Generation Kia Kia Big Three of Long Island False advertising. Abuse of consumer credit reporting. Price-jacking. Bait and switch. Bohemia New York

Generation Kia (a.k.a. Kia Big 3 of Long Island) literally saturates the media with constant TV, Radio and Print advertising.

These ads make the claim:  Brand new Kia Sorrento for NO money down and payment of $199/mo.  This is followed by the assertion that all the buyer requires for this deal is a 'job making $350/week and your credit is GUARANTEED.

After spending over 3 hours at their dealership last week (with my wife and infant child in tow) we found that Generation Kia and their owner, Joe Catalanano, do not have any concept of what the term GUARANTEE means.

They never asked my wife for a pay stub or even asked where either of us worked.  They just took down our personal info (including SSN and banking/credit #'s).  The Salesman came back and told us we could have the car for $730/month with 5K down and a trade-in of our Toyota Corolla.  I would not pay $730 for a Lexus --- much less a Kia.

When we picked our jaws up off the floor we asked about the advertised deal and was told "that only applied to customers with Credit Scores of 750 and higher".  I ask where in this current economy can you find anyone with immaculate credit?!?!

When we told him that the offer was ridiculous he asked us what we were looking for.   We told him we could do the 5K down and trade-in but were looking for payments of under $300/month.  He left for a few minutes, allegedly talking to 'his boss', and had the nerve to come back with an offer of us putting down 17K to get monthly payments at $430/mo.  

The Sorrento only costs 20K.  If we could afford to put down 17K we would be buying a car outright.  Needless to say, we left there humiliated, disappointed and quite angry at being lied to and toyed with.  Joe C. and the 'boss' were never in sight and we only dealt with a 23-year-old salesperson with 3 weeks on the job.

Please post this as their advertising is completely false and will waste the time of many good, hard-working people like us.

FYI --- the radio and TV commercials are not only false advertising but also done by Joe C. himself who looks ridiculous and has a terrible lisp --- making the ads laughable.  We only pursued the deal because we drove Kia's on vacation a few times and really liked them.