Customer dissatisfaction- negligence, inconsistency and dishonesty

Dear Jaco, Renault Complaints, I hope I find you well. My name is Tinotenda Gavaza, I bought a Renault Sendero Stepway (2018) through Renault Tokai in April 2018. Unfortunately, I am writing this email to you because I am extremely disappointed about the service and treatment that I have received at Renault Tokai; and thus, I am requesting your intervention. Background: On the 1st of June 2020, while at the shopping mall, my car (Renault Sendero Stepway) refused to start. I then called Renault Roadside Assistance and they came to assist and tow the vehicle. I told them to deliver the car to Renault Tokai as they have always serviced my car. Narima, from Renault Tokai then called me on Tuesday (2 June 2020) to let me know that they had received the car and they were looking into. She then called me later and told me that they didn't know what was wrong with it and they had to strip apart the engine and for that they are going to charge me R4 600 and also replace my battery for R2500 even though I don't think there was anything wrong with my battery. She then warned me that warranty might not cover me for this since I was late for one of my old prior scheduled service (the relevance of this, I still argue). I gave them the go ahead mainly because I am a self-employed individual, and I needed the car to go around for my work as well as basic family use as I have two young kids. After the go-ahead, I followed up with Renault Tokai daily for more than a week; and they still didn't know what was wrong with the car. After the 7 days Renault Tokai eventually called me in and they told me that the pistons of the engine broke as well as the timing belt. I asked them what caused it and they told me they had no idea what caused it as they had never seen anything like that, but they were assuming that it was the old oil in the engine. They then told me that the whole engine needed to be changed and that it will cost me personally more than R100 000. The main reason I bought the Renault Sendero Stepway in 2018, was due to its reliability and extensive warranty promise, However I was greatly disappointed when I was told that my warranty would not cover this engine failure and engine unreliability because I was late for my December service scheduled at 60000km and only taken in at 67879km (18 December 2019). To add further to my disappointment is that the reason for my delayed service was partly caused by an administrative bungle by Renault on my service agreement; which was later rectified before I brought the car in for service in December 2019. Negligence, inconsistency and dishonesty: Below I outline the obvious negligence and dishonesty that I have received from your Renault Tokai branch; which I hope is an isolated occurrence for the prestigious Renault brand: Renault Tokai told me that the engine suffered catastrophic engine failure after the 7 day investigation. I was then told they had no idea what caused the catastrophic engine failure as they had never seen anything like that, but they were assuming that it was the old oil in the engine. Even though I had brought the car in for service less 10 000Kms ago in December 2019. I then checked my service book to see the logs and it so happens that the oil in my car was only changed one on the 30 000km service and my car is now of 77 000km. This is total negligence on the part of Renault Tokai, as they did not change the oil during my 60 000km service. I then approached one of the service admins, Christian Lombard, to ask him why is it that the oil was only changed once and what he did after that shocked me to the core. He took out a pen from his pocket and took my service book and started putting ticks in it to indicate that the oil was changed in December 2019; saying that it was a mistake that the tics were not there. I have an eyewitness who can testify to the alteration of my service book. The negligence of Renault Tokai not changing my oil on my 60 000km service has, according to Renault Tokai, led to my engine failure and Renault Tokai quoting me to repair the damage caused by the negligence of Renault Tokai. I am told that since I took the car in for service at 67879km instead of 60000km (which I have explained earlier), Renault will not honour their promise of a warranty on the engine and thus will not assist me. Renault Tokai then gave me the number for the warranty office. I have tried to call the warranty office and have been trying to call Renault Tokai for the last 7 days but I get placed on hold forever or I get told that someone is going to call me but no one does; meaning I have not heard anything regarding my car and a way forward for the past week.

Personally, it is unheard of for a car that is only two years old (regularly serviced and under warranty) to suffer catastrophic engine failure. This happened primarily because Renault Tokai were negligent with my car and only changed my oil Once in 5 services as my service book says or I bought a car from Renault Tokai that already had a faulty engine and in that case Renault Tokai was supposed to dictate the fault and let me know in advance before we got to this stage. This is not the way to treat a customer who has always been loyal to you and I have never missed my car payments meaning my warranty is paid and is active. It has now been 15 days and counting without my car. I am self-employed and heavily dependent on using a car to conduct my business; this bad service, negligence and dishonesty has had a negative effect on business and myself as an individual. I therefore plead for your honesty and assistance in repairing my car as per your warranty, good word and promise to customers as a brand. Please find attached the images for the engine so you can see the damage for yourself. Thank you very much for your assistance with this request. I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,