Shagley
If you don't move when I say "beep beep", I will r
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2005
I am frustrated, and I just want to post my experience with my Mom's Kia Sedona mini van on our way to WDW 
The van is a 2002, has 36,000 miles on it and my Mom loaned it to us (my sister, two friends, and me) to take to Florida because we figured it would be a reliable vehicle. We left Peoria, Illinois on Wednesday evening (May 18) and were heading to Orlando, Sanibel, and Key West. On Thursday afternoon, on Interstate 75 South in the middle of Georgia, the engine blew. There was literally a *BANG* that shook the van. We pulled over, and since the van was still under warranty, it was towed to the nearest Kia Dealer. Of course it was just after 5pm, so they were closed for the night. We were supposed to be staying at ASMu that night, so all of our plans were already screwed up on day two of an 11 day trip (our reservation at ASMu had already been paid for as part of the Kellogg Kash promotion, and that was another ordeal to get the reservation changed) The next day, we called the Kia dealer, and they were stumped as to what happened to our engine. Apparently they had never seen anything like it before. It needed a new engine, and that would have to be ordered in. They said they would pay for us to rent a compact car, but it had to be back in 3 days. Okay, first, the four of us (all women) would not fit in a compact car with all of our luggage, and second, how in the world could we be back in Georgia in 3 days to return the car when we have plans in Florida for the next 10 days? By this time, we had to check out of our hotel room, and were sitting in the lobby with all of our luggage. We finally convinced Kia that we should at least be able to rent a mini van because that is what we had that is covered under warranty. They agreed to that, but then we never heard back from them again, and our calls were not being returned. After 3 1/2 hours in the hotel lobby (about 3:30 pm), we decide to call around ourselves for a rental vehicle, and thought we would fight with Kia about it later (Otherwise we would be in for another night in Georgia). We got a rental, got our stuff out of our van, and continued on with our vacation (a day late, and frazzled from our van problems). The next day when my Mom called Kia to find out about what was going on with her van, Kia told her that they had "had a large car all lined up" for us to rent, so because of that they wouldn't pay for the entire cost of our rental (interesting how in the 7 hours that we waited for Kia to arrange a rental vehicle for us, they weren't able to, but suddenly the next day they are saying that they had a vehicle lined up for us
).
The next few days of vacation went as planned, and then my Mom called to tell us that Kia called her, and the new engine is on backorder until JULY (Remember, this is May). We had no idea how we were going to get home.
A few days later, we heard from Kia that they had found an engine for the van, but they couldn't put it in until Tuesday of the following week (a day after we needed to be back home in Illinois).
On Thursday (May 26) we heard from Kia, that they would pay for a rental van so we could get home to Peoria, but it was from a different car rental company than the vehicle we were already renting, and we had to be in Georgia by noon on Saturday to pick it up. We had been planning to leave Sanibel on Saturday morning, and drive straight through to Peoria - but that would never get us to Georgia by 12:00 noon . We left Sanibel on Friday afternoon, and stayed overnight in Georgia so we could pick up our next rental vehicle by 12:00 noon on Saturday. When we picked up the van, we were told by the van rental company "As soon as you get home and drop off the van at the drop off location, you need to call us to let us know you dropped it off".
The trip home was uneventful (thank God). We dropped the rental van off to the drop off location, and called to let the car rental company know it was dropped off. My Mom called Kia again to find out about her van, and she told them the rental van had been dropped off, Kia then said "We had it all worked out so you could keep the rental van until your van was finished". (Once again, this was AFTER the fact).
We were now home, but the Kia van was still in Georgia. My Mom called the local dealer where she purchased her Kia van, the regional office, and even the Kia North America President's office (never received a call back) to find out how she was going to get her van back from Georgia, but when she did get ahold of someone, they would tell her that they had to check with someone else and they would get back to her, but then they never called her back. It was interesting that she never got a call back from the Kia President's office, but everyone at Kia that she talked to after that would say "I see on your record that you called the Presidents office".
