Another Reason to Hate Honda

I Hate Honda. And I will try to convince everybody I know not to buy a Honda vehicle.

My dad bought a Honda Civic in 2001. Within a year, it was recalled, not just once, but twice. Once for its defective radio, which we returned again for the same defect the following year, and is almost useless now, since the CD reader is busted, there is no LED to speak of, and the volume is also stupidly stubborn coz it decreases in volume if you try to increase it and vice versa.

(Did I mention that I don't like the shocks as well? Made me feel as if I was in a LiteAce or something. Bouncy. It was the first thing I noticed.)

The second time is because they used the wrong fuel band and so they recalled my car, along with 12,000 ++ units, because anytime that you're driving your car, your fuel tank can just crash out of your trunk. Beat that.

Soon after its warranty period, the automatic doors won't work anymore. Mine is the double-click system. First click on the remote is the driver's door. The next click is the rest of the doors. Then to close, it just takes one click. The right passenger side was the first to give. If we were talking about a brain, it was like the left hemisphere of the brain was going bonkers, affecting the right side of the body. So you had to manually close and open the stupid doors. You'd think that along with the driver's door, the left back door would lock as well, coz you think it was the right side of the car that was stupidly busted, and then the lights would flash to indicate that all doors are locked.

Lo and behold. After a few hours or minutes-- there really is no definite time-- the horns would be blaring and the alarms will be tripped. Why? because apparently, what you thought to be locked, wasn't really locked, but just pretended to be locked. Stupid huh? It was then i found out that the back door wouldn't really go down. It would just click, but for some stupid reason, it won't go all the way down. So no more locks.

Then the stupid automatic window went. It won't go down, and if it does go down, it won't go up.

Then the stupid clutch will get stuck in the box, so while you're driving, it'll get stuck there, so you put it in neutral, then push it to where it's supposed to go...but it doesn't again. so you try until you finally get it in.

Then recently, my dad had the car fixed. They billed us about 50k. My dad, who used to work for Toyota, really worked up a temper and called them. They then billed us 17k.

I thought it was just my car. But when I went to a wedding last January, I saw an old friend driving the same model as mine. In fact, our cars were from the same batch since we have almost the same plate number, WTL.___. I asked her if she has experienced the same problems. Confirmed, it's not just my car. One of her Hondas also have a hole in the fuel tank.

Then again, just this January I think, I had the timing belt replaced, again in Honda Alabang. They said they have to clean the engine. It will cost 80k and my car will be gone for 2 months. Or....the attendant so smartly suggested: "Ma'am kung gusto nyo, ibenta nyo nalang po yan, para hindi kayo maabutan ng sira, iba nalang yung gagastos. Kumita na kayo, tapos bili nalang kayo ng bago dito." (Translated: Ma'am, if you want, you can just sell your car and just let the second owner to pay for the repairs (ano ba ang ingles ng maabutan?). You get to earn from that, then just buy a new car here.) Is he crazy???? Who the hell does he think he's talking to? Is that really how they practice business? Then I responded, after laughing bitterly, "We will never buy a Honda again."

Yesterday, I brought the car to the shop near my house, where I have been bringin my car for some years now. There's something wrong with it because it's been very noisy. The mechanic tells me it's the bearing of the compressor of the aircon. They don't do aircons.

Ok. So I go to Rapide along Kalayaan. They take a look at my car. Yup. It's the bearing. It's the compressor.

Rapide guy: Kelan po ninyo nakuha ito?
Me: 2001.
Rapide: Grabe naman. Sira agad ang compressor.
Me: Bakit, ilang taon ba ang lifetime usually?
Rapide: Mga 10 years po.
Me: It's a Honda, what do you expect. So magkano?
Rapide: P21500.

GRRRRRRR....I almost wanted to kick the damn car.

