I purchased a Honda Shine Bike from C.R. Scooters, Vadodara, Gujarat on 19th May. After dissatisfactory replies from the C.R. Scooters Service Centre, I had sent my first complaint mail to Honda on 13th October. After sending this mail, I got a call from Mr. Nilesh Modi from C.R. Scooters, Vadodara, and he tried to resolve some of my service related complaints. However, there are many other complaints still pending. Even after repeated follow-ups on mail, Honda is not responding back.
The entire mail chain with Honda at customercare@honda2wheelersindia.com is given below:
==========================
From: Chintan Parekh
To: customercare@honda2wheelersindia.com
Cc: c.parekh@tcs.com
Date: 11/18/2011 10:42 PM
Subject: Re: Consumer Complaint - HONDA CB SHINE
I am still waiting for a reply from your side. Kindly provide the same at the earliest, else I shall be forced to move to the consumer court for negligence in after-sales support.
Regards,
Chintan Parekh
+91 9662404164
On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:07 PM, Chintan Parekh wrote:
Hello,
After sending my previous complaint mail, I was contacted by the C.R. Scooters representative Mr. Nilesh Modi. I discussed all the problems with him again, and gave my bike to the service centre for servicing and solving the problems discussed. Most service related issues have been resolved to my satisfaction, however there are still some product related issues, for which I need an explanation from Honda.
Problems still pending
RC Book - I haven\'t received the updated RC book yet from RTO. However, I have been following it up with Mr. Paresh from C.R. Scooters for the same.
Side Stand - The issue is still not resolved, and I am updated by Mr. Nilesh Modi that (1) The stand is not bent due to any negligence by customer (2) They cannot do anything about the side stand, the structure manufactured by Honda is like this only. I am unable to understand how can a company like Honda, miss out on such a defect. Atleast accept it, if it is a design flaw, and if its not, then please arrange for rectifying it in my bike
Spark Plug - As discussed with Mr. Nilesh Modi, the spark plug is structured in such a way that the current gets leaked to the metal part of the engine adjacent to it. As a workaround, he got some grease applied around the spark plug cover, to avoid the current getting leaked. However, I am not sure how well it will work in monsoons, which is the season when this issue comes up the most. Again, this seems to be a glitch in quality promised by Honda.
Key getting stuck - There was no discussion or resolution on this issue. First of all, the quality of the lock is so poor, that in just one rain, within 1-2 months of buying the bike, the key starts getting stuck in the lock. As per my understanding, the inner parts of the lock got rusted due to the rains. On top of it, CR Scooters charged money from me to apply a anti-rust spray, which is not even a authorized Honda product. This issue raises a serious question on both the organizations, CR Scooters and Honda Two Wheelers.
Rusting Issue - I haven\'t got any satisfactory reply from CR Scooters for the rusting issue. I got a call from a Honda representative after the service, and he argued with me that rusting was not covered in the warranty, and there is no question to be raised on Honda\'s quality. Would you please care to explain how come a bike got so many parts rusted within 2-3 months of buying it, with the very first showers of rain hitting it. IF THIS IS THE QUALITY OF PARTS PROVIDED BY HONDA, AND STILL HONDA REPRESENTATIVES FEEL THAT THE QUALITY IS PERFECTLY FINE, PLEASE PROVIDE A LOGICAL EXPLAINATION TO ME FOR THE SAME.
I am expecting a proper reply from Honda representatives this time around. In absence of that, I would have to go one step further, and report the same in the consumer forum.
Regards,
Chintan Parekh
+91 9662404164
On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Chintan Parekh wrote:
Hello,
I have driven Hero Honda bikes for the past 8 years, and it had always been my passion to own a \"HONDA\" bike one day. Going forward with my intentions, I booked a brand new \"Honda CB Shine\" on 4th April, 2011 with C.R. Scooters, Vadodara, Gujarat.
