Sunset Yellow Discussion

[Kato_the_kia_stinger]

I just got back from a dealership in P.A. and leased another Sunset Yellow GT. I saw a deal I couldn’t refuse and I am getting my other Sunset Yellow bought back. It worked out monetarily for sure.

 

[Marc Millard]

How exactly did you make an offer to buy the car back? You mentioned it took one week to get an official denial?

I finally got around to adding mine to the list

 

[derek0609]

Latest update: my original rep that was handling my replacement case quit and KIA didn't think to look over her cases. Needless to say, I put in 2 phone calls to the consumer service number plus the rep who handled my repaint and I have a new rep but I am back to day 1. The red on red in South Dakota is still available and my new rep is working with the dealers to get a trade accomplished.

 

[Marc Millard]

A cluster @#$? Waiting on the 5k $. Called the woman. name? Said we never received your paper work . Resubmitted it. Then tried to contact said person again .this is where the blood pressure rises. COULDN'T GET A HUMAN!! JUST A MACHINE .UUGGGHHH !!!! to be continued

 

[gilthanis1]

Sent the paperwork in to get my check a couple of days ago, got an email from Kimberly about an hour after I emailed her that she had sent the paperwork in for my case and the check would be coming in 7-10 business days....which is insane. I know some of the first ones to get a repaint done were told 4-6 weeks to get the check.

@Marc Millard Who did you speak with at the Stinger Customer Service line? My original rep left and I got a new one.

Sunset Yellow - Ceramic Coated Finally! -- Finally got her ceramic coated and picked her up this morning!

 

[derek0609]

My rep called me Friday night, and the HiChroma red on red replacement car is on hold @ the South Dakota dealer for me. They are currently working on getting the car transported to Michigan.

 

[Keith Ruff]

I just got back from a dealership in P.A. and leased another Sunset Yellow GT. I saw a deal I couldn’t refuse and I am getting my other Sunset Yellow bought back. It worked out monetarily for sure.

Was it already repainted?

 

[Kato_the_kia_stinger]

Was it already repainted?

Yes. And it looks absolutely incredible

 

[twn2rbo]

Hmmm. Don't see mine on that list. Then again I can only see the top 100 or so.

Like I thought though...GT2 is more limited.

I tried to add mine as number 68 last digits are 021516

 

[Kato_the_kia_stinger]

Yeah if it isn’t already on the list, just add it to the bottom.

 

[Expert4]

I sent this below letter to Kia so I will let u know if I get a response.

I wanted to write this letter to Kia to express some of the stress and discontent I am feeling towards Kia for mishandling the painting portion of this campaign.

I am writing this formal letter to discuss my 2018 Sunset Yellow (limited edition) GT Stinger. I regret to tell you how unsatisfied I am with the decision to paint a portion of the car with the Kia Voluntary service campaign. The decision to paint a portion of the car was not a good decision by Kia and based on feedback from all the yellow limited Kia owners almost all the repaints have been a failure and the only acceptable ones have been from guys that decided to settle with a mismatched car. Most of the them decided to settle only did so because they were leasing the car and decided the pocket the 5k check.

Those that purchased the car like me are now stuck choosing between a car that was painted poorly or deciding to purchase a new car.

I personally own three Kia cars right now including a 2014 Sorento EX, 2015 Optima SX and now a 2018 Stinger GT Limited with a botched paint job. I have been a loyal Kia Consumer since 2011 and have purchased a total of five Kia vehicles.

My 2018 Limited Yellow Stinger was long anticipated as I put money down to purchase the car hoping my dealership would win the sales contest months before the contest ended. Not sure if I was lucky or unlucky that I was so diligent in researching to purchase this car so long before it was available but long story short, I was extremely happy to be one of the first yellow stingers purchased in the U.S.

I purchased the vehicle within 5 minutes of it being delivered by the car hauler to the dealership and I did not allow the dealership to detail or touch the vehicle as I had big plans to get paint correction and paint protection via films and coatings. My license plate says 1of400 showing my excitement for being one of the select few to own such an iconic Kia vehicle.

Now my story changes rather quickly since I now have a two-tone yellow car because somebody with no knowledge of painting vehicles decided to repaint 85% of the car in order to save a few hundred dollars but the fact of the matter this was a terrible decision which will cost Kia tens of thousands more per vehicle since there is extremely low chance of matching the paint properly especially since the correct primer was on backorder for the voluntary service campaign which had a deadline and had to be completed in order to receive the three consumer options of replacement, buyback or settle and keep.


