Donnelly Kia Service

I went into Donnelly Kia today for service for the second time. I had previously gone in to get "Service 1" (basically an oil change) done on my new Kia Rondo, and this time I was told that based on my mileage (13000 Kms) I should get "Service 2" done. What is "Service 2" you ask? Well it's essentially another oil change, plus a bunch of "inspections" - translation: a really expensive ($119.95 plus tax) oil change! I basically paid them a bunch of money to tell me what I already knew - my practically brand new car is in great shape. Duh!Kia.ca has a PDF on their site that lists exactly what is supposed to be done. I think this differs slightly from what Donnelly actually did though - I'd like to link to Donnelly's maintenance page directly but it's not possible...poor site design in my opinion. I get a kick out of descriptions such as "Install Fuel System Cleaner" when what is actually done is to pour a bottle of "Hi Tech" into the gas tank.

To be fair, I knew what the service was going to cost before I agreed to have it done; I guess I just figured I'd be getting more for my money. Turns out I was wrong and that'll be the last "Service 2" I'll have done there. I guess I can't expect too much from dealer service though - I think for the most part they all try to gouge you as much as possible. My experiences with the Donnelly Kia service department certainly aren't as bad as what Dave went through at Tony Graham Toyota. I think some of the best service I've received from a dealer was from Kanata Ford (another bad website) where every time I took my truck in for service (even something as simple as an oil change) they would wash it for me! How awesome is that?!

With respect to this particular service appointment, some of the things I wasn't too impressed with: they told me that they would call me when the car was ready to be picked up - they didn't. I called them to find out if the car was ready and nobody answered. After 10-15 rings, I eventually got voicemail (with a really annoyingly long outgoing message) so left a message asking them to call me back to verify that my car was ready. I didn't receive a call. When I showed up to pick up the car and told them about this - they didn't seem too concerned about it. The guy who was 'helping' me took a really long time, which is particularily annoying when you're in a hurry - I mean it took forever just to get my keys back after I had already paid! Argh! I also found it strange that they had written the word 'low' on the Windshield washer fluid line of the service report - despite the fact that I had filled up my washer fluid completely the night before. Oh and even though they wrote 'low' - they still checked off the green circle...wtf?! Oh well I guess.

I think you're probably always going to get better service from a small privately owned garage though - provided you trust them of course. We have recently (within the last year or so) started going to Stittsville Automotive (on the advice of a friend) for the service on Amy's Mazda. We have found them to be excellent and I think I'll be taking the Kia there from now on as well. Which reminds me...I really need to get that rust proofing done!