The new Piazza Hyundai Of West Chester offers the highest quality repair and maintenance for your vehicle.The new Piazza Hyundai Of West Chester offers the highest quality repair and maintenance for your vehicle.
Refused to Honor a Class Action Lawsuit-Awarded Warranty
I originally bought my Hyundai because of its stellar reviews in safety and the dependability of the brand. I’m sharing this so that other people can make a better-informed decision than I did, because they avoided honoring a class action lawsuit-awarded extended warranty on the faulty engines they made, in a way that seems much more purposeful than negligent. They win. I’m selling my car.
I have a Hyundai Sonata 2016. A class action lawsuit was filed and won against the theta engines used in this and several other models of cars, which in their early stage of degradation involve burning off oil in the engine and eventually result in the engine breaking down or catching fire. The result was a limited lifetime warranty for the engine.
Due to several instances of having to fill my oil in between oil changes, I began an oil consumption test at the Piazza Hyundai of West Chester on May 16, 2022 and finished August 25, 2022, with them measuring every 1000 miles to evidence the issue. I was told to wait for confirmation with Hyundai Corporate, and that if confirmed an engine cleaning would be scheduled, which would then become an engine replacement if that didn’t work. I was told this review tended to take time, which I understood. Most places were short staffed at the time.
On October 20th, while still waiting for the decision on the oil consumption test, I smelled burning while driving and took my car to my mechanic.
He called Piazza Hyundai for me on 10/20/2022 to inform them that my car's engine was flooded with oil where it shouldn’t be and needed a full engine replacement, and that while an engine cleaning will help briefly, it would not alleviate the issue because the same situation in the motor that caused it to get to that point would still be there. He called Piazza, then received a callback from corporate. He said he was also told during that call that Hyundai's policy is to wait until the engine fails entirely, probably while someone is driving it, before helping with this defect.
He advised me to let them finish looking at the case and then call to see what the next steps were. I called and was told my case was denied, and I asked for a copy of the denial. After collecting a paper copy of my denial from the dealership (as I was told over the phone that they were unable to email it to me), it also seemed my original oil evidencing paperwork was lost, deliberately or otherwise, by Piazza Hyundai or by Hyundai corporate, after I finished my part in 08/25.
I had an oil change on 10/28, and in two weeks my oil had gone from F to L on the dipstick. That has been consistent. I’ve worked to keep filling my oil level to keep it between the L and F lines.
The denial clearly showed the case was opened, denied, closed entirely on 10/20/2022. The reason listed is my engine’s oil burning issue did not involve the internal rod bearings, so it did not qualify for the lawsuit-awarded engine warranty. So the case was opened only after my mechanic called in nearly two months after they said they’d decide on it, because I could smell burning oil while driving and closed when my car was not in Hyundai’s dealership, and denied when they could not have possibly looked in the engine to know what the issue was. I thought this was a misunderstanding at first.
The next part of this is the customer service hell everyone dreads when they’re having an issue– feel free to skip to the end but I did document it.
I called Hyundai’s corporate line (where the denial was made) on 10/28/2022 to try to talk with someone about it. After being told there was nothing anyone could do, I also contacted Hyundai’s Facebook through messenger and had a callback, where I received a case number and was told I would be contacted in 3-5 business days. On 11/01 I called and was told that a person had been assigned to my case and would call 11/4. On 11/03 I called to confirm that was still the case. On 11/04 I called at 7:00 pm, since the window I was given was 11:00-8:00 EST, to check in, but no one could not give me information on if that person was still planning to call.
On Monday 11/07 I called to check in, and a person said she’d look into it, but there was no longer a date scheduled for my call.
On 11/10 I called to check again, I was told the case had been re-canceled without notifying me, but she would relay the information that was still waiting for a call. I also was given his direct extension, and I left him a message asking he call as soon as possible.
On 11/11 I asked Hyundai for assistance again with this through Facebook messenger. 11/14 they assured me he would call soon.
