Bad Did the dealership just screw me over and/or possibly even break my engine?

[WRXtoStingerGT]

I'd rather Kia spend the money on R&D and pay for their service dept techs. That said, they need people with money to buy their higher end cars (like the upper trim SUVs and Stinger), so they still need a decent 'dealership experience' to attract and retain those buyers.

Anyway... dealers typically suck.

^ this

The sheer incomitance and lack of even proper English (relax, my family are Russian immigrants, not being that mean here) speaking stuns me. Listening to the technicians trying to explain to me the problems were laughable. Any basic questions I asked were met with confused stares.

Most dealerships suck... most dealership service departments suck... but from my experience (plus the experience of coworkers, friends, and family) it seems that they overall suck less at Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, etc than at Toyota, Kia, Subaru, etc...

 

[Nocostinger]

^ this

The sheer incomitance and lack of even proper English (relax, my family are Russian immigrants, not being that mean here) speaking stuns me. Listening to the technicians trying to explain to me the problems were laughable. Any basic questions I asked were met with confused stares.

Most dealerships suck... most dealership service departments suck... but from my experience (plus the experience of coworkers, friends, and family) it seems that they overall suck less at Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, etc than at Toyota, Kia, Subaru, etc...

Agreed. I'd still have me E90 M3 if I had a dealership that didn't try to rip off younger me. That thing was a beast and I was young and stupid.
Find a service team that knows what they're doing. Hell, at my Kia dealer I have ONE tech that I let work on my car as he builds cars for fun on the side. His Optima is pretty cool too!

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Agreed. I'd still have me E90 M3 if I had a dealership that didn't try to rip off younger me. That thing was a beast and I was young and stupid.
Find a service team that knows what they're doing. Hell, at my Kia dealer I have ONE tech that I let work on my car as he builds cars for fun on the side. His Optima is pretty cool too!

The E90 and E92 are my favorite BMW's besides the E36 models... my goodness... I was lucky I had a family friend that knew how to work on older German cars. It saved me a ton of money and headaches rather than me running off to the stealership, errr the dealership, for my repairs and services lmfao!!

 

[orbsa]

As an update. Kia finally got around to sending an email off to the Parts and service division requesting a look into this to see if the warranty should be voided or not. After back and forth with the dealership they have told me that the decision is not on them and they would be happy to replace it to no cost to me if Kia pays for it and it is their decision on if the warranty is voided. While waiting on the response I got a message yesterday telling me the dealership will start charging $40 a day to keep my car their so I will need to move it. Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a truck in my area to assist with a tow so I might just get in the car and drive it onto another lot nearby while I keep yelling at Kia and the dealership.

 

[MerlintheMad]

If you drive it that could be held against you and start the entire process over again as they determine that this time it has issues that driving it caused. I'd get it towed. Insurance includes towing service. The last thing you want is "assistance" from some friend with a truck!? Kia says to only tow a Stinger on a flatbed; never with the front or rear wheels in the air, unless the grounded wheels are also lifted onto a "dolly", i.e. don't tow the car with wheels on the ground.

 

[ecko04]

This season never ends. Looking forward to next week’s episode.

 

[narsnail]

As an update. Kia finally got around to sending an email off to the Parts and service division requesting a look into this to see if the warranty should be voided or not. After back and forth with the dealership they have told me that the decision is not on them and they would be happy to replace it to no cost to me if Kia pays for it and it is their decision on if the warranty is voided. While waiting on the response I got a message yesterday telling me the dealership will start charging $40 a day to keep my car their so I will need to move it. Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a truck in my area to assist with a tow so I might just get in the car and drive it onto another lot nearby while I keep yelling at Kia and the dealership.

Find another dealership, these guys sound awful. Funny how the decision is not on them, yet they were ok with charging you over 10 grand for a "used" engine but didn't do the due diligence to see if your warranty was intact. DO NOT have the warranty work done there if it is approved.

$40 a day for your car to sit? F*** them, they sound so desperate for money. Please have it towed though, might be worth a CAA or AAA or whatever your country has for a towing service.

 

[orbsa]

I called up a towing company to get it back to my house in the meantime. Thank god for working from home, as I don't need to commute, I can keep it here while I yell back and forth at Kia and the dealership.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Get a lawyer involved at this point. Kia didn't do anything for me until I had to get a legal representative for my brake problems. I wasted multiple days of work and countless hours going back and forth with them trying to Mickey Mouse me. Kia doesn't seem to care nor respect customers who purchase their "premium Halo car" that is supposed to make customers from Audi, Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc take them seriously.

 

[orbsa]

Just got the car back from the tow. Had to start it to put it into neutral. There is a clicking (sounds more like a broken fan then something inside the engine, but I'm not mechanic). Dealership notes state that it was brought in for an inspection into the noise. This is not true, there was nothing wrong with the engine sounds when I brought it in. Notes state they found the oil low and filled it up. Took it on a ride (to account for a 7 mile discrepancy between mileage In/Out) to see if putting more oil in would fix the weird clicks (not really knocks now that I've heard it close).
I still don't understand how they couldn't have found an oil leak in the engine bay when it was billowing smoke the night before I had it towed over.
There was no noise when they called me the day after the tow to ask me what was wrong with it "Running fine" they said.
I have suspicions that it leaked/burned out a bunch of oil that night and someone took it on a small joyride pushing it hard; causing the issue.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

That's terrible... welcome to Kia service though! Lmfao!!

 

[P22Tyler]

A "stand alone" (older?) Kia dealership seems to be the problem. When "Kia" is added to a high class outfit, already selling multiple brands, it gets held to the same standards as the already existing umbrella of showrooms/service centers. That's probably why Jerry Seiner's Kia showroom, service center and lot look upper end.
View attachment 54819

I agree with this. Both the Seiner Kia dealers are very nice. I haven't had any issues with service either (knock on wood). They even send a little video after servicing my car detailing what they found and what they did. The only other time I got that was at a VW dealer.

Although at my last service the manager made a comment about my new CAI that came across in a way like he wanted me to know they were aware of it, as if it wasn't obvious. So I guess if I have any issues going forward we'll see how they respond.

 

[StingerJefferson]

“As for dealing with the dealership, it may be time to consult a lawyer.”

Yeah, the next thing out of my mouth after getting a quote of $12k to replace an engine that magically blew while in the dealer’s possession would be, “Boy, $12,000 is a lot of hours for my lawyer.”