Hyundai dealer sells me a repainted i20 as new: Pathetic experience

Within the first two weeks I felt a few times that the right rear door exhibited a slightly different shine. One of those days, I found small paint bubbles on this door as well and a tiny scratch along with something that seemed to be covered up under the paint.

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Sour Experience, Bad taste - Hyundai dealer sold a repainted car as new | Never buy a Hyundai

Note:

This will be a rather long post. I will try to sum up nearly 3 months of correspondence with a Hyundai dealer. Took me a few days to compile all of this. I will omit tangential/less relevant information. Nevertheless, I want to cover specific details here of the matter here. I find it very important to share with other members in this fora of how big corporates like Hyundai and their dealerships behave with customers and how much a customer has to be patient to even get their matter heard/handled/evaluated in any way. Also, how the Indian consumer is at a disadvantage in the new car market where the automobile manufacturer just does not care what their dealership goes on doing in their business, even if it is to fool the consumer.

I also followed the Team-BHP checklist in the PDI. I was not thorough enough, so I got scammed.

Just as excited I was about buying this car, my excitement was short lived. Within the first two weeks I felt a few times that the right rear door exhibited a slightly different shine. One of those days, I found small paint bubbles on this door as well and a tiny scratch along with something that seemed to be covered up under the paint. The scratch is very hard to catch under a camera and so were the bubbles. However, they are visible under fine light to the naked eye.

I initially wrote it off as an over reaction. After considering few options, I visited AJ56's 5C Car Care in Gurgaon to speak of Ceramic Coating on April 29. We talked at length about various ceramic coating options available, automotive paint thicknesses on different automotive vehicles etc. Based on the information I could find about paint protection coatings before I visited the dealership, I evaluated a few options, diligently explained by him.
I finalized my product and I thought it would be interesting to check out paint thicknesses on various panels of the i20. I mentioned this panel to him and that something felt off about it, so was it normal or something to be worried about with respect to the coating.

To my surprise, after looking at the paint for just a few seconds, he informed me that door is manually repainted. Then he checked the paint thickness on this door and confirmed that this door's DFT level was way off the rest of the panels. It showed average thickness level of 180/190 on this panel, going up to 240 in few areas. This reading hovered on other doors around 120-150 range. He then went on to show that the surface had significant marks on the surface.

We took this to the dealership a few days later, and asked for a confirmation that we had indeed been sold a brand new car. We spoke that day with the SA. He kept saying it is a brand new car. However, when we asked for a written confirmation that the car had not been tampered with until the point of delivery, he said could not give such an undertaking.

I got a call from a dealership personnel the next day (the sales Point of Contact throughout the process). He kept telling me how Hyundai does not allow the dealership to furnish such an undertaking saying they have sold a brand new car. He kept asking me to arrive at some middle ground, go speak with the detailer and have another expert.

A few days later, I wrote to Hyundai and lodged an official complaint. This was first half of May. It took 15+ days to arrange an initial inspection of the car. On June 02, a representative from Hyundai visited the Dealership's service center to inspect the complaint. At first he found it hard to observe the issue we had mentioned. However, once we pointed out the signs on paint work of the door, the roughness of the surface, the over spray visible at various points on the door, the scratch and bubbles, he agreed that somewhere something did seem off.

We were informed that he will share findings with Hyundai and Hyundai will communicate with the dealership on the steps ahead. Hyundai will not directly communicate with me. Perfect ploy to frustrate the customer into submitting to your suggestions. Unfortunate outcome, given the trust one places in a big company.

This was friday evening. On June 04, GM at the dealership, called me and asked me to come to a settlement to talk about a settlement. They offered polishing and finishing on that door, to which I said no. He asked me to meet the dealership and possibly a settlement can be arrived at. I made it clear I wasn't interested in any such offers.

After a few days I followed it up with Hyundai about the service ticket. I connected with Mr. Vidhya Shankar, Territory Parts and Service Manager. To my surprise, I was informed that they will not at all be communicating directly with me at all and they have directed the dealership to settle the matter. All my communication will be done via Dealership, but they will speak with the dealership once if this matter has not yet been taken up.

That's like putting the customer aside and saying boss you have bought the car. Your problem is no longer my problem. You will get some of my attention since you are pushing. But that's about it. You still need to resolve with the dealership.

As I pushed this matter to be taken up more seriously over the next few days, I was greeted by VP of the Dealership at my Home on June 19. In this visit, they did not deny the problem. They acknowledged that there has been some issue with the car.

They said they are clueless about where the issue came from(I find it hard to buy). As a solution, they however offered some sort of extended warranty and the door being repainted/replaced along with Finishing. Note, this door has already been repainted. There is not a clue of what other repairs the car has been through or what other problems remain.(Especially because since in July I have started facing a Battery Alternator issue as well and the dashboard sound makes me feel like I am driving a car from the previous century). A long conversation went on and we asked for a complete analysis on the car by Hyundai as we can no longer say that the car is new anymore. They agreed and told me they will set a date soon.

