Replacing my Seltos headlights: Painful process of claiming warranty

I am not especially concerned about the timeline, as the headlights, apart from looking bad, are functionally fine.

BHPian blogslogger recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

My Travails with Kia Warranty

Our GTX completed 1 year on November 1st. The DRL's have yellowed in the headlights. Since I've taken both Extended Warranty and My Convenience packaged, I thought it would be a convenient warranty approval process. Oh, how wrong I was.

TL;DR: I took my headlight for warranty replacement. It's been a month and no signs of replacement parts arriving yet.

Glossary:

• GM- General Manager
• SM- Service Manager- Reports to General Manager
• SA- Service Advisor- Reports to Service Manager
• ASC- Authorized Service Centre

Here is a not so brief timeline of events.

October 15: Went to a three-letter ASC in Hyderabad with the complaint of DRL being yellow. Since some genius decided even the grille needs a DRL, it looked awkward during night drives. The adjacent headlight strip was yellow, and the grille led strip was white. Anyway, the SA took a few videos and photos and told me they have to get approval from the HQ to replace my lights. Fair enough, I thought and asked how many days it would take. They replied that the approval, yes or no, would take 3 days. They would inform me when the approval comes through. I wait 5 days.

October 20: Called the ASC to check on the status. I was told that the request was still under review. I asked how long it would take to get an answer. The SA replied that it would take a few more days. I wait another 5 days.

October 25: Called the ASC again. This time I was told that the request was approved and the parts were ordered. I asked how long it would take to get the parts. The SA replied that it would take 10 to 15 days.

November 1: Went to ASC to check on the status. I was told that the parts have not yet arrived. Apparently, this is the first Seltos with the problem. They told me they clubbed my order with a few FL Sonet headlights, and once they arrived, they would call me to bring my vehicle. They say that the warranty process actually starts when the parts arrive. They send the current pictures of the car and then start the approval process. I find it odd that there is no coordination between the SM's.

November 10: Called the ASC again. This time I was told that the parts have still not arrived. They mention Diwali and a few weekends as reasons for the delay.

November 14: This time, I call Kia customer service, and they take the SM into the call. They mention that RH Headlight has arrived while LH is pending. They mention it will be done by November 20. I question him saying that Anantapur to Hyderabad is hardly a day's drive and shouldn't take 20 days for parts to arrive. And since headlight's are potentially one of the fragile things in a car, they should ideally be in stock.

I am not especially concerned about the timeline, as the headlights, apart from looking bad, are functionally fine. My concern is if they take this much time for a minor part's warranty replacement of a new car, what will happen in case of a bigger part or more complex repair such as the DPF or Exhuast system?

And to top it all, I do not know who is at fault- SA, SM, GM or Kia.

Overall, a pretty poor showing by Kia.

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