On 11/16, over three weeks from when I brought up this issue, he called me to assure me all cases were final and I could contact either the BBB or their legal team. (The legal team told me they could only help if I was actively suing at the moment, for an engine fire or etc.) He’d been sick was the explanation for the delay, but that didn’t explain why I was told the case had been dropped entirely with no plans to call me after the first scheduled phone meeting was skipped, and of course no information to me without me digging for it. I asked if they could give me information on what /was/ wrong with my engine, or if it wasn’t the rod bearings, how they would know that– if Hyundai had a way of testing. He couldn’t tell me that.
The initial denial on 10/20 cited that my engine did not have an issue with the rod bearings, and that was why the extended lawsuit warranty didn’t cover it. I was also told by my mechanic that the only way to be sure of something like that is to go inside the engine, an expensive and time consuming process that I was told by the dealership would happen only if I brought my car in and kept it there for the day after corporate approved a cleaning–not something that could be done casually during the consumption tests, all of which I was present for.
Considering my case was opened and closed the day my mechanic called to relay that my car was in a dangerous situation and asked about the decision on the consumption test, two months after I completed it, when oil was proven to be clearly burning at a rate of 2 quarts per 1000 miles (then, not now) and when my car was not in any Hyundai dealership, I didn’t understand how they could have come to that conclusion. It seemed shady that this decision was made the same day my mechanic called, and worse that there was no appeal process. I’d been told multiple times that these denials can never, never be overturned. It was now even shadier that when I asked him how these decisions are usually made to try to understand the same-day ruling, giving the benefit of the doubt, he answered that usually pictures of the engine or parts were included with denials, but there were no photos attached to my denial.
I just needed to know what's actually wrong with my engine, and have it replaced. I came in hoping it was a misunderstanding. Now it’s hard to imagine any alternative besides the fact that Hyundai is in a position where they can say what needs to be said in order to not honor an extended warranty, because of the obvious monetary motivation to not honor an extended warranty. It seems like Hyundai understands that most consumers, myself included, don't know what rod bearings are and we have to rely on their word or be lucky enough to have a mechanic or other expert on board. It they can they will just say they’re not the issue, and then they don’t have to honor the class action. It makes me wonder how many people they do this to that don't have the energy to question it.
How did they know that my rod bearings were not a part of my engine’s declining state right now? If there was some other way to check the state of my rod bearings, why wasn’t it done and the denial relayed to me when my oil consumption test was finished, not two months later when my mechanic called them to tell them how much I needed this warranty honored? Or even, why could no one in the dozen of calls I was a part of tell me how they knew?
In the summary email I received from after that 11/16 call, the person I spoke to didn’t even mention the rod bearings as part of my denial, and instead claimed "the Product Improvement campaign 953 was not completed on the vehicle." Yes, the Product Improvement campaign was completed on my vehicle. I have the invoice documenting that, and the Hyundai VIN lookup on the website confirms it's in their records as well. I would have assumed that was an honest mistake at the beginning of this. I don’t now. They say whatever they can.I had repeatedly received wrong information from various people about the steps of this case review at this point, during what has now been a months-long process with time and energy spent on my part to make sure the process happened at all.
It seems Hyundai's goal is to deny a warranty they legally owe however they can manage it, and they hope their customers will either take the first excuse given or just give up trying to stop them because of how difficult they make it. It’s very hard not to believe that that isn’t also part of Hyundai’s policy.
Piazza Hyundai said its hands were tied by corporate's denial. Corporate Hyundai said I could either contact the Better Business Bureau or talk to their legal department if my engine caught fire and I was ready to sue.
I called a manager who’d previously reached out to me at Piazza on 12/9 to confirm they stood with Hyundai corporate's decision on this, and he reiterated there was nothing they were going to do.
