Suntrup Kia South

YIKES!!!!! Unreachable & Unprofessional!!!!!! I don't even know where to start and I am not one to write reviews, however, this whole experience has been a nightmare and I think it needs to be sha I don't even know where to start and I am not one to write reviews, however, this whole experience has been a nightmare and I think it needs to be shared! Before I start, I want to make this very clear... This has NOTHING to do with any other department other than the SERVICE DEPARTMENT. I apologize for the length of this review, but per Suntrup's response to my husband's review, they want other consumers to "hear the truth" so I feel I must be as detailed as possible. Although there are other complaints I have, I will stick with these two because they are the only ones that matter. Complaint #1: No one answers the phone when you call. It's nearly impossible to get an update on your vehicle or speak with someone about compliments/complaints. Complaint #2: Brian Richter, Dave Gower & Elliot Silk are extremely unprofessional and rude. Here's the backstory: We purchased a Kia out of state that had a light on. Before making the purchase, that dealership assured us that we could bring it to any Kia dealer back home (St. Louis) and have it fixed because it was covered under warranty. We brought it to Suntrup Kia South to have it fixed. There were several issues while it was being serviced (covered under warranty/not covered under warranty, payment, etc.), but the biggest issue was that after over a day of it being there, no one called to update us or let us know if it was done. I am not exaggerating when I say this... WE CALLED CONTINUOUSLY FROM BOTH OF OUR PHONES FOR CLOSE TO 2 HOURS!!!!! No one answered the phone. I finally told my husband to take my car up there to check the status in person. It had been done for a few hours! Suntrup Kia South said this was not covered under warranty so the out of state dealership cut a PO to cover payment. My husband received a receipt from the cashier and they released the vehicle. One day later, the light came back on. This is when my husband left a Google review about the horrible service regarding them not answering the phone or updating us... He did not mention anything else about the light coming back on or anything like that. This is where it gets a little humorous... Suntrup responded to his review, naming everything else that went wrong (while basically blaming my husband) EXCEPT for what he actually complained about! They didn't say one word in their response about the fact that no one answered the phone. I am not sure why they even responded if they weren't going to address the ONE issue my husband mentioned. Because it was impossible to get a hold of the service department, we decided to take it to a different dealership to get it fixed... again. This is where I want to give HW Kia of West County a HUGE shout out! They were responsive, engaged, informative, empathetic and NICE!! Highly recommend them!! They told us that it was actually going to be $1,300+ to fix. After speaking with the out of state dealership that we purchased the vehicle from, they told us we needed to take it back to Suntrup Kia South since that is who we originally brought it to for repair. Obviously we weren't thrilled about having to do that, but it is what it is. We tried calling to make an appointment, and, guess what - No one would answer! The out of state dealership ended up making the appointment for us. When we dropped it off, Brian Richter (Service Consultant), who dealt with my husband previously was there serving another customer and overheard my husband telling the other consultant about our situation and why we were back. That is when Brian stopped what he was doing with his current customer and started raising his voice at my husband. He mentioned how he told my husband "this" and "that" and that he didn't appreciate the Google review because it "had 5 people coming after him to see what was going on". My husband politely told him to finish up with his current customer and that they would discuss it when the other customer left. Brian was rude while he checked my husband in but gave him his card so he could be contacted directly. We didn't hear anything all day so my husband called Brian directly in the afternoon. Brian actually answered but quickly transferred my husband to Dave Gower (Service Manager). Dave told my husband that it was going to be a few MONTHS before he could get to our vehicle because they are busy, backed up and they prioritize their customers based on the reviews they are given - Because of that, we should just come pick up the vehicle. So, what I'm hearing is that because my husband wrote a bad review, that is why it would take months to get to... right? My husband then asked for his manager's information and all he would give him was his first name. He just said that "Wayne" would call him back. We weren't going to wait for a call back so we reached out to someone else we found online via e-mail and he forwarded it to Elliot Silk (Service Director). Wayne ended up calling and said that he would talk to Elliot and call us back. Elliot called my husband back and said that he remembered the situation from the time he initially left the Google review and asked what he could do for us. My husband told him that we just needed our vehicle fixed and that Brian/Dave were basically refusing to work on it. This is when Elliot said he stood by Dave (Bravo!) and that we should do what my husband suggested in his review and "go elsewhere" to get it fixed. Something else I forgot to mention earlier is that Dave and Elliot both said we "stiffed" them the first time we came in because we didn't pay. If payment wasn't made, how did we get the vehicle back and why do we have a receipt? I don't care that the light came back on after it was serviced and I don't care that they refused to service our vehicle. What I do care about is that no one ever answered the phone, there was never any type of follow up, Brian made a scene and neglected another customer just to get his "words" in to my husband, and that both Dave and Elliot only refused to service our vehicle because of a bad Google review. Any company can refuse to provide service to someone and I get that and am ok with that. What I don't get is that if they weren't going to service the vehicle, they should have told us that when it was dropped off or called us to let us know. That did not happen. In conclusion, after speaking with the out of town dealership, we will be taking our vehicle to HW Kia of West County (thank goodness!) to have it fixed and the out of town dealership will be covering the cost. If Suntrup Kia South would have been better about answering the phone and weren't always in such a rush then we could have explained everything to them regarding warranty, payment and what the out of town dealership told us. I suggest you get a better phone system, put a proper follow up procedure in place and train your employees on how to speak/not speak to customers... especially while in front of other customers. It doesn't matter what the situation is or if you agree or disagree, EVERYONE deserves to be spoken to politely and respectfully. While receiving proper customer service from HW, we will be trying everything we can to get in touch with Craig and Butch Suntrup. We will also be reaching out to the Kia Regional Manager to let him know about this experience. More

