When life throws ya lemons ...
Entry posted by G-Manicus
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So, my wife and I have owned a Chevy Suburban for the last several years. With 3 kids and the need to make several trips from Cincinnati to the Northeast each year, we need a larger vehicle to cart all our gear, the dog, etc. Yeah, I know ... the fuel bill on that thing is a monster. Supposedly, they're very reliable vehicles however. Key word being "supposedly." Ours wasn't. It's caused us nothing but problems for the last several years and proved to be a money pit (aside from the gas issue) so we finally dumped it a week ago.
We opted to go the minvan route instead of another SUV. Less expensive and suits our needs better. I did all the research on the different models and the various rebates and the like being offered and we ended up going with a Kia Sedona. It's fairly highly rated and as Kia (a Korean firm) is still trying to gain market penetration here in the States, their prices are substantially less than the competition. I drive a Kia Optima and have had nothing but great results with it. Plus, Kia was offering almost $3,000 in rebates on their 2007 Sedonas, so we figured we couldn't go wrong.
ENNNNHHH!!!!
With 400 miles on it, the thing died on Sunday while my wife and daughter were out shopping. In the rain. In the middle of the Giants game. Grrrr ... !
Turns out it was the computer. Also turns out that's not an item they readily keep in stock and have to have one shipped from the manufacturer. We're now on our 3rd day of being down to one vehicle and it's not fun. I had recently started taking the bus to work, and so you'd figure "Oh, okay ... that's not too inconvenient then only having the 1 vehicle." Except that my wife needs to get up in the morning to drive me to the bus stop at 6am. So, that's going over real well. Plus, my kids are involved in all sorts of extra-curricular activities/sports that frequently cause us to be in multiple places at once. So, long story short ... this has been "Hell Week" thus far.
(As an aside, taking the bus totally rocks. Forget the $120 or so a month I save in gas, or the wear and tear on my vehicle, I get to READ for 60 minutes each day! I love to read, but just don't have the time for it. By the time I'm finally able to sit down at night after dealing with the kids, etc., the minute I crack open a book my eye lids immediately gain about 50 lbs. So it's kind of refreshing getting a little reading time.)
In any event, I'm hoping to leverage this Kia fiasco into something tangible from these folks. Free oil changes for life or some other such consideration to make up for it would be nice. When we bought the thing, the sales person and the office manager both made a big deal of how we're going to be getting a customer satisfaction survey from Kia in a few weeks and that Kia considers anything below a "10" as a failure and that I was to call them first before sending anything back with a 9 or below on it. Well, from my vantage point they've got a lot of kissing to do to my backside between now and then if they want to see anything close to a "10".
There. I'm done venting.
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