5 years ago the lease on our Toyota Tercel was coming due. With Boo on the way it was no longer big enough to suit our needs. We considered upgrading to the Corolla but we could not afford the minimal features we were looking for. We decided to go with a 2003 Kia Spectra instead. DW found a great deal that was significantly less than we found at other dealerships. The only sticky part was they required a $500 deposit refundable if we failed the credit check. That is where the trouble began.
They screwed up our application and put down the co-signor on the car as a co-owner. They also wanted a $1500 security deposit (equivalent to almost 6 months of payments). They told us that since the credit was approved we would lose the deposit. When we threatened to bring a lawyer they explained that they are sued regularily and they always win. The co-signor backed out of the deal. Eventually DW was made the co-signor and we paid the deposit.
A few weeks later when I called the dealership all of the staff we had dealt with were not working there. When my cadilidic converter blew out the first time at 5000km and a number of issues, I complained to the head office. They told me to take the complaints back to the dealership which had gone out of business.
The lease is now up on my car. My parents took care of returning the car to Kia. First they tried to sell the car to my parents. Then they told them that since they we were not buying another car they would charge $2500 for excessive wear and tear. If they were willing to buy something else from them they would wave the entire amount. My parents were disgusted that they were going to tack on charges as punishment for not remaining customers. They even called in the assesor to try to resolve the situation. In the end Kia will not be returning our security deposit. My parents refused to give them anymore money. As we have left the country they will probably not go through the effort of recovering the extra money.
A company with such lousy customer service they should be suffering the same decline in sales as the big 3.
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