Some of you may remember a post I created in June regarding a 2 year service on a Sportage where the brakes were clearly not bled despite being itemised and specified on the service schedule.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=27102
I'll try and keep this brief as its a saga :S.
After discovering this I contacted the dealership in an attempt to find details of the Dealer Principle and was subsequently contacted by the Dealership Manager who offered to do the brakes if I brought the vehicle in and I could monitor the process.
No suggestion of some form of compensation for my time (35 miles away) and for the fact that they had been busted.
Now this followed on from an issue regarding a warranty claim on some corroded Picanto wheels whereby over a number of years whilst they acknowledged and took photos they failed to process the claim. I wasn't particularly proactive in following it up and the Service Receptionist moved on. The other (of 2) became the Service Manager.
When I did start to chase up the claim the new Service Manager intimated that there had been some issues with claims processing by her departed colleague and with another set of photos she would chase up the claim. Kia rejected the claim stating that there condition was so bad that they could not determine if the corrosion was down to misuse by the driver or the wheels themselves. The Dealership denied having any records or photographs of my claim/s going back 3 years.
Subsequent conversations with Kia Customer Services proved fruitless as there was no record or audit trail of my warranty claim - it was back to the Dealer. They eventually offered to refurbish the wheels at a discounted rate of around £240 to myself from a full price of £360. Err no!
Further email ping pong and it was at this point I requested the Dealer Principle details and the Dealership Manager took over. He offered to have the wheels painted with a £100 contribution by myself which I accepted.
I did expect a £360 job - blasting and powder coating. I got a poor flash over of the outer face on top of corrosion.
I refused my contribution payment and again some email ping pong. I think they even accepted that the job was crap and they offered to have the wheels properly refurbished still with my £100 contribution.
In my negotiations the Branch Manager stated that he would deal with the Sportage brake bleeding issue once the Picanto had been dealt with to my satisfaction.
Whilst they had the Picanto for a few days I thought I would kill 2 birds with one stone and have the vehicle serviced and MOT done. The day I dropped it off I receive a phone call stating the vehicle had failed its MOT on both front to rear brake pipes and a number plate light bulb (Major Defects).
They didn't get the opportunity to quote for the work as last year on the Mother in Laws Picanto they identified the same issue and charged £400!!!!
The vehicle was collected. The wheels good. On getting the car home I checked the documentation. It appeared the MOT was conducted before the service and then the service documentation stated that the brake fluid could not be changed due to 'bleed nipple replacement required' - That was it. No attempt to replace bleed screws, nothing. Maybe thought they'd get the brake pipe renewal job and it would all be done then. No refund on the service (45min to 1hr to bleed brakes)
Having got the vehicle home I removed the wheels and checked the pipes. Covered in road dirt and peeling manufacturers coating over no more than 3" of pipe where it goes into the rear caliper. A wire brush and emery paper and they were as good as new.
Presented to local garage, briefed as to the failed MOT, and they issue an MOT with an Advisory on the pipes to cover themselves but the declaration that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the pipes. A fluid change was conducted with a bit of care and no issues undoing the bleed screws. OF course the vehicle didn't qualify for the standard retest as the Dealership did not conduct the work.
I considered a VOSA appeal on the MOT but they don't want the item subject of the fail to be worked on.
So this was reported via a Dealer Customer Feedback Questionnaire and the Branch Manager contacted me. A similar Questionnaire, sent by Kia UK, was also completed with the facts surrounding both the Sportage and Picanto issues and Ive heard diddly squat from them. Must only like positive reviews.
My expectation when a vehicle is submitted for service and MOT is that the vehicle is firstly serviced in preparation for the MOT and any issues higlighted and dealt with, even at additional cost if necessary. Brake pipes should be examined and cleaned if necessary to identify issues. A dealerships technicians should be more that familiar with particular issues on their vehicles.
They were scared to touch the bleed nipples on the Picanto because for the lifetime of its servicing with them, despite claims and invoices to the contrary, they've never undone them and did not want to snap them. Any mechanic worth their salt knows how to work a dodgy bleed screw to save grief.
So another round of email ping pong. The MOT testers integrity is set in stone a Fail is a Fail.
It goes quiet for a few weeks and I have to remind the Branch Manager that we have some outstanding issues. What do I want to make things right says he?
Further exchange of emails where I ask for: The Sportage service to be redone completely and a refund of my money and as regards the Picanto a refund of £36 it cost me for the local fluid change. You may note I didn't claim for the re-test.
He continued to maintain that all the enquiries he had conducted regarding the lack of brake bleeding on the Sportage revealed there was no reason for them not to have been done and why would they not do them? Really!!!!!!?? Clear photographic evidence and despite being informed that in a previous life I was authorised to test and inspect vehicles to the point of my evidence being 'expert' from an evidence giving perspective, he would no move from his stance.
Probably because to do so would open the Dealership up to a whole raft of issues.
You would think that he would be bending over backwards to keep me placated considering I'd already intimated that not only had the Dealership committed offences under consumer law but also criminal fraud offences. But no, the car salesman in him ensured he reduce my requests to somewhere in the middle with a multitude of excuses.
So we settled on a refund of my original service money plus the cost of the local fluid change.
I still have to have the fluid changed in my Sportage. His argument was that I've had more or less a complete free service on the Sportage + a refund.
Trading Standards were not interested. Transferred to a call centre with drop down menus and 'advice given'. The Police I very much doubt would be interested and would class it as a 'civil matter'.
Its been a long very frustrating battle. A battle of attrition on their behalf. This outfit are clearly 'bang at it' and know its difficult to take them to task. I tried and have a very long audit trail of emails and independent corroboration.
Although stubborn it gets to a point when you don't want to give up completely but want to move on and that is when compromise on their terms takes over despite being completely dishonest and in the wrong.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sat 7 Dec 19 at 22:09
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KIA - Kia Service - Update. new
KIA - Kia Service - Update. new
