I only hope one day I can retire and do things like this. Just give me a lawnchair and an iPod, and I'll protest from dusk till two hours before Old Country Buffet closes.

I saw someone like this recently as one of those gas stations that just happen to also sell cars. It was down the street from my house. I thought "Thats right, Stick up for your right" The person was only down there a couple days in a row so I now wonder if they get a better deal, money back or so on. Ill never know. Ill also never buy a car from a place that just happens to sell the gas for it as well.Sticking to my subie.

Think he may have a bit of a problem...he's protesting Hyundai in front of a Suzuki place? Than again I'm not up to date on who owns who anymore these days? Maybe I can be enlightened...

I'd like to know what customer service error caused the protest. I like the Suzuki dealership sign in the background with a PT Cruiser for sale...

My arms would get tired of holding signs in that position within 30 seconds. How does he do it?

I've seen a guy like this out front of a dealer in Arlington, Texas too. Maybe it's pretty common.

Wait, I'm confused - does he hate Hyundai or the dealership that sells Hyundai? I doubt a street corner is the best place to advertise your hatred for a brand of car.

A Hyundai dealership in Hayward CA. refused to replace a recalled part on my car for free even though they were supposed to. That is until my ex called up their corporate office and complained. You have to go all the way up the chain of command to get things done sometimes.

Why didn't whoever took the shot tell him to write up his story for us? Sadly, not everybody knows about this site.

@Radi0logy: It looks like he's on a corner or near a driveway, so it could be that the Suzuki dealer is next door. I still think Suzuki is on its own, but Kia and Hyundai are in cahoots.

As much as I fully support this guy and his woes, I really wish he was more specific about his issue.
Does he really believe Hyundai Sucks or is it just the dealership giving him a new one? Its kind of unfair to attack a complete brand for some customer service issues.
I could see how he would be ticked with Hyundai, as a car company, if he ended up with a lemon but there are laws (and warranties) that protect us from such bad luck.

To the man outside the Hyundai/Suzuki dealership: Keep fighting the good fight. Make more signs and tell us why you are so pissed! Take some tips from disgruntled Rover man and give us a reason to be pissed too!

@Phishy: I'm sure if you walked up to him he would regale you with the whole story. You have to write in big easy to read letters as a "headline". Lots of details on the sign and no one will be able to read it as you drive buy.

@nytmare: Pure, unending rage.

@Phishy: He's got two arms for two posterboards. It's a rather limiting protest medium.

Consumerist + Top Gear = two of my favorite things. Please make this happen, Consumerist!

And for the rest of you, check out Top Gear's website - you can watch a ton of clips online for free, and they are absolutely hilarious.

@nytmare: Righteous anger.

And Andro...

@nato0519: Well . . .

For one thing, I once bought a Subaru from an Acura dealer . . .

For another thing, a lot of dealers are mult-branded . . .

For a third thing, this may be in a place where there are a cluster of dealerships, and the camera angle happens to catch the adjacent Suzuki dealer behind the guy, rather than the Hyundai dealer he's actually standing in front of . . .

There are other possibilities, too, I'm sure.

@ColoradoShark, @rpm773:
Don't let those guns fool you (read: strong sign holding arms). I'm sure this guy could get some yardsale-esque signs to plant into the dirt. It didn't stop the 4 bedroom renter and the, what ironically looks like, yard sale sign!

When I was growing up in the Bucks County Pennsylvania area, I'd often see a car driving around that had "This is a lemon" painted on it. I never did get the whole story, what with being ten years old or so, but that guy certainly seemed to be making his point.

@ColoradoShark: Sadly, it IS just a headline for the picture. If you walk up to him, I hear he says:
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed at ante. Mauris eleifend, quam a vulputate dictum, massa quam dapibus leo, eget vulputate orci purus ut lorem. In fringilla mi in ligula. Pellentesque aliquam quam vel dolor. Nunc adipiscing. Sed quam odio, tempus ac, aliquam molestie, varius ac, tellus. Vestibulum ut nulla aliquam risus rutrum interdum. Pellentesque lorem. Curabitur sit amet erat quis risus feugiat viverra. Pellentesque augue justo, sagittis et, lacinia at, venenatis non, arcu. Nunc nec libero. In cursus dictum risus. Etiam tristique nisl a nulla. Ut a orci. Curabitur dolor nunc, egestas at, accumsan at, malesuada nec, magna." [en.wikipedia.org]

Okay, for everyone weighing in on this...

You, as both a customer and an American, have the right to protest shoddy service... if you stay on the sidewalk outside of the business. Take one step onto the business' property, and you likely will be nailed for trespassing (and any biz that inspires this kind of wrathful protesting is likely to do it, too).

@Phishy: Make more signs and tell us why you are so pissed.
Also, you must be extremely careful and vague about what you write and say. Again, you have to stick to the facts and only the facts when you do something like this, because these kinds of businesses will be all too happy to sue you for defaming them, and slander/libel suits are a bear.

Clark Howard has also covered this ground before...

@FooSchnickens: Yes, Kia and Hyundai are two brands owned by the same Korean company. Suzuki used to be partially owned by GM. The Geo / Chevy Metro and Tracker were just the rebadged Suzuki Swift and Sidekick. I'm pretty sure that GM dumped most of its stake in Suzuki in 2006.

