Honda Customer Service Excels

Over the last two months, I’ve had the opportunity, if I may use that word, to see how two large corporations treat its customers.

The first, Dell, you already know about.

The second, Honda, I have also mentioned but have had the occasion to update it today.

Although all the options for our new Honda CRV were installed by the dealership or its sub-contractors, one item I decided to install myself.

This would be a leather steering wheel cover. Given that Honda was asking over $200 to install what, to me, seems to be a simple thing to do, I decided to do it myself. So, I went to the corporate Honda site and ordered the cover. As it turns out, corporate Honda just forwards the order to your nearest dealership and they then actually process the order.

In due time, I got the box from Windward Honda and upon opening it, was surprised to find a set of wheel locks. Said locks are used to deter thieves who want to steal your tires and or rims. Being that I already had a set, I have no need for another.

So I emailed Windward Honda telling them of the mix up and within two hours I got a call from Byron in Parts apologizing for the mix-up. Without asking him, he offered to send out the correct part today, refund the $15 shipping cost I paid for the original, and further refunded an additional $20 off the price of the steering wheel cover. To top things off, he said I could keep the wheel locks at no charge.

Now, leaving aside the problems with the order system that does not appear to provide checking prior to shipping, this is how customer service is supposed to work. I didn’t have to demand to be made whole. I didn’t have to work my way up the corporate chain in order to speak to someone. Windward Honda apologized, corrected the problem, and offered something for my trouble.

You better believe that when we need to replace our Toyota Camry next year, we will be getting a Honda Accord, instead. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!

Dell Customer Support Update

Geoffrey from Dell (and Richard!) was able to get a new XPS M1330 sent my way. It took a few days longer than anticipated but it is worth the wait. This replacement is actually faster and has more RAM than the original (and doesn’t rock back and forth as much as the original).

Although there have been many pot holes in the road between when I received the original M1330 and now, I can say that the Dell gang have bent over backwards to try to make things right.

As to the M1330, I still believe the design decisions made on this laptop make more sense for me than the Apple Macbook Air (MBA). That is not to say the MBA is not an amazing engineering achievement. But the compromises required to meet Apple’s design criteria make their laptop not useful to me.

That said, the rocking back and forth now seems to be a design problem more than a manufacturing/quality control one.

However, in the end, we will continue to buy from Dell. But be aware that if things go wrong, you may need to invest much time and effort to get things sorted. But having done so, Dell appears ready to do more than its part. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.