Eric Dutko

Review of Crown Honda of Southpoint

My experience with the service department has alwa...

My experience with the service department has always been excellent. In particular, Michael Brosnik did a great job managing things while our 2013 Odyssey had its engine rebuilt. If I could review the service department separately, it would get five stars.

Unfortunately, the sales and management team at Crown managed to turn a five-star experience into a zero-star experience.

When my two-year-old Odyssey broke down a couple weeks ago, I asked the sales team at Crown about exchanging it or getting some sort of roadside assistance coverage should it fail again. When I explained the situation, the salesman who sold me the van two years earlier actually laughed at me. I'm not sure why he found it funny that my wife, our toddler, our infant, and I were stranded on the side of I-85 at night in the rain... maybe I just don't have a good sense of humor. But I must not have been visibly upset at that point because he went on to accuse me of sabotaging my van before handing me his card and telling me to give him a call to talk about trade-in options. Down to 2.5 stars.

I now had two problems: a van that broke my trust and a salesperson who was not interested in taking responsibility for the situation. So I attempted to contact Crown Honda's general manager by email. A week later, after hearing nothing (not even an out-of-office reply), I contacted the Customer Relations Manager. He apologized for the behavior of the salesman, but instead of acknowledging the situation I was in and trying to help me resolve it, he immediately offered to sell me a new (or pre-owned!) van. Down to two stars.

After a few more emails where I felt like I was teaching the Customer Relations Manager how to manage customer relations, he finally acknowledged the fact that the Honda van in which I had placed my trust - and my family's well-being - had failed me. He offered to connect me with some other manager who could talk to me about roadside assistance coverage. Too little, too late, but I still needed some sort of safety net if the van fails again. Down to one star.

A man who referred to himself as a "Business Manager" left me a message last Thursday, so I called back and left him a message on Friday. I've heard nothing from him since then. Zero stars.