@nytmare: Red Bull gave his elbows wings and incredible bicep power.

@alternatestory: seconded.

Also, I recommend starting with the "what if I get chased through the mall by baddies in a sports car" and "what if I go on an amphibious assault with the royal marines" videos.

@PencilSharp: Very true indeed and completely agree with you. That's where the problem lies though! Last time I checked "Hyundai Sucks" isn't a fact. :)
The Rover guy took your approach to the T. He outlined his issues with his particular truck. He didn't say anything fictitious or anything that directly attacked the brand (or dealership for that matter). A lot of his message was passed through the factual info he had on the window. It was also his SUGGESTION not to "buy one of these (Range Rover Sport)".

If I were the dealership, I would ignore him, except I would send someone out every few hours with a bottle of water and give him a Hot Dog at around lunch time...how long can you stay mad at someone who gives you a hot dog?

@Phishy: It is unfair to attack an entire brand for the failures of one dealership...but Consumerist readers do it all the time, and human beings in general do it all the time. Because no one can possibly experience every dealership to gauge the overall picture (this is why they have surveys) we tend to just go with whoever is disgruntled against a company.

I bet in the next Starbucks-related post, we'll get a ton of people who had one bad cup of coffee there and concluded immediately that "Starbucks sucks!" - despite many people saying they had a decent cup of coffee there.

@pecan 3.14159265: I'm not saying we don't and I'll be the first to cry hypocrite. I just want to find out where this guy is coming from!

@Phishy: OK, albeit he's complaining about No Customer Service. But the story is in the details!

@MakinSense...ForOnce_GitEmSteveDave:I love this site for creating generic text... [www.lipsum.com]

It brings me back to the days of Pagemaker 2.0!

@Rachacha:

As long as it takes for the free hot dogs to add up to the cost of the problem he's protesting?

That could take a few years considering the price of hot dogs...

This guy was either ignored entirely by a customer service rep (entirely possible) or is one of the inordinately fussy and demanding assclowns featured on www.notalwaysright.com.

My brother is one of those people who make the signs and get the sidewalk permit when other methods fail. He had one dealership call the cops on him - but of course he was ready - turned out the cop's wive had a car with a similar complaint they wouldn't address. Of course, he's been banned from one dealership in town, but manages to get good service and just smiles when they tell him no...

I think he was here:
[maps.google.com]

The white building in the background is a trailer that housed a temporary Suzuki location. The Google Maps photo here shows the Hyundai dealer sign.

@K-Bo:

I hope Ford uses those clips in commercial for the Fiesta - I can't wait for that car to come here.

I saw a mad Jeep Grand Cherokee owner in Savannah GA Spring 1995 doing the same thing...

@BennyMigrationWitness_GitEmSteveDave: There was a retired priest who did this outside my college campus. We were never totally clear what he was protesting, but it had something to do with the fact that he loved America.

Whatever, he gave a thumbs up to everyone who honked -- happy honk or angry honk. Whatever floats your retired boat, I guess!

there was a guy that did that here for several weeks atleast. brought car in for some simple repair work (i don't remember what exactly) and the dealership ended up blowing up his engine and wouldn't replace it unless he paid like $3000. he sat out there in a truck with a big sign on the side about how the dealership sucked. I don't ever know what happened, the guy isn't there anymore anyway, lol, but it was a few years ago when this happened.

@kc2idf: Perhaps he's a Suzuki dealer trying to dissuade people from purchasing a Hyundai.

@Phishy: In my city, you can walk around protesting with signs any damn place you want, but the types of signs you can plant in the ground are VERY limited in type, time, and place and you CAN be ticketed (generally under litter laws).

Every year some politician who isn't speedy enough at getting his or her signs out of the public grassy areas after the election gets litter tickets. And certain grassy areas you can't put them at all, typically for safety reasons (they can obscure vision at a turn) but sometimes for environmental reasons (restoration area, drainage issues, etc.).

Am I the only one that things a flash mob with the appropriate signs would be a great way to picket?

For what it's worth, I bought a used Elantra a few years ago and have had no problem getting free warranty service from my local Hyundai dealer.

@chattanooga: And they didn't give the old usual "independent franchise" blah blah?

The swami sez...

You're gonna see a lot of stories and pictures like this if FIAT brings their unreliable griefboxes to the U.S...

@amhorach: It's been done!

[consumerist.com]

Thumbs up for Hyundai - the car. (And for the local dealership where we've purchased three of them to date.)

Thumbs down for bad service anywhere.

@Applekid I had my ex deal with them because they tended to take a guy more seriously, especially one that knew how to work on cars.

@nato0519: Most likely the picture was just taken at a bad angle in the Suzuki dealer is next door. Or maybe the dealer sells both and only that sign got in the picture.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Same thing goes in my city too. Heck, they even kicked the Liberty Tax people out of town b/c they though morons in Statue of Liberty suits were more of an eyesore than signs in the ground.

To all:
My point wasn't to argue the logistics of conveying information. It was the lack of information that this guy was presenting to the table. Hard to be sympathetic when we all know that customer service sucks at some point in time. (Not saying I doubt the legitimacy of his angst though)