Kia Sedona

Took to KIA dealership where we purchased the Sedona and was told they would have to look at it. That is the only vehicle we had for our family. So I had to borrow a car from my parents that does not seat all my kids. When KIA got back to us said they were not going to honor the warranty even though we were under the mileage only has 60,000 miles and just 4 years old because they did not believe we did the maintenance on it. If we had records they would then honor warranty. We did keep records of every time an oil change was done with receipts and we also have a log of everything. My husband had to turn these in for his work so our records were meticulous.

Also, we were told by family members to keep all receipts in case we ever had a warrant issue. We submit to KIA and then denied again because they said they cannot honor the logs or receipts since they were not done at a KIA dealership. Never were we told all work or maintenance would have to be done at a dealership. We were only told to keep records. They are also quoting us an exorbitant amount of money to fix. They want to charge us $17,704.58 to repair. When we only owe $14,000.00 on the car.

We are still fighting this with KIA but at this time we have no car. They defraud their customers when they tell you have an warranty when you don't. They find any small reason to deny warranty. Do not buy a KIA. As much as I love the car I would never recommend such a shady company that would not honor the warranty. I too am a returning customer but I will now go to Hyundai who I have read has one of the best customer service representatives. It is a shame that during such times companies are only out to defraud their customers.

After I got out of the manager's office I was unhappy and did not want the warranty and after composing myself, getting a coffee, and going back and saying in no uncertain terms I did not want it, I was told it's too late and I have to have the warranty. I got my wife and kids to join me the following day and we picketed the dealership. Our signs read "Ripped off by Kia." Within 15 minutes the manager was out on the sidewalk with us telling us we did not have to have the warranty and begging us to pack up our signs and go home.

Fine, got out of the warranty and got my $5000 back minus a "$150 administrative fee" that I couldn't be bothered fighting over. Still the high pressure and dishonest upsell left a bad taste in my mouth. For the past year I can only say good things about the van and Go Kia's service of my van has been positive. My van is now at 135,000 KM and I have only needed the usual maintenance for the van, oil change, transmission fluid change, tire change, etc....

I did get a roof rack from Go Kia in December. It was allegedly on sale and at $300 it did seem like a good deal. I have not used the roof rack until today. Today I needed to move a king size mattress, that was just a little too big to fit in the van, but seemed to do ok on the rack. I strapped it down tightly and the started driving at 90Km up Highway 2 to take it to the person who purchased it off me, who was 20 km away. I made it about 1 km on the highway and then heard the roof rack rip away from my roof and in the rearview mirror I saw the mattress land in front of the car travelling behind me. The fellow skidded a bit and drove over the mattress and kept on going. I pulled over and dragged the now destroyed mattress off the highway and looked at the roof rack that was still attached to the mattress and saw it was destroyed too.

My advice is the Kia Sedona minivan is a great buy having owned it for a year and having put on 35,000 of the 135,000 kilometres on the van I have only experienced great reliability and excellent performance. The dealership is shady, ruthless, and will lie and pressure you to get an upsell. Don't trust them, and picket them if you have to, if they succeed in pressuring you into an upsell you don't want. The Kia roof rack sucks. Not safe actually. Mine looked good on my van's roof, but it seemed to me it was ripped off of my roof way too easily. I wasn't driving that fast and I think it should have been able to handle the mattress. I am grateful the mattress accident didn't result in a high speed accident where loss of life or serious damage could have resulted.

3/25/19 I dropped my van off at noon. At that time, I was told that the body shop manager would look at the paint on the roof. I received a text on 3/28/19 regarding my paint. It was not covered under warranty. I asked if the 36 months was from the time I purchased, or they received it. I was told that it was 36 months OR 36,000 miles. I was never actually told one way or the other when the 36 months started.

The vehicle does not have 36,000 miles on it, so I am assuming the 36 months is from when THEY received it not when I purchased it. I was also told by my service advisor to contact Consumer Affairs which I did. I was told that the parts for the ticking noise were ordered and should be in on 4/3/19. 4/3/19 Was contacted by Consumer Affairs (Nikki). She was going to do some research and call me back. On 4/4/19 I texted my service advisor again to find out the status of my van. Was told at that time that they had left me messages, but I received none of them. The engine was still making a noise, so the manager was having the master tech look at it. Was told it would be Friday or Monday.

4/5/19 Nikki called and left me a voice message. She called and talked to Pierre (the body shop manager) and explained that we needed an estimate to move forward. My service advisor texted that he would touch base with him (Pierre) that morning to ensure it was done. Supposedly on 4/8/19 Pierre had the van and would have an estimate for me by 10:30. Was told by my advisor on 4/9/19 that my vehicle was there now and should have an estimate shortly. On 4/10/19 I kept texting my service advisor with no response. I finally got ahold of a someone in service (Travis I think) and was told that Brandy was handling my vehicle and I would be called back. Brandy did not call back, so I called again at 5:28 and left another message.

On 4/11/19 I still did not receive a call so at 8:51 am I called again and talked with Brandy. At that time, she let me know that Johnny (my service advisor) was let go. She was shocked that Johnny had not offered me a loaner car. I explained that it was not supposed to take this long, and we had 2 vehicles. She was going to find out what was happening with my van and call me back.

4/12/19 Brandy did not call me so at 9:53 I called her. Was told at that time that the engine was still making noise and no estimate for the paint. Asked her to contact me and let me know an update. Left 2 voice mails asking for an update. Did not hear from Brandy so at 5:06 I called again. Was told I could have a loaner that would not cost me anything. Still, no estimate for paint and the master tech was waiting to talk with Kia techline about the noise. 4/13/19 Called Brandy at 8:12 and told her I would be there within an hour to get the loaner. Got there and had to wait almost 40 minutes. I did receive a loaner. 4/19/19 Left another message for Brandy asking for an update.

4/20/19 Did not hear from Brandy so at 10:25 I called again. Did get ahold of Brandy. Was told that the body shop was extremely backed up and the estimate had still not been done. Was told that Kia Techline did talk to the master tech and the noise in the engine was determined to be “normal”. I asked why it is doing that now when it was not before? Was told that the tech did say that it was louder than others, but it was normal and if they replaced the fuel pump again it would still make that noise. That was when my husband got on the phone. Was told the same thing. He asked to talk to the manager. Brandy offered to have him call us. My husband wanted his direct line. Brandy gave him the manager's name and direct number.

4/20/19 He left a message for Jim ** at 10:31 to have him call. 4/20/19 Jim the Kia service manager did call back. He stated that the engine was still making a noise that he did not think was normal. He was going to talk with the rep for this district and see what could be done. 4/23 10:09 am Jim phoned and stated he had talked to his higher-ups and he explained that he did not agree with the tech's decision from Kia Tech Line. He was going to put another fuel pump on and see if that took care of the noise.

4/30 Spoke with Brandy and she stated that the painting estimate was back. The body shop also found that the hood needed to be repainted. It would cost $2300 to repair. She had not heard from Kia Consumer Affairs. The engine was still making noise after the new fuel pump was put on. The rep for the area would be there the following week. They were going to have him come by and listen to the noise in person. 5/6 Spoke with Jaimie at Kia Consumer Affairs. My claim was not approved so I would not be getting any assistance to repaint my van. At this point, I am beyond distressed about my vehicle. As of 5/6/19 they have had my van 6 weeks.