SE MI 8 Owners
11-02-2004, 03:20 PM
#1
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SE MI 8 Owners
Please.. Do not go to Subruban Mazda (or Suburban Collection) for ANY reason.. If you need to get you car serviced ot buy something new.. AVOID them like the PLAGUE!!
If you need to know my resons for saying this.. let me know.
If you need to know my resons for saying this.. let me know.
11-30-2004, 10:17 AM
#3
'O' - 'H' !!! ...
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Also, do not go to Ralph Thayer Mazda (formerly Livonia Mazda). I had an absolutely horrible buying experience. The sales staff, including managers, are a bunch of crooks. Many of these same people still work there despite the change in ownership.
I have had good service experiences at Sterling Mazda (Woodhaven), and at Sesi Mazda (Ypsilanti). My only complaint about Sesi is that they seem to schedule me for an appointment even when they're backed up. As a result, I end up driving a rental car for 2 days while my warranty work, which should take less than 2 hours, is completed. I don't understand why they make the schedule such that I can be in and out in 1 day... oh well.
I have had good service experiences at Sterling Mazda (Woodhaven), and at Sesi Mazda (Ypsilanti). My only complaint about Sesi is that they seem to schedule me for an appointment even when they're backed up. As a result, I end up driving a rental car for 2 days while my warranty work, which should take less than 2 hours, is completed. I don't understand why they make the schedule such that I can be in and out in 1 day... oh well.
11-30-2004, 07:55 PM
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Ok ,
I bought mine at Suburban. I went back recently for the recent pre cold weather flash recall. I was assured when I bought it, it had the M-flash. Service insisted I needed the update however. I wondered if I was told this because they kept me waiting for 3 hours and figured I would be upset to find out my car sat around for 3 hours while they went and got breakfast.
I noticed that my salesman and the service writer from my purchase 3 months were both gone. The kids, ok guys, doing write ups mentioned some kinda management overhaul recently occuring.
I rode around with a tech named Vince to see if my tranny appeared as clunky to him as it did to me. Of course it did not. He seemed cool enough though .....
Anyway, spill it ..... it is not the closest dealer to me anyway ... waht happened ?
I bought mine at Suburban. I went back recently for the recent pre cold weather flash recall. I was assured when I bought it, it had the M-flash. Service insisted I needed the update however. I wondered if I was told this because they kept me waiting for 3 hours and figured I would be upset to find out my car sat around for 3 hours while they went and got breakfast.
I noticed that my salesman and the service writer from my purchase 3 months were both gone. The kids, ok guys, doing write ups mentioned some kinda management overhaul recently occuring.
I rode around with a tech named Vince to see if my tranny appeared as clunky to him as it did to me. Of course it did not. He seemed cool enough though .....
Anyway, spill it ..... it is not the closest dealer to me anyway ... waht happened ?
12-01-2004, 07:51 AM
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Well I have had a few other requests so I will just make it easy. Here is the letter in its entirety. Names have been removed.
------
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in regards to the appalling treatment I have received at Suburban Mazda in Troy, Michigan.
I purchased my Mazda RX8 on 6/22/04 from Suburban Mazda and it has been in and out of the service department approximately 7 times in only 3 months.
My first trip to the service department occurred on 6/28/04 (Repair Order 648482) to resolve issues discovered after I took delivery of the vehicle. Shortly after bringing the vehicle home and getting a closer look at everything, I discovered that there was a chunk missing from the rear passenger window molding, the driver side rear rim had been scratched to the metal (the vehicle had approximately 260 miles on it at delivery), the radio would randomly loose reception on FM stations, and that Mazda Service Bulletin MSP04 had not been performed as instructed. The vehicle was kept overnight and the MSP04 reclass was completed and the rear window was special ordered. I was also told that service would not repair the scratched rim and that I needed to speak to the new car manager . He stated that he would repair the rim, although he would not provide a rental car and I would be without a vehicle. I was also told that the service department was not able to duplicate my concern regarding the radio, although the service advisor did hear it cut out as he was pulling the car back into the service department for me to pick up. I left the dealership frustrated that the rim had not been replaced, but was happy that it would be fixed when I returned to have the window replaced. After about a week or so after I picked up the car I spoke with the new car manager to voice my displeasure about the rim and how I believed it to be unfair that I would not have a vehicle for 2 days when the problem should have been fixed prior to delivery. He agreed and told me that I would be put into a rental at no cost when I came in to have the window replaced and to have the rim repaired.
I received notification that the window had been received and I set up a service appointment for July 12. When I dropped off the vehicle, I restated the problems I continued to have with the radio as well as the already agreed repairs of the rim and replacement of the passenger rear window. The issues were noted on the repair order (Invoice MACS655581). When I picked up the vehicle 2 days later, I was advised that they checked the antenna connection from the radio to the rear window and everything was fine, they advised that the problem should no longer exist. I left this service appointment feeling that everything had been addressed on the vehicle and that I should not have to go back to the dealer anytime soon aside from scheduled maintenance.