So that’s it. It’s hard to write about this without sounding dramatic about the whole thing, but I don’t know what else to say about being consistently lied to and taken advantage of so a car company can avoid personal responsibility on something they made badly. It was exhausting and disappointing, and I hope being transparent about it will help other people make better informed decisions on what type of car they buy than I did. I won’t be buying from Hyundai again and I will advise my family and friends to find someone less blatantly malicious.
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I have a Hyundai Sonata 2016. A class action lawsuit was filed and won against the theta engines used in this and several other models of cars, which in their early stage of degradation involve burning off oil in the engine and eventually result in the engine breaking down or catching fire. The result was a limited lifetime warranty for the engine.
Due to several instances of having to fill my oil in between oil changes, I began an oil consumption test at the Piazza Hyundai of West Chester on May 16, 2022 and finished August 25, 2022, with them measuring every 1000 miles to evidence the issue. I was told to wait for confirmation with Hyundai Corporate, and that if confirmed an engine cleaning would be scheduled, which would then become an engine replacement if that didn’t work. I was told this review tended to take time, which I understood. Most places were short staffed at the time.
On October 20th, while still waiting for the decision on the oil consumption test, I smelled burning while driving and took my car to my mechanic.
He called Piazza Hyundai for me on 10/20/2022 to inform them that my car's engine was flooded with oil where it shouldn’t be and needed a full engine replacement, and that while an engine cleaning will help briefly, it would not alleviate the issue because the same situation in the motor that caused it to get to that point would still be there. He called Piazza, then received a callback from corporate. He said he was also told during that call that Hyundai's policy is to wait until the engine fails entirely, probably while someone is driving it, before helping with this defect.
He advised me to let them finish looking at the case and then call to see what the next steps were. I called and was told my case was denied, and I asked for a copy of the denial. After collecting a paper copy of my denial from the dealership (as I was told over the phone that they were unable to email it to me), it also seemed my original oil evidencing paperwork was lost, deliberately or otherwise, by Piazza Hyundai or by Hyundai corporate, after I finished my part in 08/25.
I had an oil change on 10/28, and in two weeks my oil had gone from F to L on the dipstick. That has been consistent. I’ve worked to keep filling my oil level to keep it between the L and F lines.
The denial clearly showed the case was opened, denied, closed entirely on 10/20/2022. The reason listed is my engine’s oil burning issue did not involve the internal rod bearings, so it did not qualify for the lawsuit-awarded engine warranty. So the case was opened only after my mechanic called in nearly two months after they said they’d decide on it, because I could smell burning oil while driving and closed when my car was not in Hyundai’s dealership, and denied when they could not have possibly looked in the engine to know what the issue was. I thought this was a misunderstanding at first.
The next part of this is the customer service hell everyone dreads when they’re having an issue– feel free to skip to the end but I did document it.
I called Hyundai’s corporate line (where the denial was made) on 10/28/2022 to try to talk with someone about it. After being told there was nothing anyone could do, I also contacted Hyundai’s Facebook through messenger and had a callback, where I received a case number and was told I would be contacted in 3-5 business days. On 11/01 I called and was told that a person had been assigned to my case and would call 11/4. On 11/03 I called to confirm that was still the case. On 11/04 I called at 7:00 pm, since the window I was given was 11:00-8:00 EST, to check in, but no one could not give me information on if that person was still planning to call.
On Monday 11/07 I called to check in, and a person said she’d look into it, but there was no longer a date scheduled for my call.
On 11/10 I called to check again, I was told the case had been re-canceled without notifying me, but she would relay the information that was still waiting for a call. I also was given his direct extension, and I left him a message asking he call as soon as possible.
On 11/11 I asked Hyundai for assistance again with this through Facebook messenger. 11/14 they assured me he would call soon.
