I had bought a Honda CITY GXI model on Dec'08 from Harmony Honda, Chandigarh.
Since purchase of the car, it has got serviced almost regularly at the Honda Service Centres only. Last Service was done in Aug'10 at Sunshine Honda, Jaipur. Since then the car has covered approx. 5000 KM.
In Jan'10, the oil chamber of the car had got hit by a stone in the night, hence there was a small leakage from the chamber. The chamber was changed immediately through Pinkcity Honda, Jaipur. At the same time the fender lining and engine cover was also damaged by the stone (Basically the under the engine plastic lining). During the repairs, Pinkcity Honda forgot to put the engine cover.
After few months, the fender lining again got damaged as its base is actually the engine cover, since there was no engine cover, it was loose and got damaged. This time I sent the car to Sunshine Honda, Jaipur. They only reverted back to me stating that there is no engine cover, hence the fender lining has got damaged. Hence, I had to get both the things replaced again at my own cost.
on 7th Feb'11, I sent the car to Sunshine Honda, Jaipur for replacement of the windshield, as it has got a crack while driving. I got a call back from the service centre mentioning that there is a leakage from the engine and I should see it for my self. On 8th Feb'11, I went to their service centre, where they explained to me that this kind of damage can not come because of any accident and hence it can not be covered under any kind of accident claim. Basically there was a hole in the engine block. (The pictures are attached with this mail for your reference)
That day they told me that it would cost approx. 2.5 lac for the replacement of the part as the part can not be repaired. At that time, I requested them to check with the company, that since it is a manufacturing defect and in a car like Honda City such kind of occurrence is not normal, it should be replaced by the company. That very day company's Area incharge Mr. Abhinav was also present in Sunshine Honda. They asked me to wait for their response in this case. I told him that the car is hardly 2 yr 1 months old and the warranty has just expired in Dec'10 and this problem can not come up in just overnight kind of manner. Also that the car has hardly covered 28,400 KMs so far.
On 8th Feb'11, I got a call from Mr. Ajay, GM-Sunshine Honda, in the evening mentioning that this can not be done and the company has rejected the claim.
On 9th Feb'11, I called Mr. Ajay and asked him to provide me with the company's official contact nos. and mail ids, so that I can interact with the company directly. Mr. Ajay just gave me the contact no. of the local Area Incharge Mr. Abhinav and expressed his reservations in providing any other details in this regard.
On 10th feb'11, I called up Mr. Abhinav to discuss this case. His reply was that since the car is out of warranty, they are not liable. I insisted that I want to discuss the matter with someone senior in the organization, to which he replied back stating that he can give any details of any senior person and in case I want to do anything, I can write a mail to the customer care ID of Honda Cars.
On 11th Feb'11, I sent a mail to Mr. Ajay, requesting him to revert back to me in writing with regard to the following queries:-
-- What is the exact technical defect / damage in the engine/ bock? What could be the possible reasons?
-- What is the solution for this?
-- What is the cost of correcting this?
-- If the damage / defect is not due to normal wear and tear or accident (as the car has hardly run for 28000 KM so far in last 2 yr 2 month period), why can't the Honda company change / replace the part?
Sunshine Honda or the company have not reverted to me on the above queries till date.
Since, I was not satisfied by the answers from the Service centre or the Area Incharge, I wrote a very strong mail to their customer care id on 12th Feb'11 to their customer care id with a cc to Sunshine Honda.
Meanwhile I tried my level best to find out details of some senior officials so that I could discuss this matter with them. However, please note that there was no reply from either of their officials or customer care id till Monday morning. So I wrote another mail to them on 14th Feb'11 to every possible e-mail of Honda Cars, which I could lay my hands upon. But, again there was no response or call from the company.
Also that very day, I talked to Honda Cars corporate Sales Head Mr. Ashish Kaul, who asked me to forward the mail to him with details, but he has also not reverted on the matter afterwards.
Yesterday (15th Feb'11), I got a call from Sunshine Honda, Jaipur saying that I should call up their Area Manager and discuss the matter with him. Frankly speaking, I did not call Mr. Abhinav again as his last interaction was totally hands off approach and I did not wanted any further frustration in this regard. Though I did got a message through a close friend of mine that Honda RSM have told them that if I am ready to pay 1.27 lac, then they can get the part changed. Please note that till date, nothing has been given to me in writing from the company with regard to any matter.
After this, I wrote another mail to all the possible company officials, clearly mentioning that I am not going to let this issue go like this and would take it up to the last level.
On 15th Feb'11, I have got a mail from their customer care id mentioning that they are looking into the matter and that they will talk to Pinkcity Honda, Jaipur in this regard. It was clear that none of the senior person had read my mail so far, as I had clearly mentioned that my car is lying with Sunshine Honda.
On 16th Feb'11, I got a call from the GM of Sunshine Honda, Mr. Ajay. He asked me to visit their service centre, as the Area Manager had come today and he wanted to discuss the matter with me. When I reached there, he again tried to convince me that the best they can do is that they will replace the part at a cost of approx. Rs. 1.27 lac. At the same time, he also tried to put the blame of the damage on to me by saying that since the car was hit (that was in Jan'10 and we are talking about the leakage now), and the oil chamber was damaged, hence due to heating this problem could occur. Again, please note that till date there is nothing in writing from them to me.
I strongly believe that it is a manufacturing defect and the company should own up the liability in this case.
click to see larger images
I had bought a Honda CITY GXI model on Dec'08 from Harmony Honda, Chandigarh.
