Looking To Buy A New Honda? You Might Want To Reconsider That Decision

When a person says 'Honda', the first thing that comes to your mind is the reliability of the cars. But that was not the case for Mr. Sanjeev Gupta from Ghaziabad, as he is regretting his decision of buying a Honda.

Sanjeev bought a brand new Honda Amaze diesel variant in April 2014, and after using the car for about 33,000km, he noticed white smoke from the exhaust. When he took the car to Courtesy Honda in Okhla, he was given an estimate of Rs. 60,000 to fix it, but the car is under warranty. The Honda Amaze comes with a warranty of 2 years or 40,000km, whichever is earlier.

The dealer said the issue was with the engine and there could be a possibility of water inside it. Curious, Sanjeev asked the dealer how was it possible for water to enter the engine, and the dealer tells Sanjeev that it could be the result of driving in heavy rain.

The Amaze was eventually left in the showroom for a period of two months, while Sanjeev still paid EMIs, without even using the car. During this time, Sanjeev tried getting in touch with Honda's higher officials, but the call centre employees kept telling him that an official will get back, but no one did.

Sanjeev is also looking at the warranty period to be false. Honda technicians are not looking at the issue as a mechanical failure, which is covered by insurance. Sanjeev says he has driven the car on normal rainy days, and if Honda had warned him not to drive during heavy showers, he would have obliged.

The worried Amaze owner ran about to do everything he could until September last year, but being ignored by Honda and higher officials, he eventually spent Rs. 37,749 to repair the engine. Once the car was back home safe, Sanjeev wanted to go public and warn potential Honda customers.

First, Sanjeev stuck posters on the car to tell people what happened, but that left his family embarrassed. After explaining to his family that such a matter could not slip away unnoticed, he took the step of writing down the words "After buying Amaze, I am weeping tears of blood" and "say no to Honda Amaze as it has miserable customer service".

This caught the attention on social media and ever since, Honda officials from India and Japan have offered to replace the engine in the diesel Amaze according to Gupta.

Also, this is not the first such instance, as customers have had complaints against Honda and its customer service. Another notable incident happened back in 2011, when a customer approached Honda to by the Jazz.

The customer paid the cash in full for the car, but Honda wanted time to deliver the car since supply was slow. The customer waited for a long time (over 7 months) and when he did get in touch with the Honda dealership, the answer was not acceptable. Honda personnel replied in a way that they were doing a favour for the customer by giving him a car.

Honda even refused to return the cash paid by the customer and eventually, the customer, who also happens to be a lawyer, sent the dealership a legal notice. Following the notice, the car was delivered shortly, but according to the customer, the service and customer support was not at all acceptable according to Honda standards.

At the time of delivery, when asked for offers and the delay, the sales manager quoted, "You are lucky to take deliver of the car". That is not what a customer would want to hear after paying in full and waiting for over 7 months.