Below is the article carried in Korea’s Top Gear, September issue.
The tyranny of Hyundai and Kia Group against the customer is never ending.
By misusing the fact that the law has loopholes, the tyranny is being aggravated day by day, and the nation(Korea)’s corporate, Hyundai and Kia Automobile group is differentiating the domestic and export cars in their sales.
Reverse discrimination, such as cost reduction that is way over the board, warranty discrimination, service, steel sheets, sales price condition is causing countless number of damages in Korea.
Below is a story about one consumer’s experience in Korea, after purchasing an automobile, and the current status of it.
Let’s hear his story!
There’s a person who has gone to the overseas motor show because of a car service problem. The side voicing out dissatisfaction, and the side that claims that they are proposing a solution according to the rule. As always, the gap between them does not seem to narrow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fundamental cause of the problem arising from the purchaser of the automobile and the company is the difference in opinion. That difference does not seem to narrow at all. In most of the cases, the purchaser is the weaker side. When it comes to the solution of the problem, the purchaser does not have it their way. In another words, the company ends up getting the result that they want. Automobiles are made with defects in thousands of parts. This is the cause of the defect. Even if there are no defects, faulty parts are bound to arise in the manufacturing process. The problem is, even if a consumer is experiencing inconvenience because of these faults after spending tens of millions of won on the car, even if a serious problem is threatening the safety of the purchaser, there is no proper way to be helped. The companies hardly acknowledge the defects, and they are very passive when it comes to the exchange of cars. In the end, the purchasers spends the hard earned money, filling the pockets of the companies, while he, himself has to go through all kinds of inconvenience. The current issue involving the purchaser, who received the exchange for the Genesis Coupe, explicitly show a purchaser who is faced with these problems, and the insincerity of the company.
Chung Min Sang, who purchased Hyundai’s Genesis Couple, experienced a fall in the RPM after driving about 1,000 kilometers in 2 months and visited the Hyundai service center. Hyundai service center asked Mr. Chung to provide them with evidence that the RPM fell drastically, and Mr. Chung was able to submit the car’s black box video which showed the RPM dropping and even the engine dying. However, the Hyundai service center did not acknowledge this, and in turn, blamed Mr. Chung for inexperienced driving. Judging that it would be difficult to solve this problem through the official channel, Mr. Chung decided to perform a One-person demonstration at Seoul Motor Show, with the intention to inform the people about the unfair service. Through this, Hyundai promised to exchange the car, however, Hyundai did not keep the word for more than a month. In fact, they asked him to pay additional cost for the exchange.
This time, Mr. Chung decided to change the venue to Shanghai Motor Show for the One-person demonstration, and this was when Hyundai exchanged the car for a new car. However, the problem did not stop here. The exchanged car, too, had problems. There was a problem with the air-conditioning, there was a knocking phenomenon in the engine, and serious noise from the car itself and most importantly, there were dismantle traces found in the car that made him doubt that the exchanged car was not a new car. Hyundai service center repeatedly claimed that the car was not a defect and that it was a new car. So, Mr. Chung has no choice but to bash up the car in front of the Hyundai service center. This is the status of this issue now. Mr. Chung posted this issue on the internet, using the nickname of “One-person demonstration,” and this created 2 reactions from people. One calling him brave for trying to seek the rights of a consumer, and the other calling him a black consumer.
When met with Mr. Chung, he was no different from other people. He did not have a strong background, and moreover, he didn’t have an extraordinary job which allowed him to voice out his opinions strongly. (Mr. Chung is currently helping his father’s business.) However, Mr. Chung’s previous job was involved in exporting second hand cars, so it can be said that he has a little knowledge about the problems of cars and defects. The reason why he was able to bring this issue forward was because he was able to analyze the problems of his car. He believes that anyone should find their own rights when faced with unfair situations. It all depends on whether the people act it out or not.
Behind the issue mentioned beforehand, there are more cases. The case whereby the police ordered him to get out of the Seoul Motor Show because it was causing serious damage to Hyundai, the case that Hyundai would report him and take legal actions against him for defamation, if he continues to demonstrate. The case that he received Dispute Settlement Co-operation request, and also the case that a few Hyundai service center employees visited his office telling him that they would file a suit, and so on. Mr. Chung’s methods might be extreme, but other than these extreme measures, there is no other way to settle this dispute.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I believe that anyone has the right to seek
Their rights when faced with unfair situations. Mr. Chung, too, believes so. However, it all depends on whether people act it out or not. The difference is that Chung has taken action actively.”
There’s no way that Hyundai would resolve this issue. The Customer Protection Agency has informed him to drive the car as it is, because they only have the rights to arbitrate in between the parties. Mr. Chung found this truth to be deplorable. It was pitiful that there were no consumers actively taking actions, and began to think that maybe a small change could be brought if small steps were taken.
Mr. Chung is currently requesting evidence for the dismantle traces, in another words, on the fact that Hyundai claims it to be traces which is naturally created in the manufacturing process.
However, Hyundai repeatedly explains that it is not a problem, and is delaying any sort of evidence. Mr. Chung just wants a valid explanation from Hyundai, or an apology from Hyundai, and if so, he would continue driving this car. He does not want any compensation (Mr. Chung has not requested for any kind of compensation, any kind of mental compensation or for the loss). However, Hyundai refuses to apologize.
Of course, it’s not possible to listen to one side of the story and judge the faults. The promotion department of Hyundai passed on their opinion. Hyundai said, “We have said that we would rectify the problem, and we are taking action in according to the principle,” and with regards to Mr. Chung’s claims, they said, “We are taking all the actions but we don’t know why he is doing this.” In each situation, they are counter arguing the facts bit by bit, and are claiming things that are totally different from Mr. Chung’s opinion.
Hyundai may be claiming that they are acting based on the principles, but in fact, in the shoes of the purchaser, it is not an appropriate resolution. This is where not only Mr. Chung but other purchasers who have experienced damages because of defects agree on.
The distance between the purchaser and the company is too big. The bigger problem is that there is no way to narrow this gap.
