Honda in Serbia

[Vladan]

I have to let some steam off somewhere so here it goes:

I bought my Jazz in 2002 in Switzerland. I was more than satisfied with the service and servicemen. Then I moved back to Serbia and imported it. My family loves it very much, so we could not part with it. THere was one grey importer at that time, I did not want them to do the servicing so I took my car to Hungary to a proper service. They were not the kindes of people, they even lied and overcharged me. What can you do, I was in no position to complain, so I just swallowed and went on.
This year another service was due, I have chosen Croatia, first of all because we do not have language barrier and then the guy sounded very nice over the phone. Only vote against was because of security issues, they belived we have bombed them, which someone did, and I had Belgrade licence plate. So, my friend and I set on to a journey of 3 hours and through ex-warfield. Noone even noticed us, so this is just one more point for my theory that we are all the same, nice and friendly, until some jerk comes...
Anyway, the service and the reception was excellent, they gave me new Honda Civic for a test drive although I can not buy cars from them even if I wanted. They are real Honda fans, all of them and their families drive Hondas of various types and ages. It felt great. My friend is an automechanic and he was impressed with all the things they allowed us to see and drive. I am still in contact with them, and they wrote something which meant a lot to me:
No matter which religion or colour, we, Honda owners and drivers are all the same!
So far no reason to complain, right?
Well, I cam back to my country, oredera a wiper gum for my back window, and spent some time in the dealers viewing area... The sales persons are NOT nice, NOT well educated for this job, they tend to give much more attention if someone dressed in flash clothes comes in than to us ordinary people, as if they were selling Lexuses. All question which I asked them, at first without any wish to check their knowledge, and then that was my sole mission. They were not aware of the facts, they lied about new models, even after I suggested them that this info is not available nor truth. Then he learned that I am Honda owner and he decided that I do not need any attention, he just left for his office.
They do not want to sell Hondas, they are a big company whose primary goal is money, Hondas are different they need special people to drive them, they need special servicing. The best thing of all is that we do not have any more dealers in Serbia. Services which are excellent for older Honda models, will not get the right to service as official Honda services, and their knowledge is enormous...
So, if someone is reading this, please, come to Serbia as Honda, not as franchise, show people what Honda is, I know it can be done, nice people from Ruting from Croatia can teach all of them a lot...

Propud Honda owner,
Vladan