I had to go through Kia India customer care to move the dealership to cancel my booking.
BHPian true_sedan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I had a very unpleasant experience at Pressana Kia in Coimbatore. I had booked the GTX+ Diesel AT with Kcode on July 14 and was allotted one on September third week. I refused the first allotment in August as I was out of the station for two weeks and was not ready to buy a car without PDI or a test drive. After weeks of waiting, my dealership executive called me one fine day and asked me to come visit the showroom for a test drive. It was the first day of the new Seltos test drive and I wanted to try out the brand new car before it was abused. I went to the showroom at 3:30 PM with my wife, excited about trying out the car. But the brand new test drive car was not available or anywhere to be seen. It was taken to a temple for the traditional new car puja. The worst part was that the dealership executive gave a wrong commitment and fled the showroom when I arrived. I called him up and gave him an earful. I told him to bring the car to my home location for a test drive as I wouldn’t be coming back to the showroom. And the next day voila he brought the Petrol DCT instead of Diesel AT. He even tried to convince me that the performance of both cars are same. The sheer incompetence of the dealership executive was amazing and comical. He promised to get the diesel as soon as it was available but I never got that test drive.
After this tryst with fate, I had forgotten about the Seltos booking as the XUV700 knocked the socks out of my feet with its performance. By then I had decided to cancel the Seltos not only because of the sedate nature of the diesel as reported by many in the forum but also because of the poor dealership experience. I called the showroom just to enquire about the status of the car to satisfy my curiosity. Another shocker. Apparently, my dealership executive had “resigned” from the job earlier that month. Another executive was assigned to my booking and he sounded polite at first. But as soon as I asked him to cancel my booking he turned cold. He stopped responding to my enquiry on how to proceed with the cancellation. He finally sent me one text – an email ID without explaining anything.
How irrational dealership executives turn as soon as a customer cancels a booking. After three weeks of no communication from the dealership on my cancellation request, I finally complained to Kia customer care and all of a sudden things started to move at a frantic pace. The Customer Relationship Manager(CRM) reached out to me and apologised for the bad experience. My booking was cancelled on the same day and a cheque was given for the entire booking amount without deductions the next day. I had to go through Kia India customer care to move the dealership to cancel my booking. The overall experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I will certainly think twice before recommending Pressana Kia.
PS: I received the refund in the form of a cheque and it demands a visit to the bank to get it encashed even for a booking done online with a debit card. This is supposedly the showroom policy. Just thought it was worth mentioning to warn all prospective people looking to cancel their booking.
Keyword: Unpleasant experience when cancelling my 2023 Kia Seltos booking