Piazza Honda of Springfield - Service Center

I have been using Piazza Honda in Springfield to service my Honda’s for the past 8 years. Over the past two years I’ve noticed a push from the service advisors to give good ratings and feedback on the servi my Honda’s for the past 8 years. Over the past two years I’ve noticed a push from the service advisors to give good ratings and feedback on the service, since they’re directly rated based on the feedback and anything less than a perfect score is a failure. This has resulted an a gradual but steady decline in the quality of service but they’re the closest Honda dealership to me so I continued to use them. However, after this past experience I’ll drive the extra 45 minutes to go to a dealership that is not Piazza owned. I took my 2011 Civic SI in for inspection and knew it would likely require some basic parts (brakes, tires, etc.). I got a text from the service advisor listing everything it needed and the prices for each. It was a long list of things so I asked for him to call so we could go through it. He called about a half hour later and explained everything and reiterated the prices. I asked him to verify the prices included labor which he said yes to. I told them to proceed with everything but a short while later I felt uncomfortable with the $1200 cost for 3 tires since I only drive about 4000 miles a year and asked him to call me back to discuss. I was informed these were the “recommended” tires for my car by the technician who has the same car. I asked what the cheapest tires they sold were and was given the option of Continental tires at $271 each, which seemed outrageous to me, but the service advisor insisted these were the the cheapest ones they could get for my car. I called the parts department and asked if they had Goodyears available (these are the stock tires from the factory). He verified they had them in stock and they were $203 each. I asked the parts manager if I could cancel the other tires and get those instead which he said wasn’t a problem and he made the change on my paperwork while I was on the phone with him. I called the service advisor back to let him know about the switch and ask why I wasn’t offered the Goodyear tires when I specifically asked about them and he told me they had to be ordered but it didn’t matter because they had already ordered the $271 Continentals so I had to accept them. I informed him of my discussion with the pets department and he seemed disgruntled that I went behind his back. Next, he asks if they can keep my car overnight since they needed to pick up parts from the warehouse. No problem, I just asked when it would roughly be ready the next day. He said “early”. I told him I just needed it by 5pm and he stated “we’ll try our best but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.” I’ve had more work done on a car before in less time, so I knew my request was reasonable. Before we hung up I asked for a final total cost estimate since it exceeded $2000 and a few of the part prices were changed and he said it’ll take him a few minutes to update the numbers but he’ll text it to me shortly. This was around 2:30pm. By closing I had not heard from him with the update so I lowered my “real-time” satisfaction rating for the service. Fast forward to the next day at 2:30pm I still hadn’t heard anything so I lowered the satisfaction once again, to poor. Normally by that point I get a message saying my car is on track to be compete by the time I need it or an update with the cost. I get a text at 3:30 asking why his rating was so low and what he can do to improve it. No mention of my car’s status or a cost estimate. To give him another shot I politely explained to him that it came down to lack of communication, me feeling forced to accept parts/service I didn’t want or need and that I never received the updated cost estimate. He again said I’ll send you one shortly. By 4:45 I had not heard back so I texted to confirm my car would be done by 5 (I had somewhere to go) because I was on my way. At 4:59 he texted saying my car was complete and that he provided everything I had asked for, including the cost estimate. When I arrived the bill was higher than I expected by about $300 (it was MORE than the cost with the $400 tires) so I asked to see the breakdown. I noted that the prices he gave me did not include labor like he originally stated, but I let that slide. However, I was charged $150 for a part I was told would be $96 and charged for an alignment even though I was told it was part of $170+ installation charge for new tires. I showed him the texts with the cost breakdown where he verified this. He insisted “it’s just the way it shows up on the bill” but they were on 2 completely different pages so nowhere near each other in the list of services completed. I told him I didn’t approve and would not pay for it. Finally after 15 minutes of back and forth with the service advisor and being told I just didn’t understand it, the charges were removed, bringing the bill to roughly what I expected it should be given the cheaper tires and cheaper parts that were swapped in. As I left the shop I quickly realized they didn’t even do the alignment, because my car still drifted right) that I was 1. Charged for and 2. Told was always done with new tire installation and also done when part(s) of the steering system (tie rods in this case) are replaced. They focus so much on their “satisfaction” ratings that it’s severely diminished their quality of service. Unless they make a drastic change to improve the service quality, I will never again use Piazza Honda of Springfield and have recommended that my friends and family steer clear of them as well. More