This is a VERY long review! You’ve been warned 
I know this is a Stinger forum but I have to post my Telluride experience with Gerry Wood Kia in Salisbury, NC.
Before I begin this review, I want to make it clear that the contents of this review are not reflective of the service provided by:
Salesman: Erik Vanmeter
Internet Sales Manager: Teudi Flores
Internet Sales Manager: Niya McCain
Each of the individuals above provided excellent service, what transpired was all due to the Sales Manager - Pete Ballard and the Business Manager - Andrew Galloway.
My wife and I inquired about a Snow White Pearl Kia Telluride EX on Friday 5/3. It was the exact trim my wife wanted. Our initial contact was with Niya. We communicated over the phone, through email, and text message. Between Friday and Saturday, Niya got me the price, we went through submitting a finance application to Kia Finance, she sent over the price breakdown, we discussed a trade — and payoff. Several times, I was told everything was in order, Finance had pulled our credit, as evident by the several hard credit pulls from Gerry Wood on 5/4, and that the rate we received from our credit union could be matched.
By Saturday afternoon Niya asked if I wanted to place a deposit on the car to hold it until I was able to come in. Since I would be traveling 5 hours to complete the purchase, I wanted to ensure that we were clear and that I had everything needed to complete the transaction.
I was initially told that my wife would need to be with me to sign the paperwork. I replied that she works M-F asked if there was a way to FedEx the paperwork to expedite the process, which I was told it was. I asked if that should be something we should do before I came down to take delivery, I received replies of which documents to bring (i.e., income verification, IDs, check for payoff, proof of residency, and socials) and that everything was already done and processed, documents just needed to be signed, and my wife could FedEx hers back once I got home with the SUV. Perfect!
On Monday, I follow up with Niya again to reassure me that everything was in place, I could complete paperwork and take delivery without my wife, verify vehicle availability, etc. to ensure a smooth transaction. She replied that everything is good and that I should put a deposit of $500 down to hold the vehicle and stop it from being shown. I paid the $500 and received a receipt. We scheduled an appointment for Tuesday at 11 AM to complete the transaction.
I got on the road around 6:30am and arrived to the dealership around 11:30am on Tuesday morning. I am greeted by Erik, this is my first interaction with him, by my car and he asked if my name was Curtis and if I was here to see Niyah. Initially, I’m thinking this is fantastic, they are on their game. Erik takes me inside where I meet Niya, in-person for the first time, and she tells me she passed by paperwork off to Erik for signatures and final processing. Erik tells me he pulled the Telluride around the side to be detailed while I finish the signing. We go through the whole process of signing paperwork, verifying payoff, auto insurance verification, service staff introductions, etc. Erik goes on to mention once he has the folder and is proceeding with the checklist that it won’t take long to get out the door. I was thinking perfect, I can beat traffic on my way back home.
We complete the paperwork and Erik takes the folder to the “back”. At this point we’re just waiting so I ask to see the car while we wait. Erik walks out and comes back in and notifies me it’s not there. I asked why and he finds out that another salesperson took it on a test drive. I asked how is that possible when I paid $500 to hold it? He looks a little confused as this was something that had not been conveyed to him. So he gets up to inquire about it. While he’s doing that I go to Niya’s desk, whom I paid the deposit to, and asked her what gives with the test drive when I put a deposit down to hold it? She said that should not have happened since my paperwork was completed and goes off to figure out where the disconnect occurred. A short time later Erik comes back, apologizes and says the other salesperson did not know that there was a deposit on it.
Some time after this happened the SUV comes back and we go out to take a look at it. Everything looks good and at this time it’s about 1:00. I assume we are still waiting for the Finance Manager, but I’m consistently getting alerts from IdentityIQ that Gerry Wood has pulled my credit another 4 times since I’ve been at the dealer not including the 2 times from Saturday. Still waiting, I notice someone else showing the SUV, once again I ask Erik what gives? He seemingly was confused as he thought this behavior would be stopped by the other salesperson.
