Warranty claim rust not sorted!

I am absolutely appalled by the service I've received and that I continue to receive from Mahindra Margate branch.

I purchased a Mahindra KUV 100 NXT 2019 model from them in Feb 2020.

I was very surprised when I found that there was already a sign of rust on my car. I discovered this in Sept 2021! Based on the year model, my car was only 2 years old!

I immediately contacted Mahindra South Coast (Margate) and was told that they need 3 quotes from 3 different panel beaters in order to proceed with my warranty claim. Mahindra Margate took pictures and I made my way to the 3 panel beaters, using my own time and petrol.

In Oct 2021 I sent them an email with the 3 quotes and all the information.

They only started attending to my rust claim the following year Feb 2022 as I needed a demo car or courtesy vehicle for work. This is after so many months of back and forth questions from me.

When I arrived I was given the courtesy vehicle and told that they are not going to use any of the panel beaters that I went to. Mind you, I used my own time and petrol money for this!

I was told by Cassandra (a lady that has now taken over my warranty claim) that they will be using a panel beater that has recently been RMI approved. This alone made me feel very uncomfortable as they didn't even provide me with his name or a quote.

I was just told that he is very good and much cheaper, which made me worry even more.

I could not say much as this is a warranty claim and I have no say in which panel beater is used.

I was told that my car will be ready in 2 weeks.

Everything seemed ok...

I was told 2 weeks later that my car is ready to be collected. I made sure that I washed and polished their courtesy vehicle and I gave it back in mint condition with the same amount of petrol in as when I collected it.

28/02/22 (2 weeks after it went to Panel Beaters)

When I arrived at the dealership I was already disappointed by the fact that my car was not washed and that there was still sticky residue on my wind shield as the panel beater had to remove my wind shield to repair some rust.

I left this as I felt this was a petty complaint.

We went home and I later went to work and discovered that my door on the driver's side was not locking and once it locks it does not want to unlock.

I was stuck outside my car. We managed to get the door open and I reported this to Cassandra.

That same night it was pouring with rain. The following morning when we left home to go to work we drove down our drive way and my legs were soaked!!!! all the water that had accumulated on the roof leaked into the wind shield onto my legs on the passenger's side! They obviously did not seal the wind shield properly when putting it back!

I immediately contacted Cassandra and the DP of Kokstad branch and complained about this. I demanded that this be fixed asap! I got a lot of “attitude” from Cassandra and she spoke to me like a child! They arranged a courtesy vehicle again for the day 1st March and the very next day my wind shield was fixed by the panel beater (Who's name I only got given now after I had to ask multiple times!)My boot also had a nasty scratch on it. The panel beater covered up the scratch.

Mahindra Margate stated they do not know how the door lock was broken but they will fix it at Mahindra as it is not the panel beater's problem. I expected someone to repair this as obviously someone forced a key or something. My car was not in this condition when I took it to the dealership. I collected my car again on the 2nd of March in the morning.

On the 2nd of March I collected my vehicle once again and started my 10 to 19 shift at the hospital. when I finished my shift at 19h00, I tried to once again unlock my car and it would not unlock! I was stuck outside at night trying to get into my vehicle!

I managed to get my door open again. (Something that they supposedly fixed!)

I made my way to the nearest petrol station to fill fuel and check my oil and water. I also noticed that my bonnet did not want to pop out and open when I pulled the leaver! This infuriated me as my car came back in a much worse condition than when I took it in for rust repair!

I contacted Cassandra once again at 20h00 that night and expressed my anger about this horrible service!

She once again apologised and that she will send someone before 12 the next day to come and have a look at the car. Once again Mahindra said they will fix it and they did not contact the panel beater to attend to this.

They came out finally to my car. They had to come to my workplace as I don't have time to run around after them. They got the bonnet working and found that the door lock problem was not in the panel side but inside the lock itself. They fixed everything and I was happy.

The reason that I am complaining now is because of what I'm noticing now. (+/- 1 month after.)

I noticed that the paint on the one side by the door looks like it's pealing!!! And there is still some rust present underneath the plastic covering and also where they have “done the job”. It looks like the visible rust was fixed or probably just covered up with paint. When I initially went to the 3 panel beaters to get a quote they removed the plastic covering to find rust underneath. I now noticed that this was not repaired.

I was told this 4th panel beater is much cheaper as well. I believe that going the “cheaper” route has caused a lot of problems. I believe my rust problem would have been sorted out instantly, with no other problems if they went with 1 of the 3 panel beater's quotes that I initially gave them!

I have all photos and quotes if it needs to be provided. As well as all conversations back and forth with Mahindra South Coast.

Terrible terrible service!!! Horrible panel beating! Even the scratch on my boot was just covered up!

I want this sorted out or i will most definitely take it further. To the papers if i have to!