I recently gave my car for servicing at Salasar Kia and I’m absolutely appalled by the experience. Let me be very clear my issue is not with the Kia brand or the car itself, but with the kind of people working at these service centers. Especially in India, it’s become a trend people working at these authorized centers are so greedy and money-minded, they’ll do anything to extract extra money from you whether it’s required or not.
My car hasn’t even completed 12, 000 km, but I was charged for a 30, 000 km service. When I questioned this, they threw the word “protocol” at me saying it’s Kia’s standard. What kind of logic is that? Even the Kia app shows a much lower estimate for the same service, but these guys made a bill double the expected amount. And this includes things like wheel balancing and basic cleaning, which many other brands offer for free but here, everything is charged separately, with zero transparency.
And the worst part? I spoke directly to the manager before handing over my car. I told him that I had already had a bad experience at another Kia service center, and he assured me that he would personally look into it this time. That he would make sure everything went smoothly. But once my car was with them, this manager didn’t even bother to take or return my calls or respond to my messages. He absolutely ignored the situation clearly, he was too busy maintaining his position and figuring out how to earn or extract money from customers, rather than actually offering any real service or solution.
They returned my car dirty inside and out. I had given them a clean car, and the boot still had sticky residue that I had already cleaned 90% of. They handed it back with the same mess, and then sent someone later with a cloth, as if that would fix it. When asked why the car wasn’t cleaned properly during the service, they said I had to pay extra if I wanted proper interior cleaning. Unbelievable.
Also, they claim to have changed filters and other parts but provided no proof. No before/after photos. No packaging. Just a random picture of a filter sent 3–4 days after the servicing. How the hell am I supposed to know if that even belongs to my car?
This team is completely non-customer-oriented. They are only focused on making money whether it’s ethical or not. Everyone wants to earn, that’s not the issue. But these people are only money-oriented. There’s no honesty, no integrity, and certainly no intention of building long-term trust with the customer.
This is one of the most pathetic service experiences I’ve ever had. Abroad, such practices would never be tolerated. Every penny charged is accounted for, and customer satisfaction actually matters. Here, it feels like customers are just walking wallets to be emptied.
Kia seriously needs to audit its service centers and the kind of people they’re hiring to represent their brand. This kind of treatment makes people lose faith not in the car, but in the entire system built around it.