Two weeks went on and not a single communication was received from the dealer. I finally shot back an email summarizing the June 19 conversation and asked about why there has been no communication. I also included Hyundai Sales and Service emails along with few other people in this email. Their service center reached back out saying that it will be planned soon and not to worry. NO explanation about the radio silence. A few days went by. All they could say was the person who will further inspect the car is currently not available at Hyundai.

Another problem with leaving entire communication with the dealership instead of communicating themselves is that statements like this from dealership cannot be trusted after it is coming after two weeks of radio silence.

Finally as this went on for quite a while, the dealership offered on mail the first time, as a goodwill gesture, to repaint/replace the door with a new car door. But on email, they have been trying to prove me liars for the last 2 months. Change of heart now

I complained again to Hyundai in late July about the lackadaisical attitude of the dealership on what they had promised and urged them again to involve themselves as the dealership had time and again proven untrustworthy. Since their last meeting more than a month back, they had not been able to arrange a technician visit from HMIL and couldn't communicate for 2 weeks that no one is available on Hyundai's end.

It is clear, meanwhile, how Hyundai is taking dealership's side by completely withdrawing from a case of such gravity and asking the customer to sit along with a sub par product.

After twice complaining to Hyundai and repeatedly asking them to look into the matter, finally on August 03, HMIL sent for Mr. Ashish Rathi(Area Sales Manager) along with Mr Jeetender Singh Chouhan (Customer Relations, I think) to visit and evaluate the case and facilitate a conversation. They outright cancelled any value to the DFT readings. (Ah, amazing). It felt like they were trying to discredit other aspects of the matter as well somehow. They stuck to how HMIL's process involves them directly communicating with the dealer on how to resolve the matter. This time, after hearing the matter, HMIL's folks redirected the matter to me: I had the car for a month after which I reported this complaint, so I could've got the car repainted outside due to a scratch and returned to them saying I got a repainted car. My blood was boiling at this point. I told them that there is one issue visible but there are possibly many other hidden issues in the car, simply because it has already been tampered with at some point and there could be n number of issues that I may face in future so I should get a new car when I paid for a new car. They said they will still consider the case that I had mentioned and planned for a paint expert visit at the Dealership on August 05, Saturday.

In this visit, We explained to the Paint Expert our Findings. He could not spot the issue on his own. We had to explain each and every one of our findings. He took some images of the signs of repaint, chipping and rust marks on the Bonnet. Thereafter, he informed that he will share his findings with Hyundai only and not the dealership and they will do what they wish to do. (I strictly do not believe that) Thereafter, lined up the car to deal with the Alternator Light Issue on the Instrument Light Panel.

In this meanwhile, the owner of the dealership happened spoke with us on this matter. We explained to him the entire matter, he sweet talked, he offered us two options:

1. A door replaced from a demo car in front of our eyes, Paint Protection Film(Not getting that, no), Extended Warranty from Universal Hyundai(Not useful since I am mobile).

2. The above did not inspire any confidence in the car. So he suggested getting the car valuated, splitting the difference from new car price 50-50. For something that was in no place my wrong doing, I find this hard to accept.

The owner did not deny that there has been an issue somewhere.

In fact, after the HMIL visit, neither did the Service guys or the dealership VP deny that there has been an issue somewhere before the car was delivered. They said they could not identify the matter, since they internally procured the car from another dealership and then sold to me. HMIL originally sold the car to another Hyundai dealer and then my Hyundai dealer procured the car from them when I made the booking.

One thing is amply clear from all of this. Customer is important till the money comes through. Then it is all a dealer's arena in case of Hyundai.

Other Issues that have developed over time:

• Within first 200 kms of drive, I could hear a constant rattle on the driver's side door whenever the car was driven on even a slightly rough surface.

• Battery light comes on anytime. No issue identified with the Battery or alternator so far. The OBD scanner shows code U012D00. Requires further diagnosis. A visit is planned for this coming Saturday.

• Paint chipping off from Driver's door, bonnet. There are signs of rust on the bonnet chip offs. There is no surface dip at the cracks on these two panels.

• There is a weird noise from the dashboard when switching the car on or off and when the ac turns on or off.

All together, I have already faced 3 months of Pain in following this up with HMIL, the dealership and the visits to the workshop, mental agony and wasted time. I would strongly suggest no one to ever buy a Hyundai car, especially since they do not care about their customer at all and in fact, they are supportive of whatever the dealership may do.

I am yet to chose way forward. I am inclined towards going the legal route despite the fact that it takes time. The last 2 options presented by the dealership are definitely not convincing. Especially, when a brand new car in its 5th month of ownership is marred with all these issues. I also don't see why any customer should take a monetary hit because of the Dealership's carelessness/wrongdoings when they aren't even denying the presence of the repaint issue anymore. Something just does not sit right here in taking any of the above two options.

I would like to bring this forward to the community now for their note and opinion.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.