Honda Of Serramonte

03/31/09

Avoid at all costs!

by adgreen at Citysearch

I brought my wifes' Honda in for a recall, and while I was there I thought I'd ask them to see if they could fix a problem with the powerseat because the gears were grinding after adjusting the seat past a certain point. They quoted a price of over 400 dollars just to take a look at it because they had to "take the whole seat apart" - then, after they looked at it, the quote would come to fix it. I passed on that one.

Roughly a year later I brought the car back for another recall, and that's when the real problems started.

When I went to pickup the car, the driver that brought the car out was "flooring it" -- he was easily going 40 MPH and it sounded like he was "redlining" the car in second gear (bring the RPM level up until it reaches the red part of the gauge -- and not good for an aging car). In addition to this, there were people walking around outside, and if they had been in the wrong place, or had stepped out at the wrong time, someone would have been hurt badly.

Then on the way home (after driving for one block) the engine light came on. I turned the car around and confronted the service department manager at this point. I'm not an auto engineer, but I wanted to know what was going on, and why the light started showing up only after bringing it to their service department. He told me that for them to diagnose this it would cost me over 1000 dollars, that's right, more than One-Thousand Dollars, to take the entire engine apart and that's the only thing they could do. I didn't believe him so we went to the head mechanic and he verified that it would cost me MORE THAN One-Thousand Dollars for them to just take a look at it. The repair would be an additional charge.

They were closing the store at this point, so I had to leave. I made a couple of appointments with the manager to discuss this further over the course of a week, and to make a long story short, the manager was "doing me a favor" by talking to me about this problem, and they have no desire to deal with customers after they get the money.

While I was there I ran across another person that was there, in person, to complain about the service department, and while waiting to talk to the manager, it sounded like he was on the phone with other customer complaints.

I called a good, and honest, mechanic and he immediately said the problem was probably the sensor -- the parts and labor cost was around $25 -- and had it bundled with my car service.

There will always be problems with cars, but the test of consumer value is how a company takes care of it's customers when there are problems. They tried charging me more than $1000 for a $25 repair.

I like the Honda car itself, but will never set foot inside this dealership again. I plan on buying another Honda in the future, but will absolutely not get it from this place.

• Pros: None
• Cons: tried to rip me off, no respect for personal property

01/01/09

Serramonte Honda Management needs to change its bad service culture at the service department.

by Tony2009 at Citysearch

This is the worst car service I have ever received although I still love my new Honda. I think the service representative at the counter was not courteous and try to get me off his back because it was a "warranties" work that the company probably only allowed certain predetermined time to fix the problem. Honda of Serramonte was not able to fix the steering wheel problem the first time, and probably had to "eat" the extra cost if they had to fix it again... I noticed the very same steering wheel problem right a way when the car was returned to me. I went back inside and told the representative the problem... The service representative was trying to give me a bunch of computer print out and told me how they tried to fix the problem per the "factory setting". The representative was either lack of technical knowledge or just trying to get me off his back. I didn't tell him I am an engineer and also fix car as I was trying to ask them to fix the problem and not looking for a fight... He told me the car was fine and the problem was fixed, and refused to fix the problem and even told me that he had spoken with the general manager already!? Facing this unacceptable service and attitude - I just told him, "I am not satisfied with your service and the car problem was not fixed, AND I am going to take my car to another Honda dealer to fix the very same problem." I also told him that I will file a complaint once it was verified by another Honda dealer that there is "problem"! "I knew the bunch of the computer print out had nothing to do with the problem I wanted you to fix here..." He was mad, then he told me I was going to have to wait ALL day now since I have to go back to the "line"... Oh well, I got the car fixed finally and I did spend all day there! ;-( I do not recommend this dealer to anybody unless the management will take a look at the service attitude and culture of its service dept. The part department was OK though if you just want to get part there!

• Pros: Part department was OK if you only trying to get parts there.
• Cons: Pulling teeth to try to make them match internet price. Service Depart. was the worst!

