Took my Stinger in for the first oil change/service at the dealer... Not happy.

[BlaydeX15]

I'm slightly annoyed, to say the least. My wife thinks I'm overreacting, but I figured I'd vent here since you're all a bunch of like-minded individuals who are pretty passionate about your cars and the little things.

To start: My dealer is a 2.5 hour drive from my house. (129 miles, I can do it in under 2 hours if semi trucks and passing lanes line up correctly, lol.) Not fun, especially not fun if you have to drive there and back in one afternoon. I've had this appointment scheduled for a few months, and intended to swing by, chill for a few hours, grab lunch, get an oil change, quick inspection, and my trunk rattle fixed. I guess they did some of those things?

I showed up, expressed my concerns about the trunk rattle, and a newly developed issue where my full headlights (not DRL's) would turn on mid day for no reason. She said that was no problem, but they might not be able to check the headlight issue on such short notice, and their service department might not be able to look at the trunk issue that day. Uh, ok? I thought I scheduled an appointment with their service department? She also popped my vin into her system and mentioned there was a shift logic service bulletin that they would perform. Great, I'm all for keeping up on that stuff. They would also do a tire rotation and wash the car. I know their wash is touchless, so I'm OK with that.

About 45 mins later, the car was ready. At least it looked good clean. Lol. Here's where the 'problems' start, though I didn't notice most of them till after I got the car home.

1: They didn't have anyone available to do either of the warranty services I needed (Trunk or Headlights). Again, I thought I scheduled an appointment with the service department, not the 'we can't do anything but oil changes' department. Whatever, maybe I didn't schedule service right. I'll be back in town later.

So I head back home and notice some other issues.

2: They didn't fill my tires. I was flipping through menus and noticed my front driver tire was 2psi lower than all the others, as is has been for weeks now (Still within spec). Wait, Front driver tire?

3: They didn't do a rotation either. I had a tiny scuff on my front driver tire/wheel. Go out and check: Yep, still on the front driver side. Mmkay then...

Well, maybe they just took the rotation off of the service list. I mentioned that I really didn't need it anyway, since winter shoes are going on in a few weeks. Check the paperwork... Nope, rotation and PSI set listed right there, they just didn't do the work. Hm.

4: Wait, what's not listed? The shift logic recall that the tech brought up and said would be done? Sigh.

So now I'm a bit concerned. Did they actually do anything? I pull out the paper and fine tooth it, everything else looks good except for:

5: They used crappy bulk conventional oil. Mopar MaxPro 5w30 68055891AA. It's GF-5 so it should be fine, but I expected better. Lol. I don't know if this is a real complaint, it was a free service, so it's not like I paid for Full Synthetic or anything.

At this point I'm just annoyed, and concerned a bit. Did they actually DO anything? They've cut enough corners already that I don't even trust that they've put oil in my car or actually inspected anything. Lol.

So now I want to call and complain, not sure what the outcome will be though. Lol. "Hi, I had my car serviced there, I guess I scheduled the oil change department instead of the service department because they didn't fix anything I needed fixed, they said they rotated my tires but didn't, didn't perform an update they said they did, and now I don't trust that they did anything right. Can you make things right without me needing to drive another 5 hours?"

I'll see what they do though. I don't want to blast them too hard yet, I've worked enough customer service/retail to know that everyone has bad days.

 

[robz32]

For starters you can not rotate the tires on a GT, only swap them side to side, as they are a staggered setup.

I never trust dealers for oil changes, only for recalls, and TSBs that are covered under warranty. Needless to say I have performed all of my oil changes (4 by now)

Not really sure what happened with them not being able to perform the hatch rattle TSB and the transmission update. I will definitely bring it up to KIA's customer service line.

 

[BlaydeX15]

For starters you can not rotate the tires on a GT, only swap them side to side, as they are a staggered setup.

