Renault's Idea of 'Major Service' and Customer Relations

An associate of mine is embroiled , in what seems like a scene out of a drama movie, with a Renault branch in Centurion, Gauteng, as from late 2018.

This is how it all began: Before heading off on vacation with his family, he decided to book in his vehicle for service to make sure it was roadworthy for the trip to Rustenberg, North West Province. Post all the niceties , he was advised by an employee of the branch , due to the fact that he had missed two services, he should opt for a 'major service'. He duly accepted that notion and requested that they take it in for 'major service', he received his documentation stipulating just that , and that all was in order.

In a couple of days, the family subsequently took the trip to Rustenberg, only for the car to break down, owing to mechanical defect/failure. They , from their own pocket, got the car towed to a workshop nearby and hired a rental car at their own expense too. They returned to Gauteng with the rental car in the attempt to get assistance from Renault.

The owner of the vehicle arrived at Renault and stated their case. They were then told that they would receive a courtesy car while the car was retrieved and diagnosed in a couple of days. Renault did indeed retrieve and diagnose the car. On the day the courtesy car was supposed to be picked up, they were told that they would no longer be given a courtesy car and that based on their diagnosis , get this; the fault was due to his negligence, as they had found traces of older oil on some of the parts in the engine..

However, when the owner reviewed the maintenance report, they had confirmed that , apart from their shocks , everything was in order and that there was no detection of oil-leaks. They then took the notion to not do any further analysis or diagnosis of the vehicle and the owner should rather arrange for further maintenance through the branch. They took the stance that this was all they could do from now on then. It was unfortunate that the Principal was unavailable at that moment in time owing to Leave(so they say)..

In a desperate attempt to get the matter resolved before the festive season , constant contact was kept between themselves and what seems to be the Customer Relations Manager. Things got sour quick, really quick. Things escalated to a point where they and the Manager were embroiled in some heated conversations. Particularly one where the Manager threatened the owner with legal action stating, "..we have the biggest lawyers in the industry."

It slowly seemed that the hopes that this will be resolved was fruitless. Measures were taken to contact the branch Principal, who on his return, stated that he was unaware of this matter and had not been informed of the predicament.

Since then, it has been a 'cold case'.