There is no point in bashing HONDA here. This is the case with all the manufacturers I would say. For every product, there would be surely an odd piece with issues which has the potential to make the company pay, provided the buyer was focused on doing it.

And in our country, you rarely get the service(for anything that matter, not just bikes) even if your ready to pay for it. Having that situation, this is quite a normal incident and nothing specific to a manufacturer IMO.

I agree with the topic here.
It's ironic that honda had to go through such case first. It'll be great to see if such court cases start catching up in huge amount. Honda isn't the only culprit here.

I'd like to recount my different experiences here,
We went to Honda showroom as we were interested in buying a scooter. We didn't get any different experience from you guys had. After some begging we were given TDs that too of used old customers rattling scooters. We didn't like the scooters nor we could wait for actual delivery so didn't buy from them.

We then went to suzuki, attitude was as bad as hondas, but we liked the scooter and hence booked it. After inflated waiting time, we then went to take the delivery. The actual amount asked to pay was different when we first booked. I asked nicely about that, the reply came 'Apko dikhta nahi kya? kimate badh gayi hai'. Got a typical govt attitude in reply, badder than honda.

I also happen to own a bajaj. The attitude at the purchase was very friendly but again they didn't give TD at the first request. They didn't keep a bike for TD purpose. Servicing from them was again a pain in the A.S.S. . Couple of times I was charged for something that the bike didn't needed nor did they replaced/labored anything. Whatever problems I have faced till date, most of them were introduced by the A.S.S. mechanics. The A.S.S/SR, I'm talking about is one of the biggest in the Pune. As per the manager, a friendly guy, Bajaj never gave them any training as such and they learn from first few bikes. Have I mentioned that the servicing area has central chart board on which individual mechanic writes how much expenses he has costed to the owners of the bikes which he has serviced throughout the day. Board leading are awarded and those who come last are made to do over time. They don't have space for new bikes coming for servicing. < I mean that. < I really mean that. There're at least 3-4 hundred bikes laying without any care. On the other day they were unloading some 50-60 Disco off a trailer. The 'rossi' who ride them to the storage area via the servicing bay, who doesn't like to keep bikes below 10K RPM and doesn't get satisfied by short burnouts, scrapped every Disco's silencers against a half dozen customers' vehicles. From my experience bajaj A.S.S. is a disaster. They sell in more than double amounts than TVS but they have less A.S.S. than TVS.
Somebody said that problem exists at dealer level. Well, knowing the bad condition of A.S.S. the bajaj came up with a solution. They doubled the servicing interval of all bikes. My bike has servicing interval of 2.5k km and oil change interval of 5k km. Newer bikes with same hardware have servicing interval of 5k km and oil change interval of 10k km. Sorry but I don't think all problems happen at dealer level.

My friend owns a Yamaha which has a liquid cooled engine. The coolant was changed at first serving/500 km. Later he when we visited the yamaha a.ss after clocking 1k km on odo, the coolant was changed again. My friend is a no tech guy and doesn't mind paying a lot. I looked into bike's history, the coolant was changed arbitrarily.

I think pulling car brands in this discussion isn't off topic as they show same relevance to the news.
My experience was Chevy was good. With Tata, an average. Nothing special to mention about, from my personal side.

Maruti are perceived to be the best customer satisfied brand. But a showroom in vicinity sold a demo SX4 - repainted as new and then bullied the customer for some time.
Yellow/paid journalism when a few nano caught fire, at the same time a Vento caught fire and killed the driver is completely forgotten or pressed (like they did on their official FB channel). I ought to think that getting killed in fire isn't as severe as just catching fire.

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It isn't just with honda. It's all around us. We are a third world country. Being able to afford some cars doesn't make us rich. It's our mentology or thinking ability(or lack of it) which makes us a third world. It's because of our blind beliefs the brands thrive. All brands of all products who exist in India have always loathed the customer and will continue to do the same in future as we customers don't have any backend support against big brands. 5-6 year for compensation is laughable. Late justice is no justice at all. Waiting for verdict so long is a madness.

What makes automotive production (or any) cheap in India is lack of skill and passion. No guys(spare the rarest if u met one) in automotive service industry have any passion to what they do. Our service stations are dirtier than our streets. So is the serviced automobile in many cases.

99% of guys who explained me about products at Bike showrooms were absolute ... no I dont have a word.

They When I have visited a Bajaj Pro-biking showroom in Pune a Main guy there completed his explenation about boxer 150 like this - "this is a 150 cc new bike"

I helped a showroom guy to differentiate between D125 and D150 some time back in Kerala.

Now the scenario is that We have enough Forums and online resources. So at least 5/10 college going boys knows performance is not measured in volume(cc). However our sales guys still believe in cc.

