Kingston Honda

Tens of employees, two customers and no service I've had my Honda Accord in for service 6 times in the last 12 months at this dealership. The service has been consistently chaotic. Today was the l I've had my Honda Accord in for service 6 times in the last 12 months at this dealership. The service has been consistently chaotic. Today was the last straw. I left the car for an oil change and routine maintenance. Told it would take an hour and a half. I said I needed the car back by noon and would take their shuttle service home. At noon I called and was told the shuttle driver was at lunch until 1:00. When I said that I would take a taxi and charge it to Honda, the receptionist announced through what sounded like angry tears that she would use her lunch hour to pick me up and hung up without so much as "good bye." Then she called back to say that the driver was on his way and would be there in a few minutes. 35 minutes later the driver arrived. At the dealership there were exactly two customers and from what I could see 25 to 40 employees of various sorts wandering around. I was already going to be late for my afternoon appointment, and got the impression that the lone service rep serving the only other customer was going to manage to take a good 15 or 20 minutes. I asked if there was some other employee who could serve me. The service rep told me he would serve me as soon as he was finished with his current customer, and then began to ask him more questions in an even more plodding manner. I asked it I could talk to the service manager or if anyone else could serve me loudly enough so that a few dozen of the tens of employees present could hear me. Finally, the telephone receptionist got up and handed me my bill and key, and I proceeded to pay. At which point the service manage, Lee, arrived and asked if we could talk in his office. I told him I thought his service department was in a state of perpetual chaos. He quickly dismissed as nothing important that fact that the shuttle was late, and insisted that his service department was top rate. For every complaint I described he gave me a glib excuse or said the problem had now been solved, and repeated that the service department was tops and excellent. Here's my earlier experiences: I went in because the airbag light was constantly on. They charged me 110 dollars to tell me that I need a new SRS unit. I also purchased new tires from the dealership and asked them to install the unit at the same time as my winter tires. They told me I would have to wait two weeks for an appointment. When I arrived two weeks later to have the tires installed, I was told they had forgotten to have them delivered. I said I could leave the car all day, so they could get the tires, while the SRS unit was being installed. I returned after 4, at which time I was told that they had installed the tires but they had not ordered the SRS unit. They said they would call me as soon as they had the unit. This was Nov. 21. I waited until January and never received a call. When I called in January they said they had the unit and were ready to install it. I have spent $2420.18 at this dealership in the last 12 months and still I am made to feel that I should be thanking all the employees for their lack of service. I have spoken to other Honda owners about my problems with the dealership, and I have been repeatedly recommended to other non-Honda garages or the Honda dealership in Belleville. My Accord is the fourth Honda I have owned. My problem is that this dealership is the only Honda dealer in Kingston. My next car won't be a Honda! More

Experience with Alternator Replacement In June, My wife and I were driving from Ottawa to Kingston in our 2003 CR-V when various warning lights stated to appear and then disappear , the ABS In June, My wife and I were driving from Ottawa to Kingston in our 2003 CR-V when various warning lights stated to appear and then disappear , the ABS, SRS, radio failed and came on. etc.. The A/C failed. I thought it likely a poor ground or an alternator failure, but likely the former as the battery indicator light only came on temporarily and then went out again. The car made it to Kingston, but died and I had CAA tow it to the Honda dealership. They told me it was the alternator, and I gave the approval to have it replaced. My regular mechanic in Ottawa had told me it was best to replace it with a Honda remanufactured alternator to minimize the risk of future failures and the high cost if accessing the unit. When I went to pick up the car, I was told they used a regular aftermarket alternator. They don’t even use Honda parts in a Honda dealership? When I drove the car away, the ‘check engine’ was on. I returned the vehicle and waited for about 45 minutes. The service rep told me that ‘only a wire had come off’ and I drove off. Several weeks later, I noticed a bolt hanging down from the plastic in front of the right front wheel splash guard. I took the car to my mechanic. We concluded that it likely came from the repair but couldn’t determine if a bolt had come off, or was not installed, or an extra had been just dropped and not retrieved, without complete disassembly. We then noticed that a one of the clips that hold on the grill had not been replaced. We then observed that several others were broken and the entire grill could be moved or fall off. They hadn’t even bothered to reattach the grill properly. My last 3 cars have been Honda’s; because, I felt your company had a dedication to quality that warranted the premium that your cars cost. The question that one has to ask; Why would Honda Canada not take action to remedy a systemic problem as reported on Dealerater that is causing your customers to buy from other car manufacturers? The only likely conclusion that I and likely the other Kingston dissatisfied service customers have reached is that Honda’s belief system has shifted away from your historic dedication to quality and that you just no longer care. Soichiro Honda would be ashamed. More

