Complaint & ********** Claims at Hyundai Weltevreden Park

Item: Hyundai South Africa
Rating: 1
Author: Suzanne B

herewith please find below the sequence of events which occurred in relation to my vehicles 90 000km service at Welteverden Park dealership. Thursday 22nd September 7am: My Hyundai i20 1.6 (Reg: BV29KVGP) was booked in for its 90 000kn service at the Welteverden park dealership with Fayaaz Yusuf. The following issued were raised with him pertaining to the vehicle, having said that these same two issues were raised with them at the previous service as well: 1. Noisy coming from Air-conditioning when switched on, however when it is switched off the noise goes away 2. Left front and right back lights keep blowing – they must check the electrical connections The feedback I received from the previous service was that air filters of air-conditioner was cleaned out. No faults found. No faults found with the electrical to the lighting, they however replaced the bulbs which I paid for. After a few months of having the service the car started making the same noise and in the space of a year since my last service we have replaced over 6 bulbs. Having said that it cost be over R600 at the previous service for the replacement of light bulbs. This is ridiculous. At the check-in on Thursday I informed Fayaaz of this and he said they will definitely look into that. I asked that they please contact me immediately once inspection has been done. I received a call at around 15:45 on Thursday afternoon 22nd, where he informed me that there is nothing wrong with the air-con, however they have found a problem with the thrust bearing, clutch plate and pressure plate, which is causing this noise. I then asked if there is a connection between the thrust bearing and the air-con and he said no. When I asked about the air-con he mentioned that there is nothing wrong with the air-con. I then asked him what the process is going forward and if my service plan would cover for the items he has mentioned, which he advised it does not. He then mentioned that I do have an extended warranty with SA Warranties whom they will lodge a claim with once the full assessment is done. I then asked him how long this will take and he said to me that they must remove the gearbox to be able to assess all the items properly and this would take about a day or two. The report and claim was then submitted on late Friday afternoon, where I was informed that the quote submitted to SA Warranties was for R7000 of which I would have to pay in R3000 as they only cover up to a maximum of R4000. This is when I decided to contact my husband and my father so that Fayaaz can explain all this to them seeing that I do not know much about cars. My Husband then asked the same questions with regards to the air-con d he received the same answer from Fayaaz. I called Fayaaz on Friday 16:00 to find advise that the claim has been approved as I received an sms with the claim number (SAW-341310-CLM), I asked him again if the gearbox was out and how long the repair will take, he then advised it would take around 2 to 3 days and no mention of the gearbox. I had no courtesy vehicle since Thursday to date. On Monday 26th I went to meet with my father-in law who is a qualified mechanic himself to explain to him what the situation is with the car and what he thinks it could be. He then explained that you would be able to hear when a thrust bearing has gone and said that the noise coming from the sir-con has nothing to do with the rest of the mechanics. He then suggested we go there this morning 7am so that he can have a look and verify if it is the case before we give the go-ahead and pay the difference. Tuesday 27th September – 7am Upon arrival at 7am, we requested to meet with Fayaaz, we advised him that we would like to see the vehicle for re-assurance and verify the items which they claim need to be replaced. We stood and waited 35min for him to call Louis the shop foreman or person who actually worked on the vehicle. To our surprise, the car was not stripped out, no gearbox had been removed and when questioning them as to why, they said it was not necessary as you could hear the thrust bearing making a noise and in such cases they automatically do clutch plates and pressure plate when replacing a thrust bearing. My father-in law asked him the gearbox was removed to determine a damaged thrust bearing and they said no, he then asked them how did they know that the clutch plate needs replacing if this did not happen, the response was that this is just what they do. We then told them that you cannot just assume or replace clutch plates and pressure plates based on a thrust bearing, you physically have to inspect it. My father-in law then asked them to start the car so that he can listen to the motor and hear if the bearing has in fact been damaged. There was no noise and no evidence of a damaged thrust bearing, event though the mechanic tried to convinced us of there being a noise. No noise what so ever. Whilst the car was running, we then asked Fayaaz to turn the air-con on, and once this happened the loud clanking noise started. We then questioned them again and asked why did they say nothing is wrong with the air-con when we made it evident there and then of the noise. They claimed the car did not make that noise when they worked on it. We switched the air-con off again, the noise went away, we switched it back on the noise came back. They were both confronted and asked why they putting through claims for something which is not faulty on the car? No response. The mechanic was extremely arrogant and abrupt when all these issues were pointed out and he then in an extremely rude and arrogant manner said that they will take the car to the air-con guys now and have it fixed. He then further went and stated that we must not come back after a few days complaining about the clutch and thrust bearings if it does break. This comment made me extremely nervous, I am now afraid that they would purposely go and burn out my clutch to prove a point, seeing that we have identified them as being dishonest and processing ********** claims. My vehicle is still currently in their procession so that we can get a report on the air-con and I am afraid to say that we do not know what they are doing with my vehicle at the moment. Nothing was wrong with the clutch, clutch plates, no noise from thrust bearings and I want to make it noted that if this has now been tampered with today, we will formally take this matter to court. I would like a proper investigation done here and I want to know why ********** claims are being submitted for parts which are not confirmed as being damaged or in need of replacing? I have lodged a formal complaint to SA Warranties as well, cancelling the claim, informing them that is a ********** claim and requesting them to provide me with the report and photos they received from Hyundai, as it was made clear to me that they have to submit photos along with the failure report. How can there be photos if no gear box was removed? Furthermore, it has been 6 days that I have been without any form of transport, no consideration for me as a customer, no offering of a courtesy vehicle due to the lack in their expertise and it is extremely disappointing knowing that we have accredited dealerships who are taking advantage of woman drivers or inexperienced people with minimal knowledge of vehicle mechanics, *****ing money and committing ***** by claiming for things which are of no relevance. Furthermore, the actual branch manager did not even make an effort to address the situation this morning and did not even attempt to come out and resolve the situation. No attempt was made to even contact him whilst we were proving to them that they committing *****. Please could I have an urgent reply to this complaint because I will be logging this on hello peter as well. Hyundai are doing ********** claims, steeling people’s money and being extremely dishonest when servicing peoples cars. Please find attached the report I received, which is utter ******* and irrelevant. I am of the opinion that they knew the air-con was faulty, they wanted to recover money from me somehow to recover the expense it would cost them to have the air-con fixed.

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