I never trust dealers for oil changes, only for recalls, and TSBs that are covered under warranty. Needless to say I have performed all of my oil changes (4 by now)

Not really sure what happened with them not being able to perform the hatch rattle TSB and the transmission update. I will definitely bring it up to KIA's customer service line.

Yeah, I know about the L/R swap only. That's still technically a rotation, right? Part of the reason I checked was to make sure they didn't put the small tires on the back. Lol. Even if they skipped it because the tires can't be rotated like normal, the rotation/PSI set are on the same line, and they skipped both.

As for the service, they had 2 service bays. One "Quick service" bay, which is where I guess I was scheduled, and a full service bay. Considering I called a week in advance to make sure they had the correct parts to do the hatch fix while I was there, someone should have noticed I wasn't even scheduled with the "right" department when they pulled up my appointment.

 

[Kamauxx]

I'm slightly annoyed, to say the least. My wife thinks I'm overreacting, but I figured I'd vent here since you're all a bunch of like-minded individuals who are pretty passionate about your cars and the little things.

To start: My dealer is a 2.5 hour drive from my house. (129 miles, I can do it in under 2 hours if semi trucks and passing lanes line up correctly, lol.) Not fun, especially not fun if you have to drive there and back in one afternoon. I've had this appointment scheduled for a few months, and intended to swing by, chill for a few hours, grab lunch, get an oil change, quick inspection, and my trunk rattle fixed. I guess they did some of those things?

I showed up, expressed my concerns about the trunk rattle, and a newly developed issue where my full headlights (not DRL's) would turn on mid day for no reason. She said that was no problem, but they might not be able to check the headlight issue on such short notice, and their service department might not be able to look at the trunk issue that day. Uh, ok? I thought I scheduled an appointment with their service department? She also popped my vin into her system and mentioned there was a shift logic service bulletin that they would perform. Great, I'm all for keeping up on that stuff. They would also do a tire rotation and wash the car. I know their wash is touchless, so I'm OK with that.

About 45 mins later, the car was ready. At least it looked good clean. Lol. Here's where the 'problems' start, though I didn't notice most of them till after I got the car home.

1: They didn't have anyone available to do either of the warranty services I needed (Trunk or Headlights). Again, I thought I scheduled an appointment with the service department, not the 'we can't do anything but oil changes' department. Whatever, maybe I didn't schedule service right. I'll be back in town later.

So I head back home and notice some other issues.

2: They didn't fill my tires. I was flipping through menus and noticed my front driver tire was 2psi lower than all the others, as is has been for weeks now (Still within spec). Wait, Front driver tire?

3: They didn't do a rotation either. I had a tiny scuff on my front driver tire/wheel. Go out and check: Yep, still on the front driver side. Mmkay then...

Well, maybe they just took the rotation off of the service list. I mentioned that I really didn't need it anyway, since winter shoes are going on in a few weeks. Check the paperwork... Nope, rotation and PSI set listed right there, they just didn't do the work. Hm.

4: Wait, what's not listed? The shift logic recall that the tech brought up and said would be done? Sigh.

So now I'm a bit concerned. Did they actually do anything? I pull out the paper and fine tooth it, everything else looks good except for:

5: They used crappy bulk conventional oil. Mopar MaxPro 5w30 68055891AA. It's GF-5 so it should be fine, but I expected better. Lol. I don't know if this is a real complaint, it was a free service, so it's not like I paid for Full Synthetic or anything.

At this point I'm just annoyed, and concerned a bit. Did they actually DO anything? They've cut enough corners already that I don't even trust that they've put oil in my car or actually inspected anything. Lol.

So now I want to call and complain, not sure what the outcome will be though. Lol. "Hi, I had my car serviced there, I guess I scheduled the oil change department instead of the service department because they didn't fix anything I needed fixed, they said they rotated my tires but didn't, didn't perform an update they said they did, and now I don't trust that they did anything right. Can you make things right without me needing to drive another 5 hours?"