Around 1.5 months later, I got a call from C.R. Scooters saying my bike was available now, and I need to pay the total amount one day prior to the delivery. I wasn\'t even asked to select the bike from their available stock, which generally happens at all bike dealers. After making the payment, the next day when I reach the showroom to collect my brand new bike, I first see that the leg guard provided with the bike didn\'t have any plastic covers, whereas all other new ready-for-delivery bikes at the showroom had the leg guard covered with plastic. Which eventually meant that the leg guard provided wasn\'t brand new, and which was also confirmed by seeing a few scratches on the leg guard. On complaining about the same, I was told by the showroom guy to get it replaced from their godown(nr. pandya hotel, shashtri bridge)/service centre(jetalpur road), which is atleast 5 kms away from the showroom. Ideally it should be the showroom\'s responsibility to provide a bike complete in all aspects. The showroom guy was amusingly pretty quick in showing all the features, and handing over the bike and related goodies in my hands. However, on checking the bike myself at the showroom itself, I found out that there was major problem with the acceleration of the bike. On applying the accelerator, the bike pickup was sluggish for a second, and then picked up, which was very apparent and clearly evident. On informing the same to the showroom guy, his behaviour suddenly turned rude, and he wasn\'t ready to accept the fault. I insisted on checking the same in another BD Shine lying at the showroom for delivery, and surprisingly there was no such issue with the other bike. Hence I declined to accept the bike with the faulty acceleration, so I was told very rudely by the showroom guy that I would be contacted after about a week\'s time when that colour bike is available again.
With the payment of over Rs 55,000 done, I waited for a call from C.R. Scooters, which I didnt receive even after 10 days time. Then after, I had to call up the showroom to inquire about my bike\'s status, and I was told to visit their godown to select the bike. This clearly indicates that the showroom authorities weren\'t keeping a track of my order, which was pending, and probably if I hadn\'t called, I would had not even got a call for a month\'s time. All said and done, I went to the godown, where I was shown 3 available Grey CB Shine bikes, which I checked one after the other. All the 3 bikes also seemed to have the same problem of acceleration, however one of them seemed to have lesser problem compared to the other two. On advice of the techincal guy(Mr. Chauhan) from the godown, I decided to select the bike, and he assured me that this was a minor problem which would be rectified in the first service itself. Also while taking the test ride of the bike, I found that the brakes were not as effective as should be in a brand new bike. The guy at the godown also assured me that it would be taken care of while they prepare the bike for delivery.
Keeping faith on the guy\'s words, I selected that bike for delivery.
The next day I got the bike\'s delivery, and then started the series of problems as mentioned below:
On the very first day, after driving the bike for 10 kms, the self start stopped working. The next day I called up C.R. Scooters, who asked me to bring the bike to the showroom. Two guys from the showroom checked the bike, and even before checking itself argued that since the bike has a Dry battery, it gets charged as you ride it. On checking the bike, I demonstrated that the self start and other battery related functions were not working at all. They asked me to take the bike to the godown. At the godown, the supervisor checked the bike, and replaced the battery with a new one.
\"Battery changed in a single day\'s time !!! I guess there is no quality checking being done before delivering the bikes to customers ???\"
The acceleration problem mentioned earlier continued to harass me, and the very next day I had to again take the bike to the godown to get the problem rectified. (Since I hadn\'t got my bike\'s documents, I could not go to the service centre). Mr. Chauhan at the godown took a few test rides of my bike, checked the issue, and finally told me that he had increased the RPM setting of the bike, which would resolve the issue. However, on riding the bike I found that somehow the acceleration of the bike had been increased, as in even when the accelerator is down, the bike would remain accelerated. This did not resolve the problem I faced, it only sort of covered it under the high acceleration. Probably due to this issue, as well as the acceleration issue, the mileage of my bike stooped down to around 40-45 kms/ltr.
During the initial days after the bike\'s delivery, the sluggish acceleration issue was so rampant, that driving the bike was a nightmare for me. On applying the acceleration, I had to literally wait for a second for the bike to actually accelerate, for that one second it would just stop as if there is no acceleration. This was very similar to the behaviour we have with bikes during winter season, when we start the bike early in the morning. But in my case, even in the summer season under the scorching sun, the bike would behave in the same manner. Any normal person who would take a test ride of the bike would experience and immediately identify the issue, however the Honda authorities were turning a blind eye towards it.