Thing will change only when a passionate biker start a service network for all premium bikes at a relatively premium cost. I am talking about a place where we need not tell the repair guy to tighten the crash-guard bolt

Same happened with me....when i went for cbr test ride, they said test drive available only after booking for 5k... And too arrogantly... No one didn't even bother to attend me for the entire 15mins i was there... I was the one who kept on seeking for some details. Not one person seem to bother. Very arrogant company... And i rode my tvs flame to the showroom...and finally when they attended me askd me if i could afford a cbr150 since i own a flame....i did abuse them for that, exchanged bad abusive words and left the showroom angrily and banged hard on their gate with my helmet...i wont go to that showroom ever... The same day i went to ktm for some details and man...i was impressed...they came rushing, was polite, gave me a bottle of 7up, gave explanations about the bike even after i told them that i wont buy it...just came to have a look and a test drive to see how good it is... The girl even offered me 25k for my bike...she was just casually talking to me bout the bike, the finance schemes, about maintenance and all... Then i told her about what i went through in the honda showroom and evryone started laughing... Then a guy from the counter told that sir we already had several costomers who booked the duke after having bad experience with honda...then i took a test ride and when i was leaving, the girl gave her cell number and told to contact her if i am ever interested in the bike and she'll make sure so that i get it early... Now coming to topic..i dont care about honda, yamaha, or bajaj or ktm...only thing i care is how i am treated for being their premium costomer....and in this department bajaj is the best..they are very focused on aftersales and spares. Even yamaha is very gud...bt honda doesn't care about their customers...another company with poor aftersales and spares issue is tvs..atleast in kolkata...the poorest service... My friend's dad has a eterno. Earlier he got gud service but now its opposite. Even brake lever is not available for more than a month...

Baja has been good for me.. but you should try out the TVS showroom[s] in that case. One of the best customer treatment I ever received. Atleast in chennai that is how it is. I decided to go for Wego over activa and pleasure for the same reason. i.e after visitng hero and honda showrooms and completely lost cool about the attitude of people on the showroom.

I second the above 2 guys. My experience was:

1. Relan- Hero Honda: Made to wait for 1/2 hour for a test ride of CBZ Xtreme, and then I went away, and then they phone me later on to ask why I went away, and would I like a bike now? I said, I went away because I was not given a test ride, and no Ma'am, I would not like a bike now. Thank you so much.

2. Raj Honda: A typical salesman,
Asked for CBR test ride. He said, we can't give it right now, you should pay an advance 10k.
Asked for spec sheet, he said, we don't have it either, you download it from net.
Asked for permission to leave, and he gladly obliged...

Leaving the Honda showroom was a breath of relief, and I would not want to go back there again. Its my personal opinion only, though.

Try asking for a workshop manual or spare parts price list

Don't know if this is unique to 2-wheeler industry or just honda. They will not sell you a workshop manual!!! nor a spare parts price list. (These are available for most cars at a nominal price, maybe they are scared that the service costs of their bikes exceed that of some cars?).

By the way, if anyone knows of links to the pdf for the activa workshop manual, please send me the link. [I found links for most other bikes, some even posted by the manufacturers]; of course, there is always the 'juggad' way in India to get anything.

exactly my point yaar.... And yeah hero honda is another one.... My friend's experience with hero honda when zmr was launched...he went for a test ride and sales guy said hero honda doesn't need to give test ride to proove its bikes. They are the best... So he left the showroom and went to a yamaha showroom and booked a r15 after test ride...the whole time i was with him...at yamaha factory shop kolkata, the people were so good.... And as men in jean pointed out tvs to be good..., well, my bro stays in chennai and he said tvs service is damn good there...but tvs in kolkata is worst...worse than even honda... They have just one decent showroom and one decent service centre....and trust me these guys know nothing...they only know to change oil and wash the bike...spares are never available anywhere...and are damn costly... Recently my friemd had to wait for more than a month to get a new swingarm for his rtr... And i having owned a tvs which i sold 10 days back out of frustration will never buy a tvs again...problems from day one... I never knew about consumer forum then otherwise would have sued them... The best service is provided by bajaj and then yamaha... Once my friend's 220 handlebar broke apart, he shoot a mail at bajaj and next day a service guy came from nowhere at his place after calling him with a new handle and fixed it at his
place only. Since bike was 3 months old, bajaj didn't charge a single paisa, but being satisfied with the service my friend paid the guy 100 bucks... Another instance is another friend of mine was having starting problem with his one week old r15, he called the showroom and within one hour a guy came and repaired the bike. He said battery was faulty so he took away the battery and after 3 hours retured with a new battery.... No money charged.... I cant even dream of this kind of service from honda... Honda is dead...honda is no more honda...its now anaconda...

OK... I just spent about 20minutes reading through all the posts in the thread.

Here's my experience with Honda:
I booked the CBR 250R on 09th Nov 2011, got the delivery on 11th Nov 2011.
Its been 6 months, touching 12000kms.
From the Day 1 of booking till today... Be it HONDA or be it Saphire (Dealer in Bangalore)... I am extremely happy to say that I DO NOT have any complaints at all what so ever.

