Riverhead Auto Mall Cheats People Out Of Hard Earned Dollars & Provides Shoddy "Service" Riverhead New York

On January 22, 2007 I brought my 2004 Hyundai Elantra GLS, heretofore referred to as "Lemon", to the Riverhead Auto Mall to get my transmission looked at since the car was slamming into gear.
On January 23, 2007 they call me to say that they replaced my transmission free of charge since it was under warranty and that I could come pick it up at any time despite the fact that I expressed surprise that it only took 24 hours to replace it. They said it was fixed. What do I know, right? I'm only the JERK that bought this lemon to begin with.
I went to pick up the car, went to the parking spot where the car was parked, put the car into reverse and the car slammed FORWARD up onto the sidewalk in front of it. Common sense told me if I put the car into drive perhaps the car would go backwards. So I put the car into drive and to my utter amazement, it did. I went back into the dealer and told them to fix my car properly. They were shocked by what I told them and it took TWO mechanics of theirs to test out the car to see I wasn't lying. Lunacy, I tell you.
The third transmission took two weeks to install (funny, the original replacement only took a day?) and when I came to pick up the car that time, I found the car was slamming into gear just as it had been doing with the factory installed transmission. Once again I went back into the dealership and told them to fix my car properly. By now I am visibly annoyed as anyone would be.
Finally, they return my lemon to me on February 10th 2007 in proper working order but insist I bring it back to do a laundry list of billable maintenance on it a.s.a.p. As politely as I could I told them to shove it.
Since February I've had to put two sets of tires on the lemon. Two FULL sets of tires. Last I checked I wasn't doing any sort of drag racing and I thought I bought good tires but, hey, perhaps it is just coincidence.
Fast forward to September 26th. My lemon won't start when I wake up that morning. I try to jump it, leave it on for 15 mins, shut it off, turn it back on -- and nothing. I have the car towed, thankfully for free using Hyundai's Roadside Assistance program, to the same dealership. I have no choice but to have it towed there because they only will tow it to the closest dealership to your home. I ask if my lemon will be done that day, the service manager tells me it will be.
They took physical receipt of the car at 10 AM. At 4 PM on 9/26, the same day, I call to ask the status since no one bothered to call me from the dealership. The service manager tells me they have three people out sick and they didn't "get" to my car. I ask him why he didn't tell me that at 10 AM when he called to say he got the car and also why he said it would be done that day if he knew he had three guys out sick. He apologized profusely and said he thought it would be done. I don't see how it would be with limited staff but I just wanted my car fixed and since they screwed up my transmission, I didn't want them screwing up the battery.
9/27 - Still no car and virtually no communication. I call and leave two messages for the idiots. No one returns my call. I call again at 2 PM (they close at 4:30) and get the service manager, ask him what the status is and he tells me they just put the car into the bay and that not only has my battery died but my alternator as well. Convenient for them.
He then mentions I need a new timing belt and new front brakes, the latter of which I was aware of but didn't necessarily want them to fix. Because the battery is supposed to be covered under warranty, I don't want to chance voiding it, and since they already have my car, I agree to the repairs. He tells me it'll be around $1250 because he's giving me a discount. Yeah, oookay.
In addition to this he cannot give me a loaner car because the two they have are already taken so he secures me a car from Enterprise down the block which he says they'll pay for.
The next day, 9/28, I call again to ask if the car is done. He sighs and says yeah by the end of the day and wonders why I keep calling. I tell him because they have had my car for three days and they move at a glacial pace and oh, by the way, I do have to go to WORK at some point. I also don't want to be driving around a loaner vehicle.
I pick up my car on 9/28 and the total bill comes to $1466.44. I wonder what happened to the $1250? The labor was just shy of $800 while the parts were only $600. Since they let my car sit for a FULL day without doing anything to it and the second day they didn't start working on it until I called in the afternoon, and I picked up the car from them on Friday at 2:00 PM, I'm wondering where they got ten hours from.
What's more, as of last night, the car began to squeal when making turns. Power steering pump is shot I'm told by someone with a decent command of car knowledge. So now I have to pay out more money for this piece of junk and I'm just fed up with the car.
What really burns me is the bill I had to pay. I know you always pay more at a dealership but as I said, I didn't want to chance voiding any portion of their warranty which at this point is useless since nothing that was repaired was covered under it. I know this now, didn't know it then.
In closing, I won't ever buy another Hyundai Elantra for as long as I live and as for this dealership, unless you want to wait forever to get simple repairs done on your car and close to eternity on major repairs, I suggest bringing your car somewhere else.

Tara
Ridge, New York
U.S.A.