About April of a very new Kia (used?) car salesman (Jacob) quoted me a reasonable price of $18 thousand for a 2006 Kia Sorento with approximately 25,000 miles on it. Since I was anxious to buy this vehicle for my fiance, and since this was Jacob's first day, a more seasoned dealer (can't exactly recall her name) assisted him with the process.
When it came time to start the paperwork, she announced the price of the car was (slightly over) $24 thousand dollars. Somewhat in shock, I asked: "Is that the total with tax, license, fees, etc., off the lot?" to which she simply replied "that's the price."
Now yes, I should have researched the car more thoroughly, and yes, I should have upped and left at that moment, and yes, I *DID* take a whole bottle of stupid-pills that morning, but, anxious to buy the car for my fiance, I accepted her reply as a confirmation of my question, as she did not answer in the negative.
What follows was a whirlwind of activity during the signing process: Shane McKee was running the paperwork and having me sign on all the dotted lines. Along the way, he casually slipped in a "cooling off waiver" (which I had never heard of and had no clue as to its nature) which I signed along with all the other sheets and sheets of paperwork (there was a trade-in involved.) This "cooling off waiver" turned out to be an agreement that I could *not* return the car within three days of purchase, and to *not* sue the dealership. I found this out much later, the hard way... (read on!)
Shane also told me that the original owner's warranty was not fully transferrable and would expire at 50,000 miles so he sold me an extended warranty for 75,000 miles at some expense. Turns out my original warranty ran until 60,000 miles and what I paid for was a HUGELY expensive extended warranty for a grand total of only 15,000 miles. He also tossed in the gap insurance which, I found out later, is offered by my car insurance at a tiny fraction of the cost I signed for in that room (please remember that everything in that car loan gets interest tacked onto it for five years!)
So—when the final amount of the loan minus trade-in was calculated, I had a $30,000 car note. & Riiiight. Let me remind you: I accidentally took stupid pills that morning instead of smart pills.in a flourish to impress my fiance, we discussed the monthly payment amount, agreed it would be a tight budget yet workable, took a deep breath, and signed.
Took car home: assessed payment amount combined with insurance coverage, took a look at total budget impact, and decided this was not a good deal.
Took car back to dealer the next day (Friday) but was told "the paperwork isn't here, it's been sent in, and we can't undo this now. Check back tomorrow." Called in Saturday, and was told this deal can't be undone because the cooling off period had been waived, and I should check back with the owner on Sunday. (You get the picture.)
The owner (Chris Bostick) says he's sorry but there's nothing he can do. To be honest, there's nothing he *would* do. Certainly he could have agreed to undo this deal, but he refused to do so. As a result, my fiance' and our baby boy have been struggling the past year and a half to keep food on the table and gas in this guzzler Sorento that barely gets 15 MPG (the Voyage I traded in had more room and got 20 MPG!) Sometimes we run out of both food AND gas! But again, I took too many stupid pills that day, so I am ultimately to blame for this tragedy. My point in filing this report is to warn others what a load of CROOKS work at Hickory Hollow Kia! (Although Jason Henderson did what he could to help, his hands were tied by Chris Bostick..."Boss Tick"?)
What infuriates me the most is that 3 months later, another Kia dealership (Planet Kia in Rivergate) was offering the same vehicle, NEW, for $15,000 after rebate. Remember my total loan amount? Yes: I am stuck paying for the equivalent of TWO of these gas guzzling blood suckers! That's at least $9,000 OVER the retail value of the car PLUS the extended warranty that is only covering 15,000 miles PLUS interest.
The worst part about this is, I am sick with myself every day since this has happened. It makes me ill knowing I was such a fool to follow the merry tune they played. When the deal was made, they struck a big gong in the showroom to celebrate another sale. That gong was actually playing the one-word tune: "SUCKER!!!"
My fiance and I have not been able to get married, and she periodically has to move back in with her mother due to lack of food and gas money. When this happens, I miss my son terribly, and I know he misses me because he hugs me sooooo much when we're together.
I honestly hope Boss Tick gets squished. I'd love to see a class action suit against his company for depriving people of their 3-day return period, and all that bloated sac of blood money come pouring out.
Richard
LaVergne, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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