Dealers are almost universally shitty. From car buying to service, only a dealership could suck on multiple fronts. Often dealers won’t take any responsibility for their horrible service and behavior, either. Take what one Acura Integra Type S owner is going through with his local dealership, for example.
Que_The_Chaotic, as he’s known on social media, is a legit car enthusiast. While he previously owned stuff like a Chevy Camaro ZL1 that he would regularly autocross, he recently became the owner of a Toyota GR Corolla and an Acura Integra Type S, though he’s since traded in the GR Corolla for a new Mazda Miata. Recently he encountered a problem with his Type S: it started to leak oil, heavily.
He also noticed that the front bumper of the car was misaligned, something he suspects happened either at the factory or when the dealer was installing his illuminated Acura emblem. There were a couple other things he wanted addressed too, like a random wire that was hanging out of the doorsill and some interior rattles. So Que took his Type S in for service at Acura of Troy, Michigan and documented everything in a Youtube video.
The dealer tells him that the Type S’ oil leak was more serious, as it’s coming from the head. They thought that installing a part they had ordered would fix the problem, but it turned out the engine would need a top end rebuild. The dealer said it was going to get with Acura corporate and that he’d have to leave the car there for a week so they could look at it. The issues started as soon as he dropped off his car.
Watching from afar, Que noticed the car sitting in the service area with a tech inside. He soon realized what was happening: the tech didn’t seem to know how to disengage the e-brake on a car with a manual transmission. Que says he noticed the car nearly stalled as the tech tried to figure it out. Soon, the tech called someone over for help and the car was taken away. They left Que on his own, too. He says the dealer had no shuttle service nor did they offer him a loaner vehicle, something that he says he specifically preferred Acura over Honda for. He had to take a Lyft home.
Just over a week later, he got a call that his car was ready. Once at the dealer, the Type S was pulled out for him, and Que noticed curb rash on the left rear wheel. He confronted the service manager — at this dealer he has the title of Fixed Operations Director — about the damage, who flipped it back on Que and accused him of hiding the damage to the wheel. What would cause him to make such a weird and specific accusation? Being nosey.
It would seem that as Que filmed the first half of his video in the dealer’s parking lot, the service department was watching. The service director accuses Que of hiding the wheel damage while recording the video by standing a certain way, something Que immediately disproves by showing still images from that part of the video that show the wheels had no curb damage.
Walking around the Type S, Que also questioned if his other concerns were addressed. He pointed out the wire hanging out near the door sill. The service director hits back, saying that the wire is still there, which isn’t what Que was saying; he wanted to know why it was hanging. Que also pointed out the misaligned front bumper, which didn’t seem to get fixed. The service director wildly claimed the bumper isn’t misaligned and that’s how the Integra Type S comes from the factory. “That’s exactly the way they come,” he can be heard saying. He also claimed the car was only ever driven into the service bay and out of it, yet Que produces service documents that clearly show the car has eight extra miles on it.
Not wanting to deal with them anymore, Que gets in the car to leave, only to discover that the car’s oil life meter wasn’t reset — it was just at 20 percent. He was under the impression that since the top end was rebuilt and it was leaking oil, they would perform an oil change and top off the engine. The service director says that’s not the case, that Acura would only cover doing what needs to be done to get the engine working again.
Essentially, they performed the rebuild, fixing the leak and left the oil level where it was when he bought the car in. This is confirmed when he and his friend pulled out into the parking lot and checked the engine’s oil level on the dipstick; his friend says the car is a quart and a half to two quarts low. Fed up, Que said he’s done with Troy Acura and will take his car to another dealer.
Que still wanted the situation handled, especially the damage to his wheel, so he reached out to Acura corporate and made two claims regarding what happened at the dealer. A week later a case manager gets back to him with no help. Corporate tells him that dealers are privately owned businesses and that Acura can’t get involved. If he wants something done, he’ll have to make a complaint directly through the dealership by getting in contact with the service manager or GM, which is just the problem. Troy Acura is a small dealership with just 11 employees, and aside from the general sales manager, the dealer has no general manager.
Then Que reached out to the sales GM, who was no help either. He behaved like the service director did and tried blaming Que for his wheel damage. Que just wanted to know whether or not he would be taken care of, but the GM laughed it off, saying that everything is pretty much over “after what you did.” He then makes it seem as if Que attacked the service director, saying that he should have come to him before the “assault.” Soon after, Troy Acura stopped returning his calls.
Still not satisfied, Que contacted Mike Savoie Chevrolet, the dealer next door who also owns Troy Acura. He got in contact with their general manager who was more apologetic and understanding of the situation and ultimately took care of him. Que says he was offered a wheel fix for the curb damage and everything was made right. It wasn’t over, though. Que says the situation should have never escalated the way it did, and it all comes back to how Troy Acura’s service department handled the situation.
The video of what happened made enough rounds online though that the GM asked if Que could tell his viewers to stop review-bombing the dealer, something that Que says he never told anyone to do, but hey, that’s what happens. To counter this, Que says he discovered that some dealer employees created a YouTube account to comment on the videos on the side of the dealer, which is weird behavior but not unheard of in situations like this. Que also confronted the GM about whether or not an engine’s oil is supposed to be topped off after a top end rebuild; the GM couldn’t answer that for whatever reason. It’s likely he was just covering the dealer’s ass.
Ultimately, Que ended up taking his Acura to another dealer just as he said he would, this time Fox Acura of Ann Arbor. Wanting to cover himself given what happened in Troy, he took pics and video of the car before it went into service with them. There was no need to worry, as Que says Fox went above and beyond with their service. They gave the Intergra a proper oil change, attempted to realign the front bumper — which still isn’t perfect but is better than it was — and even cleaned up the excess oil splashes left by Troy Acura in and under the engine. Que is satisfied and doesn’t think he’ll go back to Troy. You gotta mess up pretty bad for a customer who purchased their car from you to not bring their car back for service.
This is all a lesson of how bad dealer service departments can be. Not all the crappy stuff happens on the sales side. I reached out to Troy Acura for a comment; initially they responded to me as if I was interested in buying a car but stopped after I told them I was seeking to get information on this situation. I reached out to both Que and Acura corporate over the ordeal and will update this post once they get back to me.