Balls-up in Chantilly

[atatexan]

I flew up to N. Va on Tuesday to buy a fellow NSXPrime member's car which was in Pohanka's service department for final squawks elimination for a clutch installation. What a disaster!

They have managed to get a broken bearing, wrong bearing, and then cracked the gearbox case putting it back in the car. A new one had to be shipped in from CA. Now they find "noise" in the gearbox.

The seller and I are so pi@3ed off at this point. He wants to sell, I want to buy, and the dealer has totally screwed this up. Beware that these dealers, even ones like Pohanka who have lots of NSX's in their practice, can screw up something like a clutch replacement in a cascading series of errors.

We will still close our deal for the car but Pohanka has made it VERY DIFFICULT!

 

[splitz]

Yeah, there have been a few complaints about Pohanka. Unfortunately there have been a lot of complaints about our Acura dealerships in the area. I guess Ticher is suppose to be ok, but it is so damn far away.

 

[Nihilation]

I hate Pohanka. Nearly kicked their service manager's ass after he followed me off the lot.

 

[6i9]

I hate Pohanka. Nearly kicked their service manager's ass after he followed me off the lot.

He followed you off the lot?? Story time???????

 

[Shumdit]

I got a little Richmond area story. A few years ago I flew up to look and purchase my NSX (the second one). We took it to the dealer closest to the sellers home (I would have to look up the name) for a PPI. When we arrived a salesperson was in the service drive and asked us about the car, including what he was selling it to me for. While I was in the back looking over the undercarriage with the tech, the F'n sales manager approached the seller and offered him more for than he was asking for the car. I wanted to kick in the guys teeth. The good news was the seller was a ethical guy and told him only if I backed out would he consider it. The bad news was there went any bargaining room I might have had on the car. It needed tires on the rear (the car had 15K and the second set of OEM yokos were shot, and had a leaking oil pan gasket, but after that move I had no way to ask him to come down to cover those costs). I still bought the car and loved it, and it is owned by another Prime member now.

 

[DCNSX]

Yikes- Keep us posted. It seems that dealer service/ car repair EVERYWHERE is a problem- you really have to get to know them ....and then they move elsewhere. Dan was the best NSX Tech at Pohanka, but he left a few years ago to join Curry's Auto Service nearby. Dan is still a great tech, but Curry's labor rate is about $125 an hour.

Oh, to find a good and HONEST (and reasonably priced) mechanic/repair shop....

 

[atatexan]

Today is the day that all-the-king's-horses-and-all-the-king's-men (Pohanka's gurus) are supposed to have the car back to the owner. We shall see. It's been a ten-day comedy of errors so far.

I will report back later today.

 

[2fast2c]

Man

That's so messed up. I live 5 mins away from that dealer but I guess I'll never take my baby there. It's so sad that we can't trust dealers like Pohanka, they have Pohanka lexus and their service isn't great either.

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully they will fix everything but I would document everything so if something happens later, you can have something to prove.

Good luck

 

[Nihilation]

Hope you have a better experience than I did.

Story time? Well...

Jist of it was that my friend used to work there as a tech and we stopped by on the weekend to pick up a tool we needed for a job we were doing back at his place a few miles away. So as I'm leaving there is a car ahead of me that just decided to stop, then the guy started yapping off to somebody else(turned out to be the service manager). So I figured maybe he didn't see me, I waited like a good 15 seconds, but felt like much longer. They're still yapping. So I gave a little honk to be like "hey, I'm here trying to leave...". The service manager looked at me as if I was just some punk kid and said some smart ass comment to me, along the lines of who the hell do I think I am.

Now I'll admit I could have reacted differently but I retaliated saying "How about you get that piece of shit out of the way so I can leave?" This is about the time that I think he notices my friend in the passenger seat and I've just told his boss to screw off...

So I squeeze by and as I do he yells my friend's name and tell him to come back here- literally yelling. The service manager's name is Kevin Murray(pictured above). I decided to stop out on the side road as I was headed to the light and let my friend get out. This is when the Kevin comes up to my window, yelling and making a scene. "Who do you think you are?!" "I'm gonna call the police!" "I don't ever want to see you back here again!" "You're lucky you didn't get out of the car..."

All while I'm in the drivers seat and he's got his knee up again my door. There's a debate on action here. If I retaliate and hit this guy then not only would I be in some shit but I'm sure my friend's days of employment would have been numbered. So I decide to just be a bitch and take it. He finally calms down and walks off.

I call the dealer, speak with Mr. Crabtree, the owner. He denies it all and says that it's on tape and that I'm the one who confronted Kevin and started yelling at him. Total bullshit! Then he went so far as to say that I had unpaid service bills to pay, which again is bullshit. He then decided to start beating around the bush and tried turning the tables, attacking me acting as if I had done something wrong.

Long story short the more I pursued the issue the more bullshit I got. Spoke with a lawyer about it who said it'd be a waste of time to do anything with the legal system.

Pohanka Lexus along with Mr.Crabtree and Kevin Murray can burn in a fire as far as I'm concerned.

 

[FLA NSX FIXER]

Goodness, sounds like 1 of you all need to put a lift in your garage and get a service manual, and work on the car yourself to get anything done right. The stories are crazy.

Shumdit, I thought you worked for a Acura Dealer. I think we spoke once and you used to work with Nabil, who I work with now. :biggrin:

Nihilation thats funny, I've never seen anyone post a pic of the person at fault before,LOL.
Oster

 

[Shumdit]

Oster, you are correct. I did once work with Nabil at Breakaway Honda back many, many years ago (does he still have that Snap-on box you need a ladder to see into the top of?:biggrin: )

The fact that I worked for a dealer (Honda then, and then was promoted to Acura) makes the fact that the sales dept at that dealer in Richmond, VA would pull that crap that much more crappy in my mind.

 

[atatexan]

This situation should be an alarm for all on this forum. Mine and the seller's problems with this car started with an aftermarket clutch replacement. It cascaded into all sorts of internal gearbox screw-ups involving broken bearings, a gearbox case broken(!), synchros damaged, and bearings being missaligned. After the fact, they've discovered that Honda makes a special alignment tool - ten days after the fiasco started.

They are still at it as we speak.

 

[KODIAC]

what kind of clutch was put in?

 

[Nadllewoh]

Just ot let all you Guys know Curry's labor rate is $105.00/hr. Make sure you take to their Sterling location. 571-522-1002

 

[atatexan]

Would you guys believe the saga continues?! That gearbox is STILL in pieces with parts on order. Pohanka has apparently only done 2 NSX gearbox repairs in five years. Take a guess which is the second....The seller and I are now appealing this to Acura zone service reps. Kodiac is being incredibly helpful.

The stage two clutch is a Spec, by the way.