[Stribog]

Originally Posted by hydraulicsteer

So they are earning interest on our booking money and using that to produce cars for export keeping the Indian customers waiting. Because they know consumer law is weak here. Shame KIA.

I can't really go into too much details in a public forum but am in logistics and we handle a segment of their (Kia's) logistics requirements. We in Dec shipped 24 cars to the franchise in Bangladesh, I spoke with him and turns out he had placed an order for 100 in Oct.

The next lot is planned only in the 3rd week of Jan. At this rate it will take him 4-5 months to just cover his Nov orders

I don't think Kia is being malicious but bit off more than they could chew. Even now they are trying to ramp up production extensively to meet these demands.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Shivaji

He says, in the RC Book, Year of Manufacture is going to be shown as Jan 2020 and Date of Registration will be the date when the vehicle is registered.

I wanted to speak to the manager and get this clarified but he was in a meeting. I plan to speak to the manager tomorrow morning to get this sorted out. The SA who I have been dealing with is fluent in Tamil but poor in English. In my case, I am poor in Tamil but fluent in English. Bit of a communication gap there.

Might be possible, it happens on many CKD cars though this being a completely manufactured one, chances are less. There are some forms - 21/ 22 that shows the Year of Manufacture. This form is issued by the manufacturer and it's used by Dealership to get registration. If it's 2020 on the forms and signed and stamped by Kia than you should be good.

[gkg2423]

Hi Guys,

I am Saurabh. Currently living in Jalandhar. I wish to share the experience I had buying the car (KIA Seltos) and after that with the dealer.

Booking
I booked my car on 3rd Oct online using my CC with Lally Motors Jalandhar. I was in regular touch with the SA, after 6 days I got a call that my car is received, I told him I wanted that on 25 Oct. So I believe that piece was allotted to someone else. After few days that SA left the job so now another SA named "Ritesh" was handling my booking. On 20th of Oct I spoke to Mr. Vivek, he told me that the piece allotted to me got damaged in the transit. So it would take few more days.

Delivery
Now I was in regular touch with Mr. Ritesh. In Nov end he told me that car was allotted to me and would be ready for delivery by 2 Dec. I asked him about the payment methods, He told me they accept upto 2 lakhs cash and remaining online transfer. Down payment I had panned was around Rs 4 lakhs (I had 1.15 lakhs cash ready and 25000 I got transferred using CC 2 days before delievery). I asked dealer's RTGS details, after 3-4 days of phone calls he gave the 2 account details for RTGS. Delivery was planned next day. I added his account details for third party transfer. So next day, the delivery day, I tried transferring around 3 lakhs to his account, But SBI denied that transaction stating only 1 lakh could be transferred for first 4 days after adding 3rd party (Had he given the details on the first day I asked, 4 days lock in period would have been over). Now i was in trouble, my cheque books were all finished and new cheque book was at my native place. I told same to the SA. He asked me to come to dealership and confirmed he would try managing the things. First time I was dealing this much amount myself, Dad looked after the financials till now, so I was bit confused and nervous, mistake was on my side I had to planned the things in advance.

So I reached the dealership alongwith my mother, wife, kid and a friend of my wife at around 2 PM. I asked the SA how to get the payment done. He asked for cheque, I told I did not have any. I asked him if I could use my CC for payment, he said since 25k was already paid using CC so it would attract 2% charges. I asked him if I could use my debit card instead, again he denied reason being same 25k already done. I offered payment through mother’s and wife’s debit card. Again denied for the same reason. I was ready to bear the charges but he insisted on other methods. He asked me to pay using google pay. I tried and it was declined by the machine for unknown reasons. I tried other UPI methods but all failed. In the meantime I added dealers accounts in my and my wife’s HDFC banks and I was waiting for the confirmation (Total of 3 third party added in 2 HDFC accounts). 4 hrs already passed and I was still confused about what to do. Nothing was working my way. I was totally hopeless now and was thinking of going home and coming back next day. Finally got notification that third party was added successfully, Now again the transfer limit for HDFC was only 25k for new third party. Transferred 75K and I was still short of some 60-70K, (Don’t remember exact amount).Finally I asked SA if he could help me reach nearest ATM so I could withdraw money. I had 3 ATMs. I went there and withdrew some 60k. Just when I managed the money, SA asked me for extended warranty and I was laughing at him and my condition too. I told him straight way I could not buy EW that day. Would come later for that. But SA was insisting, It was making me furious now, I had enough for that day. He asked me to speak to the manager. I went to the manager, He told me that it was the dealer policy to deliver cars with EW only and none was delivered without that. I straightway asked if I did not take the EW that day would he stop the delivery. After a min he asked me to get EW in 2 weeks which I accepted.

