Great Lakes Hyundai of Columbus — Local services in Columbus

I really wanted to avoid saying anything negative but the entire process of buying a car from this dealership was ridiculous and I really feel like people need to be aware and even avoid buying from this dealership.

Pros: I love my car

Cons: Most of the questions I asked the salesman were answered with “I don’t know” Before buying the car I had it inspected. They found that the front 2 tires needed to be replaced, the serpentine belt needed to replaced, the wheels needed to be realigned, and both air filters needed to be replaced. When I brought this to the dealership, they said they would take care off all of those issues. Their version of “fixing” the problems was to replace the front 2 tires with USED tires that were less worn out. Now each tire is going to need to be replaced at different times since some are older or newer. They replaced the serpentine belt and realigned the wheels. And they never replaced the air filters. When I left, they gave me the packet with all my paperwork. But when I got home I realized they also accidentally gave me the previous owner’s private information. I know how much he traded the vehicle in for. I know what car he bought, how much he financed it for and what bank he used. I was given documents that contained the last 4 digits of the previous owner’s social security number and both his home address and work address. And his phone number and email were included as well. When completing my paperwork, I was told I would have my Memorandum Title mailed to me. 6 weeks later I still didn’t have it so I called and asked if it would be mailed to me soon. The man I spoke with on the phone asked me for all my information, he plugged it into his computer and told me his computer showed that it had already been mailed out and I would be receiving it soon. 2 weeks later I called with 2 days left before my temp tags expired and 2 day before a very important business trip I had planned. After calling multiple times, I finally spoke with Ashley and asked if I could have the memorandum title emailed to me since it clearly wasn’t going to be arriving in the mail. She then informed me that my paperwork never even got finished and that they never even submitted the information for the memorandum title. So the man I had spoken with 2 weeks before clearly could have cared less and obviously did not want to deal with the problem. Instead of fixing the issue, he lied and told me it was on the way. 😤 Ashley was kind and helped me. She got all the paperwork finished and said she’d email me the next day. The next day came and I never got an email so I had to call a ridiculous amount of times to get ahold of a manager to help me fix the problem. They finally emailed me the number needed. So, the day before my long trip, I had to deal with the added stress of having to go to the title office, pay to get my memorandum title printed and then go to the bmv to get my plates.

At the end of the day, I love my car. But the people I dealt with at the dealership were negligent, dismissive and a complete headache to work with. I felt very disrespected by the man who blew me off and told me my memorandum title was on the way. He knew he had an opportunity to fix the issue but instead, he caused an even bigger issue for me to deal with in the end. I have no respect for the fact that I was told the issues the car would be fixed and they did the absolute bare minimum they possibly could. I wish the salesman we worked with had been more educated about the car’s information and other questions we asked. And even if he didn’t know, I wish he had made more of an effort to find the information we were asking for. I think it’s ridiculous that they let me drive away with the car without ever finishing the title work. And for the love of god, I should not have had to call such a ridiculous amount of times just to get the problem solved.

P.S. don’t buy from this dealership and DEFINITELY do not expect to get a fair trade in value for your car. The previous owner...

I have bought as of last week five Hyundais. Three from Dennis Hyundai on Morse Road. I’ve have had several interactions with GLH, since they bought the dealership on Morse Rd. Not a single interaction has been a positive one. First and foremost their phone system is atrocious! It’s nearly impossible to get a hold of the service tech when trying to follow up on my car. It’s so bad that I tell every single GLH employee about how bad their phone system is, and when I do, they all tell me “yes we know”, but yet it hasn’t gotten any better. It’s so bad that I’ve had to drive to the dealership in order to talk to someone 4+ times. Despite my experience with GLH, I went ahead and traded in my 2021 Santa Fe hybrid in for a 2024 Tucson hybrid. My sales experience was over-the-top horrible. To start with I took the day off on a Monday arrived at the dealership around 10 AM. We didn’t complete the deal until after 6 PM. After negotiating and agreeing on the price with my sales person and shaking hands on it. The price that was put on the financing agreement included additional items above the amount that I had shaken hands on. Due to the fact that I had been there eight hours and I was already late for a 6 PM appointment. I didn’t review the paperwork closely enough and didn’t catch that they had charged me for a $995 fabric and paint warranty. I noticed this fact, and attempted to contact GLH 1st thing Tues. morning, but of course I couldn’t get through their phone system and my salesman wasn’t answering my calls to his cell phone; Therefore, I drove to the dealership after 5 PM (after my workday) to try and get this removed. First, my salesman wanted to argue with me about how I had consented to the fabric protection, but finally agreed to “redo my paperwork“. Before leaving the dealership, I asked my salesman to promise to keep me updated as to when I should come back in for the new paperwork by the time Saturday arrived I still had not heard anything from GLH so I drove to the dealership again for two reasons, one was to redo my financing paperwork, and the other to point out that they had made an error on the odometer paperwork on my trade-in. The paperwork showed my trade-in had 10,000 miles more than it actually had once they realized that they had to redo their paperwork, they were very interested in helping me. I waited approximately three hours for them to “redo the paperwork“. When I get called back into the financing office, turns out all they wanted me to do is sign the new odometer paperwork. They had no intentions of redoing my financing paperwork, the only remedy they could offer is to cut me a check for the $995. Given my experience with them I declined to sign the paperwork until they had my check ready. They already had three business days to cut me a check already. Wouldn’t you know it, first thing Monday I get a phone call that my check is ready and for me to come in to sign the paperwork. So on Monday, I drove to the dealership again to sign the odometer paperwork and to pick up my refund check. Despite the fact that I took delivery of my new Tucson a week prior, they still had not gotten in the mudflaps or crossbars that were part of the deal, so I had to come back the following Monday to drop off the car so that they could install them, which meant a second trip to pick up my car. The crossbars that were installed, were the black ones and not the aluminum ones that I had requested, just another example of how incompetent GLH has been in every interaction I’ve had with them. I’m so afraid of interacting with them at this point. I’m gonna keep those black crossbars and be done GLH. If you can’t tell, I would not recommend GLH as a dealership to purchase or service, a vehicle.

