Hyundai South Africa Customer Care

I have had an awful tiresome frustrating experience with Hyundai and the various dealerships over the last 2 months regarding a vehicle I bought from Hyundai Vereeniging and have subsequently taken the vehicle to Hyundai Bedfordview as well as Hyundai Meadowdale branches and have had no resolve to the problems I have with the vehicle.

Below is my last & only written communication (April 25th 2022) with Hyundai Customer Care center (Zinhle) regarding my issues with my vehicle:

Dear Zinhle Hoping this email finds you well

Thank you for our conversation on Friday April 22nd 2022 regarding the situation with my Hyundai Tucson which was bought from Hyundai Vereeniging on February 24th 2022 As suggested / requested by you herewith the trail of events leading up to my calling you with regard to my total dissatisfaction with the Hyundai dealerships that I have been dealing with, namely:

Hyundai Vereeniging

Hyundai Meadowdale

Hyundai Bedfordview

I bought a Hyundai Tucson 2,0 Premium A/T from the Hyundai Vereeniging branch on February 24th 2022

Registration number FS 14 CT GP

VIN # KMHJ2813MHU363082

Engine # G4NAGU299924

(Herein after called "The Vehicle")

Having taken "The vehicle" home for the weekend before registration and a respraying of the front and rear bumpers (as to the dealers agreement prior to sale) as well as a roadworthy (Dekra) I noticed a knocking in the rear of "The Vehicle" as well as a slipping of the gears which I later was told was referred to as “Lag” ?

When I took "The Vehicle" back to Raeesa on the Monday (the salesman who I bought "The Vehicle" from) he said he would look into the situation while he had "The Vehicle" with him at the Vereeniging branch

I was given a Hyundai "Venue" to run around with while "The Vehicle" was being sorted out with the spraying / roadworthy / looking into the rear noise / gearbox situation of which I was greatly appreciative ...

I was told by the service manager that the noise at the back of "The Vehicle" was due to a shock absorber leaking and the warranty would cover the problem and they replaced 1 (one) shock absorber to which I was greatly surprised as to why they did not replace them both ?

The gearbox was rebooted with a computer "update" and I was told "The Vehicle" now had to learn my way of driving. However, needless to say the noise persisted and the gearbox still was not learning how I drive ....

I need to add a very important point right here ... Raeesa (the salesman who sold me the car) told me that "The Vehicle" was originally purchased at the Vereeniging Branch by a lady who subsequently traded it in for a newer model in other words only 1 owner, which of course I was very happy to believe. However I misplaced my Vehicle service book (obviously for a reason that I would later find out ...) and when I replaced the book (purchased at the Hyundai Bedfordview branch) I asked the service manager to kindly update the book with the mileage and service history which was of course on record only to find out that "The Vehicle" was originally purchased by "EUROPCAR" (A Rental Agency) and was in fact NOT bought by a lady at the Vereeniging branch. Had I known this I would never have even considered buying a car that was a rental car and had been driven by who knows how many drivers over what terrain and what circumstances. It would be ludicrous for me to even think of buying a vehicle with that kind of driving history

I have not confronted Raeesa as to his dishonesty with me and will not have anything to do with the Vereeniging branch as this has left a bad taste in my mouth

I had to go to Cape Town as my son had moved down there and decided to take "The Vehicle" on a long drive at the same time. The Fuel consumption was averaging about 8L/100 for most of the way down on the highway but when I got to Cape Town and the gearing was still not learning I noticed my consumption was going up to 11.5L/100 as the RPM’s were all over the place ... Which is unacceptable and the rear noise was continuing

Upon returning to Johannesburg I took "The Vehicle" to Hyundai in Meadowdale as I had previously owned a Hyundai Ix35 and Bronwyn (Service manager) and I had had a good relationship in the past. I told him about the noise and the gear situation and I went for a drive with his lead mechanic who explained that "The Vehicle" had a "Happy Gear" and the 'Lag' was in fact the transition between the gears (I was furious at the insult to my intelligence) he also turned the 2 spacers on the boot lid and said that was the problem ... NO the noise persisted and the "Happy Gear" was at this stage making me very unhappy.

I took "The Vehicle" back to Hyundai Meadowdale and left it there for them to fix the gears and the noise (I drove Bronwyn’s Tucson on a quick drive (a manual) which did not make the same rear noise as mine did) When I picked up "The Vehicle" it had a new 'squeak' at the back which I was told was due to them tensioning the bolts and would soon go away (they are still squeaking) The gearbox was once again re-booted and was now going to learn my way of driving again …

The noise persists and the gears are still learning ... ?

As a last call of hope I took "The Vehicle" to Hyundai Bedfordview to get a third opinion on the noise at the back as well as the gears. I went for a drive with the lead mechanic who placed "The Vehicle" on the lift and looked around underneath saying he could not find anything (but he did admit to hearing a noise on the drive as well as feel the gear problem) and of course he rebooted the gear system once again and put double sided tape on my rear number plate !!

The gears are still learning ... and the noise is still there

At this stage I have no clue who to believe or what to believe

I STILL HAVE THE NOISE AT THE BACK AND THE GEAR SITUATION IS GETTING WORSE

This is my third Hyundai I have owned ... 1) Hyundai Tucson 2012 2) Hyundai Ix35 2014 and 3) “The Vehicle”

I have enjoyed many kilometers of driving the "Hyundai" brand and hence my current purchase ...

I am at my wits end with the situation and I need to get this sorted out before I unfortunately will have to take the matter further as I am still within the 6 month period of the Consumer Protection Act which states that:

It aims to protect consumers against poor-quality products and unfair business practices or contract terms with regards to transactions, repairs, refunds and delivery. A consumer is defined as “an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession

Please advise as to the next step going forward as I truly enjoy “The Vehicle” but the situation is actually making me not want to drive her at all as well as very despondent regarding the Hyundai after sales service

Why would I spend so much hard earned money to have disappointment after disappointment lie after lie and no way of getting any satisfaction whatsoever …

Please help me get this sorted out once and for all ….

I look forward to hearing from you

Kind Regards Gavin B Lurie *** *** ***