I went into Donnelly Kia today for service for the second time. I had previously gone in to get “Service 1″ (basically an oil change) done on my new Kia Rondo, and this time I was told that based on my mileage (13000 Kms) I should get “Service 2″ done. What is “Service 2″ you ask? Well it’s essentially another oil change, plus a bunch of “inspections” – translation: a really expensive ($119.95 plus tax) oil change! I basically paid them a bunch of money to tell me what I already knew – my practically brand new car is in great shape. Duh!Kia.ca has a PDF on their site that lists exactly what is supposed to be done. I think this differs slightly from what Donnelly actually did though – I’d like to link to Donnelly’s maintenance page directly but it’s not possible…poor site design in my opinion. I get a kick out of descriptions such as “Install Fuel System Cleaner” when what is actually done is to pour a bottle of “Hi Tech” into the gas tank.
To be fair, I knew what the service was going to cost before I agreed to have it done; I guess I just figured I’d be getting more for my money. Turns out I was wrong and that’ll be the last “Service 2″ I’ll have done there. I guess I can’t expect too much from dealer service though – I think for the most part they all try to gouge you as much as possible. My experiences with the Donnelly Kia service department certainly aren’t as bad as what Dave went through at Tony Graham Toyota. I think some of the best service I’ve received from a dealer was from Kanata Ford (another bad website) where every time I took my truck in for service (even something as simple as an oil change) they would wash it for me! How awesome is that?!
With respect to this particular service appointment, some of the things I wasn’t too impressed with: they told me that they would call me when the car was ready to be picked up – they didn’t. I called them to find out if the car was ready and nobody answered. After 10-15 rings, I eventually got voicemail (with a really annoyingly long outgoing message) so left a message asking them to call me back to verify that my car was ready. I didn’t receive a call. When I showed up to pick up the car and told them about this – they didn’t seem too concerned about it. The guy who was ‘helping’ me took a really long time, which is particularily annoying when you’re in a hurry – I mean it took forever just to get my keys back after I had already paid! Argh! I also found it strange that they had written the word ‘low’ on the Windshield washer fluid line of the service report – despite the fact that I had filled up my washer fluid completely the night before. Oh and even though they wrote ‘low’ – they still checked off the green circle…wtf?! Oh well I guess.
I think you’re probably always going to get better service from a small privately owned garage though – provided you trust them of course. We have recently (within the last year or so) started going to Stittsville Automotive (on the advice of a friend) for the service on Amy’s Mazda. We have found them to be excellent and I think I’ll be taking the Kia there from now on as well. Which reminds me…I really need to get that rust proofing done!
To their credit, Donnelly Kia gave me a call tonight. No they didn’t read my blog post (at least I don’t think so anyways) but they must have picked up on how annoyed I was when I left yesterday. I explained to the guy who called what had happened and thanked him for the call. Will this mean I’ll be going back there for service? Probably not but it at least leaves me with a better impression of their service department.
By the way – I’d still highly recommend their sales department, particularly the salesman we dealt with, Jack.
So now I’m getting telephone SPAM from these guys. Just got an “automated service call” from Donnelly Kia to “ensure I was completely satisfied” with my recent service. I’m not impressed. I hung up without selecting one of their options.
Someone told me once that dealerships make most of their money from servicing, not from sales. For example, a salesperson will earn about $100 or so selling a brand new car. Yikes! This is why it takes a while for new manufacturers (like Kia, incidentally) to get themselves established in new market — it takes years for them to make any money, because the cars are all in great shape for the first few years.
Anyway, there’s not much to be done about it, if you want your warranty to be valid, you need to get the regular service. If you want to save some money you could search around for an authorized Kia service shop (one not attached to a dealership) but the savings probably wouldn’t be tremendous.
Next time, buy a beater and do the service yourself!! :)
…and don’t service it at all.
Kia in Kanata, very slow.
I was quoted over the phone a time of 45 minutes to supply and install 4 winter tire all in stock, it took over 2 hours. I ask if the car was ready at one hour later and told it will be ready soon… ya same service as Canadian Tire.
The same experience as all the others, Kia Donnely service department sucks.. I went in to get my tires checked, because another garage told me they were completely bawled and should be repalced at no charge.. My car is a 2010 Kia Forte,bought it Sept. 2009..I have 29,000 kilometers and the tires are worn.. They would not cover it.. Said it the OME Tires… but If I have an accident because of the tires, they will be sorry .. lawsuit.. Will I go back. NEVER..
If anyone still checks this out! I am reading blogs on here from 2007 …2011 and yet still the same quality of service from this dealerships service department (donnelly KIA) forgetting to intsall the tires on a car that went in for tire installation ?? letter sent!
Service Provided by Donnelly KIA
Vehicle purchased on August 6th 2010 by xxxxxxx– Ebony Black Kia Forte Koup SX – also purchased Interior/ exterior care package, window tinting, electro-magnetic corrosion module and the 5 star protection plan)
Upon further inspection the leather conditioning and the diamond kote application was observed to be of poor quality as there was build-up of both these applications on the vehicle that had to be removed (paid for these services).
The SALES –
Mike Parker was amazing; his efforts in regards to the information provided, arrangements and purchase of the vehicle were nothing short of professional excellence. His effort in arranging service (or attempting to) was also amazing, showing great care and concern for customer satisfaction.
Matt Beauvais was also amazing, demonstrating great customer service ability and care for customer satisfaction.
The Vehicle SERVICE department (customer #xxxxxxx)-
The service department was first contacted in regards to the purchase and installation of 4 winter tires, steel wheels, and installation of a PS-3175E auto start as well as the vehicles first service (15 point inspection, lube oil and filter).
The appointment was made via the internet site as this was a much faster and responsive approach (1 week time difference).
The vehicle was dropped off at the front gates on Dec. 20, 2010. No arrangements for transportation could be made for me to get to work for my start time at 6:30 on Corkstown RD. (20$ cab ride)
I arrived at the dealership after work @ 7:00pm where previous arrangements had been made with Mike Parker for payment and pick-up. Upon arrival I noticed that the car did not have the winter wheels installed. (The vehicle was cleaned – complementary) I was communicated that the service department overlooked this.
Another appointment had to be made for the tire installation; this means more time, money and arrangements for me and my girlfriend as we live 60 km west of the service department location.
The winter tire package was to include the 4 tires (4×16” hankook – part #PK2056016HK) Winter wheel nut (20xpart#90038)4 wheels (steel 16×6.5 – part#X42655) and 4 x part#1006472. The service department also told us that the wheels would be cleaned and marked before they were stored.
I requested the service department had the wheels ready for me to pick up as I wanted them for the week-end and no appointment could be arranged before this (I did only leave 3 days for this arrangement to be made, your invoice states that there is no appointment necessary for these services)
Upon pick up, the wheels were still dirty (salt – no complementary cleaning like the car was earlier although this was to already to be done) and the same nuts were used for the winter tires which rusted – (yet another trip had to be made to pick up new nuts from the dealership- more time and cost to me)
I will no longer be bringing my vehicle to Donnelly KIA in Kanata for service as this department has demonstrated nothing but complete incompetence. From the time I walk in to receive service (no attention) to the questioned ask of your service personnel. A Test example of this was conducted- What should my wheels be torqued to? Oh they should be at 100lbs for the Koup SX, I then proceeded to inform him that the manual states a lower setting. He only then took the time to look it up on the computer and verified my statement.
As a Process Engineer dealing with suppliers on a daily basis, I can tell you that this is not the way to handle your customers!!