Then my Mom heard from the Kia dealer in Georgia that while fixing the engine in the van, they accidentally broke the starter, so now they were waiting for that part to come in.
While my Mom was trying to figure out how she was going to get her van back, she got an e-mail from Kia saying that they had approved a three day car rental for her to drive back to Georgia to get her van. None of us were too happy that Kia wouldn't even pay to transport the van back to Illinois, but at least they were doing something.
Okay, two days later she receives a call from the person that sent her the e-mail. Unfortunately they have now decided NOT to pay for a rental to go to Georgia pick up the van. We were all pretty angry about that. Plus she received another e-mail stating "As you know, your van is now ready to be picked up. I'm sorry for the inconvience, but on the bright side, you now have a new engine".
So, last weekend, my Parents, my Sister and I took the weekend off from work, drove the 14 hours to Georgia, spent the night, and drove 14 hours home the next day.
My family is out about $1,000.00 when you consider the rental vehicle we had to pay for to continue on our vacation, extra hotel rooms, gas and expenses to drive back to Georgia to pick up the van, etc. As you can tell, I am very disappointed with the way this was handled by Kia (but on the bright side, my Mom's 3 year old van with 36,000 miles has a new engine). Before the flames start being thrown at me, I realize that Kia is probably not legally required to do anything other than replace the engine (and the starter which they broke), so I realize that they did not have to do anything more than they already did. As far as I'm concerned, they took care of the van, they did not take care of their customers.
UPDATE 6/30 - My Mom had a meeting with the owner of the local Kia/ Hyundai/Mitsubishi dealership in Peoria (where the van was purchased). He said that he will reimburse us for any expenses that we incurred due to this experience (even if Kia Corporation will not). He was also suprised / disappointed at how the Kia Corporation handled this situation. He had been on vacation for the last few weeks (we know this to be true, because we had tried to contact him earlier), but he apologized for how the situation was handled (we realize it wasn't his fault).
The van is a 2002, has 36,000 miles on it and my Mom loaned it to us (my sister, two friends, and me) to take to Florida because we figured it would be a reliable vehicle. We left Peoria, Illinois on Wednesday evening (May 18) and were heading to Orlando, Sanibel, and Key West. On Thursday afternoon, on Interstate 75 South in the middle of Georgia, the engine blew. There was literally a *BANG* that shook the van. We pulled over, and since the van was still under warranty, it was towed to the nearest Kia Dealer. Of course it was just after 5pm, so they were closed for the night. We were supposed to be staying at ASMu that night, so all of our plans were already screwed up on day two of an 11 day trip (our reservation at ASMu had already been paid for as part of the Kellogg Kash promotion, and that was another ordeal to get the reservation changed) The next day, we called the Kia dealer, and they were stumped as to what happened to our engine. Apparently they had never seen anything like it before. It needed a new engine, and that would have to be ordered in. They said they would pay for us to rent a compact car, but it had to be back in 3 days. Okay, first, the four of us (all women) would not fit in a compact car with all of our luggage, and second, how in the world could we be back in Georgia in 3 days to return the car when we have plans in Florida for the next 10 days? By this time, we had to check out of our hotel room, and were sitting in the lobby with all of our luggage. We finally convinced Kia that we should at least be able to rent a mini van because that is what we had that is covered under warranty. They agreed to that, but then we never heard back from them again, and our calls were not being returned. After 3 1/2 hours in the hotel lobby (about 3:30 pm), we decide to call around ourselves for a rental vehicle, and thought we would fight with Kia about it later (Otherwise we would be in for another night in Georgia). We got a rental, got our stuff out of our van, and continued on with our vacation (a day late, and frazzled from our van problems). The next day when my Mom called Kia to find out about what was going on with her van, Kia told her that they had "had a large car all lined up" for us to rent, so because of that they wouldn't pay for the entire cost of our rental (interesting how in the 7 hours that we waited for Kia to arrange a rental vehicle for us, they weren't able to, but suddenly the next day they are saying that they had a vehicle lined up for us
).The next few days of vacation went as planned, and then my Mom called to tell us that Kia called her, and the new engine is on backorder until JULY (Remember, this is May). We had no idea how we were going to get home.
