R15 000 fault ignored while vehicle under warrantee

<p>I have a 2011 Renault Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi which was bought from Seaman's Renault George and always serviced by Renault dealerships on time. When I took it to Seaman's Renault George for its last service under warrantee, it was just under 5 years old but only had 55 000 km on the clock. I informed the service consultant that the car made a strange vibration noise above the front right wheel when I pull away on an uphill, like a relatively steep driveway and it was put on the job card. When I fetched the vehicle I asked whether anything was done about the mentioned issue and was told that they could not find any fault and that there is nothing to worry about. Two months later (i.e. two months after the warrantee expired) I took the vehicle back that they can check that there really isn't something to worry about as I had to travel as a woman by myself to KZN through Transkei. The service consultant called a mechanic such that I could explain the same noise that I mentioned when I took the car for a service previously, and the guy immediately seemed to know what noise I referred to and what the likely problem was. They spent about 20 minutes with the vehicle in the workshop while I waited and returned to tell me that the alternator needs to be replaced and that it would cost just under R15 000. When I complained, asking why they ignored the problem while the vehicle was under warrantee when I brought it to their attention previously, the dealer then agreed to cover half the cost. I was still not satisfied seeing that I had to pay >R7000 for something which to my mind should have been covered by the warrantee, the dealer then agreed to pay two thirds if I paid one third. I still wasn't satisfied and was then told to take it up with Renault South Africa. After some deliberations, Renault SA got back to me with the following: "We note that your vehicle’s 5 Year or 150 000Km warranty lapsed on 13/04/2016, however, as a gesture of our goodwill, we are prepared to assist you by covering a portion of the cost involved for the repairs.<br />Therefor the proposed apportion of costs are the 3-way split as offered by Renault Seamans George on our behalf." So Renault SA offered a GESTURE OF THEIR GOODWILL seeing that it seemed perfectly acceptable to them that the "dealer could not duplicate issue” (as recorded on the job card) when I brought the problem to their attention while the vehicle was still under warrantee. And this problem is now costing me R5000, while the vehicle has less than 60 000km on the clock. I really find it completely unacceptable and would like to warn other people about this poor back-up service offered by Renault. To Seamans Renault George's credit, they previously picked up that another dealership in Gauteng failed to replace the timing belt as per the prescribed maintenance schedule, which I would also have had to pay for after the warrantee lapsed, had they not picked that up. But that just additionally serves to show how slack the maintenance plans are being implemented by Renault in general.</p>