When "American Honda" calls to ask about my car buying experience should I lie and say it was great or should I answer the questions honestly.

The first salesman I talked to said the Fit Sport has rear disk brakes, that the gas flap locked with the automatic locks, and that the automatic and manual transmissions had the same gear ratios. That's three but I think there was a forth whopper in our brief acquaintance.

I bought from another salesman who said the financial transaction would take 15 or 20 minutes (cash). I suspected that his estimate was wrong and I told the friend who drove that he should leave -- that it would be a while. There was a wait of over an hour and a half then the actual finances actually took 15 to 20 minutes. The next week I suggested that he not give any estimate and at this time he didn't dispute "15 to 20 minutes".

When American Honda called I answered the owner survey questions honestly.

The salesman then said that he had said that the finances would take 45 minutes. Garbage. But it tells me that American Honda shared the survey results. The time estimate isn't a big issue for me. Telling lies is.

I didn't trust that dealership before the survey, and I'm sure not going to trust them afterwards. I will go to my regular mechanic for work instead of to the dealership.

So should I have just said "the car buying experience was wonderful"? Should we just ignore salesmen telling lies?

 

Why would you even consider rewarding the dealer for lying to customers? You think the salesman is going to break your windows for being an unhappy customer? If that were the case I'd quit my job and go into the window replacement business, because there'd be a LOT of broken windows.

 

Thanks for your reply. It has helped me with perspective.

IF I need warranty work or if there's a recall, I will need to go to a Honda dealer. The one I bought from is not close at all, but the next closest is an additional 100 miles away which is just unworkable if it's not a same-day repair. There are few options here and I worry that answering honestly has worsened my options.

I don't want to reward the people who lied. I was simply naive enough to think that the owner survey results would be presented to the dealer as summaries or an overview of (perhaps) a month's feedback.

I stand by every answer I gave in the survey. The question is: would I have declined to answer if I knew the answers would go straight to the people I already don't trust?

My main worry is warranty repairs. Perhaps I will need none as I have needed no warranty repairs on two other Hondas.

Again, thanks for your reply.

 

Shame on American Honda for not protecting the identity of people providing feedback. Whether you have to return for warranty work, routine service (why anyone does this is beyond me), or to buy another vehicle (for yourself or someone else), it doesn't help to be seen as the one who shit talked the dealership to the company.
Knowing that Honda will rat you out to the dealership, you might as well just lie and say it was a great experience. What are you going to do, go to another dealership? They're all terrible liars and con artists. If Honda wanted the buying experience to be straight forward and on the level, they would just retail and service the cars themselves.

 

answer the questions honestly. i doubt it will cause a mechanic to damage your car on purpose. salesman will not even know if you have the car in for warranty work.

my local honda dealership service department is totally untrustworthy, imo. the next closest is an hour away (not doing that drive). i am a believer in honda quality, but not my dealership service department. my 04 element had an o2 sensor go bad, that's it. but i nearly bought a subura over the summer because i don't trust the service department at all. (who knows-they may be just as bad)

another couple i know feel exactly the same way. i explained this to the salesman after we worked out a deal for the fit this year. he brought in two "management" guys and had me explain it to them. as we were signing the papers one of the guys brought in a paper giving me 30 some free oil changes in an attempt to "win back trust" so i risked the first free oil change/tire rotation with them. marked the tires and oil filter before, after checked and they did change the oil and rotate the tires. i still don't have any trust in them, but have to take it in for a recall on the traction control. not looking forward to that at all.

i don't understand why so many dealerships seem to forget customer service once you buy a car ? hiring kids to do oil changes is fine, but keep an eye on them and if they show promise, offer training and a career. don't charge nearly 100 bucks an hour labor, and pay the mechanics low wages. sales people shouldn't be making so much more than a mechanic, plus a free car.

honda had no business telling the dealership what you answered. instead of trying to get all positive reviews to tell the public, they should obviously use that information to better their dealerships.

 

That's what they're doing. "Four customers were unhappy with you last month" isn't constructive feedback. "Customer X felt he was misled by salesman Y on this point" is something the dealership can work on.

The dealers represent the factory- the factory wants the dealer to do a good job of it. And without accurate feedback, nobody's going to know how well or badly they're doing.