Kia Mafikeng - WORST SERVICE EVER!

<p>KIA MAFIKENG - Worst Service Ever!! The service manager of Kia Mafikeng, Neil, is outright RUDE, ARROGANT and USELESS. Never ever go there for anything. Complete waste of time and money.</p> <p>My car air-conditioner stopped working some 15-20 days ago. We called Kia Mafikeng immediately. They could only give us an appointment 3 days later. They did a quick check but couldn't find the problem. The staff suggested us to get the refrigerant re-filled and ask the guy to check for leaks. Their dealer is based is Lichtenburg which is a 1 hour drive from Mafikeng. So, the staff member there suggested we get it re-filled locally and see if there is a leakage problem. We did what we were told but that wasn't the problem. So, I called Kia again to make an appointment. As usual, they gave us an appointment only in the week after which clearly shows their *********** service. Now, they tell us that we have to send the car to Lichtenburg as their dealer for air-conditioning systems is based there. Also, we have to take the car at our own cost and efforts. They do not offer us any courtesy car or a drop off back from Lichtenburg either.</p> <p>After the diagnosis, the air-con company told us that the compressor is broken and needs to be replaced. So, we go to Kia Mafikeng immediately and tell them about it. All this while, we are being very patient and co-operative with the staff. Almost 15 days of being without an air-conditioner in the Mafikeng heat, cancelling our weekend trips due to non-functioning A/C and yet there is no sense of urgency from Kia Mafikeng staff. The staff member then tells us, as per the procedure regarding warranties, they have sent the report to the warranty department for approval. If the claim is approved, it might take about 2-3 weeks for the car to be fixed and if the part is unavailable, it may well go into the next year. At this point of time, we lose our patience and tell them how bad their customer service is and how they are being very unhelpful. We have a holiday planned from 15th December and they have to fix our car before that. After a few arguments and sitting there for half an hour, the lady finally agreed to fix the car within 2-3 days. So basically, they could have done that in the first place. But they just didn't want to help.</p> <p>Now comes the best part. I receive a call a day after form the service centre. The lady is telling me to bring the car to the service centre so that she can raise a job card for approval warranty. So they just wasted 2 more days whereas the day before she already admitted to have submitted our claim for warranty approval. The car is now sitting in Lichtenburg as I was told that is where they will fix the problem. And of course they are completely disagreeing to have said that. Now, we are completely frustrated and annoyed and demand to speak to the manager there expecting him to be knowing better than his staff. To our sheer astonishment, the manager was hardly apologetic for the awful service his staff provided. Instead, he is blaming us for refilling the refrigerant ourselves which by the way his staff member had told us to. Being completely rude, he is ignoring whatever we are saying and demanded the car to be on their premises. Only then he will help us. He also had the audacity to tell us that if we don't bring the car soon, he will cancel the warranty and wouldn't repair the car for us. When we told him that it is not how he is supposed to treat customers and we will raise the issue to the head office, he is being downright arrogant and saying that we can go to whoever we want to in Kia SA and give his name. He owns the place and nobody can do anything about it. We obviously had no interest to speak to this guy by then and left the centre.</p> <p>After that I spoke to the head office of Kia SA, where they listened to our complain and to my surprise were actually quite helpful in the whole matter. The Mafikeng manager had completely ruined any expectations of customer service from Kia. However, the person in the head office, Ferrani, reinstilled our trust in Kia. He assured us that the matter will be taken seriously and they will try their best to expedite the process for us.</p> <p>We took our car to KIA Klerksdorp which proved to be a very good decision. Their customer service was spot on. The staff was polite and well-trained. Arina, the lady helping us at Kia Klerksdorp, was very helpful and arranged for drop-off and pick-up while they were busy with the car. Another surprise came when they said that the compressor is not the problem and instead there might be a much bigger problem than it seems and they might have to keep the car for further diagnosis. So the Mafikeng service centre couldn't even detect the correct problem after wasting so many of our days. Arina arranged a courtesy car for us to use for the duration of the repair. The whole time we were kept updated via SMS about the car.</p> <p>The day after I also received a follow-up call from the head office which was quite reassuring. We were looking to buy a hatchback from Kia for city travel given the fact that we love our Sorento. However, after the Mafikeng service, we had completely given up that idea. Now it seems like we might be able to reconsider to buy but from Kia Klerksdorp. Thank you so much KIA Klerksdorp!! There is absolutely no possibility of us using Mafikeng branch ever again.</p>