Topic

It's been a bad year personally, having lost my dear Sister Trish after the dreaded big C struggle. On the 21st of last month my wife and I were due to travel to Cornwall to intern my sister's ashes. A good trip in good weather. Should I take the TF or our brand new KIA Stonic ?
We set off and got as far as the M42 Where the traffic ground to a standstill. Within 2 minutes on a hot day the temperature gauge was bending the stop , followed by warning lights as I pulled over to hard shoulder. Cooling fan not working ! Engine blisteringly hot ! This is a tale that many on here would assume is going be me asking the best place to buy a replacement K series engine . The thing is ,this was not the TF that had failed, it was a KIA Stonic with less than 500 miles on the clock and just three weeks old ! In moving traffic there was no problem so RAC advice was to carry on to destination and be cautious if in standing traffic . Destination reached and car left with KIA dealer in Plymouth . The car is still with them and as I had commitments back home we returned by train ! The car is STILL in Plymouth as they 'can't find the fault' ! Extending our stay in the South West has left us out of pocket by a good amount and KIA Assist are USELESS and the dealership in Plymouth even suggested I have the car recovered to Yorkshire to my dealer so they can fix it !!!! Cost of transfer £600+vat and I would have to pay. Err, yeh ,like I'm gonna fall for that ! Lesson in all of this , well I should have taken the TF which insidently passed its test today with flying colours .

John

I would tell Kia the car is clearly not fit for purpose and under the consumer rights act you want a straight refund. You have given them more than enough time to fix it. Neither Kia nor the dealer can ignore the law of the land. Tell them you will add any costs of recovery of the money to the bill. Send it to the dealer as a registered letter addressed to the dealer principal or a named director of Kia.
Ash

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Sympathies to you and your family for your loss.

Yeah stick it up ‘em, the bastards, perhaps they should rename “Kia Assist” to the more descriptive “Kia Completely Useless Marketing Bullshit Pretend Assist Program”……….. that’s got a catchy ring to it!

I'd be absolutely steaming if I was you!
Oh you were!
Sorry!

Had a similar problem with my Daughters VW Polo, the same symptoms as your Kia VW had it twice couldnt find a problem, my friend (independent mechanic diagnosed the problem in 10mins) took it back to VW and insisted they change the water pump, VW after protracted argument agreed but if it didn't solve the problem she would have to pay, guess what, 60k miles have passed without incident 😉 perseverance will pay off in the end, not fit for purpose etc. Good luck.

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Sorry John for the poor taste joke, now for more new car wows. My brother in law bought a Peugeot e208 (I think) & it failed within the first few weeks, it was with the main dealer for a few months (oh yes & he wouldn’t refuse it) then to Peugeot UK & ultimately he got it back. It took weeks & weeks to sort out & during this period he was lent another model which he didn’t like & that failed.
They visited the other day & if my VVC rattled, wheezed & hummed like that I’d be taking steps to strip it down. My Mazda has been fine but friends & relatives have been let down by their new cars, I hop in the MG & I rarely worry about reliability (tempting fate) it’s a great motor.
M

No offence to the joke . The joke is KIA and their chuffin useless customer care. I am a retired motor vehicle technician and I worked for the UK's last wholly British owned vehicle manufacturer. I worked in dealerships and in the factory. Things must have dramatically changed in dealerships due to the electronic crap that fails on modern vehicles. The main problem with my KIA is that the fault is showing no fault codes or DTC's as they are known . The modern technician is too reliant on these to fix the most basic of problems as in the case of my KIA Stonic . When faced with this type of problem with no computer fault code they ( technicians) scrat their heads and are lost !!! What's happened to good old fashioned seat of the pants mechanicing and going the extra mile for the customer?? If it was me , by now I would have unplugged the thermistor plug from the coolant rail to see if the ECU triggered the cooling fan and worked from there . This comment is I add coming from a self confessed grumpy old git !! KIA for F..K sake sort this out !
John ( grumpy old git )

The 12 year olds working in these places don’t know how to do proper diagnosis with out totally relying on F.R.E.D.s (Fecking Ridiculous Electronic Devices)
The inherent problem with the wonderous devices is the they can only diagnose problems that their designers could foresee, so if something goes wrong that the designer didn’t anticipate, the device can’t detect it.
That’s not to say that they’re useless, far from it, they’re great at quickly finding the faults that they’re programmed to find, but they shouldn’t be relied upon for the total diagnosis, other means must be considered.

A quick update of the ongoing saga of my now repaired but, not repatriated KIA Stonic . The dealer in Plymouth have repaired the cooling fan issue . KIA customer services and in particular , a young lady ( I'm presuming here) called Katie Mills , is dealing with my complaint . The complaint being just to refresh , the car which was three weeks old , overheated in standing traffic , and due to lack of dealership workshop time didn't get looked at and repaired until the 9th of June , 15 days after I left the car in the Plymouth KIA dealer . I had to pay for two train tickets ( £417 ) to return home to Yorkshire . After at least 6-7 Emails to this uncaring, unsympathetic KIA customer service person, I am being blanked . The offer of a lease car has not materialized nor has the reimbursement of the train fare of which proof of tickets were sent . KIA have been telling me that they ' as gesture of good will ' are looking into bringing the car back to my closest dealership . I have been waiting for over a week and half for this to happen and the App on my phone shows the car has not moved and is now suffering from a low battery voltage !
In short , KIA and their customer service operation are a FEKIN JOKE !!!! Do they seriously think that this is good way to treat a loyal customer ( this is my third new KIA ) because I don't . Its a disgrace !!!

John

Well based on that, it should be the last Kia you ever buy!

Have you spoken to your local trading standards, I've delt with them both as a retailer of goods & also on the receiving end of both poor service & faulty goods, finding them informed & willing to resolve issues.
M

Its time for a letter to Kia's UK legal dept to say you are rejecting the car and want an immediate refund. Quote the names of the people who have been less than helpful. If no response within 4 days send a copy of the letter to the UK MD.

Make as much noise on social media as you can, join new platforms to spread the message. Bad publicity is a language they will understand.