KIA Service Centre - ***********, Unprofessional and unacceptable customer service

Morning

I am so angry that you pay so much money for a service in this country but no company provides good customer service anymore, not one single company.

I have a maintenance plan that I took out when I brought my brand new KIA Rio Tech 2 years ago. I booked my car in for it's 2 year service at the KIA and Renault Service Centre Tygervalley, which is in Stikland by the way, so why you say Tygervalley is boggelling to the mind as it is two totally different locations. My car was booked in for Tuesday, 1 October and while I was impressed with the dealership providing me with transport home via Uber, I was shocked at the state of the vehicle that showed up to take me home, totally run down and not up to roadworthy standard.

I mentioned an few additional points that I would like checked out as part of the service, including a light burning on the dash, which I thought was linked to the seat belt but apparently it's an airbag issue, so I was told the car will only be done on Wednesday. I understood this as there was now additional work to be done.

Come Wednesday I receive another call to say they need to order a part from Korea and it is going to take 15 days. I mean really, you mean to tell me you do not have one single part in stock somewhere in South Africa. Surely this is a common problem and you should be prepared for such an issue? Or at least some other dealership should have the part available. I was told I will be given loan car in the meantime through Euro car and will need to have R1400 ready as this will be reserved on my card as a deposit for the rental vehicle. I was not happy at this point already but OK, I excepted it. This was around 10 on Wednesday.

At 3 pm no one has contacted me and I called the service centre again to ask when I will be getting the loan car as this was now 2 days I was without any means of transport. I was told that they will follow up with Euro car. Then someone calls me from Euro car, the rudest lady ever. She tells me it's to late and they don't have drivers so I will need to wait for tomorrow morning. She then tells me that the holding fee is not R1400 but rather R1500 but only on credit cards. I don't believe in credit cards and said I only have a debit card. She then rudely advised that if it's a debit card it will be R1750 reserved. I was getting more and more angry by the minute. She also said that myself plus an additional driver will be authorized to drive the vehicle, which was what the dealership told me too.

The morning of Thursday, at 8:30 am I receive yet another call from Euro car, how will I be paying the holding fee, I said with my debit card as discussed with the lady the previous day, he then said that they only except debit cards in the branch and that if the car gets delivered it needs to be in cash. How am I suppose to get to the ATM to draw R1750 without any means of transport? He advised that the driver dropping the car will take me to the ATM to withdraw the money.

I did not feel comfortable with this and asked a friend to please go draw the money so that it can be ready when the driver gets to my place. When the driver arrives, she tells me to fill in the forms and I ask where must I fill in the additional drivers details, she then tells me if I want to add an additional driver, then it will be an additional R500 that I needed to provide in cash. I mean really, that is not the 4th time that the story changes. R2250 in cash just to get this loan car KIA made it sound like would be no problem to arrange. On top of this, it will take 10 days after getting my car back before my money will be deposited back into my bank account.

I was told I would get a kia picanto as a loan vehicle, but it was an very old Hyundai i10 with lots of scratches and visible damage. I told the lady look at the condition of this car, it was a mess and that I will not be paying anything in damages when the vehicle is returned. So I give in my new luxury vehicle,. need to pay an additional R2250 in cash which I will only be getting back in a month for a loan car that looks more like a death trap than anything else? Who has R2250 to just give and only get back in a months time also. I mean that is the reason I took out my maintenance plan, so that I don't have to worry about having money when the time comes for servicing my car. The extras was already R700 at the stage, for wheel alignment of R399, which in itself is **************** by the way, and chips on the windscreen for R300.

I called the dealership afterwards to express my extreme upset and held the line forever, when someone told me to hold some more and then transferred me to the wrong person I lost my cool and said that they must get someone to call me immediately as I am not happy at all. No one called, instead at 4 pm the afternoon, I simply received a SMS that the parts are still waiting to be delivered, well duh, if it needs to come from Korea and you only ordered it yesterday.

I am shocked and saddend at how pathetic the service has been at your dealership and how you make it your customers problem to arrange everything with the *********** Euro car to get a loan car. This is unexceptionable, I paid a lot of money for the maintenance plan and I expect customer service and professionalism in return.