Approximately 2 weeks later while I was washing the vehicle, I noticed that the recently repaired had the clear-coat peeling away from the rim. I immediately contacted the Service Manager and was told that he would personally order a new rim for Mazda and let me know when it came in, he also advised that he would personally inspect the rim for any damage. About a week and a half later I had not heard from him so I decided to call him. The rim had arrived a day or two earlier and I made an appointment to have it mounted that day. After I drove the approximately 30 miles to the dealership I dropped the vehicle off to have the new rim mounted. I went out to lunch with a friend of mine and got a call towards the end of lunch advising that the rim they had received was scratched (after being promised he would check the rim himself) and that they needed to order another rim and that I would need to come back after the received the replacement. Extremely frustrated at this time, I agreed to return when the new rim was received, so long as it was not damaged, that I could get this issue behind me.
When I received a call about a week later (9/17/04) to let me know that the rim had been received, I drove back out to the dealership to have the new rim mounted (Repair Order 693083). In the past week my transmitter had stopped working so I asked if they could also fix that, as well as reminded them of the issue with the radio for the third time. When I arrived to pick up my vehicle, I was advised that both transmitters would have to be replaced and that they would also order a new radio as they still could not diagnose the problem. I was asked to return when the parts arrived.
The parts arrived at the dealership during the week of 10/11 and I made an appointment to drop the car off on 10/15. Prior to bringing the car in for service, I also began to notice a loud squeaking noise coming from the front brakes of the vehicle. I researched the symptoms and found a Mazda Service bulletin for the concern. I advised the dealership of the concern and also advised them of the bulletin. When I dropped the vehicle off I was told the car would be ready by that afternoon (Repair Order AP68062). After spending the day in the area, I called the dealership around 5pm and was advised that the car would not be ready that day and that they would need to keep it over the weekend, I reluctantly agreed so that the car would be completely repaired when I got it back.
I received a call from my service advisor on Monday afternoon explaining to me that they could not get the new radio to work and ordered another radio that would be in the next day and asked if it was ok to keep the car overnight again, to which I agreed. I called him back on Tuesday afternoon to find out that the service department had called the tech hot line to discuss the issue and discovered the problem was not with the radio itself but a module behind the radio, he advised that they ordered the part and it would be in on Wednesday, he also advised that the issue with the brakes had been resolved and the new transmitters had been programmed. At this point I was extremely frustrated that it could take this long to repair a radio and that they had waited until the 4th service appointment to finally call the tech hot line. I asked Mike to speak to his manager and was told to speak to the Service Director. After discussing my frustration with him as well as explaining my history with his service department, he agreed to install a bra on my vehicle at no cost to me. At this point I began to feel more at ease about my vehicle still being in for service. When I talked to the service advisor on Thursday I was advised that the radio was now operational and that they still had to do the brakes. I questioned this as this was supposed to have been completed per our discussion on Tuesday, to which he responded that there must have been some miscommunication on his part as the brakes had not yet been completed and that the car would be finished on Friday 10/22. I spoke to him on Friday and advised him that I was too busy at work and would not be able to drive the 30 miles to the dealership to pick up the vehicle, he then advised he would have the vehicle delivered to my office. I agreed to have the car delivered to my office and it arrived at approximately 5pm with the free bra installed.
When I got into the vehicle to park it nearer to my office, I notice that the dashboard had been gouged from the radio being removed multiple times. When I got back to my desk I immediately called the service director to advise of the issue and left him a message as he had already left for the day. Over the next day or two I also noticed that the passenger seat heater button had been broken (it no longer functioned), that the wrong radio had been installed in the vehicle (I have the Bose package and the radio that was in the vehicle was the standard head unit) causing the radio to sound extremely distorted and extremely loud on a volume setting of 3 (I previously would listen to the radio at a setting of about 16), the break squeak was worse then when I dropped the vehicle off, and that there was a screw and a screwdriver left on the passenger floor. I left him 2 or 3 additional messages that weekend describing items as I would discover them.
When he returned my phone call on Monday morning (10/25) he stated that he was embarrassed by the situation and would get answers on what went wrong. I next spoke with him on Tuesday when he explained to me that the service department could not provide a sufficient explanation as to what had occurred. He advised that he had ordered a Bose radio that would be in the next day and asked if I would like the car fixed on Wednesday. I advised him that I would not be able to bring the car back until Monday November 1st as I was too busy at work. We set up a service appointment and arranged for a dealer demo to be my rental for the day. During this conversation I also asked him if it were possible to have satellite radio or fender strakes installed on the vehicle and to get me a quote. I talked to him again on Thursday to inquire on the status of the quotes and to see if the Bose radio had been received. He stated that the satellite radio would cost approximately $500 to install, which I declined. I again asked about the side strakes and he told me he would let me know.
