KEN CORNELISON, GM . KIA of PORTLAND (Oregon) . PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK.
Ken, I sent this to you via email, once yesterday and again, updated, today.
I have not heard from you, but that is not unusual. Maybe my email is going directly into the trash....so perhaps you will read this forum post, or someone will call it to your attention.
I do not exaggerate when I say that my quality of life is directly related to your response.
I hope to hear from you soon.
EVERYONE ELSE: I am so, so sick, and tired, of and from this.
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Ken Cornelison, GM
KIA of Portland . 720 NE Grand Avenue . Portland, OR 97232
May 7th, 2024, Updated May 8th, 2024
Ken,
5/8 - UPDATE: Today I applied for Food Stamps, and any services that might be available to me as an Elder...and will have to pay my HomeOwners and Auto Insurance from my 9% HELOC. Which I will then have to repay, with interest. This is continued fallout....Knocking that $13K out of my life has far reaching consequences.
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I am appealing to you as one human to another....please please give me back my money.
Please do not continue to make me a victim of or collateral damage to your educational growth and progress as a successful business person.
My life is a mess right now....to the point of actual physical sickness. A $13K loss is horrid at any age, but particularly to me right now, as a 69 year old living on a fixed income. And finally able to retire in a somewhat comfortable and anxiety-free manner.
Financial insecurity and the intense feeling of a huge injustice done to me are just the obvious issues.
I am not trying to screw you, not trying to make money off of you, have never asked for anything more than giving me back the $13K I paid for the car.
When I first brought the issues I had with the car to David (Service Department Staff at that time) I was very clear that I knew that KIA of Portland was very new on the scene, and ascribed the issues to IGNORANCE, not malice or deceit. It seems like you yourself were re-new on the scene: Looks like you were not working with any auto dealerships for at least 4 years before you opened KIA of Portland.
In one of if not the last written communication we had you stated that you did not know what you were doing (when it came to the sale of this car, used ev in general)'.
It is clear from the way you/KIA of Portland have changed and grown – as shown by the changes you have made in the way you advertise and what is now included on your website. For Instance
1) You now have a whole section devoted to EV education. You wrote me that it 'was not the dealership's place to educate you'....obviously you have changed your mind
2) The last two used SOUL Evs I saw advertised did NOT list a range in the place where you had been advertising a range – the 93 mile range that you advertised in your ad for my car, which proved to be at least 20% more than the actual range (even allowing for all the factors know to decrease ev range). I respected you for this, and did so on the EV forum I have been posting to.
BUT.......when I brought the discrepancy up to you, your response was to say that the 'EPA said it was okay' and included the text of the EPAs 'permission'.
So what made you change your mind? Starting with not advertising, obviously, the range and then moving to not selling older SOUL Evs at all!!!!!
3) You wrote that 'KofP didn't have enough time to ascertain my needs'.....but not only did I spend 4 plus hours on premises, with sales staff , on the day I came in but I had sent a note in advance of my appointment, laying everything out.
NOW, website says that you/Kof P will spend as much time as needed to get your customer into the right vehicle.....'.
As part of your/KofP's growth and change, at least three of the staff I worked with were 'let go' months ago, the first, Jacob (finance manager) very shortly after I met with him in October.
I don't know the average life-span of a car dealership employee, but I think that a 3-6 month stint for three staff says something very big. You recognized that you could not do what you needed to do with these particular staff members. For whatever reasons.
I am 69 years old, have worked hard to get myself into a place of financial security....which allowed me to plan, for instance, home- maintenance, repair and ADA accommodations (for Aging in Place) consults, hire an electrician to do some much needed electrical work; have my roof cleaned of all debris; AND........I had been planning on doing some traveling – am already on a much-trusted HouseSitters Site, so that my accommodations would be taken care of and I would just have spend $ for airfare and anything besides the roof over my head. Oh, and there are long-time friends on the East Coast who, like myself, are aging and could use a visit from their now West Coast Based friend.
This place of financial security came after a series of thefts of my previous, fully paid-for - KIA (2018 SOUL), the last one resulting in it being totalled.
My insurance payout came to @40% of what I had spent for and on the car, over years I owned this. AND that amount was not enough to cover the cost of another reliable, dependable etc vehicle. So I had to get a loan...which I was able to pay off, after the $ from the Insurance Settlement, rather quickly.
Being in debt is anathemic to me and my lifestyle....My one and only credit card is paid down to zero way before the due date, I have not missed a payment or incurred any fees, not one, not in five plus years.
Same with my mortgage....I am responsible to the max, which is why I was able to get first the loan for the SOUL EV and then for the SCION I had to buy in order to proceed with my life in a relatively stress-free, nay comfortable fashion.
This second loan will take quite a while and a lot on $ interest to pay off......
After your first written response, and those that followed, including your interaction with the Better Business Bureau, it was becoming increasingly clear that you were aware of the 'injustice' of our sales interaction, though you first tried to pawn it all off on my being ignorant......
My life is a delicate balance. I am a very good person, do good for and in my community and volunteer my services - e.g. driving friends and neighbors to medical appointments or shopping trips, when they themselves cannot drive – whenever I can, and working with Blanchet House to provide services to our homeless/houseless neighbors.
I could not do this in the 2016 KIA SOUL EV you sold me. For reasons already laid out in detail.
As The Sales Paperwork is all 'in order', - though the sale itself was based on a lie - any legal recourse I have will be very costly, both in dollars and in life-moments. I can't do that. My soul is already crazed.
So I am asking, again....please think about all of this. Think of what it would like if I was someone you cared about, and wanted to see thriving. Your grandmother, mom, your kid, your grandkid, your bowling partner.....would this be the way you would want them treated?
AGAIN: Please do not continue to make me a victim of or collateral damage to your educational growth and progress as a successful business person.
I look forward to hearing back from you asap, so that we can put this to rest and I can regain my life's balance and momentum. And maybe get some sleep and my health back.
Yours in being the very best humans we can be.
Buff Medb Neretin
cc: Dorian Boyland, Boyland Auto Group
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