Spring Branch Honda

Reviews 3

B.

B.A. M.

Please read my experience that defines how Spring Branch Honda FAILED, and how the one I ended up at (Clear Lake Honda) SUCCEEDED. Sorry for the length: My mechanic, who is great, discovered that the recent coolant leak in my car was a CRACKED ENGINE BLOCK. I know, terrible. But it turned out that the engine had an 8 yr extended warranty(06-09 Civics) for repair due to defective engine blocks produced for my car. So thats awesome. Super awesome. They would replace my entire engine for free. I take my car immediately over to Spring Branch Honda where my info was already entered in their system. They confirm that the engine will need to be completely replaced by the dealership. I ask them for a loaner car since they will have mine for several days, if not a week.He says "no , thats not our policy". So I tell him that I had been there when I first got the car (2.5 yrs ago), and that I had both front axles replaced on the car in TWO separate visits,Under Warranty, and that both times he (specifically the same service person) had given me a loaner car BOTH times. His response " Im sorry well thats not our policy". I do some quick searching the web, and find that on Clear Lake Hondas website they specifically have a page dedicated to their "FREE LOANER CAR PROGRAM" , where it basically says, that if you have a repair taking more than 2 hours, and you let them know in advance, that you will get a loaner car.Period. So I tell Mr.Spring Branch Honda this and he calls the Clear Lake Honda. This is the end of the conversation I hear: "Hi, are you guys giving out loaner cars for those cracked engine blocks?" , " you are?", "For how long?", "up to a week?" ," ok thanks". He then turns to me and says, "let me go talk to my boss". He goes and talks to the manager, after which the manager looks all bummed and says " so it would come out of our pocket.." So they come back to me and tell me that they can only give me 2 days of a loaner car, even though the other dealer just offered a week. I told the guy I really really didnt wanna drive all the way out to Clear Lake just to save a $150 on a rental car, but i would if i had to. He said that he could only give me two days. I called the Clear Lake dealership, and within 5 minutes I had a loaner car reserved and all on my info in their system. I drive 45 minutes to get there, and am checked in, photocopied, and in my loaner car in less that 15 minutes. I didnt even sit down and wait cause the process was streamlined. And then drove 45 minutes back to Houston where I live.I got a call less than an hour later, reassuring me that indeed everything was covered under the warranty issued by Honda, and that they would pay for everything. He even told me they found some suspension damage. When I said I would like my mechanic to do that work he said "No Problem, Ill write what we found down on the receipt, so you can have it for later". Spring Branch Honda has made themselves look ridiculous. I was bringing them business. I wasnt paying for it, but i sure do know Honda was paying them. Their is no debate that I had precedent for the rental, that this was a manufacturer covered issue, and that they should have done the right in giving me the car. The whole time they are trying to play it down like what I was suggesting was ridiculous. I will never go back to Spring Branch Honda, even though it is only 10 minutes from home. They lost any potential for future business. Their actions are definitive of the reason people say you should never go to a dealership for anything. At the end of the day I got to transverse Houston for 4 hours on my scheduled vacation, on a nice day, and still get a free engine.

SA

Salah Al-Shamiri

Albie and team were great. Communicated well with me and worked with me to accommodate my request and eventually allowed me to walk out the dealership a day later a happy customer :) I have bought many cars in the past but I have to say this was by far the best experience ever. My whole A-Z experience and process literally took 2 days but let me explain. I live in Boston, MA. I have been coming to Austin via Houston every other month for a week or so at a time. I usually get myself a rental and drive to Austin. I like to come through Houston because I have old friends that I spend the weekend with before I am in Austin for the work week. Moreover, I am expecting to move to Austin in a month or so. I had car reservations but I figured It was time for me to just buy the car i was planning on buying when I moved down here but instead of renting now, I will just get the car. This would be my second car and my wifes primary car. Its a Honda Accord Sport and riding it for a week, I absolutely love it. Anyhow, I originally made arrangements with a Honda Dealership in Austin from my last visit who gave me a quote that I thought was very competitive. The Friday morning before the weekend I decided to Lease the car instead of rent for this trip. However, I figured Id just buy a car from Houston to avoid renting and that way I could spend the weekend in Houston. Otherwise my original plan was to miss out on spending the weekend in Houston, have a rental for a day and drive to Austin the moment i landed to get to the dealership before they close and walk out with my new car. Furthermore, have to worry about returning a one way rental etc. Anyhow, I googled Houston Honda dealerships and saw that Spring Branch had an excellent rating and viewed their website and was impressed. I saw they had my vehicle and color in stock so i contacted them. I worked with the Internet Sales Manager/Darryl Thomas who later had his Agent/Albie contact me. I asked if they could match the offer I got from Austin and not only did they match it, i got an even better deal with some incentive and included tinted windows :) They communicated extremely well via Email and followed up when required by phone. The next day I flew in to Houston, I cancelled car rental reservation, had my friend give me a ride to the dealership by Noon. Within an hour or two i was walking out with my new car. Experience was awesome and so quick. Just the way it should be. Paperwork was explained to me well and took no more than 15 min. They even added an Umbrella and some other items as gifts. The Umbrella turned out to be very useful because we were later hit with a rainstorm that same week :) Bottom line and given my circumstances, I will conclude by exactly what I started this review saying: Albie and team were great. Communicated well with me and worked with me to accomodate my request and eventually allowed me to walk out the dealership a day later a happy customer :)

DI

Diana Bustos

I am very dissatisfied with Spring Branch Honda Service/Parts Department. Here is what happened: It was raining cats and dogs on Thursday August 20th of this year. My husband and I noticed a sizable water spot on the interior roof, on the passengers side of our 2014 CRV. As the day progressed the water spot became bigger and it started dripping in the interior. We decided to take our car back to the dealership where we had purchased the vehicle, Spring Branch Honda. We were met by a service representative, and we proceeded to tell her of our predicament, and show her the interior water damage. We asked what we should do, and she mentioned that the soonest they could attend to the problem was Thursday August 27th. We asked if we could obtain a loaner car, and she said "We dont have loaner cars." We understand, there are hectic days, and people can have busier weeks than others, but this service representative was totally disinterested in helping us. She didnt even bother to ask us if Thursday was okay, or if she should write us down for that appointment. No questions. We drove off with our dripping car. A few minutes later we called Spring Branch Again. This time someone else answered. They had a Tuesday 9 a.m. appointment open. Okay a little better. He asked if that was okay. What else could we do? We finished our errands for the day, and as we were heading home down 290 and Eldridge, my husband and I started talking. If our leaking roof is a factory mistake then any Honda could fix it. Long story short, John Eagle Honda fixed our car. The John Eagle staff was very concerned with our safety because the leak of the car was over the passenger side curtain airbag. The John Eagle representative pulled back the corner passenger panel with the curtain airbag emblem and inspected the airbag. To quote the John Eagle representative: "I cant let you leave in this car." We were given a loaner car immediately (a 2015 Honda Civic, the rep even asked if a Civic was okay). Immediately afterwards I called Spring Branch Honda to cancel our Tuesday appointment. The headliner, windshield were replaced, and the windshield seal (which was the cause of the leak) was applied properly within 2 business days. They checked the side curtain airbag, no damage. The John Eagle service representative followed up immediately, giving constant status updates of our car. We picked up our repaired car from John Eagle Honda Tuesday August 25th (the earliest Spring Branch Honda could even give us the time of day). Moral of this story: Not everybody blows you off.