John Banks Honda

I am still waiting to place the official complaint. Today my car was given for servicing and brake disk and pad change. They called back and said £275 for the brake pads never mentioned its for one pair and they will change both in one go and it would cost us £550. on top I had asked the guy who picked the vehicle to check the tyers and without telling us they changed all the four tyers even though I had 3mil left on the tyers and legal limit is 1.6!!!. what a good care when I questioned about it the guy on the other side was just callously laughs and says I would change my tyers when it gets close to 3mil never heard this story before. Would be happy if some one could educate me on this. Final bill crossed more than £1000 and we are expecting our newborn next week with this most unexpected financial burden. The manager didnt even come for the phone and the argument was 'you signed the job card and now you have to pay' it is my mistake that i assumed that they would be honest people. they turned out to be the same bunch of blood sucking parasites.

We agreed to purchase a new Honda CRV 1.6s last month on PCP (0%). Taking into account our part exchange, this left a total of £2** per month for 36 months with an end balloon payment of £9***. This we agreed, as it was under our monthly budget of £300/month and the balloon payment quoted was in single figures which was psychologically attractive. We agreed to meet on 23rd February at 11am to sign the finance agreement. We contacted the show room early that morning to advise, that with regret, we were running a few minutes late for the meeting and ‘hoped this would not be a problem.’ The response by a member of the sales team (who agreed the sale of the vehicle) was ‘yes I think that would be’ (a problem) – it was then agreed we could attend at midday. We arrived at 12.07pm to be advised by the same sales person that we were not there on time ‘its now 12.10pm your appointment was at 12.00’ and the finance manager was ‘now with someone else as it would not be fair to keep a customer waiting if you are not there on time.’ I explained we had two small children in the car and asked how long the wait would be. The sales person went to find out and came back and replied ‘How long is a piece of string?’ I was surprised by his manner as it did not install confidence in me that we would have good after sales care, given that at this stage we had not even taken possession of the vehicle. We left the premises and subsequently telephoned the Principal, who initially agreed that the sales person had been ‘abrupt,’ but responded ‘there are two sides to every story’ and ‘well you wont get your deposit back!’ (if we did not complete the sale.) We contacted Honda Customer Services for advice, as we still wished to purchase the vehicle, but preferred to transfer our deposit to another local Honda Dealership and buy from there, having made further enquiries at Honda Letchworth. Unfortunately we had no option but to continue with the agreed sale with John Banks Cambridge, as we were made aware that our deposit was not transferrable, and that Honda Letchworth would not be able to match the offer. We therefore agreed to an appointment at 9 am at John Banks Honda the next day to arrange the finance over the telephone, with the finance manager. During this conversation I sought clarification of the figures and was given different figures from that agreed at the point of sale. When queried, I was advised that several quotes had been made, but was ultimately reassured that indeed the deal was £2**/month with a balloon payment after 36 months of £9***. The finance manager explained that there had been an error in the entry of numbers to form our quote, but that John Banks would have to honour the agreement already made. I took contemporaneous notes during this call for my own record, and my husband also then spoke with the finance manager to confirm the figures, as I was anxious about the wrong figures being quoted at the start of the call. I was therefore concerned at 3.30pm later that day when attending in person to sign the prepared documents, that the balloon figure stated on the prepared paperwork was £10***. I was told that £9*** was never agreed and this could only have been agreed if we had been willing to pay £3**/month. This was completely at odds with the agreement made both at the initial agreement of sale and also on the telephone that same morning. When it was clear that my concerns were being ignored, I asked to speak to the Principal. The Principal at John Banks Honda walked into the room and simply said ‘this is what you agreed.. (waving a piece of paper with illegible writing on it) when I started to shake my head he then said ‘well you had better go then’ and stood up and opened the door! He said ‘if you are starting to shake your head before we have even begun then this is pointless and you should leave!’ The following exchange then took place, which was really alarming. The Principal became unpleasant and intimidating. Pointing to me, the Principal said to the finance manager ‘customers like HER are nothing but hassle, if they are hassle now they are hassle all the way through, just give her back her money (the deposit) so she can go.’ He also stated to me ‘ you have been trying to wriggle out of this from the word go!’ I then explained on the contrary we very much wanted to purchase the car, which is why we had booked a driving holiday to France, but did not want to leave the showroom feeling as if we had been cheated out of the agreement we had made in good faith. I became upset and asked to be excused from the meeting so I could speak to my husband who was looking after our small children who were asleep in the car. When I returned the finance manager told me the Principal (who had left the room) had decided he was not willing to sell the car to us after all. I then called in my husband. We were then given the option of signing the deal for £2**/month with £10,*** balloon payment or leaving. We were weary by this time and our small children were getting restless. We therefore agreed to sign the amended figures just so we could leave (after all we had arranged the insurance on the new vehicle, my husband had taken time off work, and we wanted to end the miserable experience.) When my husband queried the annual mileage allowance (which was agreed at 10,000 miles per year at the point of sale) The finance manager said he was unsure of the actual mileage allowance, as this figure appeared to have been cropped from the document printout, and was missing. The Principal then told us Honda would honour the 10,000 mile/year allowance. The finance manager then contradicted the Principal immediately, saying the figures would not allow for this. The Principal went out of the office to view the original spread sheet, the finance manager promptly followed, and a few minutes later, both returned declaring they had received advice from Honda, which was to rip up the current agreement, as it was now “old.” The finance manager proceeded to rip the agreement up in front of us. We were advised a new agreement would be written up and if we did not like the figures, we should not proceed with the purchase, and leave with a refund of our deposit. Eventually we were told the mileage allowance had been amended to the minimum of 6000 miles per year. This amendment was made outside of the agreement, and without our knowledge. When we queried the effect this mileage allowance alteration would make, The Principal and the finance manager concurred ‘it doesn’t make any difference so long as you don’t hand the car back to Honda in three years, you can just part exchange and drive a hard bargain, and you will get a deal, as Honda doesn’t like to lose a sale’. And so now, there we were being urged to sign an agreement, which effectively removed the option to return the vehicle in 3 years! At this point we had lost total confidence as the goal posts had been moved so much, we felt we had no option but to leave and not proceed with the sale. We left the John Banks show room upset and disappointed, not just from the loss of an honestly agreed deal, made in good faith, but also from the distressing and humiliating way in which we were treated, especially by The Principal, who continuously inferred that we were trying to be dishonest, which was particularly upsetting. The Principal did concede that Honda had made ‘some mistakes’ with compiling our original agreement, but denied completely the deal we had made with the sales person, and which we had confirmed on the phone that very morning by the finance manager. Honda, Letchworth on the other hand, fabulous!

