Complaint Review: Carson Honda - Carson California

This place is a rip-off.

I brought my car here to get an interior dome light (it wasn't working on the door function then wasn't working at all), 3 console buttons (the A/C, Mode and Rear Defroster weren't always lighting up when the headlights were turned on) and the driver's side sun visor (it would hang down a bit) checked.

It turns out they wanted over $60 each just to check the 2 areas that dealt with the lights.

Hours later, I was told my dome light is fine but I need to replace the console buttons completely. So I had them order the parts.

After paying over $120 to get these 2 light areas checked they want an additional $400 to install relatively small and easy parts. To put it in perspective, regular mechanics would only charge between $10-$40 for the sun visor and just a tad more for the pop-in console buttons.

On top of this, the dome light stopped working on my "door open" function and the console buttons have been working fine since. So they completely misdiagnosed both areas.

I had enough, so I called the parts department and asked them to ship the parts to a different Honda dealership for pickup. They told me to speak to the service department. Service transferred me back to parts. Parts said I must have misunderstood him and told me I had to wait for them to come in before I could possibly have them sent elsewhere.

I left a negative Yelp and Google review and they responded: "We are sorry to hear about your poor experience. We would love to speak with you directly to hear more about your recent experience so that we can rectify it for you and for other guests. Please contact General Manager, Kris Kratky at 855-828-4290 at your earliest convenience."

But when I called and left a voicemail for Kris Kratky he never responded.

When I went to go pick them up I was basically ignored. After waiting at the service desk the young lady told me to go to the parts desk. When I went there the cashier stuck his finger up in front of my face and helped other people first. After waiting patiently for way too long, I went to go find the manager. But someone on the first floor brought me back to the parts desk. When it was finally my turn, the cashier went to go get the parts and he brought back 3 of the same part -- all of which were the same wrong part.

I pointed this out then he went to tell the manager of his department. He came back and asked me to show him my car. We went out to the lot and I showed him the 3 console lights that were out. He told me that those parts weren't the way to fix it. I didn't need 3 new parts, I just needed 3 new lights.

When you take into account that my interior dome light really was out that means the service department either misdiagnosed both problems or never even looked at them in the first place and charged me anyway.

I reported them to the Bureau or Automotive Repair and filed a dispute with my credit card company but they demand I get a second opinion from a license mechanic. The problem is a second opinion would cost more than what I was initially charged so it looks like they legally ripped me off unless I go to small claims court.