Some good, some bad but the bad vas very bad and the good was only ok.
First for the good. My first maintneance for my new Kia, in and out in just over an hour. That's not bad, probably pretty good for a dealership. They washed the outside and vacumed the inside of my vehicle without asking, That was a nice surprise, escpecially the interior vacum. The Service Advisor tried to improve his friendliness after a rocky start. Overall the good was marginally above average, no where near up to the standards of excellent customer service that I had come to expect by by services at their sister store Gettle Toyota of Bradenton, the Toyota Service Department is nothing short of outstanding. This one has a long way to go, to come anywhere near that great customer experience.
Now the bad: Very bad in my opinion. So much so, I probably will not go back there for my next visit and will try Sunset Kia of Sarasota, even though I live in Parrish.
The Service Advisor, Keith, did not where a mask when greeting me at my vehicle or when preparing the paperwork as I was standing less than six feet away from him across his desk to sign the repair order. He put my life and the life of other customers at risk. There was another male service advisor also not wearing his mask, he later put it on but Keith did not. He did not wear a mask while interacting with several customers during the hour I was at the dealership.
Additionally, you cannot trust this dealership to tell you the truth. They do an "old school" practice of recommending more maintenance than the vehcile needs according to the manufacturer and all the extensive research I did before arriving. I have a 2019 Kia Optima and was there for my first maintenance at 7,500 miles according to the recommendation from Kia, my vehcile's internal maintenance alert system, the instructions from the dealer who sold it to me, research I did with several other Kia dealerships, KBB and Repair Pal. They all state the first mainetenance is at 7,500 miles. Keith, the Service Advisor, tried to tell me I should have brought the vehcile in for an oil change at 3,750 miles and that the dealership recommends an oil change every 3,750 miles. That is a extremely dishones practice that is nothing short of ripping off customers who fall for it.
That practice, of deceiving their customers into servicing their vehicle more frequently than it needs, is an old trick of the car business that the manufacturers have been fighting against for years. It is dishonest and only designed to increase revenue and profits. Sadly, the dealerships like this one, which engage in that exploitation of unaware customers, actually see less business as the word gets out that they cannot be trusted to tell you the truth. read more