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
