That's what I'm trying to say - if the odometer says it is 2000 miles out of warranty, that DOES NOT MEAN THE CAR ACTUALLY has gone that distance. It is very likely the odometer is over reading, meaning that the car is likely still in warranty. Huge class action lawsuits going on over this already - Honda has already offered something, Nissan is still arguing... not sure on the status of Toyota.

 

http://hondaodometerclassaction.com/

They approved a 5% extension of warranty...

 

+1!

Sounds like its time to call Acura up and flex a little muscle to me.

 

Well, we know who signs your paychecks. : ) Things don't have to be so black and white, Mr. Goodwrench. If car companies treated customers poorly and always locked the door on them at 5:01 pm...they would lose those buyers and go bankru--oh, wait...

 

Good product...bad product. Normal use...abuse. In warranty...warranty expired. These are the normal daily situations that come up in a service department for any product anywhere... I got so tired of dealing with this BS I left the trades and went to work in a prison. NOW the customer is NOT always right. LOL.

 

I appreciate your frustration with "the customer is always right"... I've worked with enough customers that I know that is bollocks.

However, sometimes the customer is right and does deserve to be treated fairly, and within the agreed upon contract at sale. Sometimes the dealership really is being a stingy bastard... fair enough their job is to make money, but that fairness only extends as far as the contract states.

In this case, if the odometer is over reading, then the car is still within warranty. Honda itself has come forward and agreed to extend ALL of their car's warranties by 5% due to odometer over reading. I calculated the difference of this car to be only 1.x% - meaning this car is still within warranty.

As this car is still in warranty, it is still under the terms of the warranty... as this is a major drive train component, then it would most likely be covered (unless serious abuse could be proven). As the poster said it was his mom's car I'm guessing it wasn't driven in the 'fast and the furious' style... That'd be up to the dealership to prove etc.

I do agree as harsh as it may sound that once a car is out of warranty... that's it. When you buy a car you get the option of negotiating (and paying extra) your warranty... mine has a 7 year warranty that I haggled into the price of the vehicle. At some point as the purchaser the cost of the warranty extension goes above the likely return from the warranty should something fail... and as humans we gamble a lot more than we believe we do, because we're also a lot cheaper than we let on.

In this case I do believe the customer is right... and if they approach this in a responsible and respectable way I would expect nothing but the same from the dealership.

 

I am not disagreeing with you. Being in service is a stressful job particularily when you like your customers and want to have repeat business with them. It is a thankless position to be placed in the middle of impossible situations on a regular basis.
There are products of there that have performed throughout their normal life expectancy without failure. The weak link appears and fails and somebody makes note.
Next thing the product develops a reputation for having a weak link and what is the manufacturer gonna do about it... Under normal use the product lasts and performs as designed past warranty.
Of course with there is some failure within warranty as well and those are usally dealt with and the manufacturer eats the cost of the repair and analyses the failed part. They develop a good feel for what breaks and why. Then they sit in there corporate ivory towers and start issueing edicts about which repairs to cover and which ones to reject based on the "nature " of the failure.
Both the customer and servicer get caught in the sticky situation of having to apply for an approved repair. No thanks. I am happy to be out of the middle of that.

 

oh absolutely... it's a ****ty position because you're stuck in the middle with no real ability to do more (or less)

 

You guys keep saying how tough it's to be a service person. Yet if it was your bike that the transmisson had failed on, you would be absolutly livid!
Were talking about a luxuary vehicle, you would think they would treat it's customers 10x better, then your avg car owner. I know BMW does! so does Mercedes! Both cars have lots of faults, but no one cares because they take care of you properly.
Not only that, both BMW and Mercedes, actually train there mechanics themselves. So you know your getting good work done on your car. Instead of having some guy off the street learning as he goes.

 

Your right. Livid customers have trained me how to be the worlds biggest a-hole and get what I want. Squawk loud, make a scene, threaten to go to the papers and media, involve a lawyer, threaten, drive away other customers, and generally be the biggest pain in their butt until they are willing to pay to make you go away. It is really an easy formula. Most of all don't give up until you get what you want.
In the end everybody else pays more and you go away with your hard earned victory and a story to tell. And the servicer becomes jaded and bitter and nobody gets a break.