Not happy with brand new car or garage

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Lak

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We bought a new Hyundai i40 estate car in August of last year and am not happy with the mounting problems and the garages non action on fixing said problems. From the very first week the blue tooth system has not worked, nothing has been done about it despite buying new phones that are on a supposed list of compatable phones for the car, this system being one of the main reasons we bought the car, there is a constant rattle in the window at high speed, when changing into second and fourth it sounds like a gearbox ripped out of a thirty year old scrapyard Yugo, we have been in a number of times and they just keep saying they will deal with it, we wait, no response so we go in again...and again...and again.
Yesterday four times we could not open the doors from the key fob you have to go in through the boot to open the doors, the car was booked in to be inspected by a hyundai man coming down from Dublin on monday, apparently we find out he is not coming at all but the garage guy who told us he was is not even in work this week and has not even bothered to tell us its a non event, we only found out because we asked after this latest problem.
Could anyone advise our rights in this dilemma, I understand you have to give time for any problems to be repaired by the garage but we have had problems from week one and the garage only give assurances but do nothing and the car gets older by the month which I am afraid will go against us...but we just cant get the garage to fix the problems!!!.
 
Car troubles are never fun, especially on a brand new car! Is your car under any kind of waaranty? If you are going nowhere with the garage, i would get in touch as soon as possible with the SIMI (the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. I would imagine that the garage you bought it from is registered with them. They would probably be the best people to help/advise you.
 
As well as taking the advice of Mongola and marion you could contact The Consumer Show. At the beginning of the series they dealt with problems with Renault cars so they could possibly do something to help you. I think that the thought of being exposed on RTE may prompt the garage to be more co-operative. If you have had problems since day one and have given them every opportunity to fix them and they have not done so the chances are they are fobbing you off and it will be more difficult to sort out the longer it goes on. Due to the number of problems with the car I would have lost confidence in it and would demand either a new car replacement or my money back. You should be entitled to this given the short period you have had the car and the lack of co-operation of the garage. Hope you find a solution.
 
I would suggest getting your own motor engineer to assess your car and to do up a report. Send that report with a letter outlining all the issues and contacts you have had with the garage since the purchase. Ask that they take the car off you and provide you with a replacement car during this time. Say they have 14-21 days to resolve the matter or you want your money back... Nothing happens after that solicitor.... But the other suggestions about SIMI,warranty,Hyundai would probably be my first port of call...
 
I've just left a message via the Hyundai website directing them here to this thread and urging them to address OP's issues.

It remains to be seen if action will be taken .....
 
Contacting SIMI is a complete waste of time. They are not there for consumer protection.

Your first point of call is the dealer themselves, contact the dealer principal (owner of the dealership) outlining all of the issues you are having. Your next point of call will then be Hyundai Ireland who are based in Dublin 12 (not far from the Kylemore Road).

A call to the National Consumer Agency should also be made, logging your problems and asking them for advice and if they feel they can assist you they will.
 
Or contact Tina Leonard in the Irish Independent.............she will contact Hyundai and if no fix then bad publicity in paper.
 
Thanks very much for all the swift responses, much appreciated and will certainly be acted upon.
We have decided to leave the car in on monday and give them 21 days to fix the problems or all of the above advised actions will be taken. It wont be the only i40 being returned either, another local who we meet on the school run is absolutely livid with the car and garage after only six weeks, the last straw being yesterday when she unfortunately got two points on her license for using her mobile phone because the blue tooth doesnt work and then she and her kids got locked "IN" their car (as well as other problems) ironic that she regrets now changing over from Skoda's with their undeserved reputation but couldnt sing Skodas praises loudly enough.
In all fairness we know a third i40 owner who is delighted with his car, as are we really, bar the obvious problems., we love the car but are fast losing faith in it...even the key and fob fell to pieces.
When you are told by a garage "ahh sure you must have gone over a bump and dislodged the fuse" when the doors wont open is somewhat incredulous. Irish roads and bumbs/potholes hmmmmmmm !
I called in three or four times about the gearbox and they assured me they would arrange another car for me to drive and compare...a month later nothing, I found my own i40 owner and had a spin to confirm it wasnt just my car, if I had turned up at the garage with 30k in a suitcase I do not think I would be waiting a month for them to arrange a car for me to drive !!!!
 
RonanC said:
Contacting SIMI is a complete waste of time. They are not there for consumer protection.

Your first point of call is the dealer themselves, contact the dealer principal (owner of the dealership) outlining all of the issues you are having. Your next point of call will then be Hyundai Ireland who are based in Dublin 12 (not far from the Kylemore Road).

A call to the National Consumer Agency should also be made, logging your problems and asking them for advice and if they feel they can assist you they will.
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I completely disagree with you on this one. While they may not as focused on consumer protection as opposed to the National Consumer Agency, they will assist in that area as their aim is to regulate but also assist with disputes between customers & garages. A very similar case/situation was brought up on the "Consumer Queries" Monday night on a Dublin radio station with Dermot Jewell who is from the Consumer Association of Ireland and he advised that while they would love to look into that case, the SIMI would be more appropriate to deal with the situation. The cases are very similar. I would be no harm for Lak to get in touch with them.
 
I Have spoken with the national Comsumer agency today as I have discovered that the garage is not with SIMI. They have advised me to put my complaint in writing which I intend to do when I drop the car off on Monday. if the car is not fixed within 21 day I will be requesting a refund for full cost of car or replace with a car of eqaul value...watch this space !
 
I would assume that if the garage has been unsuccessful in fixing the same fault a number of times, you'd be within your rights to return the car and get a refund, less the amount of usage you got out of the car. I have seen people compromise and take a deal on a different car in the same garage as a quick means of getting rid of a problematic car.

[broken link removed]

I've not heard much about SIMI helping consumers. They should really work on promoting that, if that's what they do.
 
Lak, have you tried another Hyundai dealer?
You can get warranty work done with any main dealer.
 
Purple said:
Lak, have you tried another Hyundai dealer?
You can get warranty work done with any main dealer.
Click to expand...

Although this sounds tempting, it's probably not the best idea in the long run in this case, where you may ultimately have to force them to take it back.

If you switch to another garage, you open yourself up to garage A saying it's all garage B's fault and garage B saying the opposite.

Better to stick with the original supplier, to keep it completely unambiguous who's responsible for resolving the issues.
 
Apologies for digging up this thread, but I am having serious issues with my i40, a load of things have gone wrong with it, and i have had no satisfaction with the dealer (main Hyundai dealer).
The electrics have been giving me major problems, the handbrake has stuck on a few times, bluetooth doesnt work, and the fuel consumption is just ridiculously high.
Any other issues out there.
 
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