Finally the delivery was done. And I reached home after a small party at Haveli restaurant (Thankfully Haveli accepted my CC and had no issues with that). With my little knowledge about transferring money online and my cheque book was empty I know so far it was my mistake not to plan the things well in advance. But here dealer could have allowed using my CC and the debit cards I had. Next time I visited the dealership I came to know the 25K limit was not from bank side. It was dealer’s own rule not to use customer’s CC or debit card more than once for the same order. And forcing me to buy EW was again not right on their part. And also this situation would not have arrived had the SA sent account details in time (though I cannot blame them for this part). So this time again SA asked me for the EW and I said I would get EW from you but first get my RC done and the fasttag too. They had not yet applied for the RC and told me that fasttags were not available.


After few days I went there for some accessories and the SA again asked for the EW, this time I told him I was fed up with the dealership, me and my family had suffered a lot on the delivery day just because of dealer’s stupid policy and they had not yet delivered the fasttag and the pmt number even after 25 days and that damaged car fake story was also in my mind. I was in no mood to buy anything from that dealer I would rather buy EW from some other dealer but had no choice.

Another incident
On 01 Jan, I went there for first service. Service guys were good, honest and listened to the problems and did their job well, I was happy with the work, I was short of the time so asked to avoid washing, they mentioned this on the final bill and asked me to visit some other day if I wanted to. While I was at the main gate handing over the gate pass, three guys came to me, one of them asked me if they could have a look at the car, one of them was planning to buy and was interested in HTK+ and HTX and mine is HTK+. There was no car in the dealership. I had no objection in that. The guy then asked me how was the car, I told him the car was good only issue I was facing was the first gear pick-up. Since I came from diesel background I was still trying to get used to first gear and asked him to go for HTX or GTK, 17’ alloys with better GC and other features, GTK being more fun2drive or the HTK+ diesel. But if the budget was the issue HTK+ was not bad either much better than others, better ride quality and all. I told him everything I thought a customer should know, I even offered my car to the guys for the test drive. After that I left.

That evening I got a call, I picked the call and the person asked me If I was the guy who was asked to show his car. I said yes. His words were “Sir you are educated, It was not expected from you. Those guys were about to book HTK+ but because you asked them to buy GTK they did not book.” I said I just told them what they asked and I experienced so far. He said I was not supposed to tell negatives of the HTK+ it was insensible and I should not have shared my views. I told him “it was you who came to me and the guys asked my views about the car, I am not being paid by Kia for promotion, if someone asks my views I am free to tell what I feel”. His voice was raising now so was mine. Next day I made a call to the dealership, some executive picked the call I told her everything happened that day and asked her why my contact number was given to that Sales person and how could he call a customer directly like that and start shouting. She told me that the SAs were new and still learning how to deal with the customers.

My views
I am really not very happy with the Lally Motors Sales staff. They could have come out of their stupid rules to help a customer who was in a situation where he could not do much, I expected them to be honest rather than telling stories like damaged car received (when I had discussed the same with my SA he was surprised to hear what was told to me, He said it did not happen normally and if it did dealer would not receive that piece and return it to the company).

Guys is there someone who faced similar issues and how did they tackle the situation. I am waiting for the replies. Those who are planning to buy can learn from my mistakes. I thought I must share this with everyone so others can avoid similar situations. (I know there won’t be someone as stupid like me).

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by gkg2423

Guys is there someone who faced similar issues and how did they tackle the situation. I am waiting for the replies. Those who are planning to buy can learn from my mistakes. I thought I must share this with everyone so others can avoid similar situations. (I know there won’t be someone as stupid like me).

Never be desperate or show desperation when buying any car, these dealerships feed off desperation. Rememeber no car is worth it without a friendly face selling it. You're not doing them any favours by buying their car.

I would've walked off the minute I see such pressure being put on me. Its a mere car after all, buying it should be the easiest process ever. This dealership seems like a gang of goondas sitting there pushing cars. Also wonder how the people who asked about your car got your number, it was unethical of them to have given it or pointed you out.

I wish nothing but the worst for dealerships in general, may their businesses always fail, they steal from people in servicing and selling, and the car manufacturers always support them in doing so. When buying anything, walk in with a cheque, resdy to pin them and negotiate to your terms, else they'll start playing their tricks.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by gkg2423

Hi Guys,

I am Saurabh. Currently living in Jalandhar. I wish to share the experience I had buying the car (KIA Seltos) and after that with the dealer.

Hello Saurabh, firstly congrats on your vehicle, despite your terrible experience, the car is a brilliant machine, and am sure you will have years and km's of happy motoring with it.

Moving on, based on your post I surmise that you are young and as you yourself said, this is the first such large transaction you have done, a couple of pointers,

(1) ALWAYS do your research - be it a 20 lakh INR car or a 20 Rs worth bottle of water, you have a smart phone, if someone says something that seems fishy, and your intuition says it is fishy, Google is your best friend.