I know a lot of you like Honda. It's the yuppie car. You might think that it's just my car, and that it happens to other brands as well. But the thing is, my family took a chance with the Honda Civic even if we were pretty happy with Toyota. Trying it out and seeing what the whole fuss was all about. So we will never really buy a Honda again. After talking with their people, from the showroom, to the tech to the corporate, the company has left a bad taste in my mouth. (Believe me, if i was just allowed to write about my case against Honda here --airbags not popping-- you'll understand why i'm even more pissed).

So if you still want to buy Honda. Go ahead. But be sure to check the warranty card. And don't believe the provision which states: "Honda reserves the right to be the final arbiter of all matters involving warranty claims." Don't let it stop you from suing them if you think you have the right.

Job Opening

Hello, my former boss called me last night and have requested me to send out this post.

The Office of Justice Isaias Dicdican of the 12th Division of the Court Appeals is looking for three Court Attorneys. He was formerly a Justice in the Visayas Region based in Cebu, but will be transferring to Manila by March 19, 2008.

Please submit your resumes to me through this post, or for those who know my email, you can do it there also. I will forward to him your applications (since we only had a quick conversation and wasn't able to iron out that detail). You might also want to submit your applications through the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Court of Appeals in Manila.

Yun lang po.

Celebrating the Leap Year

For justice, human rights, national patrimony and dignity:

ARROYO REGIME, OUT NOW!

Today, the call for patriotic duty is upon us, all freedom-loving and justice-

seeking citizens, peoples as well as women and men of the Philippines!

Today, we are called upon to exercise our sovereign will in this historical moment, and to reclaim our self-respect and dignity as a nation.

We are called upon once more to mobilize our collective courage and unity—our Power as a People, to bring an end to an illegitimate, corrupt , ruthless and rapacious Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) government.

In recent days, we staged various forms of protests nationwide to demand the resignation, ouster or stepping down of the GMA government, not only for its lack of legitimacy, unbridled greed, grave human rights abuses and widespread repression.We also resisted a recalcitrant and shameless regime for its gross violations of the constitution, the sell-out of national sovereignty and patrimony, the betrayal of national and people’s interests and the betrayal of public trust.

It took the damning testimony of one courageous whisteblower of the cancelled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal to shock and enrage an entire nation about the extent to which this government could go in its monumental greed, ruthlessness and cling on power.

Noel Lozada Jr. has shown to us what courage and patriotic duty are all about. Just as our other brave men and women, our heroes and martyrs –now and in the past, have shown that a just cause against an unjust regime is worth the resistance and sacrifices. And that this country and its people are worth dying for.

Today, we are gathered and mobilized around our rallying call: ARROYO REGIME OUT NOW! We say enough of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) regime which is a government of lies and of leaders enriching themselves at the expense of the people’s natural resources and patrimony and the labor of our toiling people. We say enough of cover-ups and impunity for this regime’s evil deeds.

Today, we call for an end to this government that came into power through cheating and remained in power by silencing its critics---474 political killings in the last three years alone, and more than 180 people have been made to disappear. No more of a government that sells off the country’s minerals, forests and lands in exchange for largesse and bribes from large businesses and corporations --at the costs of the welfare and survival of local communities, our environment and posterity . We say no more to a government that lords over the people and wields its power ruthlessly like a mafia.

Today, let us show to the world once more that the Filipino people will not have anything to do with GMA and what she represents—elite rule, patronage politics and greed. At the same time, we serve notice that we will no longer allow our future to be hijacked and placed in the hands of different factions of the same elite and their brand of patronage rule that is governed more by narrow-self-serving interests and agenda at the expense of the people’s interests and welfare.

We invoke the spirit of People’s Power and draw lessons from our collective resistance and history: that only a united and determined people can make history; and that in our own hands lie our own liberation and deliverance as a nation.

Together, let us chart our own destiny towards national freedom, social justice, democracy , development , durable peace and security.

Today, let us once again, make our history as a people. Today, let us once again make our nation proud .

February 29, 2008

PHILIPPINES

From the Women and Men of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK/FoE-Phil.)