Then finally the time came for the first service, my first experience with Honda service centre, and I took my bike there with high hopes of getting all my issues resolved. But that was unlikely to happen. Please find below the issue by issue description of the interaction with the service centre guys:
First Service Experience
Customer Service : When I went to take my bike\'s delivery at the service centre, I told at the reception that I wanted to check my bike first, and would like to talk to the engineer who serviced my bike, before signing off the service completion documents. However my request was declined by the receptionist, and was rudely told to sign the documents first then only I can check my bike. This is a clear violation of rules, since the document the customer is made to sign, says that the bike is serviced to the customer\'s full satisfaction, without even allowing the customer to check his bike.
Acceleration problem : The guy checked the accelerator, and wrote it down as n issue in the service record sheet. However on delivery of the bike, I checked and saw that the issue was still there, but had reduced. On asking the service guy about the same, he just told that the required components were cleaned up, but could not explain any specific fix done for the problem. After riding the bike for around 3-4 days, the issue again became rampant as earlier, hence i took the bike again to the service centre. A guy named Mr Chetan took a test ride of my bike, with me sitting as a pillion, and claimed after the ride that there is no issue with the bike. Even though the issue was experienced while he was driving the bike, which I had immediately pin pointed. However the service guy was stubborn and did not pay much heed to my complaint, and helplessly I had to bring my bike back.
Side Stand problem : The side stand spring was not tight enough, and hence I had difficulties bringing the stand up/down. Plus on putting down the stand, and then while putting down the bike on the side stand, the bike would slide a bit before coming to steady position. On showing it to the service guy, he immediately told me that the stand had tilted due to reasons like someone sitting on the bike while its on a side stand. It came to me as a shock, since I was facing this issue since the day I bought the bike, and thought it might be something to do with the spring tension, and would be rectified in the first service. When I argued with him and asked to call his supervisor, the supervisor came, checked the bike, and gave me a totally new version of his analysis. According to him, there was NO PROBLEM with the side stand. Wow! I get to hear 2 different stories within a span of 5 minutes. Even after demonstrating the same to him, he simply refused to accept that it was a problem. That incident really frustrated me since the Honda service guys were behaving like bullies, and I was feeling very helpless on having a bought a bike from HONDA, a company whose reputation was decreasing drastically in my eyes.
Fuel Indicator : The fuel indicator provided with Honda Shine has a major arc in grey color, whereas the starting bit of the arc is in RED color, which clearly indicates the reserve fuel area, going by common logic. However, what I found was that the bike would come to Reserve only after the RED color of the arc is completed, meaning the entire arc drawn for the fuel indication. Hence my bike would get to reserve status once the indicator crosses the arc drawn, and hence I would never be able to know when exactly my fuel tank would get empty, since there is no arc drawn where my bike gets into reserve. On explaining the matter to the service guy, he laughed off saying \"its like this only\" and \"you have a reserve cock, then why do you need to worry\". Please tell me if this is not a MISTAKE in the bike, have you really designed it this way. Does it serve any purpose rather than confusing people with the RED area. Let me tell you among all the bikes I have seen of other companies, none of them indicates the fuel in this manner.
Brakes : The brakes provided with the bike from day 1, were not at all up to the mark. I mentioned the same above as well, when I selected the bike from the godown. After completion of the service, I was told that the brakes were tightened. Even after that being done, the performance of the brakes was not at all improved, and the brakes seemed like that of a bike 4-5 years old with weared out brake liners.
My second service experience:
Spark Plug problem : After a shower of rain, the bike wouldn\'t start. ON starting the bike, immediately there would be a \"kat-kat\" sound from the spark plug, and the engine would stop. In such a condition only, I took the bike for the second service, and demonstrated the issue to the service guy. To my surprise, he just rotated the spark plug cover by 180 degrees from its normal position, and told me that its resolved now, but to avoid it in future I have to get a covering on it. If the company(HONDA) is unable to provide a good quality spark plug cover, or a proper design to cover the spark plug, why should I shell out money from my pocket to get such a thing rectified. It has to be the company\'s responsibility to provide such a facility.
Acceleration problem : BY this time, the acceleration problem had reduced from what I had during the time of buying the bike, however it was still apparent. This time the same service guy, who accepted the acceleration problem during first service, declined to accept the issue. I was again helpless, against the rude staff.
