Honda UK Complaint

Hi all,

I am hoping to tap into someone's knowledge as I feel I am getting nowhere fast at present.

I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

I bought a 07 CRV in August 2016. At the time of purchase, I felt the car needed a new clutch and flywheel. The garage Hepworth Honda in Huddersfield agreed to this as part of the sale. A couple of days later and after the paperwork had been signed and deposit paid the garage tried to renege on the deal. Obviously, I was very unhappy but after a few difficult conversations, the manager of the garage contacted me to apologise and say that they would honour the deal.

I picked the car up after the work had been completed. Within a week I had an issue with a sticking clutch pedal and difficulty selecting gears. Green Flag towed the car back and it to my knowledge inspected by the garage. They could find no issue with the clutch.

Cutting a long story short the car was returned on 2 further occasions because of the same problem (on those three occasions the parts would have been covered under manufacturing warranty)

On the third occasion, the car required a new starter motor (damage to starter motor can be caused by a degrading flywheel) I asked that the flywheel be inspected and I was again assured no problem could be found with the clutch and flywheel. On each occasion, I asked that my concerns about those parts be logged.

On 18th April 2018 I had more issues selecting gears and the car was again towed back to Honda by Green Flag. On this occasion, the servicing manager asked if they could have permission to remove the gear box as they were unable to diagnose the fault. This was the first time I had been asked for permission to do this. The flywheel was found to have failed completely after 18 months and 17,000 miles (Honda have told me this is an acceptable lifespan for a clutch and flywheel). I was advised the bill would be just shy of £1500.

I expressed my displeasure and the case was referred to Honda UK. They offered a goodwill gesture of £150 discount on the cost of the flywheel. I angrily declined!

I have since had multiple conversations with customer relations advisers that claim to have investigated this case. Far too many conversations to document here. I have escalated this to the senior management team by emailing the CEO office.

The senior manager that shall remain nameless said they had investigated further and offered an extra £100 discount on the flywheel. (the car requires flywheel, clutch and release bearing)
I again declined and then followed by a week of back and forth emails trying to fob me off. Last Friday and after they had re-investigated the senior manager told me that they had spoken to the technical team and "if the fault had been present at the time of fitting a fault would have shown up by now' I had to remind her that the car had been back on three other occasions for the same issues.

Following this, the garage was contacted by Honda UK (yesterday) to discuss my case a full 4 weeks after my communication with Honda UK started. The senior manager reported that the garage had told her the car had only been back twice (not true and I have this documented by green flag) and the garage had seen no reason to inspect the flywheel before now (despite me asking specifically for this to happen).

I contacted the garage today and they said that they had only driven the car to see if there was a fault and had not inspected the flywheel until the final complete failure. They also said they only document when a car has had work done. As they did nothing on the previous occasions other than drive it the visits have not been documented.

I have asked the senior manager for the escalation policy and have been advised that there is nobody left to speak with. I do not feel m case has been investigated properly. The customer relations team have tried to fob me off throughout.

I don't know where to go next. I am waiting for the motoring ombudsman to contact me. I referred this in 3 weeks ago. We are a one car family of three children and working parents and my car has sat on a ramp in Honda since 18th April.

Any advice truly appreciated.

Thanks,

Danny