Venice Honda

Venice Honda responded

This is not a correct representation of the visit. Number one the husband was at Venice Honda not the person writing this review. The husband was offered a rental car and refused. The code (the only code) the pilot had in it was for a speed sensor which was ordered. The technician recommended the repair with the transmission flush being part of the repair. The husband elected to have the transmission flushed and bring the pilot back when the speed sensor came in. I would assume the rental was declined because the customer needed a vehicle that could tow a trailer. To say that Joel said the Pilot was completely safe to drive towing a trailer for 1500 miles is libel and he deserves this post to be removed or at least an accurate account of what transpired to be posted. This is by no means incompetence on Venice Honda's behalf. It is an unfortunate situation. I/we would be more than happy to have this conversation with the customer or any other person interested in this situation.

Avalon1969 responded

I am rejecting this response. This is not an accurate representation of what transpired between my husband and Joel at Venice Honda on the day of our service or the subsequent conversations between us and Venice Honda. Joel absolutely told my husband the car was OK to bring back for the speed sensor replacement after our trip. In fact, he made an appointment for us for the following Friday, after the trip. Joel and my husband discussed the trip, how far it was, what we were towing, and when we were leaving. Joel recommended the transmission fluid be changed before our trip since it had been 30k miles since the previous change (at Venice Honda). Joel stated there was an outstanding recall on our Pilot and he could authorize a rental car if we were to have the recall performed at the same time. At no time did Joel advise that the car should not be taken on a trip due to the outstanding sensor repair nor did he offer a rental car for our trip. The dealer's response is not accurate and a misrepresentation of the facts. My husband and I spoke to service manager Darrin initially, and later the store manager Dathan (after we posted this negative review). Darrin accused me of being a liar, and yes I responded in anger at the insinuation. He would not listen and accused us of abusing our car (we towed a trailer weighing 850 lbs. with no more than 250 lbs. of belongings inside, well under the 3500 lbs. towing capacity of the 2WD Pilot). He said he would review the facts with Joel and call us back, which he never did. In the meantime, store mgr Dathan called us, we thought to try to help us but he only wanted to argue with us about the facts of the situation. Both men repeatedly told us we were lying and we were trying to get Joel fired. Very, very, very poor leadership from both of these individuals. After a heated, nearly 1hr intense argument between Dathan and my husband (during which he repeatedly told me we were liars and had misused our vehicle), he suddenly offered to tow our car from the Ocala Honda dealership to his dealership to have it fixed. Initially my husband agreed, but as we discussed it later, we no longer trust Venice Honda to have our best interests in mind. We believe Dathan offered to tow the car to his dealership in order to take advantage of us on a large repair bill. We have purchased multiple vehicles from Venice Honda and have taken our vehicles there for service for 5+ years. We did not expect to be browbeaten, called liars and accused of misusing our vehicle when we needed some help. No one from Venice Honda ever called to see how they could help us, only to accuse us of posting a false review and lying about the experience. Both individuals accused of us abusing our car, lying to them about the facts and trying to get Joel fired. We were/are not trying to get anyone fired, only to seek some recourse for what we believe to be a misdiagnosis of our vehicle, resulting in over $2000 in additional repairs, van rental and hotel costs. As a final insult, someone from Venice Honda did call us last weekend, to try to sell us another car and inquired about trading in our Pilot.