Battery issue : The \"dry\" battery gets discharged so quickly, it is embarrassing for me to apply the horn while driving on the road. Every now and then, the horn would almost die down while applying it. Even the self start would take longer time to start the bike at times when the battery levels are low. On explaining the issue to the service guy, the first and immediate reaction was \"This is a dry battery, and gets charged as you drive the bike\". I argued saying that the battery was not getting charged enough then, and they need to charge it or replace it. On this I got one of the most shocking reply I have ever got in my life from the service guy. He said \"Your bike has been driven only 985 kms in 3 months, hence you have to expect such kind of issue.\". I didn\'t understand whether the battery also gets roused like the engine, as more and more kilometers the bike is driven. So once again, a customer complaint was turned down by Honda service guys.
Key getting stuck : Since monsoon had started, the key wont turn properly in the ignition lock, and started getting stuck. I was told that greasing of the ignition lock would be charged at 20 rs. I didn\'t understand that a HONDA bike, which just had a single rain shower, got the ignition lock system in such a bad state. After the service, I went to meet the service centre head Mr Anil, and inquired him about why such a issue was happening so early in the bike, and how can they charge me Rs 20 for resolving this issue. As a reply, he told me that the lock system provided by Honda was having this issue in all bikes, and hence they use their own private rust-preventive spray for greasing the lock system, and for which they are charging Rs 20 from the customers. This is a serious breach of consumer interest as well as Honda\'s brandname, by the authorised Honda service centre authorities who are advocating non-Honda products during customer\'s bike servicing. It is also very sad on behalf of HONDA to provide such low quality parts in a bike which has the name \"HONDA\" associated with it. My all expectations of \"QUALITY\" from \"HONDA\" were shattered at that moment.
Side Stand problem : While giving the bike for servicing,I again told about the side stand problem, which was not entertained. So after the service, I met Mr Anil, the service centre head, and explained to him that the side stand has been in such a condition since I bought the bike, to which I got a reply that they cannot do anything about it, and I should probably get it to some welder who would fix the problem.
I explained to him the problem of sliding of the bike, while putting on side stand. All the side stands have a spring attached to it. In most of the bikes, the spring is attached towards the outer side of the side stand, which makes sure that the side stand is extended to the maximum when brought down. However, in CB Shine, the side stand is having the spring towards the inner side of the side stand, towards the bike. Hence whenever the side stand i brought down, it is extended to the maximum towards the inside of the bike, and hence when the bike is put down on the side stand, and there is a pressure exerted on the side stand, it extends towards the outer side, away from the bike, and hence the bikes slides a bit when put on the side stand. I was told that its a design flaw, and I should talk to Honda authorities about it, rather than bothering them.
Brakes : After the service, I again inquired about the brakes, and I was again told that they were tightened. But still the quality of brakes was the same. PLEASE NOTE THAT SUCH LOW QUALITY BRAKES POSE A SERIOUS THREAT TO MY HEALTH WHILE DRIVING, AND I WOULD CONSIDER HONDA TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE DONE TO ME OR THE BIKE DUE TO THE INEFFICIENCY OF THE BRAKES.
Some General Problems
Tyres Quality : Even at the speed of 5-10 km/hrs, if I apply the brakes completely, the tyres still skid off. I feel the quality of the tyres as well is not up to the mark, since I didn\'t have such an experience with any of the two wheelers i\'ve rode till now.
Rusting Issue : Many parts of the bike have started rusting. From the side stand, even the paint has come off due the rust below. Such low standard parts are never expected from HONDA, and I am utterly disappointed with the bike.