10/31/08

NEVER GO TO HONDA OF SERRAMONTE

by yoshi415 at Citysearch

i will never be a customer at Honda Of Serramonte ever again. they provided me with the worst service i have ever received. i was a repeated customer until this guy named BRAD REID ruined my perspective of their services. i went to Honda to get my seat belt changed and when i got back to pick up my car, there was a crackk on my windshield. Out of curiousity, i asked BRAD what happened to my windshield and he said we didn't do it angrily. then he took a pen and started pointing out all my rock chips on my windshield. He just gave me so much attitude when i just simply asked what happen. i wasn't expecting them to pay for it or nothing, i just wanted to know what happened. then i talked to the service manager and he was also giving me attitude. ALL I WANTED WAS A SIMPLE APOLOGY AND SOME DISPLINARY PUNISHMENT. then i went to talk to the general manager and he KNEW that it was their fault, but he did not even do anything. he said he was going to have a "TALK" with BRAD, but all they did was laugh about it inside while we were still outside watching them. they gave me the worst service and i would NEVER go there ever again. BAD SALES BAD SERVICE. *****ONLY THE PARTS DEPARTMENT HAVE THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE.*****

P.S. if you guys ever need service, go to Honda of San Francisco and look for a guy name Aaron. he gave me the BEST customer service and treated me with respect.

• Pros: PARTS DEPARTMENT - BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
• Cons: SERVICE DEPARTMENT - WORST WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE

08/06/08

Worst Dealership I have ever dealt with

by notinskyhawk at Citysearch

I purchased a used vehicle from Honda of Serramonte. Sales staff treated me fine. A. got it home and it started to overheat. B. found out the water pump was completely shot and had been bad for a long time (no fins on the pump at all! (replaced it) C. Engine began to knock 500 miles after leaving the dealership. D. Emails and telephone calls regarding the above problems were never returned. E. 40 days later I am notified by the dealership that the vehicle needs to be smogged? I need to take it to a "Test Only" facility (they did reimburse me for the cost, not my time) F. 60 days later they notified me I need to surrender the license plates?

I understand the vehicle is a 98 with 98K miles, however I have never dealt with such an inept dealership who doesn't correctly deal with DMV issues before releasing a vehicle for sale. I paid $7100 for the vehicle and am facing $4000 in repairs..............least they could have done is returned my call or answered my emails.

• Pros: Sales staff is fine
• Cons: Emails and calls go unanswered, too many DMV issues

05/28/07

So that's why used car salesmen have that reputation

by joeynoble at Citysearch

All was fine until it came time to get to the paperwork. I told him about my bad credit as soon as we shook hands outside but that I could/would put 50%+ down to make it work. He said "no problem". and said they had 50 cos they go thru. He wanted to do the credit app right away & I said sure. Then he comes back & says I need a co-signer. I said what happened to the "no problem" 10 min ago. He tried to blame his boss & came back 10 minutes later with a 70-75% down payment. I said that seems high but is acceptable and do-able - but why the deception re the co-signer? I either need one or I don't - right? Probably had to do w/ his loan origination commission.

Then he wants to talk $. I said give me an out-the-door # & we can go from there. He refused. He said whatever price we figure will not include tax, license, smog, paper prep, etc. I said no way. I'm not going to let you nickle and dime me for 3 pages of BS. Figure out the price and we can go from there. After 10 minutes of psuedo explanations, he finally said he'd give me a # and I immediately said "again, why the BS?" I began to find it pointless to explain business ethics to a used car salesman. I told him I wasn't interested anymore in his version of a transparent & honest business deal.

He was dishonest & predatory in the way he handled everything. I pointed out my 100% honesty from the start & the # of ways he'd lied & tried to make the transaction opaque. I told him he gave used car salesmen their rep & if I would get my car thru another Honda dealership on principle.

He said "fine, go ahead then" (verbatim), got up and walked out on me. ALEX GRINBLAT - He sabotaged a deal that he knew was handed to him by the "new guy" who I happened to be a friend of a friend of. He tried a range of tactics to corner me into a bad deal & I just got sick of hearing his BS. I went there w/ the $ & desire to get a car then/there & only found a 22 y/o vulture.

There's ALOT more but I'm limited by word count....