[GTO]

Only Kia owners should vote on the poll. Thanks!

Kia is clearly a business case study for the impressive manner in which they have entered India, launched the Seltos and gotten well-deserved success. But am curious to know how the dealers are? The overall after-sales experience?

Has the company been taking care of its customers?

Thanks!

[ashis89]

I have been to three different service centers, located across two cities. My experience, at all three places, has been good and better than my experience with Maruti service centers (again present in those two cities). Some points that I can share:

1. Service centers are very clean and well maintained. This is after visiting every possible corner of the service centers as is allowed. They're new and hence, needs to be seen how they fare in the long run (better than Maruti for now).

2. Staff and service advisors are prompt and attend to you quickly (at par with Maruti). They keep following up with updates since I wait in the waiting room during service (better than Maruti). They're swamped with vehicles and that does spoil things to a certain extent.

3. Staffs are not very knowledgeable if you want to dig deeper (Maruti was better). However since the staffs are new and so are the cars, they might improve with time.

4. Service quality has been good and they have gone out of the way to address issues which didn't have a ready solution.

5. Parts supply has been poor but I would blame the OEM here for such issues.

6. After each visit, I have received calls asking for a detailed feedback, including the exact complaint that I have in case I was dissatisfied. The service center also called back to apologise for my complaint and requested me to visit them again to resolve the issue (which I didn't as it was a minor one).

During this lockdown I have received a call from them asking if I was facing any trouble with my car.

They do try to upsell add-on services like underbody coating and the likes. However, I believe that's true for any service centers. Kia guys have removed these services happily if you refuse them.

[Shreyans_Jain]

With swanky new workshops exclusively catering to brand new cars, overall experience will most probably be positive. Simply because there isn’t much to do apart from basic oil changes and software updates. Real picture will come forward in a couple of years once cars start coming in with worn clutches, suspensions and brakes. Kia set a benchmark with sales, let’s hope they can repeat with after sales and service.

[Stribog]

Have had 2 free services done and the experience was impeccable.

Both times I got a call from the Relationship Manager (Kun Kia have allocated RM's for each car), reminding me about my free service 48 hours before the scheduled date. I asked for pick up, SA comes along with driver bang on the scheduled time. I was not home the second time so they call me before pick up, ask if there are any issues I need addressed, I only had the rattling issue till then so I bring it up. They take note, and I get an alert via email and an SMS with the timeline and estimated cost (0)

Then an hour before delivery, I get a call saying work is complete, dropped off on time. Next day RM calls asking if all is to my satisfaction and file is closed.

The only bugbear I have with KIA is their singularly retarded method of updating the UVO app. There is no over the air update and you have to take it into the service centre every single time! There have been 2 updates so far, and both times my HU was glitching, took it in and was told there is a patch.

In terms of infra, the Kun Kia service centre for Anna Nagar sales branch is in Ambattur, it is super spacious, with a nice large paved yard where cars can wait pre / post service. Waiting room is comfy (though no TV or auto mags... We can waste time on our phones but I like browsing mags in service centre waiting rooms), coffee / tea /water constantly served you, though waiting time itself is short.

So far, compared to my current / past cars, Mahindra, Maruti and Hyundai, I would rate service as follows

Kia > Hyundai > Mahindra > Maruti.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Simply because there isn’t much to do apart from basic oil changes and software updates.

Don't want to take the thread off-topic, but I don't agree with this. Reason:

- Kia has seen the kind of volumes that even Honda, Toyota, Tata & Mahindra haven't (some months).

- The early Seltos cars did have niggles. Two of our review cars did, owners have reported the same and then of course, were the DCT problems. There were also a handful of breakdown reports (e.g. coolant leakage).

- Cars crash everyday & accidental repairs are always complex in these modern cars.

Thus, dealers have had ample opportunity to shine or goof up. Going by the poll so far, it appears that things are mostly positive.

[Brishti]

My new Seltos had a bit of a hard bump when it hit a deep hole on the main Chandigarh-Shimla highway. Since it was raining hard and the water covered the hole the driver could not see it and the right tyre went inside and got caught resulting in the right arm being bent and that wheel was now pushed back in the wheel well.

The car is with the Kia People who have not checked it yet but hopefully after 3rd they will give me an update.

[REN]

We have owned Maruti, Ford and Volkswagen cars over the past 15 years and Kia's service has been better than all of them.

We purchased the car at Pressana Kia, Tirupur. The same group run 5 more Kia dealerships in the nearby cities and towns, including Coimbatore and Erode. The relationship with them has been excellent so far.

