Hyundai: service at dealers in the Detroit area

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 21:28:49 -0400, Jon W. <com>
wrote:
 

**God Lord Almighty, avoid the Ann Arbor dealer like the plague!

Scenario: At the time, I owned a Santa Fe, a coworker owned a Sonata
and the boss's wife owns a Sonata wagon. I purchased my SF in Conn. so
I had never dealt with the AA dealer. So boss's wife's car develops
brake problems and they say, we can't take you in for 3 weeks. 3
freakin' weeks! I suggested that she try Livonia and they took her in
the day she called!

When my SF was about a year old, a piece of body cladding fell off. My
coworker warned me, if you want any warranty work done, you *will*
have to argue to the point of yelling to get them to do it. Her
husband had gotten in a screaming match with one of the service guys.
So I drove in and, sure enough, they accused me of getting into an
accident. Clearly! I had not been in an accident. Then they refused to
fix it, anyway. It would've been a big shouting match if I didn't have
a scorching case of laryngitis at the time.

I finally said: I *know* that this is covered under the warranty and
you have no choice but to cover the repair, you can't bullshit me. So
they acquiesced. The repair was a fiasco. They outsource their
bodywork. I had the bodywork company call me and say that they needed
my SF for several days because they had to paint *all* of the cladding
to make it "match nice." Scam artists! And, dollar to donuts, Hyundai
of AA are double dipping. If I paid out of my pocket for the repair,
they could claim it under the warranty too. Sweet, get paid twice.
I've never been treated so badly by a retail company ever. I took my
Santa Fe back to dealer in Conn. and they painted (and perfectly
matched) the little bit of cladding.

I started going to Livonia even though it was a bit of a haul for me.
They usually can take you in within 3 days of you calling, several
times, I went in the day I called. I never had to argue about a
warranty repair. I would say: here's the problem and they would fix it
and hand it back, no worries.

That said, I haven't owned the SF since Feb 2003 and I've heard that
Livonia has changed hands since then.

kaboomie

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 22:10:43 -0400, kaboom
<com> wrote:
 

Hi kaboomie, Thank You so much for the tip. I wanted to go to the
Livonia dealer because I live in Westland and it's closer than Ann
Arbor. But after reading several posts in here about different dealer
quality issues, I thought I would ask before I set up an appt.
Again, thank you,

J.W.

Tell me about it !
Hyundai Dealers' service is just pathetic in Detroit Area. I am not sure
about the other states.
My experience with "01 Elantra Vs Hyundai Dealers in Detroit"

I did my 30K mile service at La Fontaine. I did not want my tires
rotated/balanced as I did the month before. They did not reduce a single
penny for that. I did not bother much and got it serviced. After the
service, "Service Engine" light appeared. I took it back to the dealer and
was told some reason and got fixed. Again, the next day morning "Service
Engine" Light appeared. I wanted to yell/shout at him but my car looked at
me and made me polite to the service man. Atlast, I took my car out from
the dealer.

Three months later, I went to Glassman for oil change. Serviceman looks up
my record and
he goes "hey.. you got to do your 30K service".

I said "I did at La Fontaine three months back." There ends the
conversation.

After the Oil change, serviceman recommends me to change the sparkplug &
service the fuel injector!!!!

I told him "Well, those things are covered with 30K and I suppose La
Fontaine took care of it".

He goes "Nope..It is very bad and you got to attend to this"

I chose to skip and came back. I was thinking "who could be wrong? may be
glassman is cheating me ? or la fontaine cheated me "

After three months, I went to Livonia for oil change. I asked him to check
the state of fuel injector and spark plug.

He goes "Looks in great shape "

commmmmmmmon !!!!!!! give me a break !!!

BUT, he says "you got to flush your transmission fluid as it is bad".

Two weeks later, I took my car to livonia again for a warranty repair. I
saw a new serivce man. I asked him to check transmission fluid.

He goes "looks in great shape sir!!"

