It has come to this point, no change from the dealership point of view, so its time to go public - not only on this site but on dealer and media sites as well.

Dealership is Sisley honda in thornhill, just on the northern tip of toronto.

During the july 1st long weekend, we drove from montreal to toronto. this is about a 5.5hr drive, along the main highway, which links the cities up.

About mid way, out of no where I hit a dead animal and it turns out damage was done to the lower bumper, rad and condenser, and maybe more. To this date I have not received a full listing of what was done. Hopefully when the car is being picked up.

We made our destination but the rad was leaking and needed to be changed. Next day being holiday, everything was closed, early friday july 2nd, i had the car towed to this dealership, as it was the closest, and that I have in the past purchased a civic from there years ago.

They looked over the car and it turns the body shop would need the car. I simply wanted a quick rad replacement, something easy so that I could return home and get the damage fixed at my local dealership.

They didn't let it go and damages are probably 3-4 thousand dollars - so insurance is being involved, my insurance plan has a car rental for such cases.

Left the fit at the dealership, who shipped it to the body shop 'triple crown' in concord ontario. They had to get an estimate done from insurance, before starting on the repair. - this is normal.

No rush, as I wanted a clean job.

Last week, we spoke to the body shop manager Danny, who has an office at the dealership with the triple crown logo on the door, and told us to come by friday, and the car will be ready.

Perfect. My wife and I took 2 vacation days off and took one of our kids. The older one stayed back. We left the wednesday night. Thursday at 1:44 in the afternoon, I still have the phone stamp on my cell, Danny calls and notified us the parts they ordered are defective. They didn't know when the car would be ready, but expected it ready the following wednesday, which would be july 28 2010. They offered hotel coverage. Which was nice. But we couldn't stay that long, esp with little kids, and loss of income from our jobs, plus they did not 100% know if it would have been ready. Who knows the replacement parts could have had other defects.

So we mentioned have serivce b done for free. They argreed. The car was purchased new from excel honda in montreal in november 2009.

"The problem" if the car would be ready, the following week, and we would not be able to come back with the rental and get our car until mid august. Insurance will cover rentals until the car is ready. So the question is who will cover the rental until we can make it back?

Danny said the body shop would not.

We felt like this was going no where, over the phone, so before heading back to montreal I went to the dealership, looking for answers - wanted to speak to the shop manager and explain the situation.

The acting shop manager agreed we are not at fault, and would pass this case to the service manager Bob, who did not work on the saturday.

We left back for home.

Wednesday july 28th came, Danny called car is ready. I explained we should not be paying for the mistake and not have to cover the rental. They offered service b again, which I declined, as this could be done at any dealership, but the rental situation is with the dealership. This is a principle thing. We wanted the rental covered until we could make it back mid august.

Bob was trying to pass the tab for the rental to insurance, and forwarded me to Danny the Body shop manager.
Bob mentioned to my wife, there is no financial benefit for the dealership on this matter and wanted the case closed.

Still no change on the rental. So we now have to make another trip, take another vacation day from work, drive out, pick our car and return back in one day, eventough we have to be back in toronto mid august.

Today I requested at least going half way with Bob that we'll come down next week for the exchange. No budge. Danny now declined getting service b done.

We will be going next week, paying the the week of rental and still have service b to cover when we return home.

Its a beautiful dealership, but you have been warned, basic customer service skills really lack.

If I did't help my customers with their situations, to keep them happy for a mistake, I would be fired. Can't believe no one wants to cover the tab, and would rather get negative word of mouth, which takes years to clear up - something which does have a financial benefit.

 

quick summary this dealership and the body shop they deal with is not willing to fix a bad situation which has inconvienced us to drive 5.5 hrs one way, just to have us to drive again, and not offer any customer service for the mess they got us in

 

Sisley, has had its fair share of problems in the past with previous customers.
I remember my friend purchased his 99 Civic Si there and noticed a scratch on the side skirt. They promised to replace it, only to find out later that it was merely just repainted (again principal of the matter, not because they painted it).

Also for years, an unsatisfied customer picketed in from of the old location because he had purchased a lemon and was left with it.

I purchase parts from there every now and then and the parts dept seems okay. But would never take my car to get serviced there.

Good luck and I hope you get your car back soon.

Word of mouth goes a long way and companies still manage to forget that.

 

I recall that guy off yonge st when I had my 93civic si
With the net, it's more easy to reach ppl

 

Taking the 5.5 hr drive wednesday for the pickup - lets see how clean their 'service' was

 

Sucky situation. Hope it gets fixed for you. This is why I always advocate having a second beater backup car. Never know when you might need it.

 

its all about principle and taking ownership of ones mistake

 

thats tough when you get in an accident, car dealers are great at selling you a car, they will bend over backward, but when you need repairs or other services, thats where they begin to slack.
good luck
this sounds more like a dealership problem, not a Honda problem.
best bet would be to talk to the GM of the dealership.

 

Just an update - we had to take another vacation day off to drive back 5.5 hrs to get our car last week, then swing around and return the same day - what a dull drive.

Driving the fit compared the the auto civic was night and day. Fun and nimbal vs plan and just ok - i know its not fair compairing manual to auto, 5 speed all the way.

Anyways we had some nice surprises - the car was ready, detailed on the inside and the engine bay, and all looked well - got 50% off on the service b and they called our insurance and now we didn't have to pay for the extra days for the rental.

Wow - the General manager Dave, called us the day before we came down, listened to our story and offered to fix things because he was aware of some of the online postings.

Anyways we left happy and felt like everything was 'fair' this was all we wanted from the beginning!

On the trip back, about 4 hrs into it, the check engine light came on and has been on since - I called and left a message for Dave and booked an appointment with our dealer in montreal. Hopefully its something small - but what if it isn't and its something incorrectly done at the dealership where the repair was done?