Ssangyong or Mahindra, that's the question!!

Dear fellow vehicle owners,

3 Years and 6 months and counting - of which I had the actual use of the vehicle for exactly 2 years and 7 months. The rest of the time (11 months) the vehicle has spent in the Ssangyong workshops to be fixed. Very soon another couple of weeks will be added to the non use part.

In my previous post I reiterated the fact that Ssangyong has been incorporated with another well known name brand in vehicles. I did not want to be prejudiced and judge them before I gave them a chance to see if their service were better than what I am used to receiving from SSANGYONG.

Well, a chance they were given, and yet again, I was totally disappointed by the extreme lack of service and the major lack of interest that MAHINDRA have displayed during my recent fiasco with this vehicle I am forced to drive around in. (Yes, remember, I can't sell the piece of crap yet because SSANGYONG loaded the vehicle to sell it to me and I am now sitting with a white elephant).

On the 22 November 2013 I took the vehicle in to Mahindra, Alberton, South Africa so that they can investigate a noise in the engine. The technician confirmed without opening the engine that the noise is caused by a faulty timing chain. I was informed that the timing chain needs to be replaced immediately.

I agreed, as I do not know any better and I need a vehicle for work purposes and can not afford to be without the vehicle. (As a matter of interest I was told by the Ssangyong Dealership when I bought the vehicle that the timing chain will be replaced at 90,000 km as part of the initial warranty. This never happened because the person in question left the company and I am just being told that that was not at all what was said........yet, I know what was said because I was actually there and I still have the person's name).

They went forth and contacted my warranty service provider and obtained authorization to have the timing chain replacement done. This is where the wheels come of all at once.

Instead of first confirming the availability of ALL the necessary parts to complete the work, they got authorization. Only after obtaining the authorization did they realize in all their wisdom that they do NOT have the parts readily available. I was contacted by Mahindra, Alberton on the 24 November 2013 to be told that the parts will only be available after 6 to 8 weeks from date of order.

In effect, this meant that I will be without a vehicle for 6 to 9 weeks at least because the warranty service provider pertinently stipulated that I am not allowed to use the vehicle after the authorization approval and before the repairs were done, as this will cause the warranty to be null and void.

Mahindra, knowing that they screwed up BIG TIME was not at all prepared to assist me by lending me a courtesy vehicle and I do NOT have the finances to rent a vehicle for this period. Therefore I was totally and utterly screwed by MAHINDRA.

To this day MAHINDRA just gives me the cold shoulder and they are NOT prepared to assist me with a loaner, although THEY were the ones that screwed up major league.

I now had to resort to underhanded tactics to at least be able to have a vehicle to use until these monkeys got the parts and fixed the vehicle.

But that's a story for the next blog post.....

Please fellow vehicle owners, if it's the last thing I do on this planet of ours, I would insist that you NEVER BUY ANY KOREAN PIECE OF RUBBISH. Especially not a Ssangyong of any kind or model. First of all, the parts are excruciatingly expensive and secodly, the parts are impossible to obtain within a reasonable time frame at the best of times.

For instance I also need to replace the injectors on this excuse for a vehicle at the following cost: R8750.00 ex vat per injector which is worse than daylight robbery. Other WELL KNOWN name brand vehicles' injectors costs approximately R850.00 to R1500.00 per injector...........

SSANGYONG/MAHINDRA SUCKS WORSE THAN ELECTROLUX!!!!!!!!

I would still love to hear from other Ssangyong owners and their experiences with these (un)intelligent beings from another galaxy called Ssangyong!!

Have a cheerful day my fellow Ssangyongers!!!!! (I can at least try to sound brave, can't I?)   ;-)