In this case sorry to say this but your dealer was feeding you nonsense about the transaction limit! There are explicit policies preventing just such a surcharge of 2% though yes some unscrupulous dealers do apply it.

To give you some perspective, when I said I will use my debit card to pay the advance amount of 1l, even my dealer said there would be a 2% SC, I laughed at him and said this was against the law, I would definitely write to Kia about it and never buy a single thing again. 2 mins later a manager apologised, sat me down in his cabin, gave me coffee and I got my advance done without paying a naya paisa extra which brings me to a second point,

(2) There is a fine line between being assertive and aggressive, and the later is wrong but the former is how you prevent yourself from being taken for a ride. In your case (based on this write up), you weren't assertive at all and you let the situation slip out of your hands. If you are in the right, stand your ground.

(3) Remember, even if it is KIA, you are a customer in a tough market, the threat of walking out works 80% of the time, the balance 20% means your demands were unreasonable.

Finally, you have no requirement to answer to them, so if I had been called by some SA saying are you educated, I would politely tell them, mind your own effing business and cut the call.

I do suggest you to pen your thoughts down, email KIA, call their call centre and if you have Twitter, tweet it out.

Noise is what helps bring justice unfortunately and I believe you are owed it.

Best of luck.

[akrish01]

Originally Posted by gkg2423

I wish to share the experience I had buying the car (KIA Seltos) and after that with the dealer.
...

My experience with KUN Kia, anna nagar, Chennai was also not so pleasant but not on the payment front as I took loan outside (not from the dealer as i got better interest rates from my bank) & the paperwork was done smoothly

But I faced similar problems with the dealership because 2 or 3 salesmen who were handling my order, resigned one after the other & the dealer didn't inform who would be handling my order.

I booked HTX IVT in Sept but finally got my car only in Dec, after 3 months & that too not the color of my choice. I had asked for white with orange roof but they said after 2 months that it's not likely to come any time soon. They offered to paint in the dealership but I declined as I wanted factory finish. So I decided to opt for white & do a roof wrap later.

When the car arrived & was allotted to me, the dealer started his tricks with insurance & extended warranty. As i had a lot of time, I had already enquired about insurance premium with my previous agent & he was quoting Rs 15,000 less than dealer's premium. So i told them that I would prefer taking insurance outside. I also told them that I would take extended warranty later as the car already came with 3 years warranty

But 2 or 3 days before delivery, the dealer starting pressurizing me saying that management will not allow me to take insurance outside. Then I had to take the help of my friends who knew the management & after 2 days of calls, the sales manager said "ok sir you can take insurance outside but pls take extended warranty". He has told my friend that they have the margins only in these items. I didn't want to prolong the issue as if I decided to cancel the order, I would have to wait additional 2 - 3 months at least & prices were going to go up from Jan. So it would be a double blow for me. So I decided to take extended warranty with them & close the issue. I got delivery on Dec 11th. First service due shortly.

[Shivaji]

At the outset I would like to thank a4anurag, Reinhard, Stribog, JithinR and Turbanator for their advice/comments/pointers/assistance in my recent quest to finalise the purchase of my Seltos. Thank you Gentlemen. Very much appreciated.

This afternoon I finally made the fully payment through RTGS for my GTX+ DCT after getting assurance from the dealership that the month and year of manufacture will be shown as January 2020 in the RC Book.

I reduced the Extended Warranty to the 5 year/120,000 KMs option and paid the balance. The total came to 21,08,828, including the 25,000 advance paid for the booking.

I’ve authorised my nephew in Chennai to collect the vehicle on my behalf. My wife and I will be reaching Chennai end of next month. Having the vehicle when we arrive will be great. We look forward to seeing and driving the car. The long term plan is to spend 3 months in Chennai (India) and 3 months in Australia with our daughter and grandson. We are returning to Chennai after 30 years (not counting the short visits in between) having lived in Singapore for 7 years and Australia for 23 years.

I wish to seek one more bit of information from BHPians. During my 3 months out of India is there any reliable, trustworthy company or organisation who can take care of my car? Start the engine once in a while, keep the battery charged, ensure rats don’t get into the engine bay, etc.

I would also like to profusely thank the dedicated management of Team BHP for making this wonderful website available to us car enthusiasts. It has been an excellent source of information on several car-related issues.

Best regards,

Group Captain Vaidun Vidyadhar (Retd.)
Sydney, Australia

[gkg2423]

Thank you GTO for moving my post to correct thread.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

When buying anything, walk in with a cheque, resdy to pin them and negotiate to your terms, else they'll start playing their tricks.

Sure Sir, shall be careful next time. This experience is a good lesson for me.

Originally Posted by Stribog

.
I do suggest you to pen your thoughts down, email KIA, call their call centre and if you have Twitter, tweet it out.
Best of luck.

