My experience with North Freeway Hyundai's service department -- and, subsequently, the dealership management -- was extremely disappointing! Like Ezra, who posted a Yelp review on 2/15/2024, I would give them a negative star rating if that was possible. Sadly, my experience with them was very similar to Ezra's. This is a good reason to read Yelp reviews before doing business with a company! I certainly wish that I had.
In my case, I took my car in to have an OEM trailer hitch installed - one which I had purchased through the dealership. I asked the service writer to instruct the mechanic to ensure that the part was correct before beginning the installation, which she did in the service writer's instructions to the mechanic. I did this because the hitch they had ordered was not the one listed on the Hyundai web site and I had no interest in accidentally ending up with that particular hitch.
However, an hour later, the service manager (Brandon?) came to me asking for the invoice since they couldn't find the part. I provided the invoice, and they eventually found the part. I asked the service manager why the mechanic had waited an hour to start working on the installation and his response was, "Oh, he had already taken everything apart in preparation for the installation and was very happy that we found the part; otherwise, he would have had to put everything back together." Based on this, the mechanic had obviously ignored the service writer's instructions.
Once they finished with my car, I did a cursory inspection and drove it home. After getting the car home, I did a more thorough inspection and noticed that the hitch had not been properly installed. Specifically, it was not level, causing a noticeable gap between it and bumper on the right side.
I took my car back a few days later and spoke to the service manager. I explained to him what my concern was and provided pictures of my hitch, as well as pictures I had obtained on the Palisade Forum showing one that had been properly installed. The service manager's contention was that his mechanic had done everything properly and that there was nothing he could do. He didn't even bother to inspect the hitch in person (or ask his mechanic to do so) while I was there. When I told him that I wasn't happy, he referred me to his boss (Tim Shipe, Fixed Operations Director).
Although Mr. Shipe was somewhat sympathetic to my problem, he indicated that there was nothing he could do and provided me with the number of Hyundai Corporate Customer Service. I subsequently called them, and they took my name and the details of my complaint, but no one ever got back to me. That was ten weeks ago! So, it's obvious that Hyundai Corporate has no interest in assisting with the resolution of my problem.
At this point, I decided to contact the owner of the dealership (Mr. Peebles) via email. I provided him with a detailed summary of what had transpired (basically the information above) and requested that he do something about it. A few days later. Mr. Shipe called me and left a voicemail indicating that he was calling me about the email I had sent. I called Mr. Shipe back and it went to his voicemail. I apologized for missing his original call and asked him to call me again. I immediately received a text stating, "This is Tim at the North Freeway Hyundai service center. You can text me at this number. How can I help you?" I immediately texted Tim back stating that I was returning his call relating to my email to Mr. Peebles and that I had missed his call because my phone is configured to ignore calls from anyone who isn't in my contacts list. I also indicated that I had added the number he had called me from (plus one other number I was aware of) so that the next time he called, it would go through. Five days later, I still hadn't heard back from Mr. Shipe, so I texted him again stating that I understood that we'd just gone through the Easter holiday, but that I was hoping to hear from him sometime that week to resolve my issue. The immediate - and obviously automated - response was, "Thanks for contacting North Freeway Hyundai."
Three days later, when I still hadn't heard from Mr. Shipe, I sent another email to the owner (Mr. Peebles) summarizing what I have stated above and asking him to please help facilitate the resolution of my issue in a timely manner. That was on April 4, 2024. As of today, April 12th, I have yet to hear back from Mr. Peebles or anyone else at North Freeway Hyundai.
Everyone makes mistakes - that's just a fact of life. I'm not concerned about the fact that the trailer hitch was installed improperly. What I am concerned about is that fact that no one at North Freeway Hyundai seems to care. read more