[Lutherbendross]

Hi All - my first post here, thanks for reading and appreciate any advice. I bought my 2023 GV70 back on Aug 20 and took it back to the dealer service center to have a trailer hitch installed on Aug 25. When I went to pick it up, they said they'd wash it for me, so I waited in the showroom for a bit, then saw them pull it to the front of the lot. I noticed it had what looked like a big black mark by the rear fender, so I went out to look closer. Well, it wasn't just a black mark, but a large scrape/dent in the rear passenger door, fender trim, back bumper, and even the right rear wheel. So basically the entire rear quarter of the 5 day old car was scraped up.

I went back into the service bay and the guy says "hey, you're good to go". I tell him actually no, the car is damaged. My first thought was one of the car wash guys drove it too close to a post or door entry and scraped it up. Nobody is coming clean, but the service guy quickly puts me in a G70 (the small sedan) as a loaner and sends me on my way. I figured they would take this pretty seriously and get it fixed immediately.

After hearing nothing first thing the next day (Friday), I called to try to figure out what they're going to do. They tell me they have to send it over to their collision center to get repaired, and they have no idea how long it will take, but they will try to call me Monday or Tuesday with an update. Instead of waiting until Tuesday, I went back to the dealer on Monday to try to get some priority placed on this, since they in fact damaged my brand new car. The service guy was alright, but one of the head guys at the dealership was pretty dismissive as if I shouldn't be making too much of a big deal out of this. At this point I was frustrated, but stayed pretty nice and rational.

Tuesday no update, I call again. Friday the service guy finally emails that the collision center is estimating 3 weeks to get parts and paint the car. 3 weeks later (last Friday, Sept 23) comes, he tells me the car isn't ready, that they're putting it through final polishing and QC, but should be ready Monday. Monday, he tells me they didn't like the paint match on the wheel trim, so they're going to repaint that, and it should be ready by Weds. Ok, I definitely want it matched perfectly, so this is fine, I can wait a couple more days.

Weds evening comes, no call, so I call and email, no response or return call. Thursday I call again, no response or call back. So I head over to the collision center because I'm starting to get mad that they're leaving me in the dark. As I arrive in the parking lot, I get an email from service guy, that the collision center had an "overspray" issue, and ended up removing paint from the passenger front door, which was NOT part of the original damage. Now they have to repair and paint that door as well. I went and saw my GV70, and indeed, there is paint removed from the front door. The collision center guy said they had some kind of tape "they never use" on there and it left some residue. In the process of removing the residue, they removed the paint too. Now they've done more damage to the car in addition to what it originally came in for.

During the course of the day, I'd snapped a few pictures from the car's surround view monitor, and I can clearly see a tech removing trim from the DRIVER'S FRONT wheel. Again, not a part that had any damage. I asked the collision center guy why they're working on that part of the car, and he again tells me there was some overspray on the car, and they probably had to remove that trim to try to clean off the overspray. This seems pretty ridiculous to me, since the parts they were painting were on the other side of the car. If it's overspray from other cars they're working on, surely they should cover nearby cars to eliminate any overspray problems.

So at this point, I've paid a lot of money for a brand new car that is no longer new for me. My best case now is I can get the car back next Wednesday, assuming no other problems. I won't hold my breath since these guys don't seem competent in the least. Am I unreasonable in thinking I ought to be getting some sort of compensation, refund of the cost of the hitch/installation, or heaven forbid an actual new car? I've opened a case with Genesis corporate, but they're not much help at all and say it's really on the dealer to take care of it. The dealer and the service guys don't seem to care one bit - it's the worst communication and customer service I've ever received. I sent over a "strongly worded" email to the service guy I've been dealing with, copying someone who appears to be an After Sale Representative from the dealer, along with the Genesis corporate rep, and I've heard nothing back from the dealer. You'd think they'd want to try to repair a relationship with a customer who's purchased 4 vehicles from them in the last 7-8 years.

What actions might you all recommend, or what options may I have to pursue some sort of positive result? I want my car back in new condition, but it seems it will always be tainted.

Thanks for reading, appreciate any advice or past experience with this sort of thing.

Ben

 

[CNST]

Don't know if I can offer any advice but I can surely walk away with a lesson. Check you vehicle before you drive it off the lot. Glad you did but I guarantee if you hadn't, they would have claimed you did the damage. I dropped mine off for service today and they took pictures of the car before doing anything.

 

[CRS1]

Wow, what a horrible, worst case scenario incident to have to deal with on a brand new car. I can just imagine how pissed I would be if it were my car. I would certainly post on social media and share this with others using your dealer. Who is this sad dealer you are working with?
This is and was a concern of mine when deciding to purchase my GV70, the Hyundai service experience. Results so far seem to be mixed, but many do not seem happy with their experience with hyundai dealer service. I'm hoping that as Genesis fleshes out the stand-alone dealers, that this will improve.
In the mean time, if me, I'm seriously exploring replacing that car with another with the hope that the dealer does their best to facilitate a deal that works for me as compensation for their neglect. Let them keep that as a loaner for someone else to eventually buy. Good luck.

 

[Monty]

That is quite a story, but sadly not surprising. I have had a number of poor experiences with the service department at my dealership. And, they never finish a job when they say they will.
My GV80 is usually gone for 2-3 days for a simple oil change service.
But, what are our options? Not many dealers to choose from.

 

[agsmithiv]

I'm sorry to hear about your Service/collision center issues. I can provide you first hand experience that any paint work aside from factory will be susceptible to weather and UV wear and tear, and dependent on your locale, the difference will be noticeable in a few years. Be sure to ask them to specify all parts/panels that had to be re-painted/touched up so that you have for future reference.

 

[Lutherbendross]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have seen the consensus on the poor quality of the service centers across forums and google reviews, so add one more to the list.

I did get the call yesterday that my car was ready to pick up. My wife and I inspected it closely and it does look like they ultimately did a good job matching the paint. I got an itemized list of all of the work done, and the service guy also detailed out everything they had to fix and paint. Of course they had to paint panels adjacent to the damaged panels so they could blend and match. All said and done, I think they did a good job with it. If I had not known it was repaired, I would never suspect it had been re-painted.

The service center threw me a bone and gave me a lifetime service contract, so I'll never have to pay for any maintenance work going forward. I'm certainly hesitant to ever bring it back there though, so I also asked them to refund me the cost of the hitch and installation. Still waiting on that.

 

[MikeTaylorPhoto]

Please let us all know which dealership this is. Thanks. Sorry for all your troubles.

 

[Lutherbendross]

I was waiting to hear back on the possibility of getting a refund on the hitch before outing this dealer. Since they fail to address it, I have no qualms I guess. This is McDonald Hyundai (aka Genesis of Littleton) in Littleton, Colorado.

There is supposed to be a standalone Genesis dealer and service center completed by fall 2023, so I hope that will help things going forward. It's such a shame that the great vehicles are getting marred with horrible service centers.

 

[Monty]

On top of all your issues, I’m sure the dealer charged you a premium for that hitch install as well. There are other threads about hitches, and the consensus is to not use a dealer.
For example, I had a Curt hitch installed on my GV80 at a truck cap place for $289 all in.

 

[janiekay139]

I would hire an attorney and sue the dealership for diminished value to your gv70. When you go to sell or trade in at a later date it will always show as being repaired and refinished. Hence a lesser trade in value. I owned a collision repair facility for 44 years. I have a new gv70 myself and I would have insisted on a replacement vehicle since it was only a few days old.