Destination Kia

Service department is terrible. Zero customer service skills. They don't answer their phones or return calls. Zero customer service skills. They don't answer their phones or return calls. More

The worst experience I have had with a dealership. Bought my 2019 Certified Pre-Owned Kia Forte from Destination Kia in 2022 and have extended warranty 10/100,000. My car overheated on 6/21/25 and had Bought my 2019 Certified Pre-Owned Kia Forte from Destination Kia in 2022 and have extended warranty 10/100,000. My car overheated on 6/21/25 and had car towed to Destination Kia. Marshall was my service person. He told me car would be looked at in a week. They ended up looking at it within 2 days. Great…I thought. I was sent a video inspection stating water pump failure which blew head gasket and they recommend a new engine with a price tag of $7,000 plus. I tell Marshall I hve extended warranty and he said he will call warranty company and they will send someone out to inspect the car. I wait a few days and no response from Marshall. I must have called him 10 times with no response. He finally calls me back and said he’s waiting to hear from warranty company. I keep waiting and still no call from Marshall. I decide to take matters into my own hands and call the warranty company. The warranty company tells me they were never contacted by Destination Kia and a claim was never opened. It was now 13 days since my car was initially looked at by Destination Kia. I call Marshall and as usual he is busy and can’t get on phone. I tell receptionist to let Marshall know that he never called warranty company. I called warranty company back later in the afternoon and they said Destination Kia just called to make a claim. The warranty company goes to inspect vehicle and they were told it needs a new engine. The inspector said this was called in as a water pump issue and not a new inspection. Warranty company wants it torn down to point of failure. Destination Kia wants to charge $2000 to tear down with no guarantee that it will be covered. So I could potentially be looking at $2000 tear down and $7,000 for an engine bringing total to almost $10K. I had my car towed out of the dealership and brought to my house. Even the tow company had a bad experience when picking up the car. I WILL NEVER GO TO OR RECOMMEND DESTINATION KIA. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER KIA AND MY TWO DAUGHTERS AND 2 SISTERS THAT OWN KIA’S SAY THAT AFTER SEEING THE EXPERIENCE I WENT THROUGH WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER KIA. GREAT WORK DESTINATION KIA AND MARSHALL …….WITH YOUR POOR HANDLING AND POOR COMMUNICATION, YOU LOST 5 CUSTOMERS IN ONE SHOT. I had to have a new transmission put in my car in January and my car was at Romeo Kia in Kingston. They are fantastic. Work was covered under warranty and they kept in touch with me every step of the way. More

HOW TO FAIL in customer service, aka my experience with DESTINATION KIA, Albany NY (don't even get me going on Matthews Kia, also a trainwreck).   Also note, I work for myself and if I ran my business lik DESTINATION KIA, Albany NY (don't even get me going on Matthews Kia, also a trainwreck).   Also note, I work for myself and if I ran my business like they do, I'd have no clients.  They are not Kooky in any good way, that's a tired old marketing phrase that should go - perhaps they should cut their advertising budget and spend more money on training or hiring more people!! All I want (which is what anyone would want and how I run my business) is for people to be honest, return calls when they say they are (or give updates) and not overpromise.  DESTINATION KIA consistently fails (both service people and managers). My car has been there for over 3 weeks now (I paid for a rental for over 2 weeks as the policy now is that the dealer won't provide a rental until they determine my issue was not caused by an "outside source" (it wasn't).  Also note when they had to order tires for me earlier this year from CT, they freely gave me a rental for several days as it was over a weekend.  Finally this past Monday (7/21/25) I received a rental from them as they had done a diagnostic of my car from the back corner parking lot with large trash around it (I guess this is done?).  I walked in after seeing that and they said they did that and  it needed a part they had in stock; they hoped to get it in put in on Monday/Tuesday.  On Tuesday morning when I called, they said the new part was put in but blew out 2 other electrical parts, so they would have to order part (s) and were hoping to have my car back to me this past Weds/Thurs. It is now Friday 5pm as I write this (having made calls yesterday and 3x this afternoon), and no one can give me an update on the status.  It is just unacceptable to be going through this (and my car is just turning 3 years old).  I WARN YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM DESTINATION KIA (AND MATTHEWS KIA)....and although I love my car when it works, never KIA again.  It's time they grew up and treated their customers better! More

Today was the worst experience I have ever had with a dealership in over 30 years!! Brian English emailed my wife asking her to go down and told her she had equity to cover the down payment, taxes etc. dealership in over 30 years!! Brian English emailed my wife asking her to go down and told her she had equity to cover the down payment, taxes etc. on a Sorento lease for $398/month. So, we drove an hour down to Destination Kia just to have Dave Miller tell my wife she had negative equity in her 2023 Kia Sportage and he couldn't make the deal for the Sorento work. She told him 3 times what she wanted to pay and him being a typical salesman came back with numbers that made absolutely no sense., trying to take advantage of the customer. We quickly became tired of the nonsense and tried for the Kia Sportage Hybrid plug-in which was also advertised as $0 due at signing. Dave would not honor the zero due at signing and then tells my wife we need to make the first payment on the vehicle. Ok, if the first payment is due then advertise it that way. If the salesman and Dave were honest up front from the start we would have been inclined to make the first payment. Playing games with customers trying to squeeze more money out of them is a huge turn off. Destination Kia has lost 2 customers which is sad to say because we've had great experiences in the past with Dillon and Andre. We are looking elsewhere. More