Leather seats aren’t supposed to break apart on your two-year-old Acura TSX. So a conscientious owner with miles left on the warranty does what any sensible consumer would do: Take it to a dealership for warranty repair. Not so easy.
At Acura of Pleasanton, California, one owner was treated to a chastising, a handy lesson in how to enter a parked car, and some fashion tips. To wit:
He refused to fix a split in the stitching on the driver’s side because he claims:
1) I get into the car “wrong” (whatever that means)
2) I wear the wrong kind of pants. Yes, you read that right. The guy told me that blue jeans tend to scuff the leather, and that I might not have this problem if I wore slacks. Apparently getting into the car with Levis is not considered “normal use” under the terms of the warrantee.
The stonewashing must make the fabric grainy and hard. Huh? Last time we checked, Levi’s didn’t come with a razor-blade accoutrement.
And what kind of slacks? Worsted wool? Will they need to be Super 120s, or can I wear winter-weight? How about khakis?
The poster then teases us with the promise of videotaped evidence.
The good news is that I have this creep on videotape saying all of this! I also taped him demonstrating the “proper” method of getting into the car (twice) and his butt hit within a fraction of an inch of the spot on the seat that my “abnormal” ingress motion hits. Even though I had him on tape, he denied that he came anywhere near it. When I demonstrated how I get into the car, the jerk told me, “that’s not how you get in.”
Precious. We demand YouTube satisfaction.
In the meantime, the solution is simple. Drive naked. — MARK ASHLEY
Avoid Acura Of Pleasanton’s (California) Service Department!! [Honda-Acura.net] (Thanks to readers Clinton, Jordan, and Michael!)
(Photo: Ian Muttoo)
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Wow, I am shocked to read this post. In general terms, I despise car dealers and service departments. My 2005 TL was purchased at Pleasanton Acura, and I’ve had no less than exceptional service from them. Only two weeks ago my car went in for a standard oil change, I complained about a barely audible rarely-existent rattle in the headliner. They took it apart and fixed it. Any other dealer would have claimed ignorance or just told me it didn’t exist. I could not possibly get better service from this dealership.
Acura is by far one of the only companies doing customer service right, It seems the original poster here is out of line.
And no, I do not work there or have any interest in the dealership whatsoever.
This sounds like a bad dealer to me. I looked through the warranty booklet which came with my ’06 TSX, and I did not see any exclusion for upholstery. This is not a cosmetic defect either.
It sounds like the seam on the seat was sewed improperly, and it failed prematurely. Of course we just have the original poster’s word to go on here. If this is the case, there’s a series of steps outlined in the warranty booklet for how to go about getting warranty coverage if you feel the dealer has improperly denied your request. The poster should be following these steps.
To answer many previous posters, most vehicles come with a limited bumper-to-bumper warranty and a longer powertrain warranty. As the name implies, the bumper-to-bumper warranty covers pretty much everything which isn’t defined to be a wear item (brakes, tires, headlights, etc.) or isn’t covered separately (battery, tires).
Acura needs to improve its dealer experience if it wishes to be taken as seriously as Lexus. These kinds of complaints should be a hot button for Acura, so he may be able to get some satisfaction by following the procedure in his warranty booklet.
To say that a split in the seat is normal wear and tear within a 2 year period is ludacris. Car seat leather (not a leather jacket or a leather purse) but car seat leather! should not be worn out – let alone splitting! – after only 2 years of driving. And if it is, it should be replaced.
I pulled that quote from the warranty book from a digital source. What I quoted is what Honda and Acura can go by.
We have a ’95 530i BMr, leather, No Tears.
So, 2yrs and worn is not normal wear and tear.
Good luck.
I love it when someone misspells the word ludicrous as “Ludacris”.
It is perfectly acceptable to expand your vocabulary by listening to ghetto rap.
I am always amused by people that are always willing to read and endorse the unsubstantiated claims of those that can’t think of the proper way to exercise influence. This guy makes claims and says he has pictures and video….yet he won’t post them to prove his claim. You print it and others believe it without validation……………..I think it’s pretty lame that you allow this when the way I hear it is this guy ripped the seat below the seam and in fact the seam stitching is still intact. Furthermore his rant has been nothing more than an attempt to slander some really good people that personally know that work at that dealership. This guy ripped his seat BELOW the seam let me repeat, below the seam and claims that it should be a warranty repair and further claims it was on the seam.
You know why there is no video?? You know why there isn’t even a still shot photo? It’s real simple…. it’s because if he shows it, then we will all know him for the fraud and the lies he is attempting to perpetrate.
Let’s acknowledge that there are some slimy dealerships out there. We all know that…but let’s also acknowledge that there are some really good ones too, and Acura of Pleasanton is one of them. I know from the GREAT service I have gotten time and time again. Let’s shut this guy down and call him out for the fraud and liar he really is.
SlickJTSX must be working for the dealership. He says that “This guy ripped his seat BELOW the seam let me repeat, below the seam”. Since there is no picture, how would he know that unless he worked at the dealership and saw the seat, or knows the original poster, which doesn’t seem likely. Also, I don’t think that it matters whether the seat is ripped ON the seam, or BELOW the seam.
I think the point is that the seat shouldn’t rip ANYWHERE after only 20,000 miles. The dealership should still fix it.