Prior to purchasing a 1 year old Kia Forte, I was advised by the seller to go in to Findlay Kia--where the vehicle was being serviced--to test drive the vehicle. I met with Service Rep Ron Edwards and asked him about what I believed to be a balance of a 100K/10yr warranty on the vehicle. He told me and my wife it was actually the balance of a 60k/5yr warranty as a 2nd owner. I then asked Ron if the prior accident (maintaining a clear, not a salvage, title) had any impact on the warranty, and he informed us it DID NOT. My wife and I returned to Findlay Kia to purchase the car from the seller.
Prior to purchase, my wife and I again asked Ron for the details about the warranty, and asked him again if the prior accident had any impact on the warranty. He told us it did not, and proceeded to print out a warranty summary for the vehicle (which had the VIN number and date of warranty activation) and explained to us from this sheet all of the components that were covered, and for what remaining period. Based on Edwards' representation, we bought the car, requiring a warranty for my daughter.
A month later, the car broke down while my daughter was driving it. Kia roadside assistance towed it into Findlay. I called Ron Edwards to ask him what was wrong with it and he said Kia wasn't covering the repairs because it was a result of a prior accident. I confronted him about his prior representations to me prior to purchasing the car. He told me to take it up with Kia. I then called Jeff Hafen, Service Manager, and explained the aforementioned. Jeff smugly told me he "wasn't responsible for Kia's warranty policies" and to take it up with Kia. I told him he was, in fact, responsible for the representations of Ron Edwards prior to our purchase. I then called and spoke with Findlay Kia GM Dave Distul to explain the situation to him. Not only did Distul parrot the same talking points as Hafen, he then proceeded to scold me, asking me why I would buy a used Kia from another dealer and not a CPO from Findlay Kia. That was a smug and unprofessional comment from a GM.
The used car dealer I bought the car from called Ron Edwards to help assist in resolving the matter, and asked him for information about what was wrong with the car, to which Edwards said he would not give them any information about the car and that the car needed to be towed away.
I then sent an email to owner, Cliff Findlay, explaining all of the above, asking for his assistance. I received a call from GM Dave Distul the next day telling me they were going to do nothing with the car and that I should just go ahead and sue them. Distul then made false claims about how much they would have helped me if I didn't send emails to Cliff Findlay.
I informed Distul of his misrepresentations and that I was trying to reason with them and avoid litigation. The next day I spoke with Jeff Hafen, who agreed to talk with GM Distul about doing some service work on the car to at least get it operable. He called back, said he spoke with Distul, who said they would be replacing the a critical part to get the car running.
The next day, however, I received a call from Hafen, who told me the damage from the accident was far more extensive, claiming parts were "smashed into the engine block" and "melted against the engine block," requiring an expensive main engine harness, etc. All untrue and exaggerated! I asked him to send me an estimate on the repairs needed and he said he wouldn't do that, and that I needed to get the car towed from Kia.
I called Kia corporate to inform them of the misrepresentations and jerk around I got from Findlay Kia, as well as their constantly changing position on what they would cover under warranty and what they would not.
I called Hafen back and informed him I was negotiating with the seller to either buy the car back or to cover all of the repairs related to the damage. I then asked Hafen if, after all of the repairs from the prior accident were done, if I was good to go with the balance of the Kia warranty, and Hafen said that I was still covered under the balance of the Kia warranty.
Once again relying on the prior representations of Findlay Kia and Hafen, I told the seller to pick up the car from Kia and perform the repairs. Hafen then sent me a list of the needed repairs in an email.
After picking up the car, I received a call from the seller, informing me of the misrepresentations made by Hafen and Findlay Kia about the extent of damages, with all of their fabricated & embellished problems that were no where near as serious or extensive as Hafen claimed.
I called Kia corporate to file a complaint, and was told Hafen replied that Findlay Kia would not be performing any future service or warranty work and to take it 4 hours to SLC or 2 hours to Vegas. Cowardice and dishonesty describe Distul, Hafen, Edwards and Cliff Findlay himself. All of the KIA service horror stories are true, and Findlay is an infamous example. read more