[ajay99]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Pity. This dealership belongs to a group with a long history in the automobile and parts business, with a reputation that manufacturers would die for.

I guess thats history now.

Steroid, you seems to have mistaken This POPULAR Hyundai to be part of the KUTTUKARAN(POPULAR) group .this POPULAR is not part of the legendary POPULAR group, but the partner is related to Kuttukaran in a distant manner,but no BUSINESS ties between the two.The MD of POPULAR HYUNDAI earlier worked in some AUTOMOBILE dealership (Maruti) as manager

[man_1]

mods plz don't delete this post. when i took delivery of my sx4 in september , due to low transportation costs sx4 were transported through railway service . got to know this from the driver who came with us for delivery of the car since it had not been registered? the cars which were brought through trains were badly damaged. but the dealer made sure no dents or scratches were visible.

[JayD]

The car i think was damaged while going for registration to some other customer six months ago, and was repaired and delivered to this poor soul instead. This clearly shows the dealers arrogance and intent to cheat the unsuspecting customer. This is clearly not hyundai's fault as it has no business taking back a car that was banged up by the dealer. in my opinion, the dealership of popular should be cancelled . That would be a lesson to other dealerships who may have any intention of doing something similar.

[aravindwarrier]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Pity. This dealership belongs to a group with a long history in the automobile and parts business, with a reputation that manufacturers would die for.

I guess thats history now.

I was first shocked and now feel sad for the firm, which once had a celestial reputation in the auto-biz , now eating dust.I guess the recent diversification and lack of focus is to be blamed for this ethics erosion

I still remember those olden days,when a M800 had 6 months waiting period, and these guys used to give real professional service even back then, and it was a whiff of fresh air for people used to the shoddy service for their fiats/Amby. I still remember those days , when my dad , taking a day off , used to take the car all the way from Kottayam to Eranakulam for its routine service alone . Popular was a big name back then!

[BUSA]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Can you substantiate this? Do you know a dealer who confirmed this?

Toyota dealer told me, when i asked him if the car meets with a accident what will happen. He told me the car is sent back and company claims insurance.

[speedzak]

Originally Posted by aravindwarrier

Popular was a big name back then!

It was!
Then..... The split happened when the father of this establishment passed away. Now, there are 3 Populars. The one which stayed with Maruti/Suzuki, one took to Hyundai and one ventured into used vehicles sector by tying up with some major group.

This incident will cause a lot of hue and cry in Kerala. It will also expose the split in these establishments.

If the vehicles are insured by the manufacturer while they're on transit, then I think this accident happened much after that. But does Hyundai do the insuring part like Toyota? After copying much from the Japanese, I hope so!

[pillainp]

