racoon
Well-known member
Sorry, this is a bit of a rant that has nothing to do with my CAN-AM Spyder, so please skip if you don't want to hear about a really bad Honda dealer.
So I drive a 2023 Honda Ridgeline as my "other" vehicle.
I bought it new from my local Honda dealer, who gave me a reasonable deal on it, and a good trade-in value for my old 2014 Honda CR-V.
I've lived in the area for about 8 years, and the local Honda dealer did the maintenance on my previous vehicle, a 2014 Honda CR-V, until I traded it in for the Ridgeline.
I'm an old retired guy, and don't drive much anymore.
I bought my 2023 Ridgeline in June of 2023, and it currently has about 4,500 miles on it.
No, that's not a typo: four thousand five hundred miles in just under a year.
Last Fall I got a call from someone in the Honda dealer's service department asking me what day in December was good for me to bring my Ridgeline in for it's 50,000 mile service.
I asked them what they were talking about, and they said they knew I was probably getting close to 50,000 miles and I should schedule the appointment ahead of time, or they might not be able to fit me in. I told the person that I hadn't driven 10,000 miles yet, and there was no way I would get to 50,000 miles by December. They told me I really should check my odometer again, and insisted that I had to be getting close to 50,000 miles. I told them to never contact me again about service for my Ridgeline and then hung up on them.
For those who don't know, Honda has a very good "Maintenance Minder" system built into their vehicles, that monitors your vehicle, and then turns on a wrench icon when it thinks you need to have some service performed. You can even use the dash controls to show the codes indicating what needs to be done. The code is always the letter A or letter B, and sometimes one or more numbers from 1 thru 6. Each number means a different service. For example, an A code by itself is oil change. I assume other modern vehicles have similar systems, but I've only driven Honda's for the past 15 years. The reason I even mention the system is that this dealer has a bad habit of recommending their own list of services to the point that when the maintenance minder codes come up on the dash, I look them up, printing out 2 copies of the list of services that are needed, and then make sure to give that list to the service writer, and let them know that I am only paying for those services, and that I have a copy of the list in my pocket. Only once did they come in and ask me to step back out into the service area, and took me out to my vehicle in the bay to show me something that they said needed to be addressed. In that case I agreed to the "extra" service.
Cue a couple of days ago, and the HondaLink app on my cell phone notified me that I had a message. I checked, and there has been a recall for my Ridgeline. Apparently there's an issue with some of the insulation on the wiring that is connected to the backup camera, and corrosion from road salt could cause the backup camera to fail. Not a "lose control, crash, and die" failure, but still important.
And the recall notice does say to call your Honda dealer to schedule an appointment, and to confirm they have the replacement wiring harness part.
So I go online to the local Honda dealer's website, check for available appointment dates and times, and schedule an appointment for 9:30am this morning. And then I call the Honda dealer, ask to talk to the Service department, and then explain about the recall notice I received, and told them about the appointment I had scheduled, and asked if they had the needed parts in stock.
The person on the phone looked up my appointment, and then asked me to hold while she checked with the parts department. She came back on the phone after a couple of minutes, and said they had the part. So I thanked her and said I'd be in for the appointment. According to my cell phone call history, the phone call lasted 5 minutes.
The appointment was at 9:30am this morning. So I pull my Ridgeline up to the service check-in bay, get out and walk up to the service desk. There's a woman sitting at the desk, who greets me. I identify myself and tell her that I'm here to have the recall work done on my Ridgeline. She says "Okay, excuse me a moment" and walks away. There's also a man standing there, and after the woman walks away he greets me and asks if he can help me. I tell him my name again, and tell him I'm there for the recall work.
He frowns, and says "I'm sorry, but we had to order the part and it's not scheduled for delivery until July." I tell him that I talked to someone the day before, who confirmed that you had the part in stock and to bring my Ridgeline in. He asked who I spoke too, and I didn't think to make note of her name, which I told him I didn't know their name.
And he showed me on their computer screen that the part was scheduled to arrive in July.
He then confirmed they had my correct phone number, and said he'd make sure I got a call once they received the part.
And as I'm driving home I start wondering if in these three separate instances I was dealing with the same woman at the dealership:
1. automatically scheduling me for the 50,000 mile service last fall
2. "confirming" that they had the recall part in stock when I called
3. the woman at the service desk who excused herself and walked away when I identified myself
The local Honda dealer is about 10 miles from my home.
