Another chapter in Shit Management

Continuing my rant about shit quality from a few days ago, I took my 1.5 year old Hyundai Elantra in for it's 36000km oil change/service on Saturday. It had been there for about an hour when I got THE CALL. Problem #1 - my front tires were worn out and needed replacing - and they aren't rated so there's no type of warranty on them. These tires, which I had rotated regularly, came with the car, and no, there is no alignment problem either. At least the guy was honest and apologetic when he told me that the stock tires are crap. But still...

Problem #2 - my rear brakes were completely worn out, just down to the last 3%, but before the squealing starts. Considering that this is a front wheel drive vehicle and the front brakes were fine, I found that hard to believe. It seems they wore down because they weren't releasing all the way (so I was driving around with rear brakes on - but lightly enough that I wouldn't notice), which in turn caused the rotors to get overheated and require machining. Long story short - need new rear brakes, brake adjustment, and rotors machined. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy at this point, but opted to get the brakes fixed since it's just a wee bit important to have proper brakes. For the tires I'm going to shop around.

When I went to pick up the car, the service guy informed me that he'd done some investigating and found out why my rear brakes weren't releasing as they should - there is a problem with my parking brake cable. Now get this - this is the real kicker - the parking brake cable replacement is covered under warranty, but the resulting damage to my rear brakes is not! Now, this guy did not have the authority to override this, nor was there anyone else in the dealship at the time who could. The best he could do for me is place a call to Hyundai on Monday and see what they say. If they don't agree to pay for the repairs, then he'll have to talk to the Service Manager to see if the dealership will cover it. In the meantime I had to shell out almost $500 to get my car back. Not happy, not happy at all. I didn't take it out on the service guy though, since it wasn't his call to make, but I did tell him that I wouldn't take no for an answer, and I'll await his call.

I'm already in a fight with Bell that's gone all the way up to the President (and now I'm winning). I have no problem doing the same with Hyundai. I'm prepared to take them to small claims court if necessary. Even if I don't win there (and I can't see why I wouldn't) I'll have at least cost the company more than my measley few hundred dollars to send a lawyer. However, the service level at the dealership is great, so there's a good chance they'll come to the table. Otherwise they'll wish I'd never bought a car there.