Hi guys,
The customer in this issue is my dad, and carlover98's colleague is my sister.
We took delivery of the Xing from Popular on Saturday (22/12/07) night at around 9 pm. We had asked them to deliver the car to us in the afternoon, but they said there was some work left, such as fixing the stereo, Teflon coat, etc, and so the car could be delivered only in the evening after 7 pm (dark). As such, we only received custody of the car, after completion of all formalities, after 9 pm at night.
While we were looking around the car before delivery, we did notice a small dent on the front passenger (left) door, right over the shoulder crease, but dismissed it as a minor issue. We left the dealership at around 9:15 pm, hoping to get to the Ganapathi temple at East Fort in time to get a pooja done on the vehicle. On the way to the temple, both my brother-in-law (sister's husband) and I noticed a major wobble in the right rear wheel.
When we reached the temple, my sister complained that the AC was not working and that the car felt rough (far more so than her 6-year old Santro), and that there was excessive body rattle.
As it turns out, we were not able to get the pooja done that day, as the temple had closed for the night (TVMites and any person from South TN who goes to Sabarimala know the temple I am talking about - Pazhavangadi Mahaganapathi Temple).
So we went straight home, and called up the dealer straight away to inform him of the issues we had (already) noticed with the car, and they said they would come around on Monday and take the vehicle away to be fixed.
On Sunday morning (23/12/2007), my bro-in-law again took the car to the Mahaganapathi temple to get the Pooja done, but was informed that such poojas were done only in the evening, so he came back home.
Soon after he got back home, we were just looking around the car (which up to this point we had only seen at night and under artificial lighting), and which already had some major problems, to check whether there was anything else that needed fixing by the dealer.
The list of recorded items was:
1) Major wobble right rear wheel
2) Non-working AC
3) Steering judder
4) Gear lever judder (I believe my sister said something about third gear, but it may have been all of them)
5) Dent on left front passenger door with paint loss
6) Ding on left rear passenger door (small amount of paint lost - almost a scratch, but with dented metal)
7) Scrape on right front fender
8) Missing screw on boot lid inner panel (could have caused some of the rattle she was complaining of)
9) Missing bushes on the boot lid (covering pass-throughs for wiring that was not present in this model)
10) Fogging of left headlamp cover
11) Faded appearance of manufacturer's helpline sticker on the rear windshield
12) Low brake fluid and power-steering fluid levels
13) Steering wheel askew by thirty or forty degrees to the right
14) Stained upholstery
This is only a partial list. I may have forgotten some stuff but I think most of it is here.
Up to this point, we were thinking that while this seemed a rather long list of stuff that could be wrong with a brand-new car, it was all fixable, and the dealer had agreed he would fix it for us.
Anyway, my sister was just looking around the interior of the car, to see if anything else needed to be fixed, when she deployed the driver's sun-visor. There was a piece of paper tucked into the paper holder on the sun-visor, which proved to be the extremely incriminating Repair Order, a picture of which has been posted by surajs above.
As you can see, the extent of damage suffered by the vehicle and the work done on it were pretty major, not to put too fine a point on it. It was pretty clear that the vehicle referred to in the Repair Order had suffered catastrophic damage, and had apparently only travelled 16 KM before suffering the accident on 09/06/2007.
We thought the Order was for another car at first, but then imagine our disappointment and sorrow when we checked against the vehicle ID panel in the engine bay and discovered that the VIN and chassis numbers were identical.
We immediately contacted the dealer and sales executive, who first claimed that we had made a mistake, then said they had made one, then said that their allotment clerk (a new girl, apparently) had allotted the car by mistake, and generally attempted to decline responsibility and to refute the facts evident to us from the Repair Order and the defects the car suffered, the origin of which was now plain to all eyes.
My sister and bro-in-law, however, remember that when they asked for a Dynasty Red Santro Xing XL, the sales team that had visited them earlier in the week to take the order at first claimed that they did not have such a vehicle in stock. However, after conferring among themselves, they then said that they did in fact have such a vehicle in the lot, and they would give it to us.
Ironically, as we discovered one seemingly minor issue after another with the car, my sister had been repeatedly asking whether we thought there was any chance that we could have been issued a damaged or defective vehicle. Just after that, she finds the Repair Order.
The sad part is the car was supposed to be a gift to my dad and mom on the fortieth anniversary of their wedding.
Our first attempt to get a Xing for him ended in the fiasco with the other major Hyundai dealer in Trivandrum (on the Trivandrum-Kovalam Bypass)which has been alluded to both in an earlier post in this thread by ram hyundai and in another thread in this forum that I started on the subject.
That was when we decided to approach Popular, in the (sadly mistaken) belief that we would have a better experience with them.
You can see how that turned out.
All original documents shown in this thread, including the Repair Order, are in our possession. Copies have been handed to various media agencies interested in covering this issue.
What made us saddest about this whole sordid experience was the disappointment on our dad's face when he realised that this car too, the second one that we had attempted to purchase for him in this whole sorry train of events, was not to be his. He had been so looking forward to owning a new car - he is one of those in the older generation that used to insist that the only sensible thing to do when buying a vehicle is to buy a used one - he has only ever bought himself a used car, first an Amby, later a CJ500 Jeep, and then a 137D. The only new vehicle he had ever bought was a 137D as a gift to my sister for her wedding.
That disappointment is why we have decided to go public with the story. More than trying to get Hyundai/Popular to own up to this blatant fraud it is an attempt to make sure that no customer of this agency would ever be duped again and have to go through the mental agony suffered by my dad.
Thank you for your active participation in this discussion.
Your support is greatly appreciated.
NPP

[pillainp]

It seems I cannot edit my previous post, so I am forced to add this one as well.