A few days later, we heard from Kia that they had found an engine for the van, but they couldn't put it in until Tuesday of the following week (a day after we needed to be back home in Illinois).
On Thursday (May 26) we heard from Kia, that they would pay for a rental van so we could get home to Peoria, but it was from a different car rental company than the vehicle we were already renting, and we had to be in Georgia by noon on Saturday to pick it up. We had been planning to leave Sanibel on Saturday morning, and drive straight through to Peoria - but that would never get us to Georgia by 12:00 noon . We left Sanibel on Friday afternoon, and stayed overnight in Georgia so we could pick up our next rental vehicle by 12:00 noon on Saturday. When we picked up the van, we were told by the van rental company "As soon as you get home and drop off the van at the drop off location, you need to call us to let us know you dropped it off".
The trip home was uneventful (thank God). We dropped the rental van off to the drop off location, and called to let the car rental company know it was dropped off. My Mom called Kia again to find out about her van, and she told them the rental van had been dropped off, Kia then said "We had it all worked out so you could keep the rental van until your van was finished". (Once again, this was AFTER the fact).
We were now home, but the Kia van was still in Georgia. My Mom called the local dealer where she purchased her Kia van, the regional office, and even the Kia North America President's office (never received a call back) to find out how she was going to get her van back from Georgia, but when she did get ahold of someone, they would tell her that they had to check with someone else and they would get back to her, but then they never called her back. It was interesting that she never got a call back from the Kia President's office, but everyone at Kia that she talked to after that would say "I see on your record that you called the Presidents office".
Then my Mom heard from the Kia dealer in Georgia that while fixing the engine in the van, they accidentally broke the starter, so now they were waiting for that part to come in.
While my Mom was trying to figure out how she was going to get her van back, she got an e-mail from Kia saying that they had approved a three day car rental for her to drive back to Georgia to get her van. None of us were too happy that Kia wouldn't even pay to transport the van back to Illinois, but at least they were doing something.
Okay, two days later she receives a call from the person that sent her the e-mail. Unfortunately they have now decided NOT to pay for a rental to go to Georgia pick up the van. We were all pretty angry about that. Plus she received another e-mail stating "As you know, your van is now ready to be picked up. I'm sorry for the inconvience, but on the bright side, you now have a new engine".
So, last weekend, my Parents, my Sister and I took the weekend off from work, drove the 14 hours to Georgia, spent the night, and drove 14 hours home the next day.
My family is out about $1,000.00 when you consider the rental vehicle we had to pay for to continue on our vacation, extra hotel rooms, gas and expenses to drive back to Georgia to pick up the van, etc. As you can tell, I am very disappointed with the way this was handled by Kia (but on the bright side, my Mom's 3 year old van with 36,000 miles has a new engine). Before the flames start being thrown at me, I realize that Kia is probably not legally required to do anything other than replace the engine (and the starter which they broke), so I realize that they did not have to do anything more than they already did. As far as I'm concerned, they took care of the van, they did not take care of their customers.
UPDATE 6/30 - My Mom had a meeting with the owner of the local Kia/ Hyundai/Mitsubishi dealership in Peoria (where the van was purchased). He said that he will reimburse us for any expenses that we incurred due to this experience (even if Kia Corporation will not). He was also suprised / disappointed at how the Kia Corporation handled this situation. He had been on vacation for the last few weeks (we know this to be true, because we had tried to contact him earlier), but he apologized for how the situation was handled (we realize it wasn't his fault).
Its actually our spidey-mobile 
Anyways, I dont blame you at all for being upset. You handled it better then I would. If it were me... let me just say they would have a hard time replacing the motor when it stuck in someones "keeester". Our dealer has been great, but I guess alot of it has to do with the "dealer/salespeople" also... let alone the company.
