Steven Kia

Review: I purchased a 2007 Pontiac G6 for my son on May 1st 2016. The salesman was personable and made sure to tell me how the used vehicles were thoroughly inspected and safe and that was one of the reasons the prices were not negotiable. I did not purchase any additional warranties because the vehicle was a 2007 with right at 100,000 miles and I was assured the vehicle was thoroughly inspected and available warranties would be limited due to the age and mileage of the vehicle.

On July 5th, we took the vehicle in for an oil change and a concern because the engine light had come on. During the inspection at my mechanic, which I have had for several years, we found that the battery was almost completely dead, the airbag sensors had been dismissed repeatedly, the cam shaft sensor had also been dismissed. We also found the inside of the tires, not visible without either putting the vehicle on a lift or rubbing the inside of the tires, was completely worn, the ball joint was very loose and so was the tie rod. The mechanic indicated there was no way this much wear occurred to the vehicle in two months and the vehicle was not safe to drive.

I sent the sales manager, [redacted] an email on Tuesday July 5th, he did not respond until Thursday July 7th and requested I call him. When I called he was in a meeting and I spoke with the original salesman who proceeded to try and sell me another vehicle. When I refused to purchase another vehicle he said he would have [redacted] review and call me with a solution. On Sunday July 10th I still had not heard anything so I emailed again and received a response on Monday July 11th. On Tuesday July 12th I was advised they do not reimburse for work done by another shop. At no time prior to July 12th had they even offered to look at the vehicle or have it repaired at their shop. They only offered that consideration after I had the vehicle repaired and paid $1300.00. I attempted to negotiate because I have another vehicle that needs minimal repairs and they offered 30%off on the labor in exchange. I have two issues. One, they sold my son a vehicle that was actually not safe to drive with the tires, tie rod, and ball joints in the condition they were in and I had to immediately replace the battery. Two, they only offered to consider looking at the vehicle a full week later after several emails and only after it was already repaired. I have the entire e-mail conversation to confirm the discussion that occurred, the timeline, and the lack of a good faith resolution as he so indicated.

I did not even expect the dealership to refund my full $1300 expense because I did purchase the vehicle "as-is", but I did expect them to at least reimburse half, particularly since the sales manager did acknowledge "it seems like two months is fast". I have purchased four vehicles from the Steven dealership organization and feel as a valued customer who has never asked for any special consideration on anything, the least they could have done was take care of this issue for a loyal customer. This was my sons first vehicle purchase and they clearly took advantage of selling this vehicle to him.

As a pure business practice issue, their only focus in resolving this issue has been to sell me a new vehicle. The salesman, [redacted], told me he would make up the $1300 difference in a new vehicle purchase, however, he had already told me in May that the dealership gets way better rebates on new vehicles from the manufacturer and those vehicle sales were very negotiable. So the idea of him trying to resolve the issue on the used vehicle I purchased by trying to sell me a brand new vehicle was not a reasonable resolution. He also offered to buy back the vehicle I purchased and put me in an upgrade and when I said I needed the full price I paid for it two months prior and the money I spent on the repairs, he quickly redirected back to a new car purchase.Desired Settlement: I would like for Steven Kia to reconsider their position and reimburse me for at least half of the unexpected bill I had to pay after only purchasing the vehicle two months prior. I was told this was a one owner vehicle, traded in by an elderly couple who hardly drove the vehicle, and clearly they did not do a thorough inspection, as they indicated, before selling me the vehicle. It they had, they would have seen the ball joint was very loose and needed to be replaced and they would have recognized that several diagnostic codes had already been dismissed on this vehicle and addressed those issues.

At this point, I have repaired the vehicle and it is driving fine now after spending $1300..00. I do not want to trade it in, nor do I want them to "buy it back". I want some or all of the money I spent in repairs.

Business

Response:

Hello,Thank you for expressing your concerns. We apologize that you have had such a frustrating experience with this vehicle. Being that you purchased the vehicle As-Is as you acknowledged, and you declined our "goodwill" offer to assist you with the [redacted], there is nothing further that can be done on the vehicle. Please see attached if you have any further concerns. Thank you, [redacted]

Review: I went to the dealership to try to make a trade. My car was appraised, I picked the car I was interested in but was never given any information. I filled out credit app. online. They proceeded to arrange financing but I was never given any details. I don't know what they offered for my can and I don't even know what they were trying to finance. this doesn't seem correct or fair. I sent text messages and e-mails to several people requesting the information but haven't received any details. it has been over three weeks now.Desired Settlement: I think this should be investigated to see if this is a legal practice and are all their customers treated like this.