I choose to do the buyback instead of the trade for a couple of reasons. The number one reason is I do not want a run of the mill color and the only option I would accept is only offered in a GT1 (Ceramic grey w/red interior). Well since I have a GT limited I don’t feel like I should have to pay more for a GT1 which is not the color I really want and will also cost me more money out of pocket to own a less desirable non-yellow stinger.


I commend Kia for offering great options to the consumer for this tragedy of a service campaign but 5k is not really a concession to consider for a botched paint job. I would feel very unwise to pay full price minus a mere 5k discount for a car with a terrible paint job.


I have thought long and hard as to what is the car worth now that it is a used car with a botched paint job and could I find a way to correct the paint on my own and the answer is I believe I can correct enough of the damage from the paint job but not for the 5k concession so I will proceed with the buyback option to get all of my money back but I will offer to buy the car back from Kia or Morley or whomever takes possession of the car after I surrender it. I will offer 25k in form of cash or finance and believe that is more than the value of the car in the poorly painted condition I received the car back from the campaign.

Please forward this letter to the decision makers at Kia and maybe they can win me back as loyal Kia consumer before I make the decision to purchase a different vehicle to replace my two-tone yellow stinger.

 

[Marc Millard]

A cluster @#$? Waiting on the 5k $. Called the woman. name? Said we never received your paper work . Resubmitted it. Then tried to contact said person again .this is where the blood pressure rises. COULDN'T GET A HUMAN!! JUST A MACHINE .UUGGGHHH !!!! to be continued

 

[THT]

i waited 9 1/2 weeks for my repaint and there is no 5k for australia (i think) AND some corner was not so smooth and also crack but fk it, life is unfair.

 

[Ozstung]

i waited 9 1/2 weeks for my repaint and there is no 5k for australia (i think) AND some corner was not so smooth and also crack but fk it, life is unfair.

Did they repaint the whole vehicle ?

 

[jondyer]

I wrote them similar letter.

They told me to get bent. I also forwarded then an email chain showing the progress of negotiating a deal on a new car for my kid and how the negotiating stopped once I started to experience the repaint problems.

Not a peep. Not even an reply.

The only person who even came close to delivering on what they promised was Valerie, who then quit right after.

Makes you think, huh?

Anyway, I dealt with the paint myself, and recently put some McKee's paint coating on it.

<Blank> the Kia people who are in charge of the paint.

 

[StungnTn]

I think using email or even a letter is somewhat antiquated. They only care about public perception, a better use of our time would be to write a website like Jalopnik and post our complaints to twitter @KIA, etc. I believe KIA is trying to keep a lid on this as this problem affects ALL KIA stinger colors in 2018. This is really a $100M problem for KIA, plus a damaged reputation.

 

[jondyer]

@StungnTn I wholeheartedly agreed with that.

I'm in.

 

[gilthanis1]

Did the same over my 9 1/2 week repaint ordeal as well. Multiple letters, emails, and phone calls. The Kia rep, Ed, got pissed off and gave me a snarky response about the 'DPSM can approve whatever they want or not' and I never heard another word from him for the last 3 1/2 weeks of the repaint. F him, and so much for 'customer service'.... He was replaced with Kim, after the repaint was completed.

I was VERY lucky with my repaint, and my result should have been the norm. Had Kia handled this the right way instead of trying to save $2-3000 on each car by not repainting the whole dam thing, the perception would be night and day difference, and they would have won over several hundred customers for life.

I'll sing my praises for the car itself from the rooftops, but not with Kia. They should've done this WAY differently, especially if they want to 'play with the big boys' as it were. So far all they have done is piss off customers who have the buying power and knowledge to go elsewhere and reinforce the old adage of 'Well what do you expect, its a Kia' that we have been fighting since day 1 with the Stinger.

I'll spread the word everywhere and will definitely help let people know how bad they did. 4-5 people getting quality work out of 400 is a total bullshit move from them, no matter what they offered.

 

[Katie]

Hi guys, i'm a new yellow stinger owner in New Zealand. My car is currently in the shop being repainted. Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with the paint flaking or chipping after their vehicle was repainted? Or has anyone had a stand down of 8-12 weeks for the paint to fully cure?

 

[Ucinn]

If they would have repainted the whole car, I would still have my sunset yellow for sure.