On 11/16, over three weeks from when I brought up this issue, he called me to assure me all cases were final and I could contact either the BBB or their legal team. (The legal team told me they could only help if I was actively suing at the moment, for an engine fire or etc.) He’d been sick was the explanation for the delay, but that didn’t explain why I was told the case had been dropped entirely with no plans to call me after the first scheduled phone meeting was skipped, and of course no information to me without me digging for it. I asked if they could give me information on what /was/ wrong with my engine, or if it wasn’t the rod bearings, how they would know that– if Hyundai had a way of testing. He couldn’t tell me that.
The initial denial on 10/20 cited that my engine did not have an issue with the rod bearings, and that was why the extended lawsuit warranty didn’t cover it. I was also told by my mechanic that the only way to be sure of something like that is to go inside the engine, an expensive and time consuming process that I was told by the dealership would happen only if I brought my car in and kept it there for the day after corporate approved a cleaning–not something that could be done casually during the consumption tests, all of which I was present for.
Considering my case was opened and closed the day my mechanic called to relay that my car was in a dangerous situation and asked about the decision on the consumption test, two months after I completed it, when oil was proven to be clearly burning at a rate of 2 quarts per 1000 miles (then, not now) and when my car was not in any Hyundai dealership, I didn’t understand how they could have come to that conclusion. It seemed shady that this decision was made the same day my mechanic called, and worse that there was no appeal process. I’d been told multiple times that these denials can never, never be overturned. It was now even shadier that when I asked him how these decisions are usually made to try to understand the same-day ruling, giving the benefit of the doubt, he answered that usually pictures of the engine or parts were included with denials, but there were no photos attached to my denial.
I just needed to know what's actually wrong with my engine, and have it replaced. I came in hoping it was a misunderstanding. Now it’s hard to imagine any alternative besides the fact that Hyundai is in a position where they can say what needs to be said in order to not honor an extended warranty, because of the obvious monetary motivation to not honor an extended warranty. It seems like Hyundai understands that most consumers, myself included, don't know what rod bearings are and we have to rely on their word or be lucky enough to have a mechanic or other expert on board. It they can they will just say they’re not the issue, and then they don’t have to honor the class action. It makes me wonder how many people they do this to that don't have the energy to question it.
How did they know that my rod bearings were not a part of my engine’s declining state right now? If there was some other way to check the state of my rod bearings, why wasn’t it done and the denial relayed to me when my oil consumption test was finished, not two months later when my mechanic called them to tell them how much I needed this warranty honored? Or even, why could no one in the dozen of calls I was a part of tell me how they knew?
In the summary email I received from after that 11/16 call, the person I spoke to didn’t even mention the rod bearings as part of my denial, and instead claimed "the Product Improvement campaign 953 was not completed on the vehicle." Yes, the Product Improvement campaign was completed on my vehicle. I have the invoice documenting that, and the Hyundai VIN lookup on the website confirms it's in their records as well. I would have assumed that was an honest mistake at the beginning of this. I don’t now. They say whatever they can.I had repeatedly received wrong information from various people about the steps of this case review at this point, during what has now been a months-long process with time and energy spent on my part to make sure the process happened at all.
It seems Hyundai's goal is to deny a warranty they legally owe however they can manage it, and they hope their customers will either take the first excuse given or just give up trying to stop them because of how difficult they make it. It’s very hard not to believe that that isn’t also part of Hyundai’s policy.
Piazza Hyundai said its hands were tied by corporate's denial. Corporate Hyundai said I could either contact the Better Business Bureau or talk to their legal department if my engine caught fire and I was ready to sue.
I called a manager who’d previously reached out to me at Piazza on 12/9 to confirm they stood with Hyundai corporate's decision on this, and he reiterated there was nothing they were going to do.
So that’s it. It’s hard to write about this without sounding dramatic about the whole thing, but I don’t know what else to say about being consistently lied to and taken advantage of so a car company can avoid personal responsibility on something they made badly. It was exhausting and disappointing, and I hope being transparent about it will help other people make better informed decisions on what type of car they buy than I did. I won’t be buying from Hyundai again and I will advise my family and friends to find someone less blatantly malicious.