Duncan's Hokie Honda

"VT Trip"

I recently had the unfortunate need to visit Duncan's Hokie Honda in Christiansburg, VA while en route to a college visit with my son at Virginia Tech (April 20).  After an extremely long few days on the road visiting colleges,  we left Charlottesville for Blacksburg on Friday night at 7 pm and heard a 'clunking' noise near the wheel well on the driver's side of our Honda Odyssey.  Knowing it was unlikely we would find anyone to look at it at that time, we decided to drive on to Salem as we had planned that evening.  Upon safely arriving at our hotel in Salem, we searched the web for a local Honda dealer and found that Duncan's was right on our way to VA Tech.  We arrived right at opening on Saturday morning at 8:30 to find at least 5 people already in the waiting room!  The service advisor, Sherry, was very sympathetic, but clearly had a full garage to contend with.  Thankfully, she agreed to at least have a technician listen to the noise to determine whether or not we should continue to drive the Odyssey.  Within a few seconds of driving the van a few hundred feet in the parking lot, the technician (so sorry I cannot remember his name) appeared to immediately recognize the problem was a spring and asked to put the van on the lift.  After about 5 minutes, he confirmed that we had in fact cracked the left front coil spring and that he would attempt to order a new part.  He was pretty adamant that we not drive the Odyssey in its current condition.  About 15 minutes later, he admitted that there was no way to get the part before Tuesday (we were due back in Washington DC later that evening and then upstate NY by Sunday afternoon!).  After further consideration, he and Sherry agreed that they could take the spring off of a used Odyssey on the lot and put it on ours to get us back on the road.  We all agreed this was the best option and even better, he thought he could have it done within a few hours.  Now for the best part - we still needed to get to VA Tech although now a bit late for our 9 am admissions appointment.  Jack,  the shuttle driver, was at our service in a minute.  He agreed to drive us to Tech, came into the admissions office to confirm we were in the correct location, confirmed when we would be finished and where he would need to pick us up.  He arrived within minutes after 1:00 as we had previously arranged despite slow moving traffic coming in for the 'spring game'.  He proceeded to give us a brief tour of the back side of campus near the stadium along with educational commentary for my son and all of this for FREE!  I pleaded for him to take payment as we would have gladly paid for a cab, but he refused.  As we returned to the dealership to pick up the van, it was being driven through the car wash - this being an $8.00 charge in upstate NY!  Needless to say, when I graciously handed my credit card to the check out woman, for charges that were less than I had been quoted, I could not stop thanking all of the people that were so wonderful to us at this dealership.  Sherry and the technician were awesome to squeeze us in amidst a very full schedule and resourceful in finding a resolution to our problem and Jack is worth every penny he gets paid and then some!  He was wonderful!   

We have owned only Honda's since 1981 (our first car) and as of last Friday when we purchased the 2013 Accord, we now have 3 sitting in our driveway.  We appreciate the service we have received over the years from our Honda dealership in Ithaca, and have visited a few others when in need on the road.  But Duncan's just gave us a taste of what incredible customer service feels like.  Thanks for being there for us and for so many others you have probably helped over the years!   

With sincere gratitude and thanks - 

Customer Name withheld for privacy,Duncan's Hokie Honda Service