Wow. - Jake
Wow.
I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated.
I bought my 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX through this dealership and had a wonderful buying experience - no pressure from the sales guys, very limited “upselling,” and generally honest and easygoing customer service throughout the entire process.
BUT once I had an issue (a very minor one at that), I had the most bizarre and ridiculous experience I have ever had in all my years of car ownership.
I called the service department numerous times and left voicemails to try and set up an appointment, but I just couldn’t get through. (RED FLAG #1)
I finally called the front desk line for the dealership itself and the lady was nice enough to get me on the schedule. She apologized and told me the nearest appointment they had was a month out. (RED FLAG #2)
Well, my wife dropped off the car for its service yesterday at 11am, and we figured it wouldn’t take that long. She had planned to wait there. She asked them how long it might take and they told her it depends on the nature of the issue - if parts will need to be ordered and replaced, or if is a simple fix. They did not advise how long it would take for them to diagnose the issue, but they told her they would call or text once they knew. (RED FLAG #3)
I assumed that this diagnosis process couldn’t possibly be that hard, as the only issue was that the button on the driver’s side door to adjust the rear view mirrors wasn’t working properly (it only adjusted the passenger side mirror). Later in the day around 3:45pm, I texted the number for “Dennis,” since he texted me prior to the service and said I can text/call during the service. I also tried calling and left a voicemail. I just wanted to know if the car would be diagnosed by the end of the day. No response. (RED FLAG #4)
Dennis finally got back to me the next day (today), at 7:51am. They still hadn’t looked at the car yet. I asked what the timeline was for getting the issue diagnosed. Crickets. (RED FLAG #5)
As of 4pm today, more than a day after dropping it off after waiting a month for this appointment, I was fed up and went to get my car back. I have a two month old infant at home and will be driving to work tomorrow. I need my car. Well, they gave it to me right away, so that was nice. No explanation, no apology, just a look of surprise on the face of the guy I explained the problem to. And guess what? Button is still broken, and not a single thing had been done yet, including diagnosis of the issue. INCREDIBLE. (RED FLAG #6)
I looked up the reviews for this dealership. HAH. Lo and behold, I am not the only one to experience this issue with terrible service. (RED FLAG #7)
Looks like the managers are pretty proactive about responding to online reviews. Usually it’s an apology and a request for the person to reach out to them. I’ll get ahead of the ball on this one and ask all the questions I need answers on:
1. What was the point of scheduling an appointment a month out, let alone scheduling an appointment at all, if you don’t bother to even look at the car?
2. What on earth is going on over there that has your employees so swamped that they can’t possibly provide service in a remotely reasonable timeframe, even with the use of an appointment system?
3. I bought the lifetime oil change plan when I bought my car, was that a mistake?
4. Will your service department be able to provide that service?
5. To be honest, I’d rather you just give me my money back on the oil change plan… Is that something you can do? (Or will you expect me to find more “lawful” means of recuperating the cost of that if oil changes are a problem too?)
I will not be coming back to this dealership for any reason other than to unfortunately find out how bad the oil change situation is…
Maybe if that goes smoothly I’ll revise this review and give it a whole two stars LOL.
In the meantime, I’ll have to find a different Kia dealership that won’t waste my time. Wish me luck!
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