[DP]

I have a meeting with Honda District Manager later today on the problem (see pictures at http://www.fotki.com/dpody).
As you can guess, neither dealership nor Honda Customer Care are happy with my claims and are reluctant to cooperate.
HCC representative said me all is "just my speculations", and Honda never paid any compensation to the customers for bad paint quality, to put aside vehicle replacement, and the only thing they (maybe) can do is to offer a repaint.

But as it was discussed here before, the repaint diminishes the vehicle market value by a significant amount. As I do not plan to own my Ody forever

, that will ultimately translate in the certain amount of money I put out of my pocket because of someone else's fault.

How can I convince the District Manager in my case? Are there any (semi-official) expert opinions available on the matter of repaint quality vs. factory paint quality, and its impact on the market value?
What can I demand (realistically) from the District Manager? How to proceed with that, generally?

Thanks in advance!

[This message has been edited by DP (edited 12-19-2001).]

 

[odyman]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by DP:
I have a meeting with Honda District Manager later today on the problem (see pictures at http://www.fotki.com/dpody).
As you can guess, neither dealership nor Honda Customer Care are happy with my claims and are reluctant to cooperate........
[This message has been edited by DP (edited 12-19-2001).]</font>

DP,
Let me know what happens. My SS '02 also has some slight paint problems (not on the hood but on the passenger sliding door). My wifee says I'm being picky, but for a 30K car, I have a right to be picky. The bummer is that I checked the paint on this van for over an hour before I took delivery. I looked in direct sunlight, in the shop bay, and even in the shade at all sorts of angles and distances ---- nothing.

I take it home and in my garage, at a certain angle, there it is --- "it" looks like a smudge of a gloved hand just above the passenger sliding door.

I want to know what happens to your case so I can follow your lead. I am thinking about taking Honda to small claims court if I don't get satisfaction from the dealer or the district manager.

P.S. Look for threads under TOMHAN or search for "paint problems" -you may be able to learn something from those posts.

----Odyman

 

[nyvram]

No doubt; I can atest to the 'finikyness' of the blotched paint.

One day (clear blue sky) I could see a HORRIBLE cloud and streak right in the middle of my hood. I could see it all day that day but later I couldn't see it at all.

This was 5 months after purchasing and I had been obsessivly (according to my wife) looking for a blotch the entire time.

Its definitely an odd thing. Almost makes me think it has something to do with the engine being hot or cold causing it to change.


...yeah, that's it..its a FEATURE... kinda like that 'mystery' paint color Pontiac had a few years ago that looked blue from one angle...green from another....and silver from another...

 

[odyman]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by nyvram:
No doubt; I can atest to the 'finikyness' of the blotched paint.

..</font>

My "smudge" doesn't disappear when it's sitting in the garage. When I open the garage - tada!!! it's gone! It's like I have gremlins in the garage that put the smudge there only when the garage is closed.

If it was small, like maybe a thumbprint, I would not obsess over it, but the smudge is the size of a large workglove!

 

[DP]

Sorry for delaying the update.

The meeting with Honda District Manager that day was cancelled by the dealership, obviously after consultations with said manager. They said they cannot do anything except the repaint (note that they agreed to do that without even seeing the problem; by their words, repainting the hood may be done at any time unconditionally), and if I want to further proceed with the issue, I need to contact Honda Customer Service. Honda CS rep was much less then friendly when I called. "Honda does not do anything except fixing the exact problem. Honda does not compensate in any form for loss of value or whatever, even if it is not a customer fault" Asked whose fault the bad paint quality on my Odyssey is, the rep said: "Nobody's fault. That's a manufacturing issue, it is not the FAULT of Honda, but we however agree to fix it, i.e. repaint". Asked why I end up with less money in my pocket due to Honda's "manufacturing issues", he just started over again: "It is not our fault... ... ...".

So, I feel like I have pretty much exhausted my options... I think now what Tomhan has achieved is more like a miracle rather than a norm

[This message has been edited by DP (edited 12-28-2001).]