Chris Leith Kia Dealership in Wake Forest, NC: A Review

I am one of those restless people who get bored easily, and this boredom often gets me in to trouble. A prime example is a very poor choice I made two years ago when I traded in my 2001 Honda Civic for a new model Kia Spectra. Had I known that the Kia would be so challenging, especially when it came to problems and repairs, I never would have let my boredom overrule my good sense.

Now, I could make a laundry list of the problems I have had with this car since day one, but the biggest problem has not even been with the car itself as much as the extremely inconvenient hours of their service station, which has caused endless headaches when trying to schedule a time for repairs.

Every Kia service station that I have found closes at 6pm and does not have weekend hours, so finding time to take care of even the smallest of problems is a frustrating endeavor. Despite this inconvenience, however, I did have an overall positive experience with the service station at Chris Leith Kia in Wake Forest, NC.

For several months, I had been having trouble getting my car started. I was told by AAA that I just needed a new battery, but when I brought it to a local service station for a second opinion, they told me it was my alternator. Most people would probably not get excited over this news, but I did because this meant that my five year Kia warranty would cover the repairs instead of me having to shell out $100 for a new battery. So, I made the necessary arrangements to come in late to work one day and brought the car in to the Chris Leith service center on Capital Blvd. to have the alternator repaired.

The service given to me by the service coordinator, Melody, was outstanding. She was very thorough and asked all the necessary and important questions to make sure the mechanics knew what to look for. She also made all the arrangements to have the dealership shuttle service pick me up and take me back to work. The shuttle apparently had no other passengers, which meant getting back to work would have taken no more than twenty minutes. Melody gave me great service and was cheerful from beginning to end.

Unfortunately, my experience with the shuttle service was not quite as positive. The shuttle driver was nice enough, but by the time he came to get me, he did have another passenger who lived fifteen minutes in the opposite direction of dealership and at least 30 minutes in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. I wished I had been informed of this as soon as he knew he'd acquired another passenger, so that I could have made the decision as to whether or not to call my boss to pick me up, as I'd originally planned. But, at that point, there was nothing I could do, so I sucked it up, pulled out a book, and settled in for what turned out to be an hour long ride back to my office, making me close to an hour late for work.

As I said, the shuttle driver was nice, and I have no issues with his personal service, only the efficiency of how the shuttle was run. Another example of this is that I had asked him to come and pick me up at 5pm and specified that I could not leave work until 5. The shuttle arrived at 4:45 pm. Early is great in some cases, but I told him I couldn't leave early, so he sat outside with another passenger for fifteen minutes and then called my office from his cell phone at 5 to tell me he was there, which was obvious as he was parked right outside the front door in a way that blocked traffic.

During the day, Melody again displayed excellent customer service skills by calling me several times throughout the day to tell me the status of the car. I was extremely frustrated to find out the problem really was the battery and not the alternator, because to have the dealership replace the battery was going to cost me $132. If I had known this ahead of time, I would have been able to have a battery installed for much less money. My car was already at the dealer, though, and if I were to pick it up without having the battery installed, they would have charged me $39.00 for the estimate.

I told Melody I needed an hour to think about what I wanted to do, either pick the car up and pay the estimate and then have the work done elsewhere, or just leave it at the dealer and let them take care of it. I was at work and got busy and was not able to call her back right away, so she contacted me in plenty of time for me to make the decision. I decided to leave the car at the dealer, and knocked $15 off the price for me. She did this after I made the decision to stay, so it did not feel like a manipulation tactic to get me to leave my car. I was appreciative and impressed.

Melody also had the mechanics check my breaks, which I knew needed work but couldn't afford at the time. She gave me the information about the breaks without charging me for the estimate. It should have cost $39 but it was so obvious that I needed break work done that Melody did not feel comfortable charging me to tell me that. After the stress of having to pay for the battery and being late for work, the service at Chris Leith Kia was excellent and made me forget my other frustrations.

For anyone who owns a Kia, I would absolutely recommend using the service station at Chris Leith Kia based on the service alone. Despite the frustrations of the hours and the slight inefficiency of the shuttle service, I feel I was treated well and that my car was in good hands. Now, whether or not I would recommend buying a Kia in the first place? That is a whole different story.

Chris Leith Kia

11000 Capital Blvd.

Wake Forest, NC 27587

919-554-8008

http://www.chrisleithkia.com/