Hyund
ai has been touting its Blue Link services for many of its cars that enables services such as remote start, roadside assistance and telematics. Some buyers are perturbed that if they buy keep Blue Link services for one-year, the entire Blue Link system is disabled with a steep fee to reinstate the service, which is a basis of a lawsuit.
Hyundai buyers should be aware that the service after being inactive for a year, renders the hardware inoperable and requires new hardware with installation for $500 to reactivate the service, lowering the resale value of the car.
New Hyundai cars come with one year trial Blue Link, a lawsuit “Guy Coss v. Hyundai Motor America,” alleges that Hyundai failed to inform car buyers that the Blue Link system is disabled if inactive for more than one year and to reactivate the system an owner will need new hardware at a minimum cost of $500. The original wording stated that after the subscription expired there would be a “small connection fee”.
The plaintiff, who bought a 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid received a notice on January 7, 2015 from Hyundai notifying owners of its Blue Link vehicles whose Blue Link subscriptions were inactive for more than one year, that “If you do not reactivate your Blue Link services by January 28, 2015, your current Blue Link system in your vehicle will be permanently disabled.”
Hyundai further informed owners that the system could be reactivated, but it would require new hardware by a Hyundai dealer at minimum of $500 to replace the Blue Link unit in addition to the new subscription fees.
The lawsuit accuses Hyundai of threatening to permanently disable the Blue Link system and render the hardware useless, thereby causing a loss of value of the vehicles.
The complaint alleges Hyundai violated its contract because the window sticker the Blue Link system was a standard feature on affected vehicles.
We recently looked at the fees for Blue Link for a new Hyundai vehicle. Unlike GM’s OnStar which gives owners five-years basic service for remote start features, the Remote Package and the Blue Link app requires a “Blue Link Subscription.” We also found a different pricing structure when the Blue Link service was announced. Scrolling through the Hyundai website, it was very difficult to figure out the exact pricing for Blue Link.
On the Blue Link page it states “Features, specifications, and fees vary by subscription plan and are subject to change.”
Hyundai sent us the current pricing for Blue Link, it is offered in three service packages: Connected Care, Remote and Guidance each cost $99 a year.
- Connected Care package (complimentary for 1-year) $99-a-year thereafter.
- Remote Package (Blue Link Subscription Required) (3-Month complimentary trial package) $99-a-year thereafter.
- Guidance package (3-Month complimentary trial package) $99 a year.
The Hyundai website also states car owners can not buy services a la carte.
When Blue Link was announced in 2011 the pricing was as follows according to a news release:
I am battling with Blue Link now , I have a 2013 Sonata Se and this is the first time that I have had a Hyundai with Blue Link in it. This is also the first time that i have had to renew my service since I purchased my car. I love the Blue Link I use it all the time , however like I see on here that everyone else has stated that I will not buy any more Hyundai s because of all the problems I have had trying to renew my service. I wanted 3 years of service with all 3 services together, I was told that I needed to wait until it was closer to my renewal time. I did that which my renewal time was July 23,2016. I called Blue Link to renew my service they told me that they could not renew it for 3 years and they did not know why it would not let them renew it, How ever they did say that they could renew it for 2 years for 600 and some dollars. I told them no I wanted 3 years , that I would call back closer to the time. July 8 I was at the dealer and asked if they could help me they said that they only do new subscriptions, that I needed to call Blue Link. I came home from the dealer called Blue Link AGAIN, I did get a hold of Lisa who works on the Gen 2 side of bluelink, Lisa was able to help me and told me that she could renew my services that I wanted for 3 years ( mind you this was after I gave her my information so she could get into my account) which was fine. Lisa ran it through and said ok it is letting me renew your services for 3 years for 504.00. I was good with that. Lisa told me to log into my account to make sure it said 3 years on my end , I did log in and it only was for 2 years. Lisa did a conference call with the Gen 1 side of Blue link to see if they could get me a “good will year of service since I had gone through all this hassle of trying to renew my service. Nicole on the Gen 1 side said that she would put in a request to do that, and that her supervisor would call me on the next Monday. Well I can say Monday came and went and no one called me, Friday I called back to Blue Link talked to the same person as I did the FRIDAY before Nicole. I was told that her supervisor was out of the office that day but, Nicole of her supervisor would get a hold of me the next week. Well again NOONE called me back, I have emailed Hyundai told to call Blue Link. I called Blue link on Wed and put on hold and on the phone with them for 45 minutes with the same out come . Only 2 years of service when I was told I have 3 , so I called again today almost 1 Month from when this all started and was on the phone for over an hour , I was told that only corporate could issue the good will year of service. I was given the phone number to corporate, which is Hyundai Motor America,. I called them and told them why I was calling , guess what I will transfer you to the department that deals with that. They transferred me BACK TO BLUE LINK.
I am done with calling Blue Link, does anyone know how I can file a complaint, and where I would need to go to file it against Blue Link & Hyundai?
Sorry so long , but thanks for the help
Since you took the time to write this comment. I suggest you copy the comment, and mail a letter to the Corporate headquarters. $500 is lot of money for services. You can also make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Hyundai Corporate is in Irvine, California.
FYI: Many of these services including OnStar are contracted out to third parties. I suspect Blue Link is now provided by Verizon.
If you call say I would like to “escalate this to a manager.” Sometimes that helps.
when they let customer to select services a la carte then they will restore truth with those people that are very unhappy about the their rip off.
And on top of that you can’t even disable it and put in a 3rd party remote starter! I like my Hyundai but I won’t buy another is it has BL.
Ripoff, I purchased a loaded Azera , was thinking of Santa fe until blue link reared it’s ugly head. NEVER AGAIN HYUNDAI! !!!!!!!!
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I agree, Bluellink is a rip off for the price everyone can not afford that pricing When I signed on
after the trial i was told it would cost $99 When i got my credit card bill for the second year it was $198.00 no one explain edthat you have to get the connect care in order to get remote start , The customer service is so nasty you can’t get this without getting that. So I told them i did not want any of it.
Blue Link support sucks. I would be very reluctant to purchase another car with Blue Link. This is so unfortunate as Hyundai cars are excellent.
Blue Link is more for Hyundai`s benefit than for the customer. They have the ability to monitor everything you do. And to make it even worse, there is no way to deactvate it. Even if you never register with Blue Link, it keeps sending Hyundai all your information.