How It Took One Month to Get Kia of Frisco to Deliver a Spare Tire (That Was Supposed to Be There)

Or: A Master Class in Ignoring Your Own Checklist

When we picked up our 2025 Sorento from Kia of Frisco in March 2026, everything seemed fine. A week later, we realized the spare tire was missing. Seems simple, right? Contact the dealer, ask for the missing part, and move on.

It took over a month. And the story reveals something worse than just poor customer service.

The 165-Point Checklist That Apparently Means Nothing

Kia’s Certified Pre-Owned program includes a mandatory 165-point inspection checklist. Item 144 explicitly reads: “Spare tire condition & properly inflated/Tire mobility kit.” Our vehicle’s checklist? Marked “Meets Guidelines.”

So the dealership signed off. On paper, we had a spare tire.

But when my wife contacted Kia of Frisco about the missing tire, here’s what she got from their sales team:

“Not all pre owned cars come with spare. You do have roadside assistance with the cpo on your Kia.”

Let’s pause here. A dealership that literally checked a box confirming the spare tire was present is now explaining why it doesn’t actually have one. That’s not a discrepancy. That’s a contradiction embedded in their own certification system.

The Timeline: A Month of Silence, Then 24 Hours of Action

This is where Kia of Frisco’s pattern of indifference becomes impossible to ignore.

Mid-March 2026: My wife emails Kia of Frisco about the missing spare tire. No response.

Mid-March to April 16: Silence. For over a month, the dealership doesn’t acknowledge the request. No follow-up. No explanation. Just radio silence from a dealership that claims your satisfaction is their priority.

April 16, 2026: My wife sends a follow-up email. Suddenly, internal emails start flying. They contact Kia Corporate. And here’s the kicker—she’s now labeled an “upset customer.”

Let’s be honest about what that label really means: she wasn’t upset because she’s difficult. She was upset because:

1. The car was supposed to have a spare tire (according to their 165-point checklist)
2. They had ignored her for a month
3. They were now acting like she was the problem instead of them

April 17, 2026: Within one day, the spare tire arrives.

One. Single. Day.

Think about that timeline. A month of inaction, then 24 hours of urgency. Which means they had the spare tire available the entire time. They just didn’t care enough to deliver it until someone escalated the complaint to corporate.

The Marketing Paradox: “Let Us Know How We Can Serve You”

Here’s where Kia of Frisco’s hypocrisy becomes impossible to ignore.

Since we bought the car, Kia of Frisco has added us to their mailing list. And we’re not exaggerating—emails, texts, and physical mail, all with the same message:

• “Let us know how we can serve you.”
• “Is there anything we can do to help?”
• “Your satisfaction is our priority.”

We get these messages weekly. Service specials, inventory updates, customer care commitments. The whole package designed to make you feel valued.

Meanwhile, we’re begging them for a part that was supposed to be on the car from day one.

It’s marketing theater. They’ll spend money on campaigns telling you how much they care, but they won’t spend five minutes fulfilling what they already promised you.

Why This Pattern Matters

This isn’t just about us. If you’re shopping for a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle at Kia of Frisco, you need to understand what “Certified” actually means in their system:

It means:

• They’ll check a box saying a part meets guidelines
• They’ll sell you the car without that part anyway
• They’ll ignore your first request
• They’ll only act when you escalate
• But they’ll absolutely spam you with marketing emails about how much they care

The spare tire was a documented item on their own 165-point checklist. It was marked as compliant. And it wasn’t there. That’s not an oversight—that’s a systematic failure to match documentation with reality.

The fact that it took one month to resolve, followed by delivery within 24 hours of escalation, proves they had the capability to solve the problem immediately. They chose not to until forced.

See also: What We Discovered When We Ran Our Own CarFax — the prior damage Kia of Frisco never disclosed.