Business

Response:

Hello,Thank you for your correspondence. There seems to be a miscommunication on both ends. I have reviewed the text message thread that you and [redacted] have exchanged and read clearly where he told you the value of your vehicle. I have also seen where multiple phone calls were made to you. The most recent phone call was made to you last night, May 5th after being threatened with a Revdex.com complaint if we did not respond to you. We have attempted many times to get in touch with you. The day that you picked out your vehicle you allowed us twenty minutes to put the entire deal together. Unfortunately, we were not able to collect enough information to put a full deal together to even submit it to the bank, much less provide you with exact amounts we are trying to finance. The information that we have is that your vehicle is worth roughly $9,000 but that has changed since it has been a month since we first looked at it. In order to put a full deal together, we will need you to be here to physically authorize us to pull your payoff and will also need more detailed information regarding your credit application. I apologize for the miscommunication and would like the opportunity to sit down with you and work your deal out. If you would like, please return my phone call and message that I have left for you at [redacted]. Sincerely, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

Review: My husband and I visited Steven kia last week and purchased a s10 truck from them. After paying cash for the vehicle, signing all the contracts and giving us the keys, they told us that it needed to be inspected. They told us they would go ahead and do the inspection, only to tell us that it failed inspection, because of the door hinge/latch was broken. They then gave us a rejection sticker. Only three days later the entire engine "seized" and my husband broke down on the side of the road at almost midnight coming home from work. We had it towed to the kia store. They said that the engine was completely gone and not sure what they could do. After speaking with [redacted] he said we could look at other vehicles there and they would keep the truck and "knock a few bucks off our next purchase." From what I understand it's absolutely illegal to sell a vehicle without an up to date inspection in the first place. I've talked to numerous people from Steven kia and numerous people from their partner Steven Toyota and no one will seem to help us. I'm not sure what, if anything can be done.Desired Settlement: We have two kids and honestly I would just like for them to give us the money back from the truck. It hasn't even been a week yet and I feel as though they have treated us horribly. We DO NOT want to do anymore business with them, and wish this crazy nightmare would be over

Business

Response:

Hello, Thank you for your feedback regarding the purchase of the S10. It is an extremely unfortunate situation and certainly one that is frustrating. The vehicle was sold AS-IS in Pass/Fail condition. That means that you purchased the vehicle understanding that whatever the outcome of the Virginia State Inspection was, you accepted all future responsibility of the vehicle. Being that we made no guarantees of the vehicle nor did we have the foresight to know that the engine would seize, we are not able to provide a refund for the vehicle. That being said, there are options towards purchasing a New Kia that we could go over with you. We discussed them briefly while you were here and will do everything we can to get the payment within your budget and help alleviate these issues. Please reach out to me at [redacted] to discuss further. Regards, [redacted]

Review: I bought a 2006 Dodge Stratus from Steven Kia a year ago.The car had a current inspection done at time of purchase.I took the car back 6-26-15 to have inspected and they failed the inspection because of bad upper ball joints on the rear of the car.They showed me how bad these ball joints were.We have only driven the car 5000 miles in 1 year and as much play that were in these ball joints had to be showing at the time they inspected before they sold the car.I told this to the service guy and he said he could not do anything about it.I am replacing these ball joints myself so I can get the car inspected because the service guy said it would be almost 1000 dollars for them to do it.

Business

Response:

Hello,

Thank you for expressing your concern regarding the 2006 Stratus. Unfortunately, the vehicle was purchased As-Is. That being said, since you are having this issue, we will be willing to offer a 10% discount on the repair of the vehicle. Please reach out to us if you would like to take advantage of our offer.

Best,

Review: I went to steven kia in [redacted] and in one visit they ran my credit thru 12 agencies with one visit. I know my credit isn't the greatest, but it made it impossible for me to go any where's else to get a vehicle. They informed me that the visit wouldn't affect my credit majorly. Which it did.Desired Settlement: My credit to be restored, to what it was prior to visit.