The customer does not come first!! We own a Civic Hybrid that is a nice enough car, but each time I take the car in for service, the advisors don't acknowledge you until they are ready We own a Civic Hybrid that is a nice enough car, but each time I take the car in for service, the advisors don't acknowledge you until they are ready to allow you to talk to them. On two occasions now, I have had them take way longer than promised to perform minor service . They are constantly telling me that items will cost several hundred dollars to repair that are covered under my warranty. They insisted that my warranty did not cover a bad O2 sensor or a bad seal in the front drivetrain. I had to produce my warranty papers, that I got from them when I bought the car to prove it! I have a Dodge that I take to the Dodge dealer around the corner. I am always greeted immediately. Any items that are in need of service, they let me know if it is covered by my warranty when they come to tell me about it. I guess when you buy a cheap vehicle, like a Dodge Caravan (comparatively speaking) you get better service!! When it comes time to replace our Hybrid, it will NOT be a Honda. If the dealerships actually read these comments, get with the times. It is we who are allowing YOU to work on our cars. Your computer should tell you what coverage people have on cars they purchased from you. I get the feeling you are trying to fool people into paying for work that is covered so that you can also get the money from the warranty. More

My wife and I purchased a new Honda Accord EX-L-6 Coupe from Kingston Honda in June of 2008. We love the car. Our first few visits to Kingston Honda were uneventful as they consisted of oil changes and ins from Kingston Honda in June of 2008. We love the car. Our first few visits to Kingston Honda were uneventful as they consisted of oil changes and inspections only. On one occasion my wife questioned service advisor Mika Palikko about resetting the maintenance symbol. His response was condescending and somewhat rude. I subsequently sent an email to the service manager detailing the encounter and voicing our displeasure. We did not receive a response. On Tuesday May 14, 2013, I took our Honda to Kingston Honda to have an oil leak checked. I was told that oil leaks could be very serious but they couldn't look at the car until the following Friday. I subsequently took it to Subaru Kingston as I also own a Subaru and take it there for service. They immediately put my car on a hoist and found that the oil filter was leaking as it had only been hand tightened when installed. They tightened the filter properly, added 2 liters of oil to the engine and sent me on my way, no charge! I later checked my last invoice from Kingston Honda. I saw that the oil filter had been replaced on December 10, 2012. Coincidentally, the invoice indicated that Mika Palikko was the service advisor. Future servicing of our Honda Accord will be done by Subaru Kingston. More

I stopped in to have the check engine light code read so that I could consult with Kingston Honda service to see how serious the problem was. They told me that it would take a 30 minute appointment to read that I could consult with Kingston Honda service to see how serious the problem was. They told me that it would take a 30 minute appointment to read the code. Naturally I was skeptical that it would take that long to simply read the code, so I went and bought a code reader. Between purchasing the product, opening the package, reading the instructions, plugging it in, then reading the codes (while following along in the instructions) it took me less than 15 minutes. I'm sure that for one of their trained technicians it would have taken less than 2 minutes. Sadly (for them) they have now lost out on a possible service appointment for my vehicle. I must say that service like theirs does not encourage me to purchase another Honda product. More

-Stepheine the one of the service advisor is rude, never acknowledges if you wait for 20 mins - My car was ready in parking lot for over 20 mins but she would not hand over the keys to me , even though I c acknowledges if you wait for 20 mins - My car was ready in parking lot for over 20 mins but she would not hand over the keys to me , even though I can see and I requested that I am getting late to work. - I felt like I am bothering them to go there and service my vehicle -I used complementary cofee and forgot to throw open sugar sachet in garbage, receptionist told me right away that" I am not there to clean after you " I was shocked and I have decided not to go there and service my vehicle any more - First they told me it would be about and hour , after 1 and half hour they told me that my car needs this and that...- so it would be another 2 hours.. - They are really busy to take care of your needs. - This incident happened on 21st March 2012 More

My wife and I own two Honda Civics that we purchased in another city. Had I known how horrible the service would be in Kingston, I honestly would have considered another manufacturer. Where to begin: - t another city. Had I known how horrible the service would be in Kingston, I honestly would have considered another manufacturer. Where to begin: - the service reps tried twice to charge me for expensive work that was covered under my warranty - At every visit, the service reps tried to get me to have work done that is either not immediately necessary or not needed at all. On one occasion, the rep insisted that my brakes were shot, and I just happened to have another mechanic check them that same day (from another dealership, of all places). He took me through the inspection process to prove that this was total b.s. - when I tried to dispute anything, I got snapped at by the service reps - their shuttle service leaves ONCE PER HOUR, and they only have one vehicle... imagine being stuck in a mini-van with 5-6 other people, driving around for up to one hour. - they took three days to get back to me when I left a message trying to book a service appointment - every time I am there, I eavesdrop on conversations and hear other customers complain about similar issues - I know of three people in Kingston besides myself who have written Honda Inc. to no avail (no responses back for any of us) In short, as long as I reside in Kingston, I WILL NEVER BUY HONDA AGAIN!!!! More