Over a month ago my Honda Odyssey's transmission went out at only 87,000 miles. I did a search for ""2002 honda odyssey transmission"" and found thousands of entries. Even the Wikipedia article on the odyssey mentioned their defective transmissions that year. Anyway, Honda was only willing to help by giving me the Honda computer that would be needed to operate the redesigned transmission which would cost me $3,800 because it had to be installed by a Honda dealer. We didn't want to use Santa Barbara Honda because we had taken the van there twice and the first time, while replacing a sensor the mechanic bumped the transmission plug and spilled transmission fluid everywhere. My wife had to wait around while they fixed it. Then another time, we had a scheduled service done there and they said the brakes needed to be replaced. We agreed to the work but after picking it up, on the freeway, the car started behaving strangely and there was a rattle. The right brake pads came apart because they hadn't been secured properly! Little did I know... Santa Barbara Honda installed my new transmission. They said the brakes needed to be replaced and it would be cheaper since they had it apart. I reluctantly agreed. Then they said the battery was bad and I would need a new one. They said they had tried to charge it and it wouldn't take a charge. The battery was only 3 months old so I figured it was defective and I would take it back to Sears. We finally got the car back and it was making a grinding clunking vibrating sound. We took the battery to Sears and drove the car back to sb Honda. They kept it a couple of days and announced it was ready. i picked it up, same problem. Took it back, had the mechanic ride with me. He agreed there was a noise. We did this three times. I told Eddie the head of their ""service"" department that I thought he ought to send a mechanic out to get the car since they kept giving it back unfixed. ""I might be able to do that."" A week went by, nothing. Finally I took it back in. By this time Sears had informed me that there was nothing wrong with my battery, that it had charged right up. I marched in with my battery and after a long hassle they reluctantly agreed to put my old battery back in, all the while insisting it was bad in spite of the fact that the thing was giving great charge numbers and my car started right up with the ""bad "" battery in it. They informed me that they had changed the calipers and it was now good to go. Right away the same noise. We started to go on Easter vacation up the coast and had to turn around because we were concerned for our safety. My father in law is handy with cars. I asked him to take a ride with me. Right away he says, ""It's the bumper. It's loose."" We stopped and sure enough. In their sloppy hurry they had neglected to put FOUR of the plastic clips that secure the bumper back on. I took the car back to them on Saturday and called them Monday to see when I could pick it up. ""We are really busy."" He has the guts to say. Maybe Tuesday. So here I am without a car with weeks of dealing with this, five trips to the dealership. I can't be the only one suffering through this. I can tell you this. I would happily drive to LA is necessary if I ever HAD to take that lemon to a dealer for some reason. Personally and through my job I have dealt with many companies and I have never had to endure this low level of service and ethics. I would have put a client's car in front of the line since they have been waiting the longest. I would have been embarrassed to have a client come back so many times and I would have definitely picked up the client's car at their house after the second time I hadn't repaired their car properly. Why am I having to wait so long for someone to crawl under there and put four clips in there. It is a five minute job. I suppose they have to punish you for not being happy paying thousands of dollars for a job that created a new problem.
Pros: Secretary is nice and competent
Cons: Everything else, see below
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