Phil Smith Kia - Service Center

I own 5 Kia's at this time and I live way on the west side of town,(an hour and a half drive ) but I will take any of my KIA's to be serviced at anytime needed to Phil Smith Kia, you make an appt, they r side of town,(an hour and a half drive ) but I will take any of my KIA's to be serviced at anytime needed to Phil Smith Kia, you make an appt, they remind you the day before and when you get there they do a complete check over your car to see if everything is ok inside and out of your car, then they fully listen to you explainning what is the problem with your car , then they explain what you need to have done and answer every single question you have,and also the dollar amounts it will cost you. If you have to wait , they have a driver that will take you to a little shopping center and when you are ready, he will pick you up (it beats you sitting there bored to death)and take you back to the dealer, at which time your car is ready and with a full explanation of everything that was done to your car. I have been coming to Phil Smith Kia for many, many years, and will continue , when it concerns the service for my Kia's, I only trust Phil Smith Kia service dept, and the service manager Sean Vega , and at any given time the dealerships manager himself will come by and greet you and make sure you are getting excellent service, and anything else you might need. Very Satisfied customer More

ALERT!!! WATCH OUT OR PHIL SMITH MIGHT TRY TO CHARGE YOU A LOT OF $$$$$ FOR AN UNNECESSARY REPAIR!!! Phil Smith Service told me I needed to "clean" my engine at a cost of over $1700!! Fortunately, becau A LOT OF $$$$$ FOR AN UNNECESSARY REPAIR!!! Phil Smith Service told me I needed to "clean" my engine at a cost of over $1700!! Fortunately, because the cost struck me as an absurd amount of money, I had the idea to take the car to another shop for a second opinion. As I suspected, the second shop agreed that the diagnosis by Phil Smith and Phil Smith's request for $1700+ to clean the engine were ridiculous. The other shop said that in 30 years of working on cars they had never even heard of any engine needing this kind of cleaning procedure at such an expensive cost. Instead, if the engine was truly ruined (it wasn't) I would be better off getting a new engine for just slightly more money than the $1700 cleaning fee that Phil Smith wanted. Further, the other mechanic said, upon inspection of the engine, no such cleaning procedure was necessary at all!! The other mechanic said if I wanted the engine completely cleaned internally that it could be done in a state-of-the-art manner for less than $200 -- not $1700! The other mechanic said they suspected the dealer was trying to run up the charge for some reason, perhaps to convince me it was time to just buy a new car. Incredibly, this was a discussion that I had with Phil Smith Kia, so that rang true to me. If I had taken Phil Smith dealer's word for it, I would have paid the $1700 apparently for no reason! Also, Phil Smith Kia would not let me take the car to the second mechanic until after I paid a diagnosis fee of over $100 to Phil Smith. Keep in mind, I had not agreed to this in advance, but Phil Smith would not let me take the car until I signed an "authorization" for the work -- AFTER THE FACT! I think this is outrageous. But, as a practical matter I had little choice if I wanted to get my car back! Then, after I took the car to the second mechanic who verified that the $1700 "engine cleaning" was bogus, you would think that Phil Smith would do the right thing and apologize for the misdiagnosis and refund the $100+ diagnosis fee. After all, why should I pay $100 for a diagnosis that was completely incorrect? But, incredibly, Phil Smith has stonewalled and refused to refund the $100+ diagnosis fee (more about this below)!!! This is very disappointing because I have spent a lot of money over the years with the Kia. I have had very positive experiences at other Kia dealers, but I do not believe Phil Smith dealer is trustworthy or reasonable. If you are in the market for a Kia or need repairs, I suggest you stay away from Phil Smith. BUYER BEWARE. Finally, note that I contacted Phil Smith several weeks prior to writing this review and communicated my concerns in a reasonable manner. Phil Smith would not agree to refund my charge card for the amount of the fee (what I requested), but did offer a "store credit". I think this is just bad business -- I do not want a "store credit" because no longer trust Phil Smith and I am concerned that would just inflate the cost of any future item by the $100+ so that, in effect, I never really get the credit. Personally, I do not feel that Phil Smith made an honest mistake, but rather I feel that they intentionally tried to get nearly $2000 for a bogus repair that was not needed. However, as I told them, even if it was an honest mistake, I felt that it was appropriate, in light of the second mechanic's finding, that Phil Smith refund my $100+ (and not as a store credit). More