In addition to the first two free services, I've also had an insurance claim. I was on a highway and a pretty big stone came flying from under a tyre of a truck as it went through a bad patch of road. The stone landed on my Seltos' roof causing a sizeable dent and exposing the metal.

As there was a risk of rusting, I decided to claim insurance and fix it. I had taken Insurance from Kia and the whole claim process was a breeze. The service staff were constantly in touch with me providing regular updates. I never had to call them asking for an update.

I didn't want the roof lining etc. to be removed on a three-month old car and risk losing the factory fit. I asked if the dent can be pulled from the outside and they obliged. I'm also usually apprehensive about paint jobs and have never been fully satisfied after a repaint on my other cars. There is usually a slight colour mismatch or poor finishing. This was not the case with Kia. I was completely satisfied with the repaint when I took delivery of the car a few days later. The paint job was excellent and I think they used dent pullers to remove the dent without touching the interiors.

Like ashis89, I too received a call from them with tips on how to maintain the car during this lockdown. I felt it was very thoughtful. And I agree with Stribog on UVO. With outages and no OTA updates, it has been the single biggest irritant on the Seltos.

The Kia showrooms and service centres I have been to were all really spacious. They have this modern and almost minamlistic design layout/language which is very clear to understand and easy to navigate. The courteous customer service, follow ups, reminders and the overall punctuality has been a breath of fresh air after a decade with Ford and Volkswagen.

It has been a satisfying ownership so far and I'm hoping the service experience stays the same for years to come.

[bluevolt]

Voted for neutral.

I posted about my Seltos's first service experience in detail in my ownership thread - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4775958 (The Power To Surprise - My Kia Seltos 1.5L Petrol MT - Ownership Experience)

https://youtu.be/h7faiFEZY7s

The first service experience was average only. The time commitment given by the service advisor was not rigid, I had to keep a tab on the status of my car whereas in general expectation is from service advisor to follow up with a customer and keep him posted. Though facilities are new though, customers do expect a premium experience.

[Bibendum90949]

At the outset, I must say it's been a very good experience. I bought a HTX+ D-AT in Dec'19. My car has run 14000 odd kms till now. In fact I carried out my services in two states - Kochi in Kerala and Bangalore, Karnataka. I also happened to visit 3 service centers in HP ( Mandi ), Rajasthan( Jaipur ) and Maharashtra (Kohlapur ) when I went for a trip to Manali from Bangalore.

I've got consistent response and service in all these centres.

First Service @ Incheon Kia - Kochi - Kerala.

Smooth check in and check out. They went out of the way and helped to route my dashcam cables in a concealed fashion. It was basic checks for the 1k service. The service was done in 90 minutes flat. I had requested them for a quick turn around as my Mom was along with me. And they happily obliged. Special thanks to service advisor Mr.Arjun of Kochi and Mr.Clinton Jacob of Incheon Kottayam for setting it up in the eleventh hour. A picture below.



Second Service @ Advaith Kia Bangalore- 5000 kms

Here too the team was quite professional and listened to the complaints. By the way they don't use the word complaint in their lingo. It's customer 'demand'. I had few issues - head light alignment and throw , rear seat rattle, had engine warning light on because of DPF clogging. Incidentally, the light popped up on the way to service centre. My related post on DPF - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4771540 (Kia Seltos : Official Review)

All 'demands' were met to my satisfaction. Made some accessory purchases like rear sun blinds , door sill plates, bumper corner protector etc. Overall a great experience. In fact this service centre is quite far off from my place. I chose this because of Advaith 's long standing association with Hyundai and hence more competent technicians ( just my presumption ). Couple of my friends who owns Seltos too suggested this.

Third 10K Service @ Advaith Kia itself.

In fact , I did my 3rd service when my car had clocked 6000 odd kms. I always believed in making the first oil change much earlier than the scheduled 10K km limit. It was also touched off by an ensuing long journey. This service too was hassle free.

4 th service( Paid ) at 20000 kms - Advaith Kia

I carried out the 4 th service at 14000 odd kms. Another good service experience. On all these occasions I requested them not to wash the car. I felt the washing quality leaves a lot to be desired. Hence they did only interior cleaning and vaccuming job. Guess Wurth guys are given the contract for car washing there.

I misplaced my service bill. Hence can't upload. Will do so when I find it.The total cost was ₹4700/-

Consumables : air filter, oil filter and engine oil.
Labour cost incl GST : ₹ 2183/–
Alignment and wheel balancing was not done at my behest.

I'll carry out the next service at 20k or 21 k and follow the Kia mandated service intervals thereafter.


