Kia Finance is an incompetent joke

[MisterMac]

I leased my Stinger GT2 in January of 2018 after ordering it in November of 2017. I leased the car at the time because it gave me the biggest bang for the buck given the rebates that were being offered.

On November 21st, I went back to the dealer and bought my lease out. No big deal, correct?

On December 2nd, Kia Finance withdrew a lease payment from my checking account. I hadn't really thought about turning off the autopay function because I guess I figured that in 2018, 2 weeks should be enough time for a lease account to be closed after paying it off. Hell, my credit union had paid the dealer and posted the loan on my account within 48 hours.

I called Kia Finance to say WTF and was informed that they never got the payoff from the dealer. At this point I'm fairly panicked and pissed off at the same time. However, something was fishy about the info they were giving me because I could see on my online account where it said the car had been returned but they still said I owed money.

Anyway, to make a really long and boring story kind of short, I called Kia Finance several times trying to get some kind of factual, consistent information about my account. Every time I called I got different, conflicting information. The car was paid off, it wasn't, they never got the payment from the dealer, the account was closed. It was absolutely ridiculous. At one point, someone told me if I wanted it taken care of, I had to send a written request to Kia...WTF?!? this isn't my mistake, it's yours. I should be told that it will be taken care of and then compensated for my time and the hours of my life I lost dealing with your incompetent customer service people.

I talked to the finance person at the dealer I bought the car from and he assured me that Kia had withdrawn the money from the dealer's account for the payoff and he didn't seem too concerned about it after that. I suppose that's because he didn't have 2 loans on the same car like I did.

I finally got someone from the dealership to actually listen to me and she was able to call the Kia rep and the next day it appeared that the car was indeed paid off but when I called Kia Financial to confirm this, they told me I still owed a monthly payment. I informed them that this was incorrect and they owed me a monthly payment. I called back and the next person said the car was paid off and I was owed a refund. That sounds more like it but I was cut off from them before they could give me more details and they never called me back. I'm sure if I call again, I'd get different info. Who knows if I'll get my payment back. Fortunately, I disputed the charge in my checking account and sent the credit union after them.

I still love my Stinger after nearly a year and 12,00+ miles but I will never deal with Kia Financial again...what a complete joke.

Honestly and simply your expectations were unreasonable. You executed your transaction at the dealer on November 21st, the day before Thanksgiving. The earliest it would have gone out via in Friday (skeleton crew), and most likely Monday. A payoff quote is always good for 10 - 15 days because it takes time to process.

It was your responsibility to turn off the auto payment. You didn't. That's on you. The lessons you need to learn is take care of what is your responsibility and have some patience while other people take care of theirs. Don't come whining on a forum seeking pity when you made that mess.

 

[Doel]

I went online to set up auto pay after i received a first bill. I wasnt able to setup because according to them my bd didnt match their record. I called them. It was their mistake not the dealer. I waited 24 hours as told then tried to set up with no success. I called again and was told the person before didnt submit it correctly. Was told to wait 24 hrs or i can just enter the bd they incorrectly entered into the system. I will wait until it get updated. But it didnt so i went ahead and enter not my real bd. It worked, i created my account. Until this day i am not sure if they fix it. First time for me in the finance department buying a car. Here is a bonus . The finance guy at the dealership wanted to sell me 100 000 miles or 10 years warranty. I laughed.

he was probably trying to sell you a 10 year bumper to bumper warranty, factory is a 10 year drivetrain warranty.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

I wasn't casual. But I felt that waiting to see what happened was realistic. Like you, I wanted to know right away that my next payment would be refunded. But I decided that even if they took the payment, it would come off the buyout at the time I did it. The dates of the "paper trail", back and forth, would vindicate me. Would it turn into a stupid hassle? Maybe. But it seemed to me at the time that nothing I said to anyone at Kia would help things along. So I just stood back to see what would happen. In my case it turned out right without a hitch: the temporary payment of the last month was cancelled/refunded on my finance page several days later.

It'll all turn out okay. (Hopefully without a lot of, or any, discrepancy that needs ironing out.)

Did you purchase or lease?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Did you purchase or lease?

Both. Changed my mind at three months and bought out the lease.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Both. Changed my mind at three months and bought out the lease.

Ahh, thats what I thought. You had me confused.