Dear sirs,
I decided to write this email as I had and still having a terrible experience with my Honda CRV.
This email has been send to Honda Europe and Honda Japan.
Before starting I need to point out that I am (and hopefully after your actions I will continue to be) a great fan of Honda cars and motorbikes having changed 3 cars and 4 motorbikes and currently an owner of Honda Transalp and Honda CRV.
I placed an order with Lease Plan (a lease company in Greece) on March 2nd 2016 and the car was supposed to be delivered to me beginning to mid August 2016. The car did not arrive on time and in fact after several phone calls and emails the car was delivered to me on December 5th 2016 partially!!! With partially I mean that I had ordered a quite a few extra options like front and back bumpers, towing system, side steps, roof rails and roof baggage and leather seats and more. The car was delivered with none of these accessories to me. The leather seats were installed in Greece by Sarakakis company associate, not from Honda!
The car purchase price was a bit over 47.000 euro (executive, automatic - no reading of street signs!!!). A small example of the quality:
Also, the car did not have apple car play as advertised and confirmed upon ordering. I was told (when delivered) that in about a week I could go back and upgrade the system for apple car play. I was also told that the extra accessories would be installed in 2-4 days and they would call me for appointment.
None of these happened and I contacted Sarakakis at mid January 2017. After several phone calls they confirmed that all accessories were available and I left my car for a day to install them and upgrade for apple car play. This installation lasted for a week as some parts were still missing (!!!) and there was no upgrade as promised. In fact, to this day I do not have this upgrade as it is still not available 3 years later (as I was told) although advertised before purchase and confirmed by all people of Honda before and after purchase (was also advertised on website and brochure).
Very soon I realized, after all the installations that the car was tilting backwards and I informed Honda to fix it. I left the car, had several discussions and they ended up running a suspension diagnostics only to inform me that the car is fine and it is normal to tilt back as I have installed towing system and it is very heavy!!! Please see the pics: (back wheel vs front wheel distance from car)
That was the end and car is tilting backwards ever since!!!
The car also has Bluetooth problem, I can hear the caller but the caller cannot hear me. I mentioned the problem many times and one time they decided to do a restart on software. I cannot use the Bluetooth all 3 years that I have the car. No solution on the matter.
4 months from ownership the car died on me as it burned 2 fuses.
6 months of ownership and the car battery died leaving me in the middle of nowhere during holiday. Battery was replaced with new.
8 months from ownership the driver window was not working. Part was ordered and installed 3 months later!!!
1, 5 years from ownership and the battery died again and was replaced again.
2, 5 years from ownership that car died from electronics and was in service for 10 days.
3 months ago, the car started leaking petrol from the filling tap. It was taken to service and I was told that this is normal (!!!) and I should not fill the car with petrol to the top!!! After almost 3 years it started and then it was normal (for 3 years it was normal not to leak)!!! The petrol has ruined the color and does not clean anymore:
3 weeks ago the car started having problem with starting the engine and in the same day it died out of battery. They told me from service that there was electricity leaking so they stripped the car and kept it for 2 weeks and the problem was fixed:
I took the car and realized that still was having problem with starting. They told me they fixed but it was not fixed. They also replaced the battery for the 3rd time. The problem with starting the engine is getting worse every day and today took 3 efforts to start the car. As I was driving to work (not using the start/stop option, just driving), the new battery and the fixed leakage problem presented this on my screen and is not going away:
I called once again the service and they are about to pick it up once again. All in all with the delays I have been with replacement car for the better part of these 3 years many, many times.
I have asked 3 times from Lease plan to provide me with a full detailed report of how many times, how many problems and how long I have been without a car and still waiting for that report.
The car licence plate is ITI6532 and I am sure you can check the car history.
Fact remains that this car, that although through a leasing company has been bought by me and will remain with me after the 4th year, has presented so many problem in its short life of ownership and has left me stranded so many times and none of the problems presented was ever resolved.
I am not presenting the whole history of problems, just the important ones as there have been many more but minor.
In fact I tried to change my contract with the leasing company so that they change the installments in such a way so that the car does not remain with me next year. This, as they told me cannot be changed. I cannot accept this car anymore and it should be replaced with another car. I refuge to take back the car once again as they cannot manage to fix the problems. Problems may occur but how we handle them makes all the difference. I was opting for the new Hybrid CRV but honestly I am very much afraid after all this experience.
I will wait for your answer, actions and proper compensation and I hope that this will not result in court.
I strongly believe in Honda, but this specific car is problematic and you have to take proper action not a "sorry" email.
Kind regards
Elias Ninos
+30 [protected]
[protected]@replacesmoke.com