The next nearest Honda dealer is about 60 miles away, and I have no idea if they are any better (or worse).
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my rants.
So I drive a 2023 Honda Ridgeline as my "other" vehicle.
I bought it new from my local Honda dealer, who gave me a reasonable deal on it, and a good trade-in value for my old 2014 Honda CR-V.
I've lived in the area for about 8 years, and the local Honda dealer did the maintenance on my previous vehicle, a 2014 Honda CR-V, until I traded it in for the Ridgeline.
I'm an old retired guy, and don't drive much anymore.
I bought my 2023 Ridgeline in June of 2023, and it currently has about 4,500 miles on it.
No, that's not a typo: four thousand five hundred miles in just under a year.
Last Fall I got a call from someone in the Honda dealer's service department asking me what day in December was good for me to bring my Ridgeline in for it's 50,000 mile service.
I asked them what they were talking about, and they said they knew I was probably getting close to 50,000 miles and I should schedule the appointment ahead of time, or they might not be able to fit me in. I told the person that I hadn't driven 10,000 miles yet, and there was no way I would get to 50,000 miles by December. They told me I really should check my odometer again, and insisted that I had to be getting close to 50,000 miles. I told them to never contact me again about service for my Ridgeline and then hung up on them.
For those who don't know, Honda has a very good "Maintenance Minder" system built into their vehicles, that monitors your vehicle, and then turns on a wrench icon when it thinks you need to have some service performed. You can even use the dash controls to show the codes indicating what needs to be done. The code is always the letter A or letter B, and sometimes one or more numbers from 1 thru 6. Each number means a different service. For example, an A code by itself is oil change. I assume other modern vehicles have similar systems, but I've only driven Honda's for the past 15 years. The reason I even mention the system is that this dealer has a bad habit of recommending their own list of services to the point that when the maintenance minder codes come up on the dash, I look them up, printing out 2 copies of the list of services that are needed, and then make sure to give that list to the service writer, and let them know that I am only paying for those services, and that I have a copy of the list in my pocket. Only once did they come in and ask me to step back out into the service area, and took me out to my vehicle in the bay to show me something that they said needed to be addressed. In that case I agreed to the "extra" service.
Cue a couple of days ago, and the HondaLink app on my cell phone notified me that I had a message. I checked, and there has been a recall for my Ridgeline. Apparently there's an issue with some of the insulation on the wiring that is connected to the backup camera, and corrosion from road salt could cause the backup camera to fail. Not a "lose control, crash, and die" failure, but still important.
And the recall notice does say to call your Honda dealer to schedule an appointment, and to confirm they have the replacement wiring harness part.
So I go online to the local Honda dealer's website, check for available appointment dates and times, and schedule an appointment for 9:30am this morning. And then I call the Honda dealer, ask to talk to the Service department, and then explain about the recall notice I received, and told them about the appointment I had scheduled, and asked if they had the needed parts in stock.
The person on the phone looked up my appointment, and then asked me to hold while she checked with the parts department. She came back on the phone after a couple of minutes, and said they had the part. So I thanked her and said I'd be in for the appointment. According to my cell phone call history, the phone call lasted 5 minutes.
The appointment was at 9:30am this morning. So I pull my Ridgeline up to the service check-in bay, get out and walk up to the service desk. There's a woman sitting at the desk, who greets me. I identify myself and tell her that I'm here to have the recall work done on my Ridgeline. She says "Okay, excuse me a moment" and walks away. There's also a man standing there, and after the woman walks away he greets me and asks if he can help me. I tell him my name again, and tell him I'm there for the recall work.
He frowns, and says "I'm sorry, but we had to order the part and it's not scheduled for delivery until July." I tell him that I talked to someone the day before, who confirmed that you had the part in stock and to bring my Ridgeline in. He asked who I spoke too, and I didn't think to make note of her name, which I told him I didn't know their name.
And he showed me on their computer screen that the part was scheduled to arrive in July.
He then confirmed they had my correct phone number, and said he'd make sure I got a call once they received the part.
And as I'm driving home I start wondering if in these three separate instances I was dealing with the same woman at the dealership:
1. automatically scheduling me for the 50,000 mile service last fall
2. "confirming" that they had the recall part in stock when I called
3. the woman at the service desk who excused herself and walked away when I identified myself
The local Honda dealer is about 10 miles from my home.
The next nearest Honda dealer is about 60 miles away, and I have no idea if they are any better (or worse).
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my rants.
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