If the mail trail below does not shock us not only as consumers but more so as Indians then nothing will. Think a million times before you buy a Honda Car. For them life is cheap and Indians are worthless. Knowlingly they have been putting substandard parts in cars putting lives at danger and then trying to hide behind their being a global company and unny enough calling itself ethical.

A part as critical as engine hydraulic mounting does not even last 25000km and that too on the roads of South Delhi and Honda has million excuses to justify. But they fail because the gullible and truly Indian technicians in their service centers know the truth and share with customers the reality that the hydraulic mounting on Honda Civic is faulty and has been changed by Honda even on many new deliveries.

Go thru the long mail trail below. Matter as serious as this is left to be handled by some customer service agent.

India has opened to the foreign investors and that is good but have we given them the liberty to put everybody's life in danger and hide behind excuses to save themselves.

Anybody who reads this post should stand up to this callousness, shameless and unethical business practice of Honda? Should we let it go just like that or stand up and fight for us, for our children, for our society and above all oiur country.

I will soon start a Facebook page on this very complaint and also a Yahoo Group. Join in numbers and ensure that Honda keeps our safety ahead of filthy profits.

Thanks

Atul



On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 5:39 PM, atul sood wrote:

Thanks Rajneesh. Your evasive replies do not address the issue. Please mail me the co-ordnates of Manjo's replacement in Honda SIEL and also of the senior most customer care exec in Honda. I will have the issue resolved directly.

It is clear that this issue is out of your purview and powers. You need not spend anymore time on this.

Atul Sood


On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Customer Relations wrote:

Dear Mr. Sood,

Sorry for the delay in responding to your mail.

Wish to inform you that Mr. Manoj Khattar does not work with HSCI anymore.

Further we assure you that your concern is being handled at appropriate level and the trailing mail sent to you is our official stand on your concern and is not an indvidual's reply.

We are not running away from the truth, but would like to submit very humbly that your apprehension about a manufacturing issue in the Hydraulic mounting or the Lock sets fitted to Honda Cars is misplaced. Also since your car is more than 5 years old, it is out of warranty and hence any repairs on your car can be undertaken on chargeable basis only.

We seek your kind understanding on the matter.

Kind Regards,
Rajneesh Raheja
Customer Relationship Management
Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. ,Greater Noida
-----atul sood wrote: -----


To: Customer Relations
From: atul sood
Date: 12/27/2011 10:10AM
Subject: Re: Kind Attn : Mr. Atul Sood



Rajnish - This mail is now 6 days old. I am expecting that Manoj Khattar and other responsible people in Honda has been apprised about the seriousness of this complaint.

I expect a response today.

Thanks
Atul Sood




On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 11:37 AM, atul sood < soodatul@gmail.com > wrote:

Thanks Rajneesh. I do not need an education session on what Honda is. Infact my complaint becomes even more serious because it is against a so called global company called Honda and not some middle of nowhere workshop delving in auto business.

The fact that Honda has behaved the way explained in my mail makes it even worst and undoubtedly if it does reach an escalation levels in consumer court or other bodies the fact that it is Honda will make it worst.

My complaint has nothing to do how old my car is. It is Honda hiding the facts and that too for parts which can cause serious safety issues and loss of life.

If you are telling me that a hydraulic mounting should not even last 25000 km in a Honda Civic driven on the roads of South Delhi which are amongst the best in the world then Honda is already accepting that the part has an inherent problem. I have been the sole driver of this car and this problem showed up even before the car completed 20000KM.

While Honda is running away from the truth it is the honest and concerned people in various Honda service centres who speak the truth. In this case even before looking at under the hood the technician knew that it is the mounting. How? Because he has the complete history of this part and knows that Honda replaced it for free in many new deliveries. It is futile effort on part of Honda to hide it. It will be out in the open in any case.

With regards to the lock this is the first time in my life where I have owned atleast 15 cars by now that I had to change the lockset of a car - my City. And I have been warned by the technicians that the same will happen with my Civic too ! Why is it happening only with Honda? Because of its dishonesty and its unethical business practices.

Honda will be well advised not to Trivialize this issue and rubbish this very serious complaint and have some very senior person get to the depth of it and revert.

I look forward to an urgent response and resolution from Honda. This mail exchange cannot go on foreever. If your Senior GM Customer relations is still Mr. Khattar then he should look into it personally and revert instead of passing over this serious issue to junior cadres. It wont help.


Atul Sood



On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 5:10 PM, Customer Relations < customer_relations@hondacarindia.com > wrote:

Dear Mr. Sood,

This is with reference to your trailing mail regarding concern of Hydraulic Mounting on your Honda Civic.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you.

We wish to submit that you have been misinformed about the defects on Honda products as mentioned in your trailing mail. We are a transparent and customer cenrtric organisation having a global presence and under No circumstances we will supply a product with a defect to our esteemed customers. If unintentionally a product has gone into the market with even a minor defect we have not shyed away from our responsibility and have carried out global recalls to correct the defect inorder to protect the intrest of our customers.

