Fishy Vehicle

I think it is worthwhile for each individual to read the communications below and decide for themselves. Take note I have not received a single written response from Hyundai Centurion or Hyundai South Africa on this matter:

From: ***X Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 10:01 To: ***X Cc: ***X Subject: RE: Creta

Dear Hyundai SA and Hyundai Centurion Dealership,

This is now absurd. A whole month has passed with no written communication at all as requested below. Instead, today after my wife following up various times I finally get a call from Danie – Hyundai Centurion that basically tries to peg me against a wall and lay out my options as a) buy a new vehicle from us and pay in the difference b) wait until we can replace your vehicle with something equivalent but this could take months as we have not been able to find anything similar or c) take it up with lawyers if you do not like these options.

This is truly absurd service and extremely *********. Option a – why should I have to pay in for a new vehicle for Hyundai’s mistakes? If I wanted a new vehicle I would have bought that from the start. I bought a demo specifically in order not to pay a premium for new and expected to get something of value from the dealership. This is tantamount to bullying me into buying a new vehicle for your error. If anything, Hyundai should be providing me a new vehicle at absolutely no extra cost in recognition of everything it has put us through and as compensation for making us drive the current vehicle for months on end. Option b – are you kidding me, we have been extremely patient and now again you want us to wait possibly forever until you can find a vehicle to replace it with at your convenience? I remind you that this matter has been going on since December 2017.

As I mentioned to Danie on the phone. I want confirmation of this in writing and now insist on a formal written reply from the dealership and Hyundai South Africa on exactly what their stance is on this matter as I will now be taking this further.

From: ***X Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2018 11:17 To: ***X Cc: ***X Subject: RE: Creta

Hi,

I am writing again with regards to the issue around the 2017 Hyundai Creta demo model which was sold to us with a horrible fishy stench. We have patiently been waiting for a resolution to this matter and now are seeking a clear way forward. We believe the following points are important in this matter: • We purchased this vehicle, rather than purchasing a used car from a private seller, specifically because we felt more comfortable and felt re-assurance knowing that it is a car that has been owned by the dealership and therefore its quality and history could be trusted. • Although the salesman was extremely helpful and even helped us with the sale of a used car over the holiday period despite him being a new car salesman (not demo cars), we do feel that someone at the dealership is being dishonest. We are not pointing fingers at the Danie, the person who sold us the vehicle, but somebody is clearly not being truthful. The following points are relevant on this matter: o On retrospect, we find it very odd that the day we wanted to view the vehicle it was not available. We are fairly certain this was due to the fact that they were not expecting clients that day and had to take the car to get properly cleaned so that we would not notice the smell during the test drive. o The same goes the day we took delivery where the car was clearly over-perfumed so that we would not notice the stench. This again leads us to believe that they were perfectly aware of the issue • The car has been taken back to the dealership multiple times. Everyone at the dealership denies that it smells at all but they have “humoured” us in taking it to the valet, etc. None of this has taken the stench away. • A representative from Hyundai South Africa had to come out to smell the car to confirm that there is indeed an issue and instruct the dealership to replace the carpets. This is contradictory to everyone else at the dealership which denies the smell, again pointing to the possibility that they may be trying to hide something and protecting one of their employees who must of done something as there is a clear difference between what the dealership employees state and what Hyundai South Africa has seen and smelled. • It took over a month for the carpets to be replaced by the dealership. Again making us wait for what we believe is purposefully taking so long with the hope that we may give up. • The carpets have now been changed and although we doubted from the start that this would make a difference (as the smell does not seem to emanate from any specific location in the car) we still gave it a chance. We took the car back, have waited a week and the smell is still not gone. How much longer should we go through this charade until the matter is definitively sorted? • My wife has had to drive this car in this condition for over 2 months. She is now practically immune to the smell. Everyone that gets into the car looks at us funny and comments on the stench. I myself cannot get in that car as it causes me tremendous headaches and nausea. This now needs to stop. With the last visit to the dealership to get the carpeting changed, they stated that this is the last thing they could do on their side and sais that anything further would need to be through Hyundai South Africa. The dealership basically absolved itself of any blame and the only answer we have received from them is: “well we have done what we can, you now need to take it up with Hyundai South Africa”. This is not okay and this does not really make sense to me. They sold us the vehicle, they clearly were hiding the fact that something was faulty with it, why now should I deal with Hyundai South Africa that has nothing to do with it? In any case, here I am pleading on whether Hyundai South Africa can intervene and if not advising me on which options we have available to us, if there is a dedicated Ombudsman for this matter, if there is some specific avenue we need to follow in terms of the consumer protection act or what path you suggest we follow. We feel that all options have now been explored and we have been extremely patient and that now the vehicle should really be replaced with something of equal or greater value. Our patience really is beginning to wear thin and as we know we will get no compensation for having to drive a stinky embarrassing substandard vehicle for over 2 months, we do feel that we now need the vehicle to be replaced promptly.

Sincerely,

From: ***X Sent: Monday, January 8, 2018 16:00 To: ***X Cc: ***X Subject: RE: Creta

Thanks Danie - And we appreciate your support in helping us get this resolved. As mentioned the car has a deep stench of fish. As you have noted the car has been to the valet twice and the stench still does not come out. There are days when you can barely smell it and then days when it is unbearable, you open the door and people 10 meters away can smell it immediately. I am 100% sure that the car was used for some sort of fish transporting or something and some must have spilled and gotten impregnated in the vehicle somewhere (although we have found it impossible to idendityfthe specific area as the entire vehicle stinks when the smell is bad). In any case, we await Hyundai’s response on how to deal with this as clearly this car is not to our satisfaction and we did not intend to purchase this headache. Also as you know my wife sold her car in order to be buy this car and now we are in a situation where we cannot be without this car. We hope this matter can be resolved promptly.

Thanks

From: ***X Sent: Monday, January 8, 2018 15:53 To: ***X Cc: ***X Subject: Creta

Dear Daniel

My sincere apologies with what you currently experience with your newly purchased vehicle. Herewith please find the email adress for Hyundai Customer Care. Kindly cc us in the mail. The adress is ***X(at)hyundai.co.za

Kind Regards

Hyundai Centurion