I'll see what they do though. I don't want to blast them too hard yet, I've worked enough customer service/retail to know that everyone has bad days.

Are you going there for free oil changes, loyalty because you purchased there, or because they're the closest?

 

[BlaydeX15]

Are you going there for free oil changes, loyalty because you purchased there, or because they're the closest?

All 3, though #2 is questionable now. Could get oil done closer, but they're the closest dealer, and I thought I could kill 2 birds with one stone (Oil change, free being a nice plus, and trunk fix)

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Sounds like a stealership service dept to me. Call the dealer principal and tell them, call KIA Motors America and lastly, find another dealer if you can. People need to start voting with their wallets, the service in this industry is brutal.

 

[eflyguy]

Other than for purchase, I've been to "the dealer" three times in 35 years of car ownership and I have no intention of doing anything differently with my Stinger. Those three visits were for expensive repairs that warranty covered - total drivetrain (transfer case) failure around 1995 (Eagle), wheel bearing failure around 2007 (Dodge), and brake switch causing shifter lockout in 2013 (Kia). Everything else - even minor repairs that warranty should cover - I've just handled myself, including basic maintenance and repairs. I *tried* to take my most recent vehicle in for the "free" first oil change at my dealer, and after around 10 minutes of hanging around in the service bay and walking back to the vacant parts counter/service checkout, I left and did it myself.

 

[Mike04SVT]

i would say its a KIA thing but i have had multiple issues with my local Dodge dealership also. Maybe its just an industry thing?

 

[Waynerm002]

It's an industry thing however, I would also add that some places are better than others.

 

[p51]

Don't worry about the tire rotation too much. I have 53k miles on my mustang gt with staggered tires. They've never been swapped lr. Not much point to doing it unless youre moving drive tires to non drive wheels, imho.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I'm slightly annoyed, to say the least. My wife thinks I'm overreacting, but I figured I'd vent here since you're all a bunch of like-minded individuals who are pretty passionate about your cars and the little things.

You're not overreacting. I'd like you to PM me with the name of the dealership, but that's up to you. I want to know these things, being "local", and of course having an interest in who the best dealerships are and who to avoid.

 

[NoVAGT2]

Check your oil level. The dealer overfilled mine.

 

[xot1]

Sounds like a stealership service dept to me. Call the dealer principal and tell them, call KIA Motors America and lastly, find another dealer if you can. People need to start voting with their wallets, the service in this industry is brutal.

Stealership

 

[hummus]

Sorry to hear about the frustrating experience. To be sure I understand though, when you made the appointment, was it for both the oil change and the trunk rattle? It sounds like maybe the headlight thing was something new? No one could fault you for being disappointed--though I would personally understand if they were not able to address the headlight issue while you waited if they in fact just learned about it. Did they offer to give you a loaner and keep the car until they could look at it? Also, in addition to checking the level, a quick look at the dipstick should reveal if they put fresh oil in there.

 

[StingEm]

Conventional 5W-30 oil. How cheap can they possibly be?? Maybe they put a Mopar filter on it too, lol!

 

[Socalstinga]

Call KIA’s hotline, the dealership won’t do anything even if you called them to complain.

 

[BlaydeX15]

Sorry to hear about the frustrating experience. To be sure I understand though, when you made the appointment, was it for both the oil change and the trunk rattle? It sounds like maybe the headlight thing was something new? No one could fault you for being disappointed--though I would personally understand if they were not able to address the headlight issue while you waited if they in fact just learned about it. Did they offer to give you a loaner and keep the car until they could look at it? Also, in addition to checking the level, a quick look at the dipstick should reveal if they put fresh oil in there.

Made the appointment for Oil, called later and brought up the Tailgate, and they said they had the parts and would be able to do it that weekend.

The light thing was new, started last week, but I figured I'd mention it just in case it was something dumb like a sensor with some dirt on it.