p.s. I shared my experience directly with the GLH service manager in Dec. 2023 and the sales manager last week. I have more examples that I could share, but google doesn’t have enough room for me...

One star is generous and not earned. The 4+ stars you see above with over 2,000 reviews was when this was Dennis Hyundai. Great Lakes took over in name but cannot claim the positive reviews they inherited.

NEVER GO HERE. In fact, my next car won't be a Hyundai as a result of this dealer. Dennis Hyundai was okay. Great Lakes....complete and utter nightmare. Worst experience of my life.

Any positive reviews are in sales if you look closely. The body shop is slow and you won’t be a priority (take the estimated completion date and x 3) and the service center has consistent negative reviews on here with similar themes, with Amber then making a statement about how they care, and to call them. Unfortunately, it is too late. I asked to speak to a manager during this and tried to resolve through the Better Business Bureau, and Great Lakes Hyundai did not engage in either. So I most certainly will not be calling Great Lakes Hyundai. I will drive out to Dublin if I need a dealer. But I have found that Midas on N. Hamilton in New Albany is trustworthy and skilled. If you want to know what great customer service is from a service center, go there!

In summary regarding Great Lakes: They don't stand by their work Their body shop took 3 times longer than estimated. There was no offer of a loaner when my car rental ran out. They regularly cite how many cars they are working on as a response to why they are taking long, there are no loaners, etc. Not my problem. Every time the service center addressed something, it was not right. I asked for a manager to call me several times, and that was never honored. I never spoke with a manager. They spent 3 hours not finding something that another place found in 30 minutes. Unskilled, incompetent service center Poor communication and operations coordination between body shop and service center. It is like your car is hostage and nobody calls you back. Zero consideration in making the customer happy. Like...zero.

Details if interested: They had my car for 6 weeks for body shop work that was supposed to be 2 weeks. But actually the worst part was the service center as I asked for a multi-point inspection after the body work was done. Then the body shop noticed that after their multi point inspection, the car was still rattling, and they sent it back to service. There was something they missed in a multi-point inspection which makes no sense. So back to the service center it went. The first alignment they did was not correct, and the body shop had to send it back yet again. The body shop told me to drive it before leaving, and I asked the service center to do that, and they said that it had no gas so I couldn't? Since my car had been stolen and came in with no gas, they were okay with me leaving with my gas light on and blinking. That blew my mind. So...if it did not have gas, did they not drive it to check the work they did?

Then I get the car back after 6 weeks and a lot of stress (car rental benefit ran out, I paid for some rental out of pocket, had to rely on others to get to work, no option of a loaner, and zero compassion or urgency from this dealer) and drive it, and it is not right. When I steer far right it jerks, and when I brake it pulls right. I took it back. I sat there 3 hours for them to come out and say that everything looked fine and nothing was wrong. They said that they could spend more time but that would cost more money (I am thinking - I am not paying for you to correct your work.)

I took it to my local Midas on Hamilton Rd., New Albany. Best experience of my life. Within 30 minutes they knew what was wrong and showed me on the car. Great Lakes had replaced the RF ball joint but not the LF ball joint. When Midas showed me the left front ball joint, it was loose and rusted. So Midas fixed that and realigned it (because it WAS off) and now my car...