While some dealers are using the coronavirus pandemic to try to force customers into extending their lease, that’s nothing compared to dismal treatment people received from a Hyundai dealership in Culver City, California.
As told by the LA Times, customers dropped off their vehicles for service at Nissani Brothers Hyundai and expected them to be fixed. While this typically wouldn’t be a problem, the cars were reportedly towed away without warning.
If that wasn’t bad enough, a storage company began asking the dealership’s customers to pay thousands of dollars for their “abandoned vehicle.” In the case of one customer, her 2019 Hyundai Kona was raking up $150 (£122 / €137) in daily storage fees and was told their vehicle would be sold unless she paid approximately $6,000 (£4,884 / €5,483) in cash.
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That obviously shouldn’t have happened, so the paper went looking for an explanation. After multiple attempts, the publication got in touch with someone claiming to be the dealership manager and they said Nissani Brothers Hyundai closed in March due to the coronavirus. The person went on to claim less than five cars were towed and only after the dealer made repeated attempts to contact owners.
While that sounds plausible, there’s more to the story. The LA Times reached out to Hyundai and a spokesperson told them the coronavirus had nothing to do with the dismal customer service. Instead, the “dealership voluntarily ended its relationship with Hyundai on April 6th” and, prior to this, “moved vehicles that had been dropped off for service to an off-site facility in order to vacate the property, without informing Hyundai nor the customers who had vehicles at the dealership for service and repair.”
That sounds pretty shady and Hyundai spokesman Jim Trainor revealed the company is aware of at least 11 vehicles that were towed from the dealership. He went on to apologize and say Hyundai will “make this right.”
Thankfully Hyundai is keeping true to their word as they’ve gotten cars out of storage and taken them to a nearby dealership. The company also said anyone who paid to get their cars out of storage will be fully reimbursed.
The whole story is worth a read and you can check it out here.
https://www.facebook.com/NissaniBrosHyundai/videos/1802386416498778/