Further in context to your car, we wish to inform you that the hydraulic mounting of your car has been performing optimally for around 5 years and your car has travelled in excess of 25K kms before it failed. We wish to inform you that hydraulic mounting in tandem with other mountings carries the weight of the engine and absorbs the vibration. It undergoes a a lot of stress as a suspension part for the engine and its life depends upon the terrain and the driving conditions. We agree owing to the car being driven on bad road without proper care the hydraulic mounting may fail early but the same is not a manufacturing defect but a usage related failure.

Regarding the locks we wish to inform you that all Honda cars are fitted with state of the art locks with wave forms key profiles which are difficult to copy, hence ensure safety of the car from theft. The fact that your Honda Civic bought in 2006 has had NO problem with the locking system for last 5 years testifies to the quality of the part. Also regrading the Music system we wish to submit that the cabin of the car is completely insulated from the Engine compartment and there is NO possibility of Engine heat coming on to the music system, however we would like to get an inspection done before we comment on the cause of overheating of the music system.

In view of the above we are constrained to accept your demand for replacement of hydraulic mounting as failure of the same is not caused due to any manufacturing defect.

We seek your kind understanding on the matter and would like to assure you on quality of Honda products.

Kind Regards,
Rajneesh Raheja
CRM
Honda Siel Cars India Ltd.
Greater Noida
-----atul sood < soodatul@gmail.com > wrote: -----


To: customer_relations@hondacarindia.com
From: atul sood < soodatul@gmail.com >
Date: 12/17/2011 10:01PM
Subject: Ridiculous and high handed response....................Re: Serious issues of lack of ethics


Dear Nagai San,

In response to my complaint below I received a casual call from some Honda dealer and mail today from an email ID purportedly belonging to Honda dealer in Gurgaon.

Not sure what any dealer has got to do with my complaint, By passing on the issue to a dealer Honda is not only playing the game of downplaying the issue but at the same time is being apathetic to a feedback and concern.

Let me state it unequivocally that my complaint is not against a dealer but against Honda Corporation. It is not about what the dealers are doing (they will do what Honda asks them to do) but about the absence of business ethics of Honda. In response to my complaint highlighting a serious matter and a serious safety concern Honda is simply attempting to brush under the carpet and evade coming out clean.

Please pay the attention this matter deserves. Don't just simply wish it away. It wont' go away just by Honda ignoring it. It will only become a bigger issue.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards
Atul Sood





On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 2:59 PM, atul sood < soodatul@gmail.com > wrote:

Dear Takedagawa San,



This is not the first time I am reporting to Honda as an anguished customer. I own a Honda City and a Civic which I bought with great expectations of dealing with a World Class company expected to have high moral and business ethics as the likes of Toyota, Sony etc. Unfortunately my experience has been horribly bad. And on all the occasions I found Honda lacking customer centricity and not being honest in doing business. After innumerable issues in my City in which the wheel bearing had to be changed within the first 3 months and the entire lock set had to be changed now I still reposed faith in Honda and bought a Civic.

There is no doubt that there are problems with the parts used in Honda but Honda has hidden it and not come out openly to change the same. Very different from Toyota which has shown immense maturity in recalling cars worldwide and serving the customers for free.


It was shocking to know when the service engineers at Honda Service centre informed me that the lock set in Honda city is a big problem and they change it in large numbers. With each set costing Rs 9000 it is a rip off. Knowing well that there is a problem with the set Honda should have been honest and recalled cars to replace locks for free. Not doing so is not only unethical but also a serious lapse on the part of Honda. This could lead to serious situations even loss of life. Having changed the lock in my City recently now I find another big problem with Civic.

The mounting of the Civic engine went bad even before I did 25000 Km. How can that be true? But the service engineer knew about the engine mounting issue the moment I told him about vibrations in the car. The service engineer told me to carry on till the vibrations become unbearable when the mounting will have to be changed and this too costs app Rs 9000. I was horrified to hear once again that this particular mounting has been a problem in Civic and the company replaced it in several cars. If that is true then why did Honda not recall all and replace the mountings. Mounting failure in the middle of the road can be lead to serious safety situation resulting in loss of life. This needs to be probed by the authorities in India and I am determined to escalate it to the right level. I demand that the mounting in my car also should be replaced and Honda gives a guarantee that the part is of high standard keeping mine and my family’s life safe.


Further the engineers at Honda service centre also informed that there is problem even with Civic lock which they change in large numbers. They warned me to be prepared to change it sooner than later. Nothing can be worst than this that Honda knows about these problems and is hiding them.

The music system in my Civic heats beyond imagination. During the initial period the engineers told me that this was happening because one of the packings was slipping from its position and letting the heat of the engine come into the music system section. Despite several attempts it did not get fixed. By this time the initial 12 months got over and when I took the additional 2 years warranty I was told that the system is not covered under that. Who is responsible to fix this problem?

I demand that the mounting in the Civic be replaced and Honda should fix the music system heating problem.



I am even more horrifed because I have lived in Japan and speak Japanese. Knowing the strictness of business ethics and corporate goevernance in Japanese companies the above incidents are a shock indeed. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.


And BTW you have already lost a very good customer. Sick of the issues with Honda I have moved to Toyota and bought a Camry instead of an Accord.

Regards
Atul Sood



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