Long one - sorry - but I’m trying to be thorough.
I am seeking a resolution from my local Kia dealership about an inadequate repair they carried out 2 and a half years ago. (You only know it was inadequate once the repair fails - which takes time). I also want to get a resolution from Kia itself as I think my vehicle potentially has a basic flaw in it which is causing a repeated fault which no amount of patching up is going to resolve.
I suppose I’m trying to order my thoughts to write a cohesive and effective letter to make my case that I shouldn’t have to bare the cost of this latest repair on the basis that they have repeatedly failed to deal with it adequately.
We purchased a brand new Kia sportage direct from the local dealership in December 2010. It came with a standard 7 year warranty.
In august 2016 it suddenly wouldn’t start and it was taken to the closest Kia dealership (in Scotland) where it was diagnosed as an ignition barrel fault and it was repaired under warranty. The ignition barrel was replaced.
In June 2016 it again failed to start, was taken to the closest Kia dealership (in Brighton). It was again diagnosed with an ignition barrel fault and it was again repaired under warranty. The ignition barrel was replaced.
In August 2020 it again failed to start. It was taken to our local Kia dealership where it was purchased. It was again diagnosed with an ignition barrel fault. It was no longer covered by the warranty by this time so I argued with Kia that the same recurring fault indicated an underlying issue with our vehicle. Kia were extremely unhelpful and hid behind the fact that different dealerships had been use on each occasion. I argued that Kia’s own process required that the vehicle was repaired by their own accredited places of repair so they (Kia) surely acted as an umbrella organisation, and thereby retained some responsibility in the matter.
Eventually I was offered and accepted a partial refund on the cost of replacing the ignition barrel (with Kia and the dealership each paying half of my refund).
This meant my original point about there being an underlying issue with my vehicle wasn’t actually addressed.
3 weeks ago, it yet again failed to start. It was taken to our local Kia dealership where the previous repair was carried out. Yet again it was diagnosed as an ignition barrel fault.
This fault has occurred less than 3 years and 12000 miles since the last repair.
From what I can glean from the internet an ignition barrel should last more or less the lifetime of the vehicle.
I’ve checked online and with ‘honest john’ and this doesn’t appear to be a recognised fault with Kia vehicles so it looks like I’ve just been unlucky.
It’s now been repaired for the fourth time but I’m really loathed to pay the repair bill of over £500 as I still believe that to have the same fault occur 4 times, with the same repair being carried out on each occasion, there must be an underlying issue with our car which is causing the fault, and simply replacing the ignition barrel each time - while is does get the car back on the road - is only dealing with the symptoms and not the cause of the problem.
Can anyone provide me with some legalese to make Kia take this matter seriously.