Worst customer service ever experienced

To Whom It May Concern

I trust you're well.

Apologies for the long read ahead but this complaint requires a lot of background.

In September 2019, my husband was in an MVA and our car was written off. We needed a vehicle as my husband's job (at the time) required him to have his own vehicle.

As a long time Hyundai customer, he decided that we purchase from Hyundai again, this time a second-hand vehicle, an i20, from your Bellville Branch in Voortrekker Road, Cape Town.

We checked what was available online, and contacted his long-time friend who is also an employee at your branch. It needs to be added here, that this employee is excellent at his job at this branch; outstanding customer service as can probably be substantiated by his other clients too.

So, off we go to Hyundai Belville, the Sales Consultant takes us to the vehicle, and along comes the Sales Manager, Kyle Bowman. I thought it was extremely rude of him to just interject the sales discussion we were having with the consultant, but let it slide. He excitedly told us about the vehicle and how he just spent so much money on having the vehicle refurbished and bragging that clutch had just been replaced, "it's like brand new". We were sold, I mean, the Sales Manager had just told us that this vehicle has just been redone, it's like brand new, right?

We hadn't had the vehicle a week before we noticed problems with the car, small things first, the fuse cover falling off mid driving, the rattling window, missing tools from the boot. We flagged this, and the sales consultant had it sorted out.

Then, in early December, around the week of the 4th; what we assumed was the clutch, failed in Melkbosstrand. We called the dealership, found out that it was actually a gearbox problem and that there was no gearbox oil in the vehicle all after the workshop manager had sent it off for investigation. The dealership gave us a vehicle to use in the meantime. Great service! Nah.

We repeatedly had to follow up on the status of our vehicle, told various versions of the truth about what was wrong with the vehicle. Blamed for not checking the gearbox oil on a MANUAL vehicle. We were told we would need to use our warranty to have the gearbox fixed and we refused. As clearly, if the vehicle was in the pristine condition that Kyle had assured us it was in, we wouldn't have had this issue in the first place!

So we do an article swop, get the same make and model, with less mileage, amazing! We were even promised a 90000km service (as is proved in below email communications) with it as it was standing on approximately 88000km.

Then last week Friday, 29 May 2020, I call the service department to get a quote for brakes. I find it weird that we received this vehicle in January and then in May we need to replace the brakes but hey, let's do it anyway, I'm sure they would make sure everything was in order when they handed the vehicle over to us, right? No. I talk to the lady at the service reception, and according to their system, we would first need to do a full 90000km service and then replace the brakes. She told me that there was NO 90000km on this vehicle at all.

On Monday, 01 June 2020, I send Andre Kuhn, the Branch Principal, and inform him of this. He doesn't respond, and instead, Kyle responds and tells me to WhatsApp him a photo of the service booklet as "the vehicle might have been serviced elsewhere" and not by them. How could it not have been, when he PROMISED us that it would be? My husband then calls Andre, and he shrugs it off back on to Kyle.

On Tuesday, 02 June 2020, my husband and I drive down to the dealership, because clearly we weren't going to get any answers via email OR telephone. We locate Andre on the sales floor and he dismisses my husband and calls Kyle over instead. Let me tell you how humiliating that is, first of all. As the Dealer Principal, he didn't even invite us into his office. Instead, he accused us of coming down there to cause a scene!

Kyle demands to see our service booklet which clearly showed that the 90000km service had not been done, and he feigns confusion, he might need to contact the previous owner as he's sure that the 90000km was done prior to him receiving the vehicle!

I told him he's lying, that the service was not done and that he had emphatically assured us that the service will be done before we drive off with the vehicle! Kyle tells us he never said he'd do the 90000km service! Andre tells us to "prove it" when he was copied in the email thread below.

Kyle threatened us with legal action because we were defaming his character by calling him a ****. He also told us that he will not tolerate this from "you people", and when my husband asked him who he was to referring to as "you people" he couldn't answer.

Kyle got disgustingly angry, he clearly couldn't handle being called out by "you people" and eventually turned and pointed to the sales consultant and screamed at us that "here's your problem, your friend here is the problem, buddy". No, in fact, he wasn't the problem. We had dealt with Kyle for the article swop and so the sales consultant, regardless of their in-house protocols is absolved here, as Kyle is the one who promised us that the vehicle was to be serviced.

Andre told us to leave as he refuses to deal with us and told us that he doesn't understand why we're making a fuss about a 7-year-old second-hand piece of ****.

Now, first of all, if this is a piece of **** vehicle Andre, why was it on your sales floor. Secondly, how dare you insult us by implying that we that we're complaining about a cheap car that is not worth this effort! Our hard-earned money was only good enough to get rid of the piece of ****? Disappointing, and pathetic to say the least. At this stage, the sales consultant had to step in and tell Andre, that Kyle had indeed told us that he would do a 90000km on the vehicle. At this intersection, Andre relented and told Kyle to book the vehicle in for a service.

I walked out, while my husband went into the workshop to book the vehicle in for a service. And it's here where Kyle again harassed my husband by telling him that he checked on the system and they did do the 90000km service and there seems to be system malfunction of some sort. So, Kyle, you threaten us with legal action for calling you a ****, but here you tell my husband the service was done? So you knew you're supposed to do it, right? After you vehemently denied telling us you'd do the service! Clearly you're one of the problems here, "buddy".

This morning we booked the vehicle in for a major service, I have never seen spark plugs and air filters this dirty in my life!

Never in my life, have I ever witnessed this inferior display and showmanship. From accusing us of lying to the blatant ******, the humiliation of not even being invited into an office to discuss this out of the view of others, to being forced to have to raise one's voice to be heard in this manner.

The sad thing is, that when talking to other staff at this branch they affirmed that only certain people get treated like we did on Tuesday, 02 June 2020.

It's quite disappointing and traumatizing, we have been supporting Hyundai for the last 15 years. We were planning on purchasing another vehicle in December 2020 from Hyundai. Rest assured we will not be purchasing from Hyundai ever again. Not to mention the family and friends that we referred to Hyundai will also be hearing about this and definitely will not be purchasing from you either.

The customer service from Kyle and Andre was the worst I've ever experienced.

To date, we haven't even received an apology for inconveniencing us in the manner that they have. No accountability. None whatsoever, and this is the type of "leadership" you have handling a BRANCH. I strongly suggest you look into this matter and especially the manner in which the sales consultant was treated and humiliated in the presence of potential clients. If I were him I'd lay a grievance against Kyle.

Managers? They don't deserve their titles, they have no idea what it means; I strongly suggest training courses in this regard.