Murray Kia

A summary of my Kia interactions with Murray Kia, Kia Motor Finance and PNC Bank in an attempt to purchase my leased Kia Sorento

On or about (date)

7/12/19 - phone call to Kia Finance Department and Murray Kia

As per online instructions from my Kia account website, I called Kia to get the payoff amount. Kia informed me that they couldn’t provide me with a payoff amount because the dealer (Murray Kia) was in Pennsylvania.

So, I had to call Murray Kia.

Called Murray Kia and got no answer from the finance department. Left a message with my phone number. I requested a payoff amount. No one returned my call.

7/19/19 - Called Murray Kia from the bank.

Once again, no one answered from the finance department. So, I took out a loan from PNC bank. I estimated the amount and planned on paying any remaining balance with a personal check. The PNC bank check ($21,909.66) and the necessary paperwork were sent via Fedex next day delivery by the bank.

The bank check was made payable and sent to Murray Kia.

7/31/19 - After not hearing anything from Murray Kia for more then a week, I called them to setup an appointment to complete the paperwork for the purchase of my vehicle. I was told by Russell Bell (finance department) that he couldn’t accept the bank’s check (made out to Murray Kia) because it had to be made out to Kia Finance. He said that the check should have been made payable to and sent to Kia Motor Finance at the same address where my lease payments were sent. He also told me that he could neither send the check to Kia Finance nor return it to my bank because he wasn’t allowed to mail it.

So, after discussing this with my bank, I contacted Russell and had him destroy the bank’s check and paperwork. The plan was to stop payment on the check made payable to Murray Kia and issue new paperwork and a create new check made payable to Kia Motor Finance. I have a copy of the original check made payable to Murray Kia in support of this.

8/21/19 - Went to PNC Bank and stopped payment on the first check that was issued to Murray Kia. A new check was created and that with the PNC paperwork was sent next day Fedex to Kia Motor Finance, Also included was a personal from me for $1209.00 (which I expected would be used for Pennsylvania sales tax).

8/22/19 - I received a letter to contact Kia Finance about the purchase of my vehicle.

I called and spoke to Bill in Kia Finance. He said that the purchase couldn’t be processed through Kia Motor Finance. It had to be done through the dealer. He claimed the check had been returned to PNC.

I explained all that I had been through up to that point. He suggested that I do the purchase with one conference call between the bank, myself and IFS (Kia’s financial partner).

Bill also connected me to customer service to determine the status of my personal check. I was told that it had been cashed and used towards a lease payment. Since my personal check had already been cashed and used as a lease payment and there was only one lease payment left, I requested the last payment be taken out & the overpayment returned to me.

The customer service representative said that she would do that. The overpayment ($648.76) was not returned to me.

8/22, 8/23 & 8/28/10 - A phone call and several emails with Jeff Hazzard from IFS resulted in Jeff being unsure that he could complete the purchase.

8/28/19 - Since I was under the impression that IFS couldn’t complete the transaction for the purchase of my vehicle, I contacted Murray Kia again. Spoke with Brian in the finance department. I asked for a payoff amount and requested he check on the status of my overpayment to Kia Finance.

He said that he would call back by the end of the day. He didn’t call back.

8/29/19 - Called Murray Kia to speak with Brian and was told that he was off that day.

8/30/19 - Spoke to Brian. Set a meeting for 9/3/19 to complete the purchase of my Sorento.

9/3/19 - Went to PNC Bank. A stop payment had to be issued on the check made to Kia Finance in order to reissue a check payable to Murray Kia.

However, that couldn’t be done. Kia Finance had cashed the check that I had been told was returned to PNC Bank.

9/5/19 - A phone conference call between Kia Finance Department, Brian (Murray Kia finance) and myself was held.

Kia Finance said that the check made payable to them was cashed by them but they issued one of their checks to return the $21,906.66 to PNC Bank. They claimed the check was written on August 12. They said it could take up to three weeks to show.

They also said that my overpayment to them wasn’t returned to me because it was their policy not to return overpayments until an account was closed.

9/9/19 - So, a new check payable to Murray Kia can’t be issued because the check made payable to Kia Motor Finance has been cashed. The purchase of the car can’t be completed.

I have already made two payments on the PNC Bank loan for the car. However, PNC bank does not have the collateral for the loan (the car title).

9/10/19 - The issue has been turned over to the PNC Bank Retail Escalation team for resolution through a phone call to the team after speaking with Laleesa. She told me it could take up to 5 days to investigate.

9/23/19 - I tried to contact the PNC Bank Retail Escalation team representative (Jaleesa) who was handling my case.

After waiting 35 minutes on hold, I choose to call my local bank instead to find out the status of my case. My local bank contact said he would email Jalessa and have her call me. After waiting all day, I decided to attempt to contact her again. After 25 minutes on hold, the Escalation team representative explained Jalessa couldn’t be reached at that time.

She reviewed the information on my account and said there was no new information on the issue. She said to give it more time.

Originally, Jalessa had told me that it could take up to 5 days to process my inquiry. It had now been 15 days (10 work days).

9/25/19 - I called Kia Finance once again because my lease was soon to expire. I didn’t know where the money was and I wouldn’t be comfortable returning the car until I was sure I did not have a continued responsibility for the loan.

Since I didn’t know where the money was, I couldn’t purchase the vehicle either. A supervisor from Kia Finance offered to do a phone conference call with PNC and me. However, after attempting to do that for 25 minutes, we gave up. She shared her direct number so that we could try it again later.

9/26/19 - I received a check in the mail from PNC Bank for $648.76.

The letter stated that there was a credit to my account and this amount was an over payment. With much thought, I decided that the “credit” was the returned money from Kia finance. The “over” payment would have been because I had already made two payments to the bank. However, the check that I received was $135.00 less than my two car loan payments.

I supposed this was some type of charge for the loan. So, I am out that amount for the car loan that I was not able to use.

9/27/19 - At this point, the lease period is almost completed. I have to decide whether to return the car or purchase it.

I have been placed through an frustrating and exhausting period because of incorrect direction from Russell Bell at Murray Kia as well as misinformation from Kia Motors Finance.

I contacted Russell Bell and sent him a copy of this summary. I sent him a copy of the original check.

He told me that he would never have told me to send a check to Kia Finance (in a phone call). He said “if” that was the check that I sent, he wouldn’t have done that.

So, I went to the back and got supporting evidence that the original check and paperwork were all made out to Murray Kia. He mailed me with a response that said he would never had told me to make out a check to Kia Finance if the check was made out that way.

He said that he always apologizes to customers - no matter who was wrong. I didn’t consider that to be an apology to me.

That is especially true since he still insisted he never would have told me to write a check to Kia Motors Finance.

I have lost money to PNC Bank because of the way Kia Finance processed the return of the funds. I have lost trust in Kia.

10/1/2019 - Went to Murray Kia and purchased my Sorento with my own personal check. I was told that the overpayment of $648.79 would be sent to me later from Kia Motors Finance.

11/1/2019 - As of this date, no refund has been issued. In a phone conversation with Kia Motors Finance on this date.

I was told that the reason that I hadn’t received my overpayment back was because they never received notice that the car was purchased and paid off.

11/12/19 - Called Kia Finance once more to attempt to have my $648 overpayment returned. I was told it would be processed in the next 3-5 workdays.

*Same promise as on 11/1/2019.

I purchased the car because I really liked it. However, dealing with Kia Motors Finance and Murray Kia has been a nightmare.

Woody from Spring City, PA