Kia of Lake Charles fired its service manager after Shirley Poullard said workers used parts from her SUV to service another customer’s car without her knowledge or permission. Poullard said she only learned something was wrong when she came back to the dealership and noticed her hood was up, then started recording the confrontation.
The dispute now sits at the center of a wider question about trust at a service counter. Poullard brought her SUV to Kia of Lake Charles on June 17 after a tire blowout on the interstate, and she said it remained there for more than a month with little communication from the service department before she went in person to check on it. On camera, she repeatedly asked why her engine had been taken apart, and the service manager admitted the dealership had been using parts from her vehicle to work on someone else’s car.
That admission is what turned a repair delay into a much bigger problem. Poullard posted the video to social media, and it spread quickly across the Lake Charles community. When 7NEWS visited Kia of Lake Charles and spoke with the owner, the dealership said it immediately began an internal review after receiving feedback. The owner said the Service Manager is no longer employed with the company and that the dealership holds its team to a high standard of customer care, professionalism, respect and honesty.
What is still not clear is exactly which parts came off Poullard’s SUV, or whether the vehicle was fully inspected after the incident. Those details matter because Poullard said she would not have known anything had she not returned in person, and she said the car could have been put back together and sent out the door as if nothing had happened. She said she has her vehicle back now, but she is still seeking legal representation, which suggests this is not over even if the dealership has moved on from the manager involved.
For Poullard, the issue is no longer just a long repair and a bad experience. It is whether a customer’s vehicle was taken apart and used without permission, and whether anyone at Kia of Lake Charles will be able to restore confidence after a case that played out in public and ended with a firing.
