[f1head]

As some of you may be aware, we have a Silver Hyundai Santro XS model bought in 2004 manufactured in 2004. The dealer (Suhrit, now defunct) had erroneously entered the date of manufacture as 2003 in the RC and at that time it was decided to correct the error at the time of removal of hypothecation.

Now my dad had submitted the hypothecation removal and year correction application, and the RTO raised a red flag to year change. While the officer there was nice and confirmed he will try and get year from the chassis code, I decided to get a letter from Hyundai certifying the year of manufacture.

I wrote an email to them, no reply, wrote another one, no reply wrote a third one asking if they would reply or should I look at other car companies for my next purchase, finally dad got a phone call from Delhi office, they confirmed year of manufacture is 2004 and they will send a letter confirming the same. In this process I also learnt that this car was originally purchased by a dealership in Rajasthan, the Delhi dealership purchased the car from them. At the time of the purchase, the dealer used to tell us the shipment is coming from Chennai and give us location updates.

Coming back to the point, its been 2 weeks since the phone conversation and Hyundai is still to get back to my dad. Since I move out of station in some time, my dad has almost given up on getting this error corrected unless the RTO officer himself deciphers the chassis code.

Since the phone call I have written multiple email reminders to Hyundai without a single response, if someone has the email ID of someone senior in Hyundai, please share it.

I believe that this is the acid test for Hyundai, we are old customers and are actually looking at a new car (you may read the sad Maruti SX4 shopping thread by me :P ). We are seriously looking at the I20 for my dad, but if this is the way Hyundai treats its old customers its really discouraging.

@mods - if this is the wrong thread to post this in, please move to correct one

[aargee]

@f1head - Sorry to say, that these things should've been corrected then & there; the dealers were asking time while they said they will remove it during hypothecation. Anyway past is gone, now the only better way is to reach the top level & get this sorted out. I'll keep watching this thread as how it progress & Thanks for sharing & warning us.

[f1head]

Yes I agree it should have been done earlier, but we had trusted the dealer. The RTO official was surprisingly cooperative and himself suggested year of manufacture from chassis will do the trick, but Hyundai is sort of playing spoilsport here. Will call them tomorrow and keep everyone here updated.

[nairrk]

It is always easy for RTO office to make corrections/amendments, if any required, in the RC Book in the begining. However if your present RTO still there to help, then it is good. What was written in the first Insurance policy (2004 or 2003 built?). YOu may show this proof to the RTO for their satisfaction and do the correction.?
Also send the copies of email to Hyndai (you may get their email/address from the wbesite) for uregnt follow up action.

I have following address in my file (when I bought my Accent in 2004):

Hyundai Motor India limited
A-30, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate.
Mathura Road, NewDelhi -110 044
Email: hmidelhi@nde.vsnl.net.in
Tel: (011)51678800

(not very sure if above address/contacts are still active)

[f1head]

Originally Posted by nairrk

It is always easy for RTO office to make corrections/amendments, if any required, in the RC Book in the begining. However if your present RTO still there to help, then it is good. What was written in the first Insurance policy (2004 or 2003 built?). YOu may show this proof to the RTO for their satisfaction and do the correction.?
Also send the copies of email to Hyndai (you may get their email/address from the wbesite) for uregnt follow up action.

I have following address in my file (when I bought my Accent in 2004):

Hyundai Motor India limited
A-30, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate.
Mathura Road, NewDelhi -110 044
Email: hmidelhi@nde.vsnl.net.in
Tel: (011)51678800

(not very sure if above address/contacts are still active)

Thanks for the details, this email ID bounced. Dad called up the customer care number given in the automated replies from cr@hmil email ID and it turns out that number connects to Hyundai Motor Plaza. They are helpless in this matter which leaves us in a fix. One of my friends used to work in Hyundai and I have asked him to get me the email IDs of senior folk in Hyundai so that they can be made aware that their customer care team is not even responding to customer requests.

[sidindica]

No matter which Hyundai dealer you go through, all workshops are now money spinning machines. Absolutely atrocious quality of service. I am too stuck without my car for the past 4 days just for a bonnet plus front bumper repaint due to miscommunication and delay in insurance.

