Good Bye Honda.

I have been a Honda client for almost 15 years, i bought 5 vehicles from them and have traded my cars in and purchased new ones like clock work every 2 to 3 years. Sadly the experience i had today with a Honda dealership has now ended that relationship in a bad way. To provide back story to this, my most recent vehicle a 2016 Honda Accord 2.4 executive which i purchased from Honda East Rand, within the first week the car broke down on me due to the car being sold to me with a faulty battery, this for me was a shock as Honda always (or so i thought) double checked everything, the dealership then replaced the battery for me. A month later a noise started to develop from the rear of the car, during the course of the next two services i told the dealership about the noise, the first time nothing at all was done about it, the second time i was told "they couldn't hear the noise themselves ". The noise continued (and got louder). Then early this year for its for its 45 000km service i was quite late bringing it in as at the time i had my elderly Dad in hospital for months and i couldn't get to the dealership so by time i did get the car to the dealership it unfortunately already had 54 000km. The dealership did the service and again i asked about the noise, when i got the car back i was told that they had tighten the shocks at the back and that should sort it out. (The noise was not fixed and actually got even louder over time.) Now as i did the last service at 54 000km i felt it silly to bring it in 6000km later for the 60000km service as they would literally be removing new filters and oils so i decided to just bring it in for its 75000km service which as i do many km's would just be a few months later. Today i brought the car in for its 75 000km service and again told the dealership that the noise was still there. I was then phoned later and told that my car was ready. When i collected the car they informed me of all that was done to the car and that they had found the source of the noise. They advised me that a small section within the exhaust system had "something" rattle inside and that the entire part from engine to the exhaust would need to be replaced. (which i found odd on account of one small section being damaged ?) nonetheless i said ok, has that been done then ? Thats when they advised me that it had not been done as my warranty on my car had now been voided as i had skipped the 60000km service. Now where do i start with this ? First off common logic would dedicate that if the car had its service done so close to 60000km that surely i wouldn't bring it in literally 2 months later for yet another service, but fair enough rules are rules and the warranty agreement does state that all services need to be done. BUT to HONDA SA and Honda Eastrand i have this to say. 1. After having been a loyal client for over 10 years and buying vehicles regularly and servicing them regularly without fail and this being data that you could have picked up off your system, do you not think that some customer loyalty would suggest to maybe overlook the late service as a one time event as all other services had been done on time for the 4 OTHER VEHICLES and 1 BIKE ? 2. The warranty issue aside, i had asked the dealership to fix this issue 4 times and it was never properly corrected from day one and now that they have supposedly found the problem now the car is out of warranty ? So with all of this being said plus the news in the media of all new Honda engines suffering oil dilution problems (of which i was never alerted of) i can truly say that my 15 year relationship with Honda has ended. The reliability of their cars has severely dropped (backed by JD Power stats) but i thought to myself at least the service is good and now even that has gone.... So my next vehicle which i am looking to purchase in the next two months will sadly not be a Honda. To Honda SA i say, time to go back to the drawing board. You cannot keep scatting by on an old reputation of "reliability" whilst allowing your cars to drop in quality and your service to degrade even faster you will sadly soon find your market share eaten up but cheaper (and just as reliable) korean vehicle manufacturers.

Regards Ex Honda Customer