I got a good story where a dealership literally fits the definition of a scumbag dealership. **NOTE: This dealer lost me as a customer forever!**
Not many of you may know that I drive a 2017 Acura MDX now, after my 2016 Rogue SL was wrecked at 109k miles. But since September of 2020, I have been dealing with a local Acura dealership for warranty work. I went there for two TSBs (one for a transmission software update for the ZF-9spd that plagued the MDXs from 2016, and the other one was for the navigation), got the battery replaced under warranty, and a half shaft axle replaced too. This half shaft axle bearing plays a huge role in this story.
After getting the half shaft bearing replaced, I replaced my OEM Continental CrossContact LX Sport since it was at 2/32nds with Yokohama YK740 GTX. After a few hundred miles, I started to hear metal on metal noises. Then an event occurred: the vehicle got a flat on the front right when my dad took the MDX out for the night (he drives the POS problematic 2019 Rogue, which I am glad I no longer drive it). Next morning, I filled up the tire and headed to our Discount Tire store. They replaced the tire under the warranty and sent me on my way. This metal on metal noise was getting louder and louder, so I called them and ask to swap it out for me. They put on Goodyear Assurance Maxlife, and I was happy, and they were happy. 500 miles later after making the trip to my university in Miami, the steering wheel was shimmying like mad. I honestly thought my tires were out of balance. I went back to DT to get them to road force balance this. This tire balancing event occurred few more times after the initial one. So I went to Autonation and paid them $60 to do a Road Force balance and give me a detailed sheet of the data.
Went back to DT with Goodyear now warrantying the tires. I honestly liked these tires because they were my first choice if Goodyear wasn't political. Shimmying came back. Then two unfortunate event occurred: I was rear ended twice. I honestly thought that would fix the dang issue, but nah, it didn't. But the body shop said all parts are okay, since they did a pre and post scan of the vehicle. Since I remembered after that, damaged rims would cause the steering wheel to shimmy, so I called two young lads over on New Years Eve, and paid them $320 to repair all my OEM rims and to refinish it in black. Guess what, the shimmying stayed.
So I took it to the dealership that fixed the half shaft bearing, and they road tested it multiple times, and didn't replicate the issue. I called up my Honda SA (I service my vehicle at Honda) and he said that my issues and what I did so far, described the symptoms of a bad axle, and told me this is an Acura issue. After I told him what type of customer service I was receiving from local dealer, he said he has to charge me a diagnostic fee since its technically not a Honda, and the diagnostic may or may not find the issue, and he said take it to Autonation. So I called up Autonation to check the vehicle, and the technician told me that he can push this up to Honda Techline to get this resolve if I send them video documentation.
Two days ago, I took the MDX to the local big box Pep Boys store for an alignment check just to make sure its not the alignment causing any issues because now the vehicle was starting to constantly pull to the right. These guys, were really nice. They adjusted my alignment slightly (which had no affect on the steering wheel shimmying but lowered the pull to the right), and when they asked me why I needed my alignment checked I told them I went through few sets of tires, multiple road force balances, and had a half shaft bearing replaced. I also told him the negative attitude that the local dealership was giving to me. These guys were pissed, like they were about break loose on the horrid customer service. They recommended me to a drivetrain shop near downtown Orlando, and that shop owner was shocked that my half shaft bearing was replaced so early, but was PISSED to hear that the dealer was not helping me at all. He said he would help me but he is booked till the end of February.
With this information, I called up the SA, face-to-face while still being nice and friendly, told him to come through on that warranty and I clearly stated that NO ONE other than them touched the front passenger side suspension system at all. I even offered him my audio and video documentation. And guess what this smart-$#@ douche canoe said... "WE DO NOT NEED YOUR DOCUMENTATION, WE HAVE OURS AND OURS IS ENOUGH!" And he said we are done with checking your vehicle for this issue and constantly points it to the wheels of all things (obviously the vehicle is making an axle drowning noise that is loud and audible in the cabin). And that the half shaft bearing and axle doesn't need to be balanced or aligned. This honestly and genuinely got me mad. I dialed up Acura Client Relations and told them the horrible customer service I received, and the case manager totally understood me, and I told him I have tons of video documentation (unedited video documentation) and he said just send that to AutoNation since they will be trying to fix this issue. Keep in mind, I barely trusted this dealer, but this is the closest dealer to me without me driving 100 miles to Autonation and to another Acura dealership.
With this experience, would I go to stealerships still? Yes, but only to my Honda dealership until my SA retires from that place, then its off to DIY land for regular maintenance. Would I send people to this dealership at all? NO.