Business

Response:

Hello,Thank you for your feedback. After reviewing your files, it appears that the inquiries that we did are not stopping you from purchasing a vehicle. The lenders that we have you approved with are still certainly more than willing to loan you the money for a vehicle. Unfortunately, not every dealership has access to the same lenders that we do. That being said, we would love to be able to assist you with purchasing a vehicle. Please reach out to us directly and we will do our best to make you happy.Best,Steven Kia

Review: I went to Steven Kia on November 2, 2015. Upon my visit they took my registration out of my car to appraise my car value. I never got my registration back from them. I called the next day November 3 2015 and [redacted] was suppose to check on it for me and I never received a call back. then I waited and called back on November 7 2015 and spoke to someone named [redacted] and he was going to check on it for me and I never heard anything back. I spoke with [redacted] again on November 18 2015 and he said he would look for it and get back to me. Again no one ever returned my call. November 19 2015 spoke with [redacted] and she said she would ask someone and get back to me and I still have not heard anything. Basically, they have my registration to my car and they will not give it back.Desired Settlement: I just want my registration back to my 2007 Toyota Camry

Business

Response:

On behalf of Steven Kia we apologize for not getting back to you in a timely manor. After researching the situation, it appears that the registration was shredded with your other personal documents once you left. I apologize that nobody communicated that with you. To help with this situation, we will be happy to walk you through DMV website to the page that you may print a new one free of charge. If you would like to stop by, we will be happy to help. Should you decide to go to the DMV in person, please know that we will reimburse any expense the DMV charges to print a new registration. Please reach out to [redacted] at [redacted] for future correspondence. Thank you very much.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: We went into the dealership on Sunday, February 23rd looking to purchase a vehicle to tow our newly acquired camper. We inquired with the salesperson about the towing capacity of a used, white 2013 Kia Sorento with AWD listed at approx. $20,000. He represented the towing capacity was 3,500. We requested again - are you sure it's 3,500? His response - yes. The sales person's name was [redacted]. Upon further investigation on our end, the towing capacity of the vehicle was actually 1,650. This was accurately posted on their own website. Therefore, I'm not sure why the sales person got that wrong, especially when we emphasized the importance of the towing capacity.Desired Settlement: I want to make management as well as the public aware of these practices. I think individuals less skeptical than my husband and I could have bought a vehicle, locked in to a loan agreement for 6 years, which did not fit their needs due to misrepresentations from sales staff.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the feedback about your recent shopping

experience at Steven Kia. We apologize about the miscommunication about the

towing capacity of the 2014 Kia Sorento. It was an honest error on our end and

was certainly not done in a malicious manor. Fortunately, the mistake was

caught and the major damage was avoided. Having been in business for over

twenty years, we have never intended to misguide our customers on the vehicle

features or specifications.

In an effort to make sure this does not happen again, we

will be having a refresher course on product knowledge. Additionally, we will

be certain to check our facts if we are unsure in the future. To earn your

trust and establish a working relationship, we will be willing to honor our original

pricing on a new 2014 Kia Sorento AWD V6 with a towing capacity of 3,500 lbs. Steven

Kia assures you that this was an isolated incident and look forward to having

the opportunity to earn your business.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find this resolution satisfactory to me. We followed up with the business upon receiving several phone calls from them. Management went to great lengths to ensure we got the car we wanted (V6) at the price originally agreed upon. I know that was not an easy task.

Based on discussions with management, new staff improperly read the manual when informing us on the vehicle specifications. Although I'm uncertain whether the misrepresentation was an honest error or a purposeful one, I can say with confidence that all individuals within the dealership took the complaint seriously and did their best to provide excellent customer service.

Regards,

Review: I was looking to purchase a car & was asked if they could run my credit I stated yes. There are now approxmatley 34 inquiries on my credit report for this date due to the saleperson continuing to run with many different agencies to get me approved. This has dropped my credit score.Desired Settlement: Have all but 2-inquires removed from my credit report as soon as possible. Make other customers aware 7 to watch for this same type of activity.