This is the state of service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tell me about it !
Hyundai Dealers' service is just pathetic in Detroit Area. I am not sure
about the other states.
My experience with "01 Elantra Vs Hyundai Dealers in Detroit"

I did my 30K mile service at La Fontaine. I did not want my tires
rotated/balanced as I did the month before. They did not reduce a single
penny for that. I did not bother much and got it serviced. After the
service, "Service Engine" light appeared. I took it back to the dealer and
was told some reason and got fixed. Again, the next day morning "Service
Engine" Light appeared. I wanted to yell/shout at him but my car looked at
me and made me polite to the service man. Atlast, I took my car out from
the dealer.

Three months later, I went to Glassman for oil change. Serviceman looks up
my record and
he goes "hey.. you got to do your 30K service".

I said "I did at La Fontaine three months back." There ends the
conversation.

After the Oil change, serviceman recommends me to change the sparkplug &
service the fuel injector!!!!

I told him "Well, those things are covered with 30K and I suppose La
Fontaine took care of it".

He goes "Nope..It is very bad and you got to attend to this"

I chose to skip and came back. I was thinking "who could be wrong? may be
glassman is cheating me ? or la fontaine cheated me "

After three months, I went to Livonia for oil change. I asked him to check
the state of fuel injector and spark plug.

He goes "Looks in great shape "

commmmmmmmon !!!!!!! give me a break !!!

BUT, he says "you got to flush your transmission fluid as it is bad".

Two weeks later, I took my car to livonia again for a warranty repair. I
saw a new serivce man. I asked him to check transmission fluid.

He goes "looks in great shape sir!!"

This is the state of service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 14:36:43 -0400, "suresh"
<com> wrote:
 
Soooo, are you saying Livonia was the best?

J.W.

NOT at all. All are equally bad. Next time, I am planning to try with
Sterling Hyundai and then AA.

But so far, my experience with LaFontaine,Glassman and Livonia have been
EQUALLY BAD.

re: maddening unpleasantnesses happen

one would think there are enough customers/cars for honest, competent
servicings

unhappily, because we customers perceive that being ripped-off is not unusual
if not sop

some people (one person who i know) simply avoid having much of any required
and/or suggested maintenance on their heaps

here's what the rational layperson oughta do (imho):

have a fairly steady relationship with an hopefully convenient service dept

have the manufacturer's standard extended warranty service contract--approx
price is $600--$12000 (?)--i think we paid $700 or $800 for it (bumper to
bumper protection, but customer still pays for the brakes, the anti-freeze
changes, oil changes, tires et cetera)

jump thru the maintenance required hoops that are required to keep the warranty
valid, including the $600+ timing stuff at 30,000 & 60,000 miles

(please correct any error in fact mis-stated herein)

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:46:01 -0400, "suresh"
<com> wrote:
 

**You should raise these issues with those dealerships. If they know
you're on the ball, they're going to be less likely to jerk you
around.

I went to Howard Cooper in AA for a 10,000 mile servicing (I have a
Jetta 1.8T). I knew that there was a TSB out for the 1.8T engines that
are in Passats and Audi A4s (oil sludging). The engines are different
in that the Jetta's is a transverse engine, the others are
longitudinal (?) with an almost 1 quart smaller oil capacity. The
problem usually arises when owners don't do the proper oil changes.

I walked in and was told that there was a TSB out for my engine and
that I have to put synthetic oil in it. I said, No, that's for the
Audi and Passat. And then I told them what was in the paragraph above.
All 3 service guys just gaped at me. Man, that was SWEET! My service
guy started laughing and said well, then, you can choose whatever you
want. I said, hey, synthetic is better for turbo engines. Let's go for
it. What the hell, eh? But every customer who came in with
Golfs/Jettas/GTIs with the 1.8T got told the same thing and they all
said: Uh okay. The service prices at Howard Cooper are exorbitant so
you can imagine that they're raking it in. Yes, I got the synthetic
(which I was planning to do anyway) but at least I could've
knowledgeably said no and still have had the peace of mind that my car
would be fine (and saved money!)

kaboomie