that keeping the dealer and the manufacturer on "my side" gets better results than making them the enemy.

Pottsy. I found it increasingly difficult to be nice to the customer service manager that I had to deal with at Chiswick as he spoke to me all the time like I was a complete idiot. I made several requests for my paint to be measured and they ignored me and then when they said they did do it they refused to give me the results, they were never on "my side" . My letters to the Chiswick manager were never rude but always ignored. The first few letters I sent to HUK were also not rude but again ignored, my solicitor's letter ignored (and I assure you he wasn't rude). In the end being nice and patient got me no where it was only when I started to make threats that they replied telling me not to contact them again.

[Pottsy]

TC, my next sentence was:

Not always possible, but worth attempting.

You are the living proof that it doesn't always work that way!

[Topcat]

Originally Posted by Pottsy

I, for one, am convinced that they* really do want to make owners happy, given the financial and time constraints that exist (they can't spend hundreds of hours on one customer when there are many others that can be satisfied with just a few minutes work each).

* Customer, manufacturing, Japan, R&D and so on.

But your earlier post indicated that Honda want to make their customers happy, ignoring unhappy customers (not just myself) isn't making us very happy.

And I repeat it doesn't take hundreds of hours to write a letter or pick up the phone. Although I have probably spent hundreds of hours wasting time on Honda.