My father had recently suffered a fall, and had a compressed fracture of his second lumbar vertebra as a result.

Another of our reasons for attempting to expedite the purchase of the Xing was to provide him with an incentive to get back on his feet as soon as possible.

NPP

[Jomz]

Dear Pillai,

Contact the Hyundai area office, have a meeting the manager -sales of Hyundai. I'm sure they should have aan area office of HYUNDAI... not the dealer. Let them know about this. the different stances by the dealer and their decietfulness.As far as my knowledge goes It usually results in big penalizations for the dealer from the company. Ask for a new verna even.

Best of luck, Best wishes for your dad.

Jomz...

[JayD]

That's real sad news pillai, hope this gets resolved soon.

Originally Posted by pillainp

My sister and bro-in-law, however, remember that when they asked for a Dynasty Red Santro Xing XL, the sales team that had visited them earlier in the week to take the order at first claimed that they did not have such a vehicle in stock.
NPP

Hasn't the XL,XK etc nomenclature been done away with? The newer models are GL and GLS. This has been done due to the i10 launch. So obviously, the car sold to u would be an older car!

[kpzen]

Dr. Pillai.
Really sad to hear your experience with Popular.
Its all dealer's fault.

Originally Posted by BUSA

I meant to say, once a car before delivery meets with a accident, the dealer can inform the company and get a replacement to deliver to the buyer. The vehicle which has met with a accident is send back to the company and the company claim insurance on it.

No BUSA u are wrong.
Once the invoice of a vehicle is made against the dealer at the factory, the dealer becomes the owner of it and insurance of that vehicle is also the dealer's responsibility. Manufacturer has nothing to do with all this.
In case the vehicle is damaged due to an accident while transporting it then the dealer claims the insurance.

Originally Posted by JayD

Hasn't the XL,XK etc nomenclature been done away with? The newer models are GL and GLS. This has been done due to the i10 launch. So obviously, the car sold to u would be an older car!

Yes u are right. XK is an old model and i think Dynasty red isn't available in the new variants.

[mjothi]

Really sad to hear. If the Repair card was not found in the car, is it still possible to confirm that a car had accident, or they could claim as manufacturing defect?? I think its just the belief that we all keep buying the stuff. Or, is there really a way out to make sure it is brand new as claimed?

[shatrughna]

This is ridiculous and incredible behaviour on part of the dealer and they must be very thick skinned to ignore such an incident which is shocking for entire community of buyers.

Mr. Pillai keep us posted. I am sure someone among us knows someone important in Hyundai and reading all these. Else, my sincere advice is 'go full throttle' against the dealer and make the company also a party in your complaint in the consumer court. You should also file a criminal case against the dealer for cheating and fraud.

[ram_hyundai]

i was restraining myself all these days since the thread started to enlighten another incident regarding the same dealer.it happend at cochin with my bench mate during my b-tech days.he was into media and his father worked for cochin refineries in a senior post.he wanted to take a getz and since i was working for hyundai at that time at tvm he called me up.the vehicle he wanted was satin grey colored one which we had in stock.this happend in jan 2005.there was an offer of 50k on 2004 model car wheras 2005 car came with 10k offer.i told hm this and since the diff was 40 k he decided to go for 2003 car.the day i was expecting his dd he gave me a call and told me that the popular at cochin was ready to give the discount of 50k for the new car.so i adviced him to check up if it was a new one and confirm order with them.he took the delivery and after 6 mnths he noticed a tag on the car with the VIN NO.to his alarm he found that it was a old car.with hyundai you can identify the year of manufacture from the vin no.towards the middle of the series it would say 7m denoting it as a 2007 model,6mif it is a 2006 model etc.he went to the dealership and threatened to go with consumer court and the dealer gave them a brand new getz silver color.the older car is used as a test drive car even now at tvm.the reason which they give for using a cochin registerd car in tvm for test drive is that the customer dint pay the full amount after the car was registered.
ram

[filcord]

Can't believe my eyes. Pillai's story must be given the widest possible publicity. If you take it to consumer court , you would definitely win, but it would take a couple of years. Publicity is the way to go, the dealer, and Hyundai, must get so much bad press that they will gladly hand over a new vehicle to you to save face. Hit them hard!