My experience at Kia service in Mandi, HP(Sand Autocraft)

I was driving back from Manali to Bangalore. The car's alignment had gone off a little because of treacherous runs in the preceding days on the bad roads of Himachal. It was on a Sunday. Even then, they agreed to do the wheel alignment. I had given a call before reaching. Though I informed a 3pm ETA I could reach only by 4 pm as roads were very bad enroute. They literally waited for me. Special mention to the service advisor Mr. Sachin Kumar. I was told the service centre in Mandi is the only one that caters to the whole of HP. They took some 20-25 minutes to do the job and some 30 minutes to park the car as their service bay was in the basement of the building and only had 4 or 5 slots and it was crammed. Wonder how would they be servicing Carnival. Nonetheless I was quite happy that they walked the extra mile to attend my car on a non operational day as a Sunday. A picture below - only 4 bays and note the ramp which makes it so tricky to bee in and out the cars. My car(on your left) was placed in the alignment bay after 25 minutes of struggle as they had to move out two other cars before slotting mine.



At Jaipur Kia- Rajesh Motors.

The service centre is located on the highway. As I continued to drive back, I faced the issue of car pulling towards the left while I was nearing Jaipur. It was becoming worse and decided to ring up the Kia folks in Jaipur. Here too they attended my car on priority. Even after doing the alignment and test drive, the issue persisted. They diagonally swapped the tyres in the second go and did alignment again. The test drive was perfect - open sesame ! Here they coordinated with the HP Kia and decided not to bill me though I had run close to 1000 kms after the last alignment job in Mandi. A picture from the service bay.


At Kia Kohlapur, Maharashtra ( Konduskar Kia )

This service centre was also located on the highway itself- such a boon if you're on a long haul. In the morning before I started the day's journey, I suspected the oil level to be a tad less. So stopped at this centre where they topped up the oil ( around 50-60 ml ) within no time.

In short, I feel Kia service is quite consistent and one can expect the same levels of Hyundai service standards( I have a Santro which is still running strong into its 15th year)

At all these centers, the front office staff were courteous and ensured the customer is at ease. Personally I'm not the one who is too fazed about how you're greeted by the front desk or if you're offered a drink, or at a trivial discommode etc. But I go nuts if the car isn't taken care properly and I always look for competent, patient, understanding and knowledgeable folks in the service bay - for me that's where the meat of the business takes place when it comes to service experience.

Even then, all's not hunky-dory with all the dealers. I've friends in our Seltos whats app group who has complaints about charging extra for floor mats, poorly fitted sensors that are not approved by Kia and hence malfunctioning , multiple visits to fix them , issue with insurance, non transparency in the booking and allocation status to name a few. But then this would come under sales and purchase experience. Just thought of airing it here because that also adds to the overall experience with a brand. Hope Kia is listening.

I would like to give the benefit of doubt to Kia being a new manufacturer and are still getting their bearings right. But they've hit the bulls eyes with many other parameters like product positioning, its quality, loaded features, wide array of variant options ( engine and transmission ) etc. Not to forget the wide dealer and service network which is not an easy affair for a new entrant.

And I voted good and would've rated excellent had there been an option. Request mods to enable it too

[BZ25]

While my parents were faced with a pathetic dealership experience. The after-sales experience has been pretty great. Kudos to Frontier Kia for that. We didn't expect such a positive experience after the dealership ordeals.

1. During this lockdown period, they have called us to ensure that our Seltos is working perfectly, which thankfully, it has been.

2. Unlike many BHPians here, we never faced issues with Hyundai service, and Kia has been no different.

3. Their service technicians are very proactive. The air purifier of our Seltos conked off within just a few days of taking delivery. After calling the service station, they sent technicians to our home to diagnose the issue. Kia was very proactive in following up, and the defective air purifier was replaced in a week and the issue was communicated to Kia officials and the replacement part was brought in from Chennai. The technicians were extremely well mannered & surprisingly, knowledgeable too. And I'm happy my parents didn't have to pay a cent to get the issue rectified.

Such an unexpected experience has made me proud to have pushed my parents to take the risk of purchasing the Seltos.

I would like to give an honest suggestion to all prospective buyers. If you like a car but you are apprehensive of purchasing due to servicing woes (for example VW Group and Hyundai as of late), you should still buy the car that you like, it is not necessary that you'll essentially face the same issues as the others, and I would also like to clarify a perception. My family has owned 3 Hyundais, & none have been expensive maintain & they have been super reliable, which was a huge factor which led to my parents purchasing the Seltos.

[VS1811]

Voted for neutral. Not because it has been neutral but it has been bad and then exceptionally good after going bad.

