Do not buy a car hear if you want to save yourself some - Marj
Do not buy a car hear if you want to save yourself some headaches or end up stranded. Our experience with Whitby Honda, specifically with Sales Manager Trevor Carew and Salesperson Suhail Khan, was very disappointing. Vehicles sold here come with defects, and once the paperwork is signed, the sales manager will do everything possible to shift the blame. Read other negative reviews and you will see a pattern, we wish we had before going here and now regret it.
What happened:
Whitby Honda sold us a vehicle with a faulty battery that caused a serious safety issue, refuses to admit this so they don’t have to pay for replacement. We purchased a 2024 Honda HR-V Hybrid sold as Certified Pre-Owned from Whitby Honda. Meaning the dealership provided their certification to ensure there is no issues. Within two weeks, the car developed an electrical issue due to the faulty battery they had put, the car was shifting from Park to Neutral on its own and refusing to shut off, a major safety risk. Not to add, my dad had to wait 3+ hours early morning after a night shift in -30C temperatures because car would not shut down.
How it was handled:
We had the car towed to another dealer who confirmed Whitby Honda had installed a faulty battery before selling (provided test report with codes for bad battery). Despite providing a battery test report to Whitby Honda, Sales Manager Trevor Carew refused responsibility, questioned whether we caused the damage, and declined to replace the battery. They did their own generic battery test and say there is no issue which is hard to believe when another our second opinion form another Honda dealership has already confirmed that the battery acted abnormal for a new battery. We were even told not to bring the car back at Whitby Honda or do business with them.
Outcome:
We are now replacing the battery at our own cost for safety concerns. Once the sale was completed, customer service disappeared. It seem the“Certified” label provided by Whitby Honda offered no real protection or accountability and was just used to upcharge us for something we could have bought off Marketplace for a lot cheaper. Will be filing a complaint with Honda Canada and OMVIC and will not be doing my business here.
The root cause of the safety issue was the faulty battery which Honda Dealership sold our certified car with and now does not want to take accountability. This was clear negligence on Whitby Honda which they refused and sales manager constantly tried to put the blame on us, the customer for the issue. It became clear that once the sale is completed, customer service at Whitby Honda no longer matters.
I have since spoken with several people who visited this dealership and I found out they initially chose not to proceed due to how pushy and untrustworthy it felt. Upon sharing this story with my friends I found out one of my friends had also spoken to Trevor in the summer last year. He acted in the same as he did with my parents and was trying to finalize the deal the same day trying to get the deal done without really addressing their questions. My friend had found Trevors behaviour odd at the time and decided not to proceed with the dealership for the better. Only if I had discussed with my friends before coming to this dealership my family could have avoided this issue.
Beware of the positive reviews as well, as these are forced. Customers are pushed to leave good reviews immediately after purchase (in our case the sales person Suhail even offered to write the review fro my parents on their behalf. My parents fell for their sales tactics like anyones parents would) Only after the sale you realize that the deal was not worth it once issues start appearing. Will not be doing business with this dealership again and strongly advise others to proceed with caution.
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