Business

Response:

[redacted]My name is [redacted] and I am the General Sales Manager for Steven Kia.I am responding to complaint with the ID [redacted]The complaint stated that 34 inquiries were added on his credit from Steven Kia. The dealership pulled his credit, that would account for the first inquiry. Every bank we submitted the information to would account for one inquiry each.We are currently signed up with 21 lenders. So even if we submitted the information to each lender it would account for 22 inquiries(21 lenders plus Steven Kia). We do not submit deals to all 21 lenders, because each lender has different criteria for approvals. As a general rule we submit to on average 6 lenders. On occasion if we cannot get an approval, we will submit to a few more.Steven Kia uses a company called Dealer Track to submit deals. I have created an investigation with Dealer Track to review the history of our activity with this customer. Unfortunately as of the writing of this response we have not gotten a response from them. I will be happy to follow up with Revdex.com after the results of the investigation. [redacted]Steven Kia General Sales Manager

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I want the inquiries removed from my credit scores as it is lowering them for so many inquiries. I have print out of my credit report that shows the date (all as the same day we were in Steven Kia dealership) as well as the name of the lender. If they all say the same date for auto loans & I went no were else to inquire about a loan how can it be said that Steven Kia did not make the inquiries? I am not hear to give a business a "bad Name" just want the unauthorized inquiries removed. Thank you for your time. Regards,[redacted]

Business

Response:

[redacted]I have received an email from dealer track on this case. I am going to cut and paste the entire response below.As per available system logs, an application was submitted for the primary applicant [redacted] Shoemaker, last four of SSN:[redacted], on May 11, 2012 approx at 6:31 PM Eastern Time by the login ID assigned to [redacted]. The application was submitted to the lenders listed below. No financial decision was received via our system. Please note the dealership is not subscribed to any credit bureau. Our system does not retain credit bureau pulled for lenders. [redacted] Client Services Representative Sales and F& I Solutions Dealertrack Technologies p ###-###-#### f ###-###-#### [redacted] As you can see the number of lenders listed is far below the stated number of **.Thank You [redacted]Steven KiaGeneral Sales Manager Phone: ###-###-####Fax :###-###-####[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. I see that the bussiness is saying that the 8 creditors listed is far from the number 34 as stated but I assure you this was the number of inquiries listed on my credit report, alot of them wer duplicated as if ran through multilpe times. I just want them removed![redacted]Regards,[redacted]

Review: Purchased 2009 Pontiac G5 from this location 10/2013. Upon purchase of vehicle, it was noted that there was an approximate 1/2 inch crack in the windshield on the passenger side. At time of purchase, it was agreed that crack in windshield would be repaired by and at the cost of Steven Kia. Vehicle was taken within the first 30 days, and windshield was repaired. By 01/14, the stated windshield crack had expanded in the same location to approximately 18 inches. Vehicle was then taken back to Steven Kia, where I was told that they would repair it, provided that I would pay half of cost. Feeling dissatisfied with this information, I expressed this to the company supervisor, "[redacted]" who notably became upset and told me that, "All deals are off the table." I am now stuck with a vehicle that wasn't repaired correctly the first time, as the expanded crack is in the exact same location.Desired Settlement: Desire that vehicle be fixed in a proper fashion at cost of Steven Kia, as was originally agreed when vehicle was first purchased.

Business

Response:

The customer purchased a 2009 Pontiac G5 in AS-IS condition

with the exception of repairing the cracked windshield. The windshield was

repaired and the customer was satisfied.

Unfortunately, the windshield repair failed roughly three

and a half months and approximately 3,000 miles later. Typically any repair

work on an AS-IS vehicle is covered for 30 days or 1,000 miles with fifty

percent parts and labor covered by Steven Kia and fifty percent covered by the

customer. After explaining the policy, I explained that I would be willing to

extend our policy for them and would still cover fifty percent of the

replacement windshield. After explaining this offer to the customer, she was

vocally upset and began pointing both her index and middle finger towards my

face across my desk which escalated the conversation from friendly and

cooperative to defensive and argumentative. Remaining calm, I explained that

our offer was fair to both parties and that we had the opportunity to decline

helping at all. To this response the customer threatened blackmail stating that

"if you fix it all for free, I won’t go to the Revdex.com and I won’t go online

or tell any of my friends about it." At this point I became upset and felt

like I was being treated unfairly. Once the conversation went in this

direction, I refused any assistance at all and did not need to continue to

listen to any further threats or abuse.

Several days after our conversation, the customer's father

came into the dealership and spoke with me about the incident. He first apologized

for how his daughter acted and wanted to work things out with the vehicle.

After speaking for thirty minutes, we both agreed that our initial offer of

splitting our wholesale cost of the windshield was fair and that they would

like to take advantage of it. At this point, we set an appointment and will

handle replacing the windshield for the customer. It seems as though all

parties are satisfied.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. Although his response on how I handle the situation is completely false. He also handled the situation completely different then what he stated. My father went to talk to him to complain not to apologize for me.

Regards,