Now it’s 2 PM, still haven’t been approached by the Sales Manager or Finance Manager, and I’ve asked Erik several times what the hold up was, I go outside to call my wife and Teudi comes up to me, introduces himself, and says he was paged to the back by Finance and was told he needed to come tell me bad news — the rate and approval I was provided on Saturday prior to coming down was turned down and can’t be acquired. This was the beginning of the end as I don’t believe this is something that should’ve been conveyed by either the Sales Manager or the Finance Manager, whomever was involved with setting the customer up for disappointment but not the poor guy who had no clue. I explained to Teudi that we’ve been working on this since last week, that I drove 5 hours down, that I have documented conversations that everything was in place, that I’ve been here since 11:30 and this is the first time anyone has said anything. Teudi now gets flustered as I can tell he wasn’t provided the entire context of what occurred. He said he would go back in and figure it out. I told Teudi had I known this, I would’ve had my credit union finalize paperwork on Saturday or Monday.
Fast forward to 2:30 PM and now I see plates being transferred from someone else’s vehicle to the SUV that I paid the deposit on and bags being loaded into it. I quickly go to Erik and demand that something happen. He gets up and speaks to someone. Apparently the other salesperson never stopped his sale when he was told about the deposit. He proceeded with selling the SUV to the other customers despite my deposit and objection but now we both are sitting in the dealership waiting.
At around 3:00 PM the Sales Manager — Pete Ballard, finally emerges and states they can’t get us approved, which I found odd. He says he would refund the deposit. I told him the same thing I told Teudi about travel, lost day of productivity, the documented communication that I had and he then says that I should’ve called to speak with someone. I show him the text message thread, several calls to the dealership on my call log, and emails. I showed him the several times his staff said that everything was good to go.
Erik come back over and I tell him to hold off on refunding my deposit. I get my phone out and apply for financing with USAA and Pentagon Federal Credit Union, where we are instantly approved. I ask him to get the Sales Manager back over here and let’s wrap things up. I have USAA fax over the dealer paperwork to begin the process to get out of there with the SUV. Pete comes back over and says, “well since your wife isn’t here to sign her part of the paperwork, we can’t release it to you today.” I tell Pete that’s not what any of the communication from your team says. It seemed as though Pete was trying to think of every reason imaginable to not sell the car to me. First it was the financing, which I resolved. Now it’s because my wife wasn’t there. This isn’t my first rodeo, I’ve bought 10 cars and typically in different states than I reside and never had any such issue that Pete was trying to describe. He leaves to go speak with Finance to see if there’s any way to get things done today so we are waiting again, and now it’s 4:30. He comes back again and says he can’t release it today even though financing was in place and that I’d have to drive the trade 300 miles back home and that they would deliver the truck on Friday. I tell Pete, that makes no sense — he says well that’s what it is and that’s what’s going to happen and walks away.
Erik and I continue talking about how we can come to a reasonable conclusion about this entire ordeal. Pete comes back over and says, “well I thought you weren’t so I released it to the other couple”. Really? Before my deposit was actually refunded you released it? He goes on to say that he has another one, same color, same trim, new, and it’ll be in on Wednesday. I say fine, because my wife really wants it, and we begin the paperwork process on that VIN.
Erik brings the revised paperwork over and immediately I see an issue. The “new” one they’re trying to sell me has over 3,300 miles on it. I ask Erik if it was a typo? He goes off to confirm with Pete and it turns out the mileage is correct. I tell Erik I need to call my wife who then proceeds to become upset about the whole ordeal. I asked Erik to find out what the story is because I find it hard to believe that 3,300 miles is from test drives. Erik comes over to confirm my suspicions that it was a demo model.
After some back and forth on pricing we agree in principle to take it and that Pete would arrange delivery on Friday. I complete my part of the paperwork, speak with the Finance Manager — Andrew, who never apologized for the inconvenience or being given the wrong information. He proceeds to blame Kia Finance for the problems. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter who the problems originated with, I had to bear the brunt of them so the least that can be done is to be provided an apology.
Being the finance guy, of course he tries to sell me some add-ons but at this point it’s 6:30 PM, and I’ve been here since 11:30, I’m not buying anything additional. We wrap up and they did fill up my tank, granted it was on half because I filled up halfway through the trip but it was a kind gesture. Pete did apologize, but in my opinion he was part of the problem so that apology fell on deaf ears and I do believe, even though I try to assume positive intent, that there was no way a sale happens without the sales manager knowing so Pete knew there was a deposit on the SUV, allowed his other salespeople to continue showing the car, allowed another contract on it even though my paperwork was in first, and ultimately sold it before refunding my deposit or at least alerting me first.
I got back home at midnight and I couldn’t help but think I shouldn’t have bought the car. So I called USAA to put a stop payment on the check, called the dealership an hour ago to leave a voicemail to cancel/void the transaction, and sent an email requesting the same. While I wanted to make the trip worth it and wanted to make my wife happy, I’ll spend our money somewhere else.
For context, the dealership, Pete nor Andrew, never told me which banks they submitted my information to for financing. While I tried to decipher it in real time from the credit alerts we were receiving, they all had the dealership name as opposed to any specific creditor/bank. I find their story that we couldn’t be approved to be a load of hogwash. While I tried to cross my t’s and dot my i’s, before committing to the drive it simply did not work.
This was by far the worst experience with a dealer I’ve ever had and I can not recommend that anyone do business with them. It’s terrible because while there are some bright stars there (Teudi, Erik, and Niya) they are drowned by the blackhole that is upper management (Pete and Andrew). It’s a shady business practice, and even the banks say as much because they faxed over a purchase order that was hand written, had scratch outs, and wasn’t on letterhead. Needless to say, we did not buy our Telluride there and neither should you.
I know this is a Stinger forum but I have to post my Telluride experience with Gerry Wood Kia in Salisbury, NC.
Before I begin this review, I want to make it clear that the contents of this review are not reflective of the service provided by:
Salesman: Erik Vanmeter
Internet Sales Manager: Teudi Flores
Internet Sales Manager: Niya McCain
Each of the individuals above provided excellent service, what transpired was all due to the Sales Manager - Pete Ballard and the Business Manager - Andrew Galloway.
My wife and I inquired about a Snow White Pearl Kia Telluride EX on Friday 5/3. It was the exact trim my wife wanted. Our initial contact was with Niya. We communicated over the phone, through email, and text message. Between Friday and Saturday, Niya got me the price, we went through submitting a finance application to Kia Finance, she sent over the price breakdown, we discussed a trade — and payoff. Several times, I was told everything was in order, Finance had pulled our credit, as evident by the several hard credit pulls from Gerry Wood on 5/4, and that the rate we received from our credit union could be matched.
By Saturday afternoon Niya asked if I wanted to place a deposit on the car to hold it until I was able to come in. Since I would be traveling 5 hours to complete the purchase, I wanted to ensure that we were clear and that I had everything needed to complete the transaction.
I was initially told that my wife would need to be with me to sign the paperwork. I replied that she works M-F asked if there was a way to FedEx the paperwork to expedite the process, which I was told it was. I asked if that should be something we should do before I came down to take delivery, I received replies of which documents to bring (i.e., income verification, IDs, check for payoff, proof of residency, and socials) and that everything was already done and processed, documents just needed to be signed, and my wife could FedEx hers back once I got home with the SUV. Perfect!
On Monday, I follow up with Niya again to reassure me that everything was in place, I could complete paperwork and take delivery without my wife, verify vehicle availability, etc. to ensure a smooth transaction. She replied that everything is good and that I should put a deposit of $500 down to hold the vehicle and stop it from being shown. I paid the $500 and received a receipt. We scheduled an appointment for Tuesday at 11 AM to complete the transaction.
I got on the road around 6:30am and arrived to the dealership around 11:30am on Tuesday morning. I am greeted by Erik, this is my first interaction with him, by my car and he asked if my name was Curtis and if I was here to see Niyah. Initially, I’m thinking this is fantastic, they are on their game. Erik takes me inside where I meet Niya, in-person for the first time, and she tells me she passed by paperwork off to Erik for signatures and final processing. Erik tells me he pulled the Telluride around the side to be detailed while I finish the signing. We go through the whole process of signing paperwork, verifying payoff, auto insurance verification, service staff introductions, etc. Erik goes on to mention once he has the folder and is proceeding with the checklist that it won’t take long to get out the door. I was thinking perfect, I can beat traffic on my way back home.
We complete the paperwork and Erik takes the folder to the “back”. At this point we’re just waiting so I ask to see the car while we wait. Erik walks out and comes back in and notifies me it’s not there. I asked why and he finds out that another salesperson took it on a test drive. I asked how is that possible when I paid $500 to hold it? He looks a little confused as this was something that had not been conveyed to him. So he gets up to inquire about it. While he’s doing that I go to Niya’s desk, whom I paid the deposit to, and asked her what gives with the test drive when I put a deposit down to hold it? She said that should not have happened since my paperwork was completed and goes off to figure out where the disconnect occurred. A short time later Erik comes back, apologizes and says the other salesperson did not know that there was a deposit on it.
Some time after this happened the SUV comes back and we go out to take a look at it. Everything looks good and at this time it’s about 1:00. I assume we are still waiting for the Finance Manager, but I’m consistently getting alerts from IdentityIQ that Gerry Wood has pulled my credit another 4 times since I’ve been at the dealer not including the 2 times from Saturday. Still waiting, I notice someone else showing the SUV, once again I ask Erik what gives? He seemingly was confused as he thought this behavior would be stopped by the other salesperson.
Now it’s 2 PM, still haven’t been approached by the Sales Manager or Finance Manager, and I’ve asked Erik several times what the hold up was, I go outside to call my wife and Teudi comes up to me, introduces himself, and says he was paged to the back by Finance and was told he needed to come tell me bad news — the rate and approval I was provided on Saturday prior to coming down was turned down and can’t be acquired. This was the beginning of the end as I don’t believe this is something that should’ve been conveyed by either the Sales Manager or the Finance Manager, whomever was involved with setting the customer up for disappointment but not the poor guy who had no clue. I explained to Teudi that we’ve been working on this since last week, that I drove 5 hours down, that I have documented conversations that everything was in place, that I’ve been here since 11:30 and this is the first time anyone has said anything. Teudi now gets flustered as I can tell he wasn’t provided the entire context of what occurred. He said he would go back in and figure it out. I told Teudi had I known this, I would’ve had my credit union finalize paperwork on Saturday or Monday.
Fast forward to 2:30 PM and now I see plates being transferred from someone else’s vehicle to the SUV that I paid the deposit on and bags being loaded into it. I quickly go to Erik and demand that something happen. He gets up and speaks to someone. Apparently the other salesperson never stopped his sale when he was told about the deposit. He proceeded with selling the SUV to the other customers despite my deposit and objection but now we both are sitting in the dealership waiting.
At around 3:00 PM the Sales Manager — Pete Ballard, finally emerges and states they can’t get us approved, which I found odd. He says he would refund the deposit. I told him the same thing I told Teudi about travel, lost day of productivity, the documented communication that I had and he then says that I should’ve called to speak with someone. I show him the text message thread, several calls to the dealership on my call log, and emails. I showed him the several times his staff said that everything was good to go.
