My Standoff with Hyundai - What would you do?

As some of you who read my blogs regularly may know, communications strategy is what I do. And if you are a client, you will know that when you are in a battle, my advice has always been that going public should not be the first step, but rather a last resort. As you will see as you read on, in this battle, short of hiring a lawyer, that’s where I am, having exhausted all other options.

Life is full of surprises, isn’t it? 

I’ve had a few that have left me wondering about Hyundai Canada and its Fredericton dealership under the ownership of the Steele Auto Group. Not sure which is most at fault but from my experience they are giving each other a good run. I am going to share that experience here. You can call it a public service or see it as simply my way of not allowing bad behaviour to go unchallenged. 

Surprise #1

“What I do know is that I lost a sunroof through no fault of my own and had to pay the dealership more than $4000 because of it.”

A few months ago I purchased a used car, specifically (and specifically is important in this case) a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Sport. I loved the car, but then one day driving the old highway along the Mactaquac head pond, the sunroof popped open about a quarter of an inch. I hit the button to close it, but it popped open again. So I closed it again. Then it not only popped open again but flew completely off the car. The whole sunroof, completely gone. 

Imagine my surprise at that. Then my thoughts turned to relief because if someone had been following me it could have gone through their windshield, and what if it was a motorcycle? I shudder to think. But this was to be only my first surprise in this story.

I didn’t purchase the car from the local Fredericton Hyundai dealership, but I did take it there for repairs. The repair, which was actually a replacement of the sunroof and its mechanisms cost me more than $4000, considerably more than the $2800 I was first quoted, which was a hard enough pill to swallow. They told me the car wasn’t under warranty and suggested I should check to see if insurance would cover it. I did, and as I expected, it wouldn’t because the problem was a mechanical defect, not caused by a chunk of ice or kamakazie bird or any such thing. 

As you would, I told the story of what happened with my sunroof and what it cost me to friends, including my brother. 

Surprise #2

Surprise #2 came a few days later when my brother phoned to tell me that he discovered that what happened wasn’t a freak thing. Rather it was something my specific make and model of car was susceptible to and in fact, Hyundai had recalled them because of it. 

“The other thing the dealership failed to tell me, as I found out later, is that I could have easily found a perfectly good second-hand one for four or five hundred dollars and had it installed.”

I checked the website he referenced, and others, and sure enough, Hyundai Sonatas manufactured in 2015 and 2016 had this particular manufacturer’s defect. In fact more than 60,000 of them in the United States and 11,000 of them in Canada were subject to recall because the bonding on the wind deflector can come loose causing the sunroof to break away.

Imagine my surprise that the Hyundai dealership wouldn’t think to mention this. My mind went to how the conversation up at the Steele Group-owned dealership may have gone. Perhaps something like this..

Service Manager to management – “you know that problem with that recall related to the sunroofs blowing off our Sonatas?”

Management: “Yes, of course.”

Service Manager:  “We just had a guy in who had that happen to him.”

Management: “How did you handle it?” 

Service Manager: We replaced it and charged him over 4-thousand dollars”

Management: “Did you tell him about the recall?

Service Manager: “No, nobody said a word.”

Management: “So we made money from our own faulty workmanship?”

Service Manager: “Yep.”

Management: “Alright! High fives all around!”

Of course, that’s fiction, maybe. And maybe unfair given that apparently the local dealership did go to bat for me. More on that below. I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that I lost a sunroof through no fault of my own and had to pay the dealership more than $4000 because of it. The other thing the dealership failed to tell me, as I found out later, is that I could have easily found a perfectly good second-hand one for four or five hundred dollars and had it installed.

Enter Hyundai Canada

After I learned about the recall, but before the local dealership requested I be reimbursed, I got in touch with Hyundai Canada’s Customer Relations department. They took my VIN number and on checking confirmed that yes indeed; my car was among those under a recall because of the sunroof. They assigned me a case number and told me to go back to the dealership.

You’d think that at this point their response might have been an apology for not mentioning the recall or the far less expensive repair option, and refunding me my money. That though would be wishful thinking. Not these guys. The dealership told me they checked with Hyundai Canada and in fact submitted a claim for me to be reimbursed but it was refused. Hyundai Canada says they will not reimburse me because the recall has nothing to do with the sunroof. This is truly mind boggling, given that a problem with sunroofs suddenly flying off Sonatas was the total reason for the recall.

So, I went back to Hyundai Canada as I wanted to have a little heart to heart with somebody in a decision-making position. But by design, the only people at Hyundai that callers can reach are in the Customer Relations department. They refused to give me the name of anyone in upper management. They said they are the public face of the company so they are the only ones customers can interact with.  So their job isn’t really customer relations as much as it is acting as a barrier between wronged customers and those who could make things right.

Deliberate, strategic accountability avoidance

Because of their refusal to give me the name of an appropriate manager in charge, even a small claims action isn’t possible because I would need a specific name to fill in on the form. I expect they realize this, which is part of the reason they refuse to identify such people.

So accountability isn’t Hyundai’s strong suit. But going away quietly when I feel I have been wronged isn’t mine. So here we are at this stand-off.

It’s kind of a David vs. Goliath thing. They have the weight and resources of a multi-national corporation on their side, and all I can do is tell my story and hope that the negative publicity will shame them into doing the right thing. 

This blog is my first volley in this effort. Perhaps the first of many. But it is not something I take any pleasure in. As some of you who read my blogs regularly may know, communications strategy is what I do. And with clients who are in a battle, my advice has always been that going public should not be the first step, but rather a last resort. In this battle, short of hiring a lawyer, that’s where I feel I am. 

If you have ever been wronged by a company that considers itself too big to need to act responsibly, you’ll know where I’m coming from. If you feel inclined to help, you can do that by sharing this far and wide on your networks, or tell your friends over coffee or a beer, or perhaps these days it’s more appropriate to ask that you make it part of your chat in zoom meetings. 

Who knows, maybe together we will be part of helping the people at Hyundai understand that you can’t treat people this way and get away with it.

Thanks for reading. Now please share.