Thankyou Stribog. I shall try to keep these pointers in mind, next time I am planning something. As I already mentioned it was first time I had to make this kind of transaction, the biggest issue was my empty cheque book. And I am planning to write to KIA though I do not expect much from them. They seem busy in manufacturing process only. Wrote to them when I was told that the car allotted to me was received damaged. Got no reply. Still I shall write to them.

Originally Posted by akrish01

I didn't want to prolong the issue as if I decided to cancel the order, I would have to wait additional 2 - 3 months at least & prices were going to go up from Jan. So it would be a double blow for me. So I decided to take extended warranty with them & close the issue. I got delivery on Dec 11th. First service due shortly.

Even I did not want to delay the delivery date, i needed it urgently, for this reason I did not cancel my booking.
I shall buy EW before 3 months are over but from some other dealer.

My car is financed from hdfc. They have their agents sitting there at the dealership only. Even those guys are same. When my loan was in final stage that agent made a call and told me that hdfc has a policy that Defence personnel, police and teachers must buy a personal insurance policy. I told him I belong to none of these. He referred to my temporary address, since I live in defence area. Then he tried to sell that policy to me saying its was a good policy. I told him clearly I did not want any policy. When I got my loan approved, i found out that final loan amount was some 7k more than I had applied for. I thought it was the dealer who tricked me. When I asked the agent he said the policy would have got linked and he forgot to cancel the policy. He told me the way to cancel that policy. I did that got the amount refunded to my account but I shall have to bear the interest for next 5 years. I request all the guys, who got the car financed, to check the final loan amount. I hope no one else was tricked that way. But its for sure I will not believe any of these salesman ever in my life.

Thanks to you guys for the helping me with your suggestions.

[a4anurag]

Congratulations sir on the Seltos.

Originally Posted by Shivaji

I wish to seek one more bit of information from BHPians. During my 3 months out of India is there any reliable, trustworthy company or organisation who can take care of my car? Start the engine once in a while, keep the battery charged, ensure rats don’t get into the engine bay, etc.

You can ask anyone in your family to start the car and/or take it for a short spin. Better to have the keys given to a known person rather than some agency/company.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by gkg2423

Guys is there someone who faced similar issues and how did they tackle the situation. I am waiting for the replies.

Congratulations on your new car. What you have described is a typical experience of someone who is doing a high-value purchase for the first time. Lally motors used to be Okish before, I think this must be due to the success of Kia that everyone at dealership wants to earn maximum on top of their margins. It will be a good idea to pen your experiences and send an E-mail to KIA India as well to KIA HQ. They should be aware of the practices being done at their dealerships. Even though you might not get any benefits but they might improve in some areas and it will help others.

Don't get bogged down by this experience, I can tell you that it has happened with everyone at some point. Enjoy your car with your family and keep posting your experiences here.

[gkg2423]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Congratulations on your new car. What you have described is a typical experience of someone who is doing a high-value purchase for the first time. Lally motors used to be Okish before

Thankyou Turbanator. May be you are right, Lally volkswagen is still good, its the KIA that has issues.

Someone please share the KIA India mail id, I tried searching online but could not find any. The contact us tab on the KIA website has very limited space. Will it be a good idea writing whole story on the twitter, there are few more points I wish to add.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Meanwhile, for my booking, I called up the salesperson and he told me that production will again begin in Jan first week and he has no clue when the car will arrive. The quoted waiting period is 2 months. I don't understand how stupidly these salesmen change their attitude just after receiving the booking. Feel sorry for such an attitude which will not take these kinds of people very far.

Since it's been 15 days of booking, how do I keep track of my booking or any progress in terms of car allotment, dispatch etc? How this all is communicated to a customer. I don’t think calling my salesperson every 15 days will give me any information as he earlier promised to provide updates!

Guys, any pointers on this?

I don't want the promised 2 month waiting period to extend in any way.

[gkg2423]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Guys, any pointers on this?

I don't want the promised 2 month waiting period to extend in any way.

As far I know there is no way one can track. One needs to be in regular touch with SA only. I guess waiting period should not be 2 months now, since the prices are increased and Auto expo is in feb only and many new cars are launching soon, especially Creta 2020, launching mid March, I believe many customers will wait for that. So I expect less waiting period now, But not sure.

[sohanangal]

Originally Posted by gkg2423

Someone please share the KIA India mail id, I tried searching online but could not find any. The contact us tab on the KIA website has very limited space. Will it be a good idea writing whole story on the twitter, there are few more points I wish to add.

kiacare@kiamotorsindia.in

They are prompt in responding.

[Trident]

Folks,

Does anyone know if Extended Warranty can be bought directly from Kia or from any other dealer (than the one who handled your initial car purchase)?

Thanks in Advance