Matthew Goldman

Review of Motorcars Honda

On October 10, 2014 AM, I was at the Honda dealers...

On October 10, 2014 AM, I was at the Honda dealership located on 2953 Mayfield Rd. in Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 for car service. After I waited for an oil change, tire rotation and car inspection, I was told by the advisor, Georgiann, that one of my tires, a Cooper tire (the other 3 tires are Firestone tires), located in the front, passenger side position prior to the tire rotation, had a gouge in the sidewall but the car was deemed still safe to drive. I thanked her and then walked outside to where my car was parked. I then inspected the tires and realized the single Cooper tire on my vehicle was in the same position, noting the gouge, and that the tires had not yet been rotated (this is the second time, at this same Honda dealership, this same issue has happened).

I then walked back inside the dealership and spoke with the advisor, who called the mechanic into the office from the shop and asked him to walk out to where my car was parked and explain to me what he had done.

When we arrived at the vehicle, he told me he had simply swapped the front, passenger side tire for the back passenger side tire. When I confronted him and told him the Cooper tire was in the same position, he then admitted to me that instead of rotating the tires, the had simply swapped the black, plastic tire cap from the Cooper tire for a metallic tire cap from the passenger side, back tire position firestone tire - in an attempt to make me think he had actually rotated my tires.

After confronting the mechanic about the tire positions being the same as when I had arrived, he suggested I give him back my car keys and the receipt so that he could take the car back into the shop and actually rotate the tires. I refused and told him I was going to speak with the management staff instead. I then walked back inside the dealership and confronted the advisor, who was very apologetic and gave me a full refund what had happened. She then ensured my tires were rotated before I left the dealership.

Following leaving the Honda dealership, I drove to the nearby hospital, where I work and then home, a total of 6 miles, at most, without any major issues.

On October 11, 2014 AM, while inspecting the tires at home, I noticed there is now a 3-4 inch long, linear gouge, along one of the firestone tire s tread, which is clearly exposing the tire s steel belts.

My concern is two-fold: I was never informed, following the vehicular inspection, of this deep gouge on the firestone tire (now located in the front, driver side position). This gouge was not mentioned following the initial tire inspection and therefore, from my understanding, was likely not present prior to my tires actually being rotated. I am now concerned about the safety of driving my vehicle. I also don't recall any particular instance from when I left the dealership until when I arrived home that would have created such a deep and large tire gouge (I did not run over any pot holes, hit any curbs, etc.). The gouge appears almost as if a slice was made into the tire. I am very worried and upset about this as well as very disappointed that this was not brought to my attention. Therefore, I am now relaying this message in hope that this problem will be corrected immediately.

I have driven an accord for the past 10 years, have almost always had my cars serviced by Honda and I have never experienced any service issues before, until now.

Oh, and my car? A 2013 Honda Accord with approx. 13,000 miles.