Since purchase of the car, it has got serviced almost regularly at the Honda Service Centres only. Last Service was done in Aug'10 at Sunshine Honda, Jaipur. Since then the car has covered approx. 5000 KM.
In Jan'10, the oil chamber of the car had got hit by a stone in the night, hence there was a small leakage from the chamber. The chamber was changed immediately through Pinkcity Honda, Jaipur. At the same time the fender lining and engine cover was also damaged by the stone (Basically the under the engine plastic lining). During the repairs, Pinkcity Honda forgot to put the engine cover.
After few months, the fender lining again got damaged as its base is actually the engine cover, since there was no engine cover, it was loose and got damaged. This time I sent the car to Sunshine Honda, Jaipur. They only reverted back to me stating that there is no engine cover, hence the fender lining has got damaged. Hence, I had to get both the things replaced again at my own cost.
on 7th Feb'11, I sent the car to Sunshine Honda, Jaipur for replacement of the windshield, as it has got a crack while driving. I got a call back from the service centre mentioning that there is a leakage from the engine and I should see it for my self. On 8th Feb'11, I went to their service centre, where they explained to me that this kind of damage can not come because of any accident and hence it can not be covered under any kind of accident claim. Basically there was a hole in the engine block. (The pictures are attached with this mail for your reference)
That day they told me that it would cost approx. 2.5 lac for the replacement of the part as the part can not be repaired. At that time, I requested them to check with the company, that since it is a manufacturing defect and in a car like Honda City such kind of occurrence is not normal, it should be replaced by the company. That very day company's Area incharge Mr. Abhinav was also present in Sunshine Honda. They asked me to wait for their response in this case. I told him that the car is hardly 2 yr 1 months old and the warranty has just expired in Dec'10 and this problem can not come up in just overnight kind of manner. Also that the car has hardly covered 28,400 KMs so far.
On 8th Feb'11, I got a call from Mr. Ajay, GM-Sunshine Honda, in the evening mentioning that this can not be done and the company has rejected the claim.
On 9th Feb'11, I called Mr. Ajay and asked him to provide me with the company's official contact nos. and mail ids, so that I can interact with the company directly. Mr. Ajay just gave me the contact no. of the local Area Incharge Mr. Abhinav and expressed his reservations in providing any other details in this regard.
On 10th feb'11, I called up Mr. Abhinav to discuss this case. His reply was that since the car is out of warranty, they are not liable. I insisted that I want to discuss the matter with someone senior in the organization, to which he replied back stating that he can give any details of any senior person and in case I want to do anything, I can write a mail to the customer care ID of Honda Cars.
On 11th Feb'11, I sent a mail to Mr. Ajay, requesting him to revert back to me in writing with regard to the following queries:-
-- What is the exact technical defect / damage in the engine/ bock? What could be the possible reasons? -- What is the solution for this? -- What is the cost of correcting this? -- If the damage / defect is not due to normal wear and tear or accident (as the car has hardly run for 28000 KM so far in last 2 yr 2 month period), why can't the Honda company change / replace the part?
Sunshine Honda or the company have not reverted to me on the above queries till date.
Since, I was not satisfied by the answers from the Service centre or the Area Incharge, I wrote a very strong mail to their customer care id on 12th Feb'11 to their customer care id with a cc to Sunshine Honda.
Meanwhile I tried my level best to find out details of some senior officials so that I could discuss this matter with them. However, please note that there was no reply from either of their officials or customer care id till Monday morning. So I wrote another mail to them on 14th Feb'11 to every possible e-mail of Honda Cars, which I could lay my hands upon. But, again there was no response or call from the company.
Also that very day, I talked to Honda Cars corporate Sales Head Mr. Ashish Kaul, who asked me to forward the mail to him with details, but he has also not reverted on the matter afterwards.
Yesterday (15th Feb'11), I got a call from Sunshine Honda, Jaipur saying that I should call up their Area Manager and discuss the matter with him. Frankly speaking, I did not call Mr. Abhinav again as his last interaction was totally hands off approach and I did not wanted any further frustration in this regard. Though I did got a message through a close friend of mine that Honda RSM have told them that if I am ready to pay 1.27 lac, then they can get the part changed. Please note that till date, nothing has been given to me in writing from the company with regard to any matter.
After this, I wrote another mail to all the possible company officials, clearly mentioning that I am not going to let this issue go like this and would take it up to the last level.
On 15th Feb'11, I have got a mail from their customer care id mentioning that they are looking into the matter and that they will talk to Pinkcity Honda, Jaipur in this regard. It was clear that none of the senior person had read my mail so far, as I had clearly mentioned that my car is lying with Sunshine Honda.
On 16th Feb'11, I got a call from the GM of Sunshine Honda, Mr. Ajay. He asked me to visit their service centre, as the Area Manager had come today and he wanted to discuss the matter with me. When I reached there, he again tried to convince me that the best they can do is that they will replace the part at a cost of approx. Rs. 1.27 lac. At the same time, he also tried to put the blame of the damage on to me by saying that since the car was hit (that was in Jan'10 and we are talking about the leakage now), and the oil chamber was damaged, hence due to heating this problem could occur. Again, please note that till date there is nothing in writing from them to me.
I strongly believe that it is a manufacturing defect and the company should own up the liability in this case.
- Amit G., Jaipur, Rajasthan, India