When I returned to the dealership on November 1st at the time the service director and I had agreed on, there was no car waiting for me and I was told by my service advisor that they had taken the car out to "warm up the tires", knowing cars and having worked on a Speedvision Touring Cougar, today's cars do not need to be warmed up. I waited for approximately 30 minutes before being told that the demo was ready to go. I received a call at approximately 4pm advising that they would not be done with the vehicle until Tuesday as they had someone come out and attempt to repair the dash rather than replacing it. I was advised the repair would not be sufficient and that it would take them about 4 or more hours to take a dash out of a vehicle on the lot and place it in my vehicle. I asked about the side strakes and he said the service director had not mentioned anything and that he would discuss it with him next time he saw him.
I received a call Thursday (11/2) afternoon letting me know that the vehicle was ready to be picked up. When I arrived at the dealership I checked everything very carefully to ensure nothing else was wrong with the vehicle. After I was able to determine nothing else appeared out of place, I spoke to him about the side strakes, he advised that the service director was coming to speak with me. After about 5 minutes he came to my vehicle and we had a short discussion regarding my dissatisfaction with his service department and that it was my opinion that I should get the side strakes for the vehicle at no cost (Retail is approx $250). He absolutely refused and gave the response of "that is why you got the bra installed on your vehicle". Since the bra was installed prior to the last failed repair attempt I did not think this answer was sufficient. I explained to him that when I purchased the vehicle I lived in Detroit (approximately 30 miles away from the dealership) and currently reside in Dearborn (also approximately 30 miles) and the 7 trips back and forth to the dealership had cost me a considerable amount of time as well as vacation days I had to use at work to be able to go to the dealership. To this comment he remarked "I knew you would never be satisfied, I should have never given you the bra in the first place" and walked back into the building, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation.
As a salaried employee of Ford Motor Company I find my experiences with Suburban Mazda extremely troubling as well as frustrating. Even as an employee of the company, at this point in time, I cannot recommend this dealership or the Mazda brand to friends, family, or even colleagues. The treatment I have received has been abhorrent, and when attempting to right the situation I am told that I "would never be satisfied".
Regards,
Chris Miller
------
As I was removing the names I noticed it didn't flow as well.. Oh well
And I told you it was long!!!
------
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in regards to the appalling treatment I have received at Suburban Mazda in Troy, Michigan.
I purchased my Mazda RX8 on 6/22/04 from Suburban Mazda and it has been in and out of the service department approximately 7 times in only 3 months.
My first trip to the service department occurred on 6/28/04 (Repair Order 648482) to resolve issues discovered after I took delivery of the vehicle. Shortly after bringing the vehicle home and getting a closer look at everything, I discovered that there was a chunk missing from the rear passenger window molding, the driver side rear rim had been scratched to the metal (the vehicle had approximately 260 miles on it at delivery), the radio would randomly loose reception on FM stations, and that Mazda Service Bulletin MSP04 had not been performed as instructed. The vehicle was kept overnight and the MSP04 reclass was completed and the rear window was special ordered. I was also told that service would not repair the scratched rim and that I needed to speak to the new car manager . He stated that he would repair the rim, although he would not provide a rental car and I would be without a vehicle. I was also told that the service department was not able to duplicate my concern regarding the radio, although the service advisor did hear it cut out as he was pulling the car back into the service department for me to pick up. I left the dealership frustrated that the rim had not been replaced, but was happy that it would be fixed when I returned to have the window replaced. After about a week or so after I picked up the car I spoke with the new car manager to voice my displeasure about the rim and how I believed it to be unfair that I would not have a vehicle for 2 days when the problem should have been fixed prior to delivery. He agreed and told me that I would be put into a rental at no cost when I came in to have the window replaced and to have the rim repaired.
I received notification that the window had been received and I set up a service appointment for July 12. When I dropped off the vehicle, I restated the problems I continued to have with the radio as well as the already agreed repairs of the rim and replacement of the passenger rear window. The issues were noted on the repair order (Invoice MACS655581). When I picked up the vehicle 2 days later, I was advised that they checked the antenna connection from the radio to the rear window and everything was fine, they advised that the problem should no longer exist. I left this service appointment feeling that everything had been addressed on the vehicle and that I should not have to go back to the dealer anytime soon aside from scheduled maintenance.