First service:
My air purifier conked off after a day of purchase and I had already informed them of the issue prior to coming for the service.
The service went extremely smoothly, the car was cleaned properly, all checks performed and I got underbody rust coating as well. I was informed that they tried the air purifier updates but couldn't resolve it and therefore they will call the brand technicians and will get my car picked for the same.
They offered me lunch as well while I waited and the waiting area was very well appointed.

Couple of weeks after first service: I followed up with the RM relating the air purifier and he kept pushing that he couldn't get a commitment from the technicians to visit the service center.
A week later, I got a call from the RM saying that the technician would be available on Monday, next week. I was furious and I told him that I'm the customer and I will handover the car basis my convenience and not on a certain date and time.
I told him to call the technicians over the weekend and get the car picked. DCT Update was also to be done along with it .
The car was duly picked and then later I got a call from RM that DCT update has been done however the technicians couldn't fix the aur purifier and it has to be replaced. I had been telling the same to my RM all along that I have read that air purifier failure is a known issue and it's getting replaced in all cases.

Now the Shocker. The driver comes and returns my car but pulls me to the side and said that your car was lightly scratched by the team while moving it in the workshop and he showed me the exact scratch. I wouldn't have noticed it and was very impressed by the driver's honesty.
I immediately called up the RM. Now I don't know if he already knew, but I was very impressed here again by their revert. They did not question me or asked me to send any picture. They just told me to send my car basis my availability and they will repaint / replace the panel. It was a tiny scratch but they never mentioned that they will only do a touch up or anything. They promised that it will be non existent and in case I feel there is any colour mismatch they will replace the panel.
Even though It was unfortunate, I was happy that this was getting resolved without any hassle. The car was picked
up the next day and sent back the same evening with no colour mismatch and no trace of the scratch. They did a complimentary teflon as well on my car.

Coming back to the air purifier issue, I told the RM categorically that I will not be getting my car to the service center again and asked him to only call me when he has a fool proof solution.
They sent couple of technicians to my office with a new purifier packed. I was amazed with how professional they were.
They wrapped almost all interior parts with white covers so as to not dirty the interiors. The steering, seats, gear, everything was covered. They even wore head covers and gloves while working. They did an extremely thorough job and the air purifier issue was sorted. Very happy with this particular support.

Second service - it couldn't have been any better. Each and every aspect of it. All my concerns were addressed and the RM was very knowledgeable. It was an extremely thorough job done by the team. Attention to detail to both exterior and interior cleaning was exceptional and did not notice this level of professionalism anywhere else (Toyota, Maruti, Hyundai).
Also noticed almost all aspects starting from job card to estimate to billing was all digitised.

All in all, few unfortunate circumstances aside, I'm extremely happy with the service. They have been very thorough and I'm quite unconcerned relating the maintenance aspect of my car.

[karan561]

I voted for GOOD

I get my Seltos GTX+ DCT serviced at Shreenath Kia, Thane.

Overall the experience has been very pleasant and smooth. The staff seemed well trained technically but at the same time were courteous & well mannered. The service centre was spacious and that is always a good thing, also says that a lot more products lined up for the future.

You can go through my individual service experiences posted on my thread for a much more detailed, pictorial view;

1st Service;

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4695365 (Ownership Review: My Kia Seltos 1.4L Turbo Petrol (GTX+ DCT))

2nd Service;

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4769899 (Ownership Review: My Kia Seltos 1.4L Turbo Petrol (GTX+ DCT))

So far so good

[roovee]

Voted Good!!!

Bought the 1.4 7DCT in December from Naara Kia, Bengaluru. Booking, delivery and service experience till now has been excellent.

Went to the service center immediately after delivery for fixing the rear parcel tray rattle, then for infotainment update and again for first free service. All three experiences were top notch.

I always strike a rapport with one service advisor and stick with them; have done this for all my cars across brands. My Kia service advisor is really good, very responsive and helpful.

I found Hyundai's after sales experience to be the best among the brands I have owned. Kia's initial interaction seems similar.

Hope it stays this way.

[vshankarhere]

Originally Posted by BZ25

Kia was very proactive in following up, and the defective air purifier was replaced in a week and the issue was communicated to Kia officials and the replacement part was brought in from Chennai..

Just curious, isn’t their plant in Anantapur, AP? Why Chennai ? Or do they have their PDC in Chennai?

[BZ25]

Originally Posted by vshankarhere

Just curious, isn’t their plant in Anantapur, AP? Why Chennai ? Or do they have their PDC in Chennai?

The plant is in AP, but the technicians told me that their R&D Centre and their suppliers are in Chennai. After all, it shares many of its parts with the Second-Generation Creta.