We own a petrol Honda FRV bought new in 2006 and during the first 110,000 miles, the only fault attributable to the car was the failure of the cabin courtesy light. As you can imagine, we are very fond of the car and are in awe of the quality of its engineering. Following a recent change in servicing garage to John Banks Honda in Cambridge, we experienced repeated transient overheating which the garage was unable to diagnose. They suggested a blown cylinder head gasket despite the engine running sweetly and a lack of coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant. However, subsequent to their repeated failures to cure the fault, the coolant level in the radiator was always low leaving the core exposed. Tiring of the charade, I eventually filled the radiator myself and the overheating has not recurred in the subsequent 5,000 miles and the radiator has remained full. I was also unimpressed by the garage telling me the price of the premixed Honda coolant over the phone, but explaining that that price did not include VAT when I got to the parts department at the garage. I thought this type of behaviour, typical of early tyre specialists, had died out years ago. These irregularities led me to check the engine oil which I found to be below the lower mark and only just registering as a spot on the bottom of the stick. The car does not usually use oil between services nor has it done so since I put in a litre. I am sure it is coincidence that the service manager suggested to me that our FRV had done us well and that we should now consider the purchase of a new Honda. My wife, who is not mechanical and who owns the FRV, found him quite charming and helpful.

I had 2 warranty issues with a brand new Honda car I bought from them. I had a huge fight with them to get them to do anything at all to put matter right. I ended up paying myself for the first. The first was particularly irritating because it involved a significant safety issue with the car. They ignored it until it had reached MOT, when of course it failed. Their excuse was not every car had the fault so they had not bothered to recall the cars or check them when they had then in for service. I had to pay to have it put right. They refused to and it was that or no car now it had failed it's MOT. After a huge effort I did get part of the money refunded. The second issue is still being argued about. I have enlisted help from Honda customer services as I have more time to deal with it. John Banks told me they thought it was funny I was bothering to fight them. Oddly enough I'm not laughing!

Will deal with any car. Premises are not posh but that's fine for me. Team who look after you know the cars and will explain issues. Fixed prices available. Easy access and parking. Shopping centre adjacent.

We brought our second Honda Jazz from John Banks Honda in Cambridge earlier this month (May 2011). We knew what we wanted, the 1.2 S (spected down model) the salesman, Paul didn't try to talk us into a higher spec model. They even did a deal on GAP insurance and the paint treatment. This 2011 is so much better than the 05 model we traded in. Its doing 56 m.p.g. Very pleased.