. My wife and I currently own a 2016 Kia Soul previously bought in Honolulu Hawaii. We moved to Phoenix in June 2021 and decided to upgrade to a 2021 Kia Soul. Time for an upgrade. Now, we are not familiar with Phoenix that well yet so when we found this place on Yelp we didn't realize Mesa and Deer Valley (our house) is a pretty darn long drive. It took us about an hour to get there. This fact does not warrant a low rating. That is just a geographical assessment. So we make the drive there anyway and meet with a salesman named Chet or Chey (can't remember his name's spelling)
So basically we take a test drive of a 2021 Kia, decided we liked it and went to his desk for the paperwork. We intended to use our 2016 Kia Soul as a trade in. We were there maybe 90 minutes until we had to leave to go pick up our kids from school. They don't take the school bus.
This is where things go south. We made it clear that we wanted the new car so before we left to go pick up our kids, wife and I signed some forms to run the financials and the numbers. We were told they would get back to us.
For some strange reason, nobody got back with us. The last communication was from the salesman Chet that said he'll keep me posted on the financing and what not. After that we were simply ghosted.
I can only speculate what in the world happened. Maybe Chet quit his job, maybe Chet got Covid, maybe our paperwork was lost. I don't know. What's crazy is it took us an hour to drive there, an hour to get back home including our 90 minute in person visit to the dealership. Total time with was 4 hours and they couldn't even give me a 2 minute phone call as to the status of my credit application.
I have a nearly 3 year flawless payment history with my 2016 Kia Soul so financing isn't gonna be a problem with a lender.
If you read my other Yelp reviews I actually give 5 star ratings very generously. All you gotta do is just your job in a professional way. I don't expect any back rubs, manicures, pedicures, compliments, or smiles. I am very easy to please however if you can't follow up with a potential customer that is literally begging to make a sale, what is that about.
Here is what's gonna happen. This business is gonna send a canned reply that is super generic to save face. They won't own up to it.
In all fairness, I will say that this dealership is very clean. The front desk person was very friendly. Heck, even Chet was friendly.
We signed forms with our SSN and they have both of our cell phone numbers for immediate contact. Why weren't we contacted again?!?!?!
This is gonna rub them the wrong way what I'm about to type here but here it goes: was it because I'm too Filipino for you guys? Was it because my wife is black? I don't know but y'all ghosted us.
This would have been a 5 star review even if my credit application was denied. What I don't understand is why didn't your sales guy follow up with this for sure sale.
Whatever the reason is: car sales politics, ya don't like mixed race couples, you don't like people that moved from Hawaii, maybe I should have showed up for my test drive in a fancy suit rather than my normal shorts and t-shirt. Did my breathe stink? I don't know nor do I care. I just wanted to trade up my car. I'm not looking to invite these guys to an Amway meeting or church. Geez!!!
Marketing department: the whole sales walk through went well, y'all dropped the ball with absolutely no follow up with us. Please live up to your name.
Courtesy Kia may have been courteous to some folks but I can assure you it's not courteous to leave excited buyers with no explanation nor call back.
The sales process went well up to the point of being ghosted. By the way, saying no to our credit application wouldn't have hurt our feelings. We would have just easily negotiated a bigger down payment. Are you allergic to getting a commission check or something?
So there you have it folks. Incompetence or Discrimination?!?! You decide. I sure hope it's incompetence but even that is not a good thing.
Trading a (non salvaged) 2016 Kia Soul for a new 2021 Kia Soul should not be this hard. You'd think I was trading a tricycle for a Ferrari of why this deal wasn't made the same day.
If it matters to the Courtesy Kia guys, I apologize that I was born Filipino and I'm sorry that my wife is black. There's not much I can do about that, we were just born that way. This can't be about the money since we have strong finances. Must have been something else, right guys?
I will not write an update to this review. First impressions are everything so this will remain a permanent record on here. Train your sales team to follow the sales steps in order and unto completion without prejudice perceived or otherwise.
I hope y'all bring this up during your morning pep rally style sales meetings. It's not all about motivation, you need flawless execution also. read more