Taking Hannah to the garage

Winchester

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Hannah the Hyundai has to go into the garage tomorrow. I can't get the remote starter to work (of course, now that it's really, really freezing outside, I have to go outside to start the car!). I called the local Hyundai garage and they flat-out refused to look at her. Told me to take it back to where I bought the car. I bought Hannah with the remote starter and it's a Hyundai product....and the car is still well under warranty (not even 20,000 miles because I drove my PT Cruiser in the summer), even the starter is under warranty. But he refused anyway....told me he didn't want to deal with it. Nice, huh?

So I called the dealership where I bought the Tucson and they're going to look at it. They also said that the local dealership HAS to look at it; they don't have a choice. So we're taking the car down to where I bought it Saturday morning to see what's going on with the remote starter and hopefully get it repaired. I may write to Hyundai after it's done with, just so they know what's going on. Not that they care, but at least I have a record.  

I don't think the key fob battery went bad because it still locks and unlocks the car with no trouble. I don't know if the link between the fob and the car isn't working or what's going on. I would think that if the link wasn't working, the fob wouldn't lock/unlock the car either. 

But I am not happy. I would have purchased the car from the local Hyundai dealership.....had they wanted to deal with me. But they didn't. When we went down to talk to them, I asked them if they had a Tucson on the lot that I could test-drive. The sales guy basically said, no, no Tucsons and they weren't going to bother to bring one in unless I agreed to buy it. Right then and there. Well, that's just ridiculous; who in their right mind would agree to buy a car without even seeing it? But the sales guy was perfectly serious. He didn't want to bother with me unless I was serious about buying the car. Right then. Period. End of discussion. 

But they've been doing all of the maintenance on the car. Oil changes, tire rotations, everything. I just had Hannah in at the beginning of December for her inspection at that garage. But now that I'm having a problem, it's "Nope, not gonna deal with it."

So we'll see what happens. If the dealership was closer (the one where I bought the car), I'd just have them do everything. But they're 90 minutes away. And like I said, I did give the local dealership a chance and they blew me off.
 
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jcat

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What a pain. If the local dealer is like that, he probably won't be in business all that much longer. :vibes: that it gets straightened out.
 

kookycats

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Pam, I would definitely write directly to Hyundai and tell them what happened. I bet they will do something to compensate you and to correct the situation at your local dealer. I have found that writing directly to the main office of any company usually brings results.
 

AbbysMom

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Whoa. That is awful customer service! I would definitely let Hyundai know! Hope you can get everything fixed. :cross:
 

pushylady

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That's appalling customer service! Aren't dealerships like franchises and they have to abide by certain rules and standards? I would think the head office would want to know about this guy's attitude for sure.
 

andrya

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Something similar happened to a guy l work with (only with Ford). He called head office and within the hour he had a phone call from the dealer who then fixed it for free. lt's definitely worth a call, and likely better before you go elsewhere.
 
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Winchester

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We're back. It took us 75 minutes to drive to the dealership.....and 5 minutes for them to fix the problem. Somehow the remote starter got into VALET mode, so the car wouldn't start with the key fob. A key sequence was all it took for it to revert to regular mode and it's working fine. Another 75 minutes to drive home. I felt like an idiot, but the guy told me not to worry, that the first time they saw it, it took them 90 minutes to figure it out. They were going to mention it over the phone, but the key sequence is kind of screwy and they didn't want to confuse me further. And it's not in the manual.
 But, yeah, 5 minutes. Didn't cost me anything as the car is still well under warranty.

I am going to write a letter to Hyundai about the dealership's help and about the our local dealership's "non-help". I am not amused in the slightest about this and I will take it further. 

Rick says he thinks he knows when the starter went into VALET mode and he thinks he did it. He remote-started it one day when he was taking the car somewhere. And the alarm started going off and the lights were flashing. He finally got everything turned off, but he thinks that's when the system got messed-up. And it was just back around the middle of December that it happened and that's when I noticed I couldn't start the car.

Love my remote starter.....especially on mornings like this! It was worth every penny.

This local dealer has been in business since 1815, with Ford. It's just been recently that they started with Hyundai. And yes, they have attitude. When I started checking out the Tucson, they were the first place I went. I walked in and asked one of the sales reps if there were any Tucsons on the lot that I could drive. He said, "No. And if you're not going to buy one today, I'm not going to waste my time trying to find one." And then he said, "And if I do have to find one, we will charge you $350 to find it." Rick and I looked at each other. I said, "Well, all-rightey, then!" And walked out. Yet their Quick Lane people are wonderful; they've been doing Hannah's oil changes and tire rotations and other maintenance work right along. Super people. But they couldn't check the remote starter; it was something the regular service dept had to take care of. 

Stay tuned! 
 
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Winchester

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Letter has been written and I'll mail it off Monday morning on my way to work. I may call them, too. 
 
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