Yes, when I got the bike, the initial few issues did come up, but everything was promptly and swiftly co-ordinated and handled by the dealers with Honda.

Starting from the initial PDI to every single service (even the Bike Wash) has always been done in front of me.

The dealers are not some one I knew from before and I went to the dealer just 5 days before booking the bike. Since then, every time I go there, starting from the security guard to the MD of the showroom every one is extremely good to me.

I once had the front rim bent. The Rim, along with the handlebar clip-ons, oil-filter cover (which was damaged from one of my earlier trips), the front and rear discs... all of these were completely replaced and the bike made ready within less than 24hours.
For the note: When I left the bike at the service station for repairs, I was dropped back to my home door step by them.

Several of tiny issues were handled and minor check-up/service has been done on my bike with-out the dealer charging me for it.
For instance: Yesterday's incident - The clutch lever bolt had fallen off after becoming loose. I went to the Service Station, the mechanic (Zeeshan) took the bike in, got the bolt replaced, got a water wash done (bike was a little muddy after a weekend ride), got the chain lubed... all without a single penny charged from me. --- And all of these done, while I was sitting and chatting with the Service Manager in his cabin.

6 months of owning the CBR 250R, hearing a lot of other owners complaining, while my experience has been completely different.

I am one of those people.... EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH THE BIKE, DEALER AND HONDA.
Thank You very much !!

You really are one of the lucky few

Add one more here & I'm sure there will be few more; though I haven't received exceptional service, I'm able to manage things.

The reality is Honda does not interfere with the dealers & most of the time, the dealers are the real culprits. In the same xBhp I've come across a complaint about certain BAL dealer in the North who were charging for loading/unloading too & few other people who received good services from BAL dealers or even Yamaha & TVS dealers for that matter. By the way this thread goes...its turning more into Honda bashing!!!

hehehehe yes this thread is turning into honda bashing... Though all companies have problems it seems like more people are against honda.... its true, main problems lies with dealers... But that is the company's responsibility to manage the dealers we are just costomers who after spending money would want proper service... main problem with honda and hero honda is overconfidence....and arrogance...

Rahul, from what I have heard from Satyajit da, Bappa da, Raneet and the others in Calcutta... yes Todi Honda is a Problem....

I will be riding to Calcutta for the Pujas... and I am planning to give them a visit as I would anyway need a mini-service for my ride. Secondly, if I dont find them paying heed to the concerns, I will try to involve Honda from here to "fix them" !!

But I dont believe turning this ON Honda is nice... What we have to understand is that the Dealers are the issue here, not the company.
And as for overconfidence goes.... I dont agree on that.

3 yrs back had the first generation uni....the after sales service by didar motors was pathetic to say the least....they charged me Rs 1000 for installing a pair of roots horn .

My first hand experiences on Test Rides, last month mostly :

RE.... (and here i refer a company outlet, not a dealership) I was made to feel like a king, was attended to very nicely, was offered a soft drink. Hehe.
I requested 2 rides, both C5s, one with upswept exhaust & other with a straight one.

To my surprise, the guy in the showroom let me had both back to back. And the latter i rode was for 23 kms...

overall experience, Excellent!

Bajaj Probiking : KTM Duke 200, showroom was a bit in clutter, i think they were shifting off. Only 2 guys inside showroom, and only 1 bike, that was Duke. I was readily given the keys for test ride, but this time the other guy was on pillion... Only after 2 kms, the guy was like "sir, ab wapas le lijiye, petrol nahi hai". Hmm, could understand it. The guy in the showroom was well versed with the Duke, explained me in detail.

Overall Experience : Good

Honda : Took some time for showroom people to notice me,after a while i noticed, some guy from a cabin sends a model like guy to adress me, only coz i was exploring the CBR 250R. Nicely attended. When asked a TR, the guy looked a bit reluctant, yet let me had it, again with a pillion. I let the needle idle @ 1500, and then suddelnly zoom, the pillion almost skipped his seat. Same story here, could not ride more than 3 kms. This was an ABS, i asked if non abs was aavail for test ride, NO.

Overall experience : Good

Yamaha : I enter the showroom, people started hovering. Felt good & bad at the same time. asked for TR, no R15 V2.0 was available. On probing, the guy said "it was sold 2 days ago".... OMG smart dealer managed to se a TR ride...

got a call from them after a week for TR, dint go as the mind has already been made up for an else one.

Overall experience : Good


The point : A company operated showroom had a lot better hospitality standards. And this was not a lucky day, i strongly feel RE at thir brand stores must be candid with all their visitors.

Though Dealers were all good, i believe this might change for every visit. Average score wont goto "excellent" howsoever.

IMO, since dealers are makin great profit already, they dont seem to rush for custmer service. Awareness is a great issue.

Lastly if Manufacturers determine to change things, they seriously can.

All of us need to kepp giving feedback to Customer Service dept of these manufacturers.

regards