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Shawnee Mission Kia Complaint
By Hawksdomain | September 19, 2009
First I’d like to apologize that I’ve not made any blog posts recently. I have been a bit sick lately and I am still trying to get life back to normal. I don’t generally make posts like this, but as this is my little place on the internet, it is my one place to express myself however I may wish. I feel very wronged by Shawnee Mission Kia and I just sent this letter via email to the email address I was given when I called Shawnee Mission Kia. Because the address appears to be a personal one, I am not including it here, out of respect for the New Car Sales Manager of Shawnee Mission Kia.
September 19, 2009
Mr. Chris Winans
New Car Sales Manager
Shawnee Mission Kia
7810 Shawnee Mission Parkway
Overland Park, Kansas 66202
email address
913-384-9100
Sent via email
Mr. Winans:
I nearly purchased a vehicle from Shawnee Mission Kia on the evening of September 18, 2009. I wanted to make sure that your organization was aware of why I chose to not follow through on the purchase, and why I will never return to Shawnee Mission Kia.
I was not looking to purchase a new vehicle. I had received your mailer earlier in the week, but thought it would be best to wait until I had paid my loan down a bit further before looking for a new vehicle. Then, on Friday, September 18, I received a phone call from your sales person, Nick. I explained to him that my concern was having to finance the negative equity on my current car. He claimed that I would not need to worry about any negative equity. He did his job by convincing me to stop by and see if a deal could be accomplished. I told him I would be by after work. I explained that I work at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Metcalf and that I would leave work at 4:00. I expected to be at Shawnee Mission Kia between 4:05 and 4:15.
A short time passed and my phone rang again. I saw that it was Shawnee Mission Kia and was shocked when I answered and the same man I spoke to earlier started talking to Keshia. When I didn’t respond he asked if I was there, when I asked who he was looking to speak to. I then told him that he had called Paula Hawk again, to which I received a “sorry” and a click. This should have been my first clue that I should have driven right past the dealership and simply gone home Friday evening.
As I expected, I arrived at the dealership about 4:10. I was told that Nick would be back shortly and I was offered a chair at his desk. I expected he was out showing another vehicle or something. Imagine my surprise when he returned with a co-worker from a walk to get an iced coffee at a nearby store. Obviously making an appointment for a specific time doesn’t mean much to Nick.
As we spoke, Nick asked if I still worked at Honeywell. I have never worked for Honeywell. He then asked if my address was 27… I stopped him because I’ve never had an address that started with 27. Then I was asked if my birthday was 11/../48. This one offended me, as that is older than my parents. I was then told I needed to fill out some paperwork because my information had changed. I explained to Nick that I never worked at Honeywell and that my birthday has never been in November, and that my information had not changed. He then said that it must be because I never purchased a vehicle at Shawnee Mission Kia, I just had service work done there. I should have left at this time, because the vehicle I now drive was purchased at Shawnee Mission Kia.
As we discussed vehicles, I was asked if I would prefer a Spectra, or if I might be willing to try an Optima. I explained I would prefer a Spectra, but that I would be willing to look at the Optima. Soon, I was test driving an Optima and my car was taken to be valued for a trade in.
I was very impressed with the Optima, but I still believed that it was more than I could afford at this time. We haggled and bargained. We went from an automatic transmission to a manual. At one point I asked about looking at a Spectra. Nick’s response was that he lied. There were no Spectras available.
I asked Nick about the tires, if they were performance tires. His response, more than once, was that yes, they do perform. It was not until I was with the man who handled the finance paperwork that I was able to get an answer on that. Another question I had was if the manual really had cruise control. Nick said he wasn’t sure, but if it didn’t, he would have it added on. The proposal indicated that the manual transmission Optima was gray in color, I asked if that was accurate. Again, he did not know. As we bargained, I explained to Nick that this was not my idea to purchase a new vehicle right now. He had called me and I would happily just go home and wait until I felt it was a more appropriate time for me.
Nick brought me a proposal with a monthly payment that I was fairly comfortable with. I reviewed all of the numbers for quite some time, and I must admit that I am rather disgusted from what I learned once I was in the financing office. Although there were several numbers on the paper, and some numbers were labeled as a “total”, for instance, my total trade in value, I really believe that was just to think that I was getting more money back than I actually was. I kept referring back to the bottom largest number, which was the number that I was led to believe was the amount I would be financing, $11,500. The true amount I was going to be financing was over $17,000. This annoyed me, however, this was not the actual deal breaker. The deal breaker was that I had been told that Shawnee Mission Kia would pay the sales tax. Understand, this is not my first car purchase, not even from Shawnee Mission Kia. I was not told that the sales tax could/would be added on to the financing. Honestly, this is how I have purchased vehicles previously. I was pleased that the sales tax would be paid and not financed. Every sales person I have bought a vehicle from before has been upfront and honest with me about the sales tax. They had told me that I could finance it. Not once had I ever been offered that a dealership would pay the sales tax.
Once a proposed deal was agreed upon, Nick told me that I would be out of the dealership in about half an hour and informed me he needed to take me to the Used Car lot down the street. As I was in this enclosed car with this man, he mentioned being sick. I shared that my husband and I had both been sick for over two weeks now. Nick then said “I hope I don’t have H1N1.” I was shocked. I knew I didn’t have H1N1, but the thought of being in such close spaces with someone who could have it is truly frightening. Nick and I then discussed the healthy young woman who had just been mentioned in the news the previous night who had died from H1N1.
An hour later at 7:00 PM, I was taken into the financing office and we began to discuss the terms of the deal. This is where I began to learn the truth of what was going on. I stood up and told the gentleman that I just wanted to get my car and go home. He asked me to sit down and went to make a phone call. After several minutes, the gentleman returned with Nick who wanted to know the problem. The proposal I had signed off on was nowhere to be found in my paperwork. I asked the gentleman who handled the financing what he would think if he had been told that someone else would be paying sales tax. He hesitated and started with “Well, yes but…” No. No buts. I understand about it being financed. I had asked about interest rates and the trade in and several other questions. Don’t blow smoke, tell me the truth. As I was becoming angry about the fact I had been lied to and wasted over 3 hours of my time so far, Nick responded, “We are losing $1100 on this deal.” I believe the look of shock was enough, as he then offered to return me to my car. I simply thanked him for the offer.
It was quite clear that I had not planned on purchasing a vehicle and that I had several items in my car that I would need to put into a new car, should I make a purchase. When I finally reached home at 8:00, 3 ½ hours later than I would have if I had gone straight home, I went to grab my sweater and bag that I used to carry my lunch to work, that were both sitting in the passenger seat next to me. I hope that you can imagine my shock and disgust to find a tissue sitting on my belongings.
I will be making this letter public, warning others who may choose to visit Shawnee Mission Kia. I feel that consumers should be aware of the deceptive practices that I witnessed yesterday. I also think that the public at large should be fully aware of the possible health risks of visiting this dealership. Should I end up with H1N1, I will be sending a copy of this letter to the health department as well as all of the news outlets in the greater Kansas City area. I understand that you may simply laugh at these statements, as I am only one woman who feels wronged on more than one level. I may not even be able to cause one other person to think twice before visiting your dealership. But I do promise you one thing, you have lost me as a customer. I am going to Olathe Kia later to share my experience with them and to let them know if they can get me close to the offer that was made last night, I will walk away with a new Optima.
Please allow this letter to also serve as notice that I no longer wish to be included on the marketing list for Shawnee Mission Kia.
Sincerely,
Former Shawnee Mission Kia Customer
Paula K. Hawk
Topics: Kansas, Off Topic | 1 Comment »
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7:19 am on September 21st, 2009
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