RC Book Issue : While taking the bike\'s delivery, I had submitted all the required photocopies of Photo/Address ID Proofs, and had filled my and my father\'s name in their documents as well - Owner\'s Name: CHINTAN PAREKH, Father\'s Name: A. M. PAREKH. After taking the delivery of the bike, I was asked to go to their godown for getting the RTO registration done, where the RTO inspector would be coming to check the vehicles. At the godown, we were supposed to collect all the documents to be submitted to RTO for the registration of the bike, from a Honda showroom guy sitting over there, and then hand them over to the RTO inspector while checking my bike. On collecting my documents, and checking them, I got the shock of my like. The documents generated by C.R. Scooters showroom, and the Official RTO Forms, filled by the showroom guys, based on details provided by me, showed my surname as \"PARIKH\" instead of \"PAREKH\", and my Father\'s name was entered as \"A M PATEL\" instead of \"A M PAREKH\". I immediately brought it to their notice, and that showroom guy just wrote my form number on a piece of paper, and told me that he would get the corrected documents generated from the showroom before submitting the documents to RTO. I doubted this, and went again to ask him to ensure that the name would be corrected, since it would lead to an incorrect name in the RC book. To this, I got a very rude reply that \"If you don’t trust us, then come again next week for the registration when the documents would be corrected\". Instead of being apologetic about the mistake, and assuring the customer of getting the mistake rectified, this is the kind of words that I have to hear from the Honda representative. I got my bike registered that day itself, and after 4 time, I got the RC book by post at my residential address, and to my utter surprise, my name printed on the RC book was \"CHINTAN S/O A M PATEL\" which completely defies my identity as \"CHINTAN PAREKH S/O A M PAREKH\". I had to once again spend my precious time and money to go to the showroom, where I asked for the owner, since I didn\'t feel appropriate to take the issue to any of the showroom guys, whom I didn\'t trust anymore. I was told by the receptionist that that the owner usually comes at 3 PM everyday, but there was no assurance of that. I asked for an appointment, since I had a complaint to inform him about, but the receptionist straight away declined saying they cannot give an appointment of the owner. \"So who am I left with to escalate the matter. The same guys who created it in the first place ?\". Fortunately, the sales manager was present in the showroom, and I was asked to go and talk to him. On explaining that matter to him, he accepted the mistake, and got my original RC book submitted, along with the same ID proof that was submitted earlier, and I am given an assurance that the new corrected RC book would arrive at my residential address in a month\'s time. However, I am still not sure whether there would had been further blunders made by the Honda staff or not.
The service centre staff is completely rude and stubborn. Half of the staff at the C.R. Scooters showroom is absolutely careless, and rude as well at times. The only courteous people I met were the ones at the C.R. Scooters godown.
As you can read above, there are a huge amount of issues that I had to put up with on initiating this relationship with HONDA. I deeply regret getting associated with HONDA by means of purchasing this bike.
As a customer, I am completely dissatisfied with the CB SHINE bike I have purchased. For your satisfaction, I am ready if you want to validate the issues present with the bike, that I have tried to explain in this mail. However, I would prefer if you would get your evaluation done from a third-party rather than the C.R. Scooters workshop in Vadodara, Gujarat.
Given the amount of physical exertion, monetary expenses behind fuel, waste of time, as well as mental trauma, that I had to face during this entire period, I demand that you take back the bike, and refund me the bike\'s entire expenses. Provided that there is no proper response from you end, my last resort would be moving to the consumer court regarding this case.
I assume that given all my bad experiences with this bike, HONDA does have a good reputation which it needs to live up to, and hence I am assuming I will get some positive reply from your end.
Documents Attached:
Bill showing Rs 20 charged for greasing
Rusted parts of the bike
Side Stand
Copy of the RC book with incorrect name
Owner Details:
Name: Chintan Parekh
Contact No: 9662404164
Email: chintan.comp@gmail.com
Address: 16, Jalpari Soc, Ellora Park, Vadodara, Gujarat
Bike Details:
Booking Date: 4th April, 2011
Delivery Date: 19th May, 2011
Invoice Number: 11SR01095
Frame No: ME4JC36CEB8240702
Engine No: JC36E2364626
Booking No: BO45862
Honda Showroom: C.R. Scooters, Regent Towers, Opp Income Tax office, Race Course Circle, Vadodara-390007, Gujarat
1st Service Date: 8th July 2011
1st Service Job No: 80488
2nd Service Date: 31st Aug 2011
2nd Service Job No: 84444
Next Service Due Date: 16-31 Oct 2011
Original RC Book submitted to CR Scooters for correction on: 28 Sep 2011
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