Fuck you, KIA. (A little long)

The BBQ Pit
21

Whew, just rolled in from Traverse City. and I figured I’d revive this one for an update.

I dropped my car off around 11:00 Monday morning. I told the service guy that I’d be out of town until Friday, and I’d call them when I got back. Good, it should be done by then, yada-yada-yada.

Fast forward to today. I call the dealership as my GF and I are approaching Kalamazoo. Guess what? Parts had to be ordered, the car will be ready by Monday afternoon.

For the second weekend in a row, my garage sale plans have been thwarted. Oh well, at least it will be done by the time classes start. I guess I have to store all this crap I got out to sell somewhere in the meantime.

Now, to field some of your comments:

avabeth, unfortunately, the next Kia dealer to here is in Grand Rapids, 45 miles north of where I live. With an overheating engine, no way I would have trusted it. Just because I have a AAA card doesn’t mean I want to use it. Thank you for the suggestion though, if I still lived near Detroit that definately would have worked.

kputt, I agree, it is snobbish sounding. The Spectra isn’t a horrible car, but it’s not great. Plus, they tested the LS model (4-door), not the GS (5-door). Engine noise is a bit loud, but after driving a 1977 Mercury Comet with no floorboards and a flex-pipe exhaust, I can live with it.

zenith, sorry about your Ford problems, wh don’t have those much here in Michigan :wink:

Anonymous Coward, I didn’t know that, I’ll keep it in mind if this happens again. I don’t think I could have turned the heat on that day, though; the ambient temp was around 92 F that day.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I’ll post what the actual problem was on Monday.

22

OK, here’s the update I promised.

My girlfriend drove me up to the dealership after work today. I walked in and asked the serice manager if my car was done. Guess what? It wasn’t. I was a little miffed, but he told me that it would definately be done by the time they close at 8.

So we went home, ate dinner, etc. At 7:50 we got back to the dealership. I once again asked the service manager if my car was done. The mechanic was also standing there (reading the employment section of the classifieds, no less.) The manager looked it up in the computer, but the mechanic quickly told him it wasn’t done. Here’s the exchange that followed:

Service manager: “Why isn’t it done?”

Mechanic: “I didn’t have the parts.”

S: “Yes, you do. They came in already.”

M: “No, I didn’t. The O-Ring came in, but the coolant tube didn’t.”

S: “Oh, I see it now. No, the tube is here.”

M: “No, it’s not.”

S (picks up phone, calls someone): “Hey, is this in? (reads something off) Good. (Hangs up, glares at mechanic) It’s here. When will his car be done?”

M: “I’ve never done one of these before, I’d say late evening.”

S: “You’ll have it done by noon.”

M: “I don’t have the spa-”

S: “We’ll make space. It will be done by noon.”

M: “I can-”

S: “You will. (To me) It’ll be ready at noon.”
Ok, so my car will be done by noon. I work 6-2 tomorrow, but I could just skate a little early. But two things still bother me.

First: The mechanic was pissed and looking for a job. I hope he doesn’t take it out on my car.

Second: My car has been in the shop for a week now, and I have not been offered a loaner. I bought it brand new from the same dealership, I thought this sort of thing would be covered with a loaner. To my fault, I was so pissed that I didn’t ask for one.

So, should I have expected a loaner in this situation? This is a new dealership for me, my family always dealt with the same Ford dealer in the past, so we got some extras from the people there.

Sorry this is so long, and thanks for any suggestions in advance.

23

If you had bought a $30,000 Volvo sure the dealer would have given you a loan car, but you spent what about 10K on a KIA? SPLORT!
Damn that is the funniest thing I have read all day. :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: