Author Topic: Latest Honda Gimmick.  (Read 3631 times)

VicW

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1441
  • Country: england
  • My Honda: 07 Plate Civic 1.8 i-Shift.
Latest Honda Gimmick.
« on: December 16, 2016, 03:14:36 PM »
I have just had my Jazz,bought eleven months ago, serviced and MoT'd by my local Honda dealer.
I have the car Honda serviced while it is still under warranty.
Apart from the usual reams of paperwork telling me how many things had been checked, noted by ticks in various boxes, I also received later in the day via email a video taken in the workshop showing my car and the technician who did the work telling me how my car had fared during its servicing and MoT.
What a complete waste of resources and time this video is that didn't impress me at all which is what I told the Honda representative who phoned me later in the day asking me if I was satisfied with work carried out. He commented that I wasn't the only customer with similar thoughts.
I will say that in the ten years I have used this dealership they have otherwise provided excellent service. It is the Boston, Lincs dealership that is part of the Vertu Honda group.

Vic.

olduser1

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1748
  • Country: 00
  • My Honda: Jazz EX 2015 CVT Elite Pack
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2016, 06:44:35 PM »
Agrees, another example of adding overheads to the Honda experience , why not let the mechanic talk to the customer like what happened in the 1960's?
As regards local dealerships owned by a family these are very much an endangered species not just Honda but most brands.
I'm tempted to lease for 2years for £50pw if we were to change to another Jazz....

Rory

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 657
  • Country: gb
  • My Honda: 2009 1.4 EX Manual - gone to a family member. Still look after it, and a 2014 EX driven by daughter.
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2017, 10:23:00 PM »
The big dealer groups, such as Vertu mentioned in the OP, really want to sell as much additional work as possible but customers feel remote from the workshop, as they're often dealing through a call centre or with a clue-less service advisor, so they tend to refuse to agree to additional work.

The feeling is that if the mechanic does a video and points out work that needs doing then the customer is much more likely to agree to it.

Got one after the first service on the VW that replaced wife's Jazz - the one thought that occured to me was how rusty it looked underneath!

VicW

  • Topic Starter
  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1441
  • Country: england
  • My Honda: 07 Plate Civic 1.8 i-Shift.
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2017, 02:50:42 PM »
I received the video about my car servicing via email after I got home so it was not a lot of use for telling me how my car had fared, they had already done that at the dealership reception desk.
The system they have used in the past is to call me on my mobile if there is anything that they think needs attention and may earn them a couple of bob. I have no objection to that, businesses have to make a profit to survive.
Sending me a video after I had got home telling there was nothing wrong with my car is a waste of time and resources.

Vic.

Jazzdriver

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 199
  • Country: gb
  • Fuel economy: 63 mpg
  • My Honda: 2014 1.4 ES+ CVT and 2022 Crosstar replacing 2021 Crosstar written off
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2017, 08:20:42 PM »
My sister has bought 3 Jazzes from that same Boston dealer and gets hers serviced there.  She mentioned to me that she got a video after her last service. 

I would like the mechanic (technician?) to take me to the ramp, let me get under the car and show me any interesting points, but plenty of people would not.  I think that sometimes the dealer has collected and dropped the car off for my sister, in which case she is not even there.
 
My sister said that the video showed her the wear on her tyres.  I examine my tyres every week, but plenty of people do not give them a second thought.  So maybe some people benefit from it.  It may also help the dealer when the customer receives a Honda email asking her to complete a questionnaire about the dealer's service.

guest5079

  • Guest
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2017, 11:20:50 AM »
Unfortunately, I think liability Insurance and Health and Safety must take a degree of blame for customers NOT being allowed in the 'workshop'. My Jazz was bought with a 2 yr service pack and whilst it was very nice to sit in a posh show room with limitless free coffee/tea etc I too would sooner be allowed to see underneath. This I can do at our local garage, where the Jazz will be going from now on. Not only will it save a 60 mile round trip, the bill will be considerably lighter. £150 plus for oil /filter change MOT and a car wash the rest allegedly done!!!!!. I can oil my door locks which wasn't done last time!!!!and look around the car and look through the wheels to see the state of the brakes. If I don't know when my tyres want replacing it could be that I should give up driving. Sorry all I want is to be sure the important bits are done properly.
One point re the Main Dealer was that they did have viewing windows to see into the workshop.
In my days in the garage, we encouraged the customer to see what we were doing BUT how things have changed.
An observation re the video, surely it depends on the camera operator where he/she points it and it can't get behind certain parts, say the transmission drive shafts OR do they video as they work???????????.  I cannot see the point of it.

culzean

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8017
  • Country: england
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2017, 11:36:54 AM »
you are right about health and safety, but it is often used as an excuse and people can use it as a great excuse to stop people going anywhere or doing anything. I used to have to do risk assessments and coshh statements as part of my job as a site engineering manager, I was doing risk assessments for the most trivial of activities and doing coshh statements for stuff like WD40, 3 in 1 oil and water based acrylic paint,  the kind of stuff a 16 year old could buy from any shop - it was an insult to experienced technicians to tell them they had to read the coshh / risk assessment and sign a book before they could use the stuff. All it did was add time and cost to jobs.
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

Rory

  • Approved Member
  • *
  • Posts: 657
  • Country: gb
  • My Honda: 2009 1.4 EX Manual - gone to a family member. Still look after it, and a 2014 EX driven by daughter.
Re: Latest Honda Gimmick.
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2017, 06:45:34 PM »
I took daughter's Jazz to a recommended local independant garage who have Hunter alignment systems.  He set one of the guys to work on it and I wandered over.   

The owner, in a nice way, nearly freaked out when he saw me!  He explained that it was a strict condition of their insurance that customers were not allowed in the workshop.  He'd gone to the trouble and expense of setting up a multi-camera CCTV systems so you could watch your car being worked on from the reception area.

Tags:
 

anything
Back to top