Purchased of New Optima S From sales , test drive, finance and after the sales everything was ery smooth and professional. Great experince. Brandon and Dan were both very kno From sales , test drive, finance and after the sales everything was ery smooth and professional. Great experince. Brandon and Dan were both very knowlegable about all the models. More

Great overall experience Suntrup Kia was well stocked with plenty of options to look at. Sales staff was helpful, knowledgeable, and did not feel pushy. Once we decided we wan Suntrup Kia was well stocked with plenty of options to look at. Sales staff was helpful, knowledgeable, and did not feel pushy. Once we decided we wanted to purchase that day, the rest of the process (price negotiation, paperwork, and finance) was cordial and pretty quick. The wait between sales and finance (where there is typically a bit of a bottleneck) was very short. In general, the staff seemed committed to giving customers a good experience and wanted us to leave happy. My only knock was with the explanation and purchase of the extended care plan. The options were explained in pretty generic terms instead of just showing specifically what was covered and not covered under each plan. A lot of the explanation was verbal, and it would have been more helpful to see it written out. I don't blame our individual finance officer for that, but rather, it seems to be a bit of an industry trend to not just come out with all the care plan information up front. Additionally, it would have been nice to leave with written information about our extended care plan purchase. We will be receiving a Welcome Packet in the mail with the information, but I wish it was provided at time of purchase. But again, I have a positive opinion about Suntrup Kia South and I would recommend anyone interested in a Kia to give them a good look. More

Awesome buying my vehicle through Suntrup! Love my Kia! Love the free car wash offer! Katy was wonderful in helping me test drive! I found what I wanted through a ton of options! Great place to do business! Love the free car wash offer! Katy was wonderful in helping me test drive! I found what I wanted through a ton of options! Great place to do business! Friendly people that knew how to treat a customer! More

Good used car purchase experience Experience was good. Staff was friendly and helpful. Overall process was not drawn out. Expectations were met and would look to do business with Steve Experience was good. Staff was friendly and helpful. Overall process was not drawn out. Expectations were met and would look to do business with Steve Johnson in the future. More

Loved having Kelly she was awesome!!!! Made me feel very comfortable in purchasing my car. Very detail answered all my questions Great experience for me. comfortable in purchasing my car. Very detail answered all my questions Great experience for me. More

More than service with a smile! We were truly blessed to have Katy Cumberland as our salesperson this past Wednesday. She went over and above our expectations in our purchase of our We were truly blessed to have Katy Cumberland as our salesperson this past Wednesday. She went over and above our expectations in our purchase of our Kia Sorento. I had heard good things about this dealership and that was the reason we went there to start our search. I am pleased to tell you I am very impressed with this young lady and will recommend her to my friends and family. Thanks so much Katy for all you did to make this purchase such a nice experience. Gratefully, Elisa Waugh More

excellent on all levels Great selection of pre own vehicles. No typical used car salesman tactics. Excellent communication. Extremely positive experience. I’ll buy my nex Great selection of pre own vehicles. No typical used car salesman tactics. Excellent communication. Extremely positive experience. I’ll buy my next car from Steve too More

Amazing service!!! In and out quick!!! Steve was absolutely amazing! We couldn’t of asked for better service. Went to a few other place and they don’t even compare to suntrip Kia. Anyone wh Steve was absolutely amazing! We couldn’t of asked for better service. Went to a few other place and they don’t even compare to suntrip Kia. Anyone who comes should ask for Steve. More

Purchase of 2017 Sportage Internet representative (Lexi W) was great and followed up on each question promptly. Sales representative Steve Johnson was very friendly and made th Internet representative (Lexi W) was great and followed up on each question promptly. Sales representative Steve Johnson was very friendly and made the experience easy and seamless. More