Paul Miller Honda of West Caldwell - Service — Local services in West Caldwell

I went to this location to get my car serviced. Lady that picked up the phone was so nice and helpful. I did my appointment to get my car inspected like a pre purchase inpection because i had just purchased my car. I wanted to make sure everything was okay with the car so i chose the $179.00 inspection not the free. I go to this place and the two advisors in the front sees me there that i been standing for 20 mins and they look and dont tell me anything so i asked one of them if im supposed to be standing waiting there or if someone can help me. So the advisor Gustavo Padilla said he can take me and help me. He told me they will do a free multi point inspection one, because in order to do the $179 inspection i would need to have like a major problem or lights on my dashboard to diagnose. I said i purchased the car and need the $179 inspection they have just to make sure i purchased a good car with no issues. So he said no and since i drove 30 mins i went with the free multi point inspection. i got break fluid and oil change which was needed. And he tells me coolant was empty as well that it might be a leak in the engine unless i just never put coolant on the car. He said to check for any leaks on the engine they would need to take out engine and JUST to take out engine AND to look at it would be $1,999 i thought this was ridiculous. I then decided to call Honda in Paramus NJ and they did tell me they CAN do a diagnostic inspection on my vehicle for $195 and the car DOES NOT have to have any issues to get a full diagnostic inspection like Gustavo Padilla had told me. They also told me they can check the engine as well for any leaks , that would be included in their diagnostic inspection, and Gustavo from this location told me it would be $1,999 because they would have to remove the engine; when in Paramus engine check and leaks is included in this price. I also seen on Honda website that with the free multi point inspection the technician checks for all lights , breaks, holes, oil, battery, tires, in and out etc and when this inspection was done, it was weird to me that this technician didnt noticed one of my fog lights wasnt working and needed to be replaced. I had to tell Gustavo this myself so he can go back and tell the technician, then he comes back and tells me he told the technician about the light bulb but it was out of stock. And now because of this i dont know if my vehicle was even checked correctly because i had to tell Gustavo what was wrong with my vehicle. And this multi point inspection to check my vehicle only took 20 mins. But again i was told by paramus honda my vehicle didnt have to have any issues to do the $195 diagnostic inspection. I had to make an appointment with them for tomorrow since you guys were not able to do it. Waste of time! I could’ve just went to Paramus. I went to this location because i had an appointment around the area. But NEVER again. Over charge and dont inspect your your car. They...

I was able to book an appointment online (late Sunday night) with ease. I called first thing Monday morning to confirm the tire I needed to have replaced was in stock and to see if a loaner was available. Since no loaner was available, I agreed to do the shuttle. I arrived at 10:20 for my 10:30 appointment for a tire replacement. And it goes way downhill from there

At check-in, I was informed that my tire contract takes extra long and the car could take about two hours to be ready. Ok, not so bad. After getting checked in, I was told that the shuttle driver wasn't due to arrive until 11:00 a.m. so it would be a 25 minute wait. I believe that I should have been made aware of this when I called in the morning or else I would have made other arrangements. The driver didn't arrive until 11:20 and he shared that he isn't scheduled to arrive until 11:30; he happened to come in early. He was very nice and got me back to work.

At 1:30 p.m.---THREE HOURS LATER, I had NOT heard back from the service advisor--no call, text, or email. I called and he informed me that they were still waiting for the tire adjuster to get back to them with approval and then they could start work on the car. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I then contacted the tire adjuster, found out that several pictures they were waiting on hadn't gone through, called Honda back to let them know, who then sent a follow up email. I called the adjuster again to make sure the pictures were received and an approval was issued in minutes. This turn around took me 15 minutes between both parties and I was then told my car was going to be ready @ 3:00 p.m. (nearly 5 hours after drop off)

That would have been great, but now since it was so late in the day, I wouldn't get to Honda and back in time to pick up my child from after care. I was able to schedule the shuttle to pick me up at 4:30 p.m. He called a few minutes early to say he was outside. When I went out at 4:30, he wasn't there so I rang him back. I had told the him earlier in the day that I would see him later back at my job for pick up but the service advisor sent him to my house instead. Thankfully, I don't live too far from work and he was able to get to me in about ten minutes.

I returned to Paul Miller at 5:00 p.m. to pick up my vehicle and thankfully, it, the paperwork, and my keys were ready to go.

Positive Highlights: Shuttle driver was wonderful; ease of making the appointment; service adjuster shared what he tried to do

The rest.....still shaking my head

I usually have a much better experience there but this was unacceptable from start to finish. I will return for service but I truly hope my car doesn't need any attention...

Everybody knows that the profit margins on car sales are nearly zero these days, so to close that gap, car companies have to get creative. They do this primarily through service. This is why they've upgraded the waiting areas, with couches, free coffee and bagels. All to make you feel better about getting overcharged for your service (generally speaking). Not to mention the biggest money maker off all, the service codes. How do you really know that the people who designed those, did so in your best interest? In my experience, obfuscation in the consumer space, usually turns out to be a bad thing.

So that's the new world order, Paul Miller is playing right along like the rest of them, rightly so. All that being said, what get's me so aggravated, and it is especially pervasive at Paul Miller, is the entire process around agreeing what should be done, agreeing to an estimated prices for what should be done, then paying afterward. Every single time I go there, my final bill is 20-25% higher than the estimate. That's annoying.

These are generally the same services, done to the same cars, hundreds of thousands of times. Why is there so much subjectivity? You have parts, labor, shop materials, taxes, disposal fees. Why can't you give me an accurate estimate up front? In one example, I negotiated a 20% discount for a major service given how long I'd been going to the location, then when I check out, there was a $200 waste disposal fee added on. Where did that come from? You didn't know about that 3 hours ago? Again, on service you've done thousands of times.

It's a business, you are entitled to make money, I am for one a capitalist. Can you just take a few steps to make things more objective and consistent: -do a better job and listing prices for standard services -have your people be more informed about the history of the vehicle and what the service codes mean -agree on a price with your customers up front, that includes labor, tax, disposal fees, and don't change it -don't add in other fees that weren't there in the beginning -don't walk me over to the cashier, let me sit down and actually read the bill -don't ask me for a 10 rating when checking out, that's annoying, especially on top of paying more than I'm expecting (for standard services)

Give me a call, let's talk about it. What...