On March 28, I went to Central Kia of Lewisville to test drive a Sorrento. After crunching the numbers, it became apparent that I could not afford to purchase a Sorrento. I wanted to leave, but my salesman, Nick Baki, had one of the sales managers, David Alford, come talk to me. He started talking to me about looking at a Sportage.in fact, he said to me, Youre going to buy one of my cars today its just a matter of which one.
Because I hadnt planned to purchase a Sportage, I had not researched any of the features or available options. I test drove the car, we came to an agreement on the price, and then I had the misfortune of dealing with Derek Van Flenner in Finance (thats a whole different set of complaints that I will report to the Attorney General).
When I got ready to drive away in my new 2007 Sportage LX, I asked my salesman (Nick) for the remotes. He looked in all the compartments in the vehicle but could not find them. He stated that someone had apparently removed them and he would order a new set and that when I came to pick them up it should only take a service technician about 5 minutes to program them.
The next week I called Nick about the remotes and he said they came in and the service department had them. Because I had to pick up the remotes during regular hours when a service tech was on duty, it was 4-11-07 before I was able to return. I had also been informed by Derek Van Flenner (Finance) that I needed to resign the loan papers because I had gotten a lower interest rate. This is the excuse they used to have me resign the papers so they could cover up a fraudulent act on their part (this is the matter I will be reporting to the A.G.). They also refused to give me a copy of the original loan papers.
Back to the remotes. It was 4:30 (on 4-11-07) when I delivered my vehicle to the service dept. To program my remotes. I watched three technicians working on this and at 5:00 (quitting time) I was told by Chris (service advisor) that for some reason the remotes werent programming and I would need to bring my vehicle back when I could leave it for at least a day so they would have time to figure out the problem.
It was 5-30-07 before I had a day that I could just sit and wait for 3-4 hours while they worked on my remotes. They dont offer loaner cars so I had no choice but to sit and wait. Because I had been told by my salesman that somebody had removed the remotes, I felt that Central Kia should pay for a rental car so I wouldnt be inconvenienced (anymore than I already had been). I left a message for the general manager, John Viola, but he never returned my call (In fact, over the first 5 weeks after buying my car, I left multiple messages for different employees regarding various matters and NOT ONE call was ever returned NOT ONE!). I then wrote a letter to Mr. Viola (sent certified and was signed for on 5-7-07) and a copy to the owner, Paul Fotopoulos (also sent certified), and Kia Motors America.in the letter to Mr. Viola, I explained the details regarding the remotes and my request for a rental car at their expense and asked him to call me to discuss the matter. While I received a call from Kia Motors America, no one from Central Kia ever contacted me.
I finally realized that I had no choice but to sit and wait while they worked on my remotes. Because I was angry that they had ignored my calls and my letter, I decided to have a t-shirt made that I could wear while I was waiting in their lobby. On front and back, the t-shirt read, Dont Buy From Central Kia. At the very least, I thought it might speed things up with my car.
Within 15-20 minutes after delivering my car to the service department, the service advisor came to me and told me that the reason my remotes wouldnt program was because my vehicle didnt have a keyless entry system installed. I later found out that its not even an option for my particular model. How is it that my salesman, Nick Baki, nor the three service technicians who spent 30 minutes working on it on 4-11-07 did not know this?
Because Nick was off this particular day, the service advisor spoke to someone in the sales department and told me they would be with me shortly. After at least 30 minutes had passed, Mike Parks (sales manager) approached me. When Mike read my t-shirt, instead of being concerned that they had an upset customer, he very flippantly said, I wish I had that much free time on my hands I need a hobby like that. After I briefly explained the situation about the remotes, he said, So youre wanting something for free that you didnt pay for. I explained to him that until that day, no one had told me my vehicle didnt have this feature. I explained the story in detail, how Nick had ordered the remotes, etc. And Mike responded, So you say. Now hes accusing me of lying! He told me he still didnt understand where the remotes came from so I explained to him again that Nick had ordered them and the service department gave them to me on 4-11-07 when they first tried to program the remotes. Again Mike told me that he didnt know where the remotes came from. He was actually implying that I somehow got my hands on a set of Kia remotes and was making this story up to trick them into installing, at their expense, a keyless entry system.
Considering that until that day my understanding was that I did have this feature, why would I purchase remotes on my own? I would have gladly paid extra to have this feature added at the time I purchased the vehicle, but no one informed me I didnt already have the feature.
Mike Parks informed me that Central Kia would make things right and would install a keyless entry system to my vehicle at no charge; however, he told me they would be taking it out of Nicks paycheck and that if Nick disagreed with my version of these events, that Nick would have to take it up with me personally (meaning he could sue me if he chose to).
First of all, if they choose to take that out of Nicks paycheck, thats their business. It was very unprofessional for him to tell me that in an attempt to make me feel guilty as though I was running a scam. Secondly, as their customer, I find it highly offensive that they would condone their employee suing me over whatever amount they will be subtracting from his paycheck. They actually made me sign a statement acknowledging that they would install this feature on my vehicle as an act of kindness and that if Nick takes exception to this, he would take it up with me personally.
I did some calling around today and found out the company they would be using to install the keyless entry system (since its not a factory option) and found out it only costs $99. I cannot believe Mike Parks was this rude to me and accused me of lying and scamming them over $99! I decided I would rather pay this out of my own pocket than to let Central Kia touch my car. Ive canceled my appointment and told him I would be filing a complaint with usacomplaints. Coms.com regarding his behavior.
I wear my t-shirt every time I go to the store or to run errands. I want to make sure no one I know ever does business with Central Kia. This has been the biggest nightmare I have ever experienced in doing business with a company.
Laura
Dallas, Texas
U.S.A.
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