Seems like capital too is vaning in the list of quality hyundai dealers...

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by f1head

Thanks for the details, this email ID bounced. Dad called up the customer care number given in the automated replies from cr@hmil email ID and it turns out that number connects to Hyundai Motor Plaza. They are helpless in this matter which leaves us in a fix. One of my friends used to work in Hyundai and I have asked him to get me the email IDs of senior folk in Hyundai so that they can be made aware that their customer care team is not even responding to customer requests.

+
Yes, I had my doubt whether the email id will be in action or not as I got this 6 years back.
However I am shocked to hear such a behaviour from a Hyundai dealer?
did you try the phone number of cr@hmil.net (this is their full id as given in the website) -toll free no.1800-11-4645 (from MTNL & BSNL numbers only) or 098-7356-4645??

[xingamazon]

f1head,

Sad to know your story.

But I was wondering why did you leave the date change then and not act on it. Atleast, you should have got a letter on the same from Hyundai then itself, but not trusting these guys.
I understnad the feeling of the RTO guy, there might be many who turn up at his place asking for the change of date just to make their car good resale value. He is bound to be suspicious.

But one point is Hyundai will also find it difficult to track the happenings of a 6 year old car. I dont think they will be ever keep track of data that old.
To be on a safer side this letter you mentioned of now. you should have got it at 2004 itself, so that you are on a safer side. But even with all the new systems, dont think they will be able to track your 6 year old history that well. If they do, I will be shocked.

Let me know what exactly are you loosing out by them not making this change of a historical data. Is is the resale value that that car garners?

But I totally agree, not responding to calls/ mails is not ethical of a company reigning in 2nd spot for all these days.

[f1head]

@xingamazon - on the contrary they have the full history of the car. The year car be taken out from the chassis number easily if not anything else. The woman who had called my dad had confirmed that the car was a 2004 model manufactured in January 2004. She was also able to give the full history of the car as to where it has been sold and other details (from the chassis number). So its definitely not a case of Hyundai being ill-equipped or not being able to help. She had said she would be sending a letter confirming year of manufacture but its been 2 weeks and total silence.

And the RTO guy is the good guy in the picture, he is right in wanting proof from the manufacturer. Instead of shooing us away, he is trying to help us out and there has not been any wrong demand.

As for not doing it in 2004, I was 15 in 2004 and wasnt really involved in the whole RC business, dont know why dad trusted that dealer (Suhrit), infact even at time of issue of RC he had made a lot of delays and excuses.

I found the email IDs of the managers of Audit and Ethics in Hyundai and have emailed them. Waiting for a response from their side.

Meanwhile dad now tells me how he was transferred from one phone to another by Hyundai when he called them today and in the end he was transferred to a guy who was in no way related to what we wanted. Just goes to show you the rot in the company with regards to customer service, where its more important to get rid of the customer to another department rather than helping him out.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by f1head

Just goes to show you the rot in the company with regards to customer service, where its more important to get rid of the customer to another department rather than helping him out.

F1head, I think you need to take it easy on your accusations and slanging fest. Neither has Hyundai cheated you nor defaulted on any service. Do us a favour and keep these extreme statements ("just goes to show the rot in the company") off the forum; our community is way more mature than this.

Also, this thread is NOT a long-term ownership review so I'm not sure why you would post it in the said section.

Originally Posted by f1head

The dealer (Suhrit, now defunct) had erroneously entered the date of manufacture as 2003 in the RC and at that time it was decided to correct the error at the time of removal of hypothecation.

The blame lies with the dealer first (for submitting the wrong info), and then by you / your family for not verifying details at the time of delivery.

Since the phone call I have written multiple email reminders to Hyundai without a single response, if someone has the email ID of someone senior in Hyundai, please share it.

This is inexplicable. I'm in no way trying to justify Hyundai's inaction. Quite the contrary, I say! Hyundai ought to have responded to you ASAP. After all, its a simple letter / certificate from them which can solve the problem you face.

