Booked New KIA Seltos X Line under K code on 14/07/23 which was the 1st day when New Seltos bookings opened with commitment from Frontier Kia Safdarjung that I will be allowed to change booking name from individual to company or refund 100% if cancelled. Delivery date committed was before 30th September 23.
Between Aug & Sept the whole team of Frontier Kia Safdarjung was replaced with the new team which was not only arrogant, it also deliberately delayed my delivery date to extract new revised rates effective from 1st October 23.
Deliberately made to suffer loss of Rs.30, 000 due to delay in delivery as prices increased from 1st October 23.
On 15th October we were made to wait for hours at the stock yard at Dwarka even when it was preplanned pre delivery inspection as the sales team(Mr.Gopal Sahni) did not bother to report at the stock yard to assist us with pre delivery inspection.
We were asked to inspect & approve a vehicle with wind screen damage & pressurized us to accept it as they offered us to repair the wind screen before delivery …. Have picture of damage on windscreen to support this claim.
Though Kia has a 7 minute matte colour maintenance video for X Line on YouTube as to how the vehicle is supposed to be washed & wiped, their team at the stock yard & also at the showroom did not seem to be either trained or bothered to follow what KIA expects the customers to do in order to maintain X Line matte colour special requirements or even their normal colour cars.
When we insisted on changing the vehicle, their sales team threatened us of cancelling our booking but when we challenged them to go ahead with the cancellation, they agreed to change the vehicle.
Second time pre delivery inspection was done at their showroom which did not have any space to even park the vehicle properly …… the pre delivery inspection was done using torch light as it was kept in dark place without any light & no way it could be moved to a better lit place & as it was parked at the entrance gate we saw people moving in & out of the showroom squeezing themselves between the vehicle & gate thereby scratching the vehicle …. Have pictures & video supporting this claim.
Even though we made full payment on 20th October, the sales team head Mr.Gopal Sahni refused to register the vehicle for the next 3 days though the junior sales member was polite & got the vehicle registered the next day …. Fail to understand the arrogance of the sales team leader who clearly refused to register as per our requirement citing minimum 3 day requirement to do so when his junior was capable & polite enough to get it done the very next day.
Booking was changed from personal name to company’s name & full payment made but during refund of personal booking amount they deducted Rs.250/- for no valid reason(the dealer failed to share bank statement showing this deduction which the dealer claimed as bank deduction) nor did KIA intervene to get this investigated…. Have documents to all these points.
We were quoted more than Rs.70, 000/- for insurance & when we managed to get a better quote from outside agent with much better coverage & terms for around Rs.46, 000, they tried to negotiate & finally agreed to match our quotation …. Have documents to prove that they tried to cheat & extract huge margins on insurance
Even though we had informed their sales team in advance to keep the vehicle ready by 1 pm (auspicious time) on the day of delivery(22nd October 23), we found the vehicle neither cleaned nor ready for delivery by the requested delivery time.
As the showroom did not have enough space to handle multiple deliveries, our vehicle was stuck between other cars lined up for delivery & the final delivery happened 1 hour post the mahurat/auspicious time after it was cleaned with dirty cloth(exactly opposite of what KIA recommends) in our presence.
Finally delivery of a vehicle costing almost 25 lakhs was made on the roadside after making us wait for almost 2 hours & after 1 hour of the auspicious time that we had requested…… even for this, KIA did not bother to investigate nor was corrective action taken.
We started receiving badly drafted 1st service messages from 25th day of delivery, threatening to lapse warranty if 1st service was not done within 30 days of delivery even though their owner’s manual recommends 1st service within 45 days from the date of delivery
1st Service experience – 05/12/23
The service advisor was untrained & had no answers to even our basic questions regarding 1st service & accessories.
He seemed to be surprised after seeing a matte colour vehicle which goes on prove that he had never handled X-Line models.
Their washing & cleaning team were also as bad as they had at their stock yard & showroom team & seemed to be seeing such colour/finish for the first time.
1st service consisted of only washing, cleaning, polishing(wax polish is not recommended on matte colour still they tried doing it), checking engine oil, shampoo & tyre pressure all of which were done by an inexperienced team & by not following the procedure recommended by KIA in owner’s manual.
Most of the checks recommended in the owner’s manual during 1st service were not done & I also received 1 notification on the mobile application of unauthorized access by their staff during the time the vehicle was in Frontier KIA - Okhla Service Centre’s custody for 1st service.
When feedback about bad handling, delivery experience & issues faced during 1st service was escalated to KIA, I was assured of action against the dealer which never happened nor did they bother to reply.
When deficiency during 1st service was escalated to their VP Ashwani Kumar & GM Ajendra Saxena, I was assured of corrective action within 2 days for which I have been waiting for the past 15 days for any reply from them.
My experience while interacting with their senior management & from their replies, it seemed that even they had no knowledge of how X-Line is to be handled & serviced and it even applies for other models on their 1st service part.
KIA should either stop production of X-Line or at least stop selling through such untrained & arrogant dealers who do not care how a premium product is to be sold, handled & delivered.
We found that other dealers of KIA have given KIA branded gifts & sweets to all buyers of even lower trims of New Kia Seltos at the time of delivery which this dealer has not offered nor KIA has bothered to investigate.
Hopeless service applies to all their models & trims as recommendations in the owner’s manual are not followed for the 1st service.
If you want to go through the nightmarish delivery & handling experience then FRONTIER KIA SAFDARJUNG is the dealer & KIA MOTORS is the brand which will shamelessly ignore all your escalations.