First Acura experience at the first Acura dealer I've visited.
Purchased my new 2014 vehicle from Hidy Acura last month, love the sales experience but hate the terrible service experience. Below is my assessment of my experience throughout the shopping experience and service experience.
Exterior/Interior: 3/5 - Hidy Acura is on the smaller side of Acura Dealership. As soon as you drive up, you're surrounded by new Acura vehicles surrounding the building. Limited parking spaces and limited inventory. It's clean and tidy inside but not impressed as it feels like any other Honda dealership. I had to compare it to Infiniti dealership down the road and it feels like an actual luxury dealership. What gives?...
Sales/Finance: 5/5 - My sales experience was impressive and wish it would be like that in my future purchases. It all had to do with Angie Olinger. As soon I came in, she greeted me, didn't pressure me and encourage me to test drive other competitors. I ended up back at Acura after a few test drives. It came down to the TL or RDX. Negotiation was taken care of since I used the USAA car-buying service (which utilizes TrueCar) and saved 6k off the MSRP. What a deal! Angie made the experience stress-free and gave her kudos about my experience.
Service: 0/5 - I wasn't impressed with the Service Advisors. Upon Delivery, we (Angie, the Detailing guy, Bill and myself) found a nick on the rear bumper and a dimple on the steering wheel. Angie said that Matt (service advisor) will look over the damage and see if the dealership can take about it once the TL comes in for the accessory installation.
Spoke to Matt (service advisor) regarding the nick and was suggested that they will have a touch-up guy who will "touch up brush the area". It was noted that the touch-up brush will be noticeable as if I did it myself. I requested if they can touch air spray it. The day I picked up my car, Matt stated they will need to keep the car for a few more days so that the shop can repaint the bumper to factory standard. I was furious when they suggested a bumper repaint on a brand new car. Ron (the General Manager) advised that the dealership would take any action based on my decision. I told Matt (service advisor) to order Dr. Colorchip but stand-by until I get some advice from my folks.
As for the steering wheel, the service dept. stated that's how leather stretches on the wheels and refused to replace the defect. None of the other TLs on the lot have that issue. One thing that service failed to mention was that they damaged one of my interior parts and replaced it without verbally notifying me but noted a part # on the service order.
I found out via my Dash Cam Audio recording. Yes, I have a Dash Cam but I have it for insurance purposes in case of a vehicular crash not for spying. It turns on when the car is on.
I found it odd when there were multiple consecutive video files on my camera (the car was left on) while it was in the service bay. Is it normal for the car to be on while dealing with installing electronic parts? I spoke to the service department who told me that it was noted on the service order they provided after installation. The only notice was a part number but no verbal explanation. I had to google the part number indicating a steering wheel column part.
Since telling the dealership how I found out, Hidy Acura and Joe Hidy have banned me from the dealership because my dash cam (which powers on only when the car is on) caught something that was intentionally hidden from me (not notifying me verbally upon pick-up).
Since then, I have filed a BBB complaint against Hidy Acura and contacted Acura Client Relations who sent a District Service Parts Manager to investigate my vehicle and agreed to replace my steering wheel at another Acura Dealership. I’m surprise Acura Corporate sent a representative down!
Bottom-line: I had one of the best experience with the worst service experience. Overall experience - 2.6/5 Stars
Would I buy an Acura again? Yes!
From Angie and Jack? YES!
Would I buy a vehicle from Hidy? NO!
Get my vehicle serviced at Hidy? HECK NO! Especially when I found out what they did to my car. If my dash cam wasn't in the car and left powered on by the technician who wanted to listen to music the whole time, I would have never found out about the damage.
I took my car to another Acura dealer in a nearby town and it was night and day. Service Advisor/Manager has over 25-30 years of experience and courteous. More inventory and better customer service. Hidy Acura, you have lost my business (including the accessories I told Angie I wanted to order and install in the near term future i.e. backup sensor and door guards). The other Acura dealer has earned my business. I’ve also told my co-workers on base regarding the situation and they have opt to avoid this dealership.
I wish Hidy management would rectify the situation. Even if the dash cam was not present or turn on, this shows how the dealership played foul when they didn't have the courtesy of notifying the customer of damaging the vehicle and replacing the part. “Sir we’re sorry that we damaged a part in your car but we replaced it at our cost” would have been better than find out from another venue.
Again DO NOT GO TO HIDY!