Suggestion : Use the original invoice. This document would have the correct year.

[f1head]

I am sorry, probably the anger and frustration got to me, not been a good time with car companies this year. I will be more careful in the future about my posts and again apologise for my actions.

I agree its the dealer's fault more than the company but its just a small certificate for Hyundai which their own customer care agent said she would dispatch, but nothing happened and no contact/response after that. IMHO customers should be treated better than complete lack of response.

We had raised the issue at the time of delivery, but like I said we trusted the dealer when he said this would be taken care of at the time of hypothecation removal. Now the dealership is closed, so there is really no one we can directly go to and it now comes to the manufacturer.

Also, Hyundai does have a liability in this, isnt a manufacturer supposed to clarify date of manufacture of a commodity if the need be ? I will be asking around if there is a provision for the manufacturer to compulsorily tell the date of manufacture of a car.

The rot comment was there for the way they handled my dad's call, they were just taking him round and round between different departments and in the end they transferred him to someone who was in absolutely no way related to the whole matter i.e. an employee of Hyundai Motor Plaza which is a dealer. The person from HMP actually told my dad to email Hyundai and send reminders again and again and he is in no way connected to this whole matter. I did not appreciate the way they handled my dad's call.

I just had a look at the invoices (both dealer and commercial from Hyundai to Suhrit), they do not list year of manufacture anywhere, just the VIN and Chassis numbers. The original insurance though has it correct as 2004 (United India Insurance).

The surprising thing is that the commercial invoice from Hyundai is in the name of Suhrit only and the lady from Hyundai had told me the car was sold to a dealership in Rajasthan by Hyundai and not Suhrit and that Suhrit had probably bought it from that dealership.

If you need proof that I am sending them frequent emails without response, you may ask me for screenshots of my dad's email's sent box.

[aargee]

@f1head - I just had a thought; why not take it to a reputed driving school & get this work done? Instead of pulling in the manufacturer, why not get this settled through a driving school? Just trying to help you & get things sorted out faster. Even if costs you more, I'm sure you'll have several peaceful nights. I'm sure there must be some way, if not the RTO, the driving school should be familiar with some rule. Ensure that you approach a good driving school unless you don't want to be taken for a ride.

[f1head]

Originally Posted by aargee

@f1head - I just had a thought; why not take it to a reputed driving school & get this work done? Instead of pulling in the manufacturer, why not get this settled through a driving school? Just trying to help you & get things sorted out faster. Even if costs you more, I'm sure you'll have several peaceful nights. I'm sure there must be some way, if not the RTO, the driving school should be familiar with some rule. Ensure that you approach a good driving school unless you don't want to be taken for a ride.

We have already filed for a change in year of manufacture, the problem is that it was an error from the dealer's end in filling the original form and not the RTO in filling the data, hence the MLO has flagged an objection and I can either take it with old year or provide proof to support my claim of 2004.

The MLO himself suggested that the year can be deciphered by the company from the VIN/chassis number and thats the way to go about it.

I do not understand how a driving school would be able to provide proof ? If you are talking about 'greasing palms', I am sure that should be left as the last resort, at this point I am looking to get Hyundai to respond. I am sure senior folk in Hyundai arent aware of this and hence this issue has stretched for so long.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by f1head

The MLO himself suggested that the year can be deciphered by the company from the VIN/chassis number and that's the way to go about it.

Does the MLO not accept the insurance copy of the car which has the correct date as authentic? Does he want the proof of the VIN number only?

I think you cannot go via any other method as he is already aware of your case. Hopefully you should get a response from Hyundai with the manufacturing date of the car.

[f1head]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Does the MLO not accept the insurance copy of the car which has the correct date as authentic? Does he want the proof of the VIN number only?

I think you cannot go via any other method as he is already aware of your case. Hopefully you should get a response from Hyundai with the manufacturing date of the car.

I found the original insurance policy today while searching for the invoice, will be going tomorrow to the RTO and apprise him of the situation. Maybe he can officially ask Hyundai to tell the year of manufacturing of the car if the policy is not enough.

no response from Hyundai again, today's reminder sent.