Erik come back over and I tell him to hold off on refunding my deposit. I get my phone out and apply for financing with USAA and Pentagon Federal Credit Union, where we are instantly approved. I ask him to get the Sales Manager back over here and let’s wrap things up. I have USAA fax over the dealer paperwork to begin the process to get out of there with the SUV. Pete comes back over and says, “well since your wife isn’t here to sign her part of the paperwork, we can’t release it to you today.” I tell Pete that’s not what any of the communication from your team says. It seemed as though Pete was trying to think of every reason imaginable to not sell the car to me. First it was the financing, which I resolved. Now it’s because my wife wasn’t there. This isn’t my first rodeo, I’ve bought 10 cars and typically in different states than I reside and never had any such issue that Pete was trying to describe. He leaves to go speak with Finance to see if there’s any way to get things done today so we are waiting again, and now it’s 4:30. He comes back again and says he can’t release it today even though financing was in place and that I’d have to drive the trade 300 miles back home and that they would deliver the truck on Friday. I tell Pete, that makes no sense — he says well that’s what it is and that’s what’s going to happen and walks away.
Erik and I continue talking about how we can come to a reasonable conclusion about this entire ordeal. Pete comes back over and says, “well I thought you weren’t so I released it to the other couple”. Really? Before my deposit was actually refunded you released it? He goes on to say that he has another one, same color, same trim, new, and it’ll be in on Wednesday. I say fine, because my wife really wants it, and we begin the paperwork process on that VIN.
Erik brings the revised paperwork over and immediately I see an issue. The “new” one they’re trying to sell me has over 3,300 miles on it. I ask Erik if it was a typo? He goes off to confirm with Pete and it turns out the mileage is correct. I tell Erik I need to call my wife who then proceeds to become upset about the whole ordeal. I asked Erik to find out what the story is because I find it hard to believe that 3,300 miles is from test drives. Erik comes over to confirm my suspicions that it was a demo model.
After some back and forth on pricing we agree in principle to take it and that Pete would arrange delivery on Friday. I complete my part of the paperwork, speak with the Finance Manager — Andrew, who never apologized for the inconvenience or being given the wrong information. He proceeds to blame Kia Finance for the problems. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter who the problems originated with, I had to bear the brunt of them so the least that can be done is to be provided an apology.
Being the finance guy, of course he tries to sell me some add-ons but at this point it’s 6:30 PM, and I’ve been here since 11:30, I’m not buying anything additional. We wrap up and they did fill up my tank, granted it was on half because I filled up halfway through the trip but it was a kind gesture. Pete did apologize, but in my opinion he was part of the problem so that apology fell on deaf ears and I do believe, even though I try to assume positive intent, that there was no way a sale happens without the sales manager knowing so Pete knew there was a deposit on the SUV, allowed his other salespeople to continue showing the car, allowed another contract on it even though my paperwork was in first, and ultimately sold it before refunding my deposit or at least alerting me first.
I got back home at midnight and I couldn’t help but think I shouldn’t have bought the car. So I called USAA to put a stop payment on the check, called the dealership an hour ago to leave a voicemail to cancel/void the transaction, and sent an email requesting the same. While I wanted to make the trip worth it and wanted to make my wife happy, I’ll spend our money somewhere else.
For context, the dealership, Pete nor Andrew, never told me which banks they submitted my information to for financing. While I tried to decipher it in real time from the credit alerts we were receiving, they all had the dealership name as opposed to any specific creditor/bank. I find their story that we couldn’t be approved to be a load of hogwash. While I tried to cross my t’s and dot my i’s, before committing to the drive it simply did not work.
This was by far the worst experience with a dealer I’ve ever had and I can not recommend that anyone do business with them. It’s terrible because while there are some bright stars there (Teudi, Erik, and Niya) they are drowned by the blackhole that is upper management (Pete and Andrew). It’s a shady business practice, and even the banks say as much because they faxed over a purchase order that was hand written, had scratch outs, and wasn’t on letterhead. Needless to say, we did not buy our Telluride there and neither should you.
