Below is the email I sent to Hyundai corporate, who called me within a day or so. Chloe at Corporate was very helpful and apologetic, but said she couldn't do anything unless I discuss the issue with the local Glenbrook Hyundai management first. I told her that I don't want to deal with the local dealer anymore based on my discussions with Service. Obviously, there is a local problem since there are so many low reviews. $429.16 is not worth that much more frustration to me, but now I know what kind of dealer they are so will go elsewhere.
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I wanted to share my first Hyundai experience with you...
First of all, I'm a brand-loyal consumer. I'm still driving my original 2004 Saturn ION Quad Coupe, persuaded my parents to buy their Saturn Vue in 2005 and they're still driving it, and my daughter had a 2009 Saturn ION Sedan until someone hit her and totaled it a few months ago.
We purchased a used 2015 Hyundai Elantra with 58,722 miles from Evans Toyota, as I've heard a lot of good reports about Hyundai. Everything had been going great with it until one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago. My daughter tried to start the car and couldn't get the ignition switch to turn with either key. I looked online and tried the suggested fixes, rapidly turn steering wheel while turning the key, verify the transmission is in park, depress the brake, etc., but nothing worked. Fortunately, the car was in the garage and my daughter wasn't stranded somewhere.
I called the local Hyundai dealer, Glenbrook Hyundai, and discussed the issue with Justin Stump, a Service Advisor. He requested that we have it towed there to look at, as he thought they could figure out what the problem was in the first/free 30 minutes, since it sounded like a simple issue. I sent one set of keys with the car, as neither set worked anyway. He called later that day and requested the second set of keys, as he said he couldn't get the first one to work properly in the ignition, driver's door, or trunk. I took him the second set and while I was there, he verified that the second one worked in the driver's door, but still not the ignition.
Justin called later and suggested that the tumblers were worn out, possibly because of a poorly cut key(s). We contacted Evans Toyota and they said those were the keys that came in with the vehicle. Justin couldn't confirm that the keys were the original Hyundai, so said the only option was to replace tumblers/keys. He gave me a price of $399 for all 3 (ignition, driver's door, and trunk) or $270 for just the ignition.
I was surprised that all of the tumblers/keys would wear out at the same time and looked online to find other owners with key issues as well. I suspect we had only used the keys in the ignition because we had key FOB's, so hadn't noticed it before.
I understood there was a 60K warranty, but couldn't turn the ignition on to check the mileage, so had no option but to have them all replaced. Justin ordered the parts and a couple of days later, called and said that they would have to break the lower steering column cover because they can't turn the steering wheel to remove the cover screws. (That sounds like a poor cover design to me.) I suggested that perhaps they could just remove the steering wheel, as I noticed the same thing at home while researching the issue online, but opted not to do it myself because of safety concerns. He thought that was a good idea, so discussed it with the technician and proceeded.
Later that day, he called me again and said it was done. However, the total was now more at $429.16 because of the extra time to remove the steering wheel. I was rather frustrated, but again, really had no option but to have my wife/daughter pick it up.
When they got home and I saw the Invoice, I noticed that it only showed that they replaced 1 Key/Cylinder set, not 3. I thought that perhaps he replaced the other 2, but didn't charge because the price was already over the original estimate. If that was the case though, I would expect him to show the parts on the Invoice with $0 charge for them. I went out to try the keys to verify everything was working and then discovered that there actually is not even a trunk lock on the Elantra to use the key! I'm not sure how he determined that the first key didn't work on the trunk days earlier, but the Invoice even shows "ONE KEY SLOW TO TURN IN DOOR//INOP ON TRUNK".
So, I'm not sure if I was being scammed by them or what, but am definitely not feeling comfortable at all to use them for anything ever again.
The car actually had 60,858 miles on it when they "fixed" it, 858 miles out of your warranty. I asked if there were any recalls for this, thinking perhaps he could contact Hyundai, but Justin said there nothing he could do because anything over 60K miles is out of warranty.
So, I'm not feeling really comfortable with my first Hyundai purchase/service experience and wanted to express my concerns and displeasure.
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