Approximately 2 weeks later while I was washing the vehicle, I noticed that the recently repaired had the clear-coat peeling away from the rim. I immediately contacted the Service Manager and was told that he would personally order a new rim for Mazda and let me know when it came in, he also advised that he would personally inspect the rim for any damage. About a week and a half later I had not heard from him so I decided to call him. The rim had arrived a day or two earlier and I made an appointment to have it mounted that day. After I drove the approximately 30 miles to the dealership I dropped the vehicle off to have the new rim mounted. I went out to lunch with a friend of mine and got a call towards the end of lunch advising that the rim they had received was scratched (after being promised he would check the rim himself) and that they needed to order another rim and that I would need to come back after the received the replacement. Extremely frustrated at this time, I agreed to return when the new rim was received, so long as it was not damaged, that I could get this issue behind me.
When I received a call about a week later (9/17/04) to let me know that the rim had been received, I drove back out to the dealership to have the new rim mounted (Repair Order 693083). In the past week my transmitter had stopped working so I asked if they could also fix that, as well as reminded them of the issue with the radio for the third time. When I arrived to pick up my vehicle, I was advised that both transmitters would have to be replaced and that they would also order a new radio as they still could not diagnose the problem. I was asked to return when the parts arrived.
The parts arrived at the dealership during the week of 10/11 and I made an appointment to drop the car off on 10/15. Prior to bringing the car in for service, I also began to notice a loud squeaking noise coming from the front brakes of the vehicle. I researched the symptoms and found a Mazda Service bulletin for the concern. I advised the dealership of the concern and also advised them of the bulletin. When I dropped the vehicle off I was told the car would be ready by that afternoon (Repair Order AP68062). After spending the day in the area, I called the dealership around 5pm and was advised that the car would not be ready that day and that they would need to keep it over the weekend, I reluctantly agreed so that the car would be completely repaired when I got it back.
I received a call from my service advisor on Monday afternoon explaining to me that they could not get the new radio to work and ordered another radio that would be in the next day and asked if it was ok to keep the car overnight again, to which I agreed. I called him back on Tuesday afternoon to find out that the service department had called the tech hot line to discuss the issue and discovered the problem was not with the radio itself but a module behind the radio, he advised that they ordered the part and it would be in on Wednesday, he also advised that the issue with the brakes had been resolved and the new transmitters had been programmed. At this point I was extremely frustrated that it could take this long to repair a radio and that they had waited until the 4th service appointment to finally call the tech hot line. I asked Mike to speak to his manager and was told to speak to the Service Director. After discussing my frustration with him as well as explaining my history with his service department, he agreed to install a bra on my vehicle at no cost to me. At this point I began to feel more at ease about my vehicle still being in for service. When I talked to the service advisor on Thursday I was advised that the radio was now operational and that they still had to do the brakes. I questioned this as this was supposed to have been completed per our discussion on Tuesday, to which he responded that there must have been some miscommunication on his part as the brakes had not yet been completed and that the car would be finished on Friday 10/22. I spoke to him on Friday and advised him that I was too busy at work and would not be able to drive the 30 miles to the dealership to pick up the vehicle, he then advised he would have the vehicle delivered to my office. I agreed to have the car delivered to my office and it arrived at approximately 5pm with the free bra installed.
When I got into the vehicle to park it nearer to my office, I notice that the dashboard had been gouged from the radio being removed multiple times. When I got back to my desk I immediately called the service director to advise of the issue and left him a message as he had already left for the day. Over the next day or two I also noticed that the passenger seat heater button had been broken (it no longer functioned), that the wrong radio had been installed in the vehicle (I have the Bose package and the radio that was in the vehicle was the standard head unit) causing the radio to sound extremely distorted and extremely loud on a volume setting of 3 (I previously would listen to the radio at a setting of about 16), the break squeak was worse then when I dropped the vehicle off, and that there was a screw and a screwdriver left on the passenger floor. I left him 2 or 3 additional messages that weekend describing items as I would discover them.
When he returned my phone call on Monday morning (10/25) he stated that he was embarrassed by the situation and would get answers on what went wrong. I next spoke with him on Tuesday when he explained to me that the service department could not provide a sufficient explanation as to what had occurred. He advised that he had ordered a Bose radio that would be in the next day and asked if I would like the car fixed on Wednesday. I advised him that I would not be able to bring the car back until Monday November 1st as I was too busy at work. We set up a service appointment and arranged for a dealer demo to be my rental for the day. During this conversation I also asked him if it were possible to have satellite radio or fender strakes installed on the vehicle and to get me a quote. I talked to him again on Thursday to inquire on the status of the quotes and to see if the Bose radio had been received. He stated that the satellite radio would cost approximately $500 to install, which I declined. I again asked about the side strakes and he told me he would let me know.
When I returned to the dealership on November 1st at the time the service director and I had agreed on, there was no car waiting for me and I was told by my service advisor that they had taken the car out to "warm up the tires", knowing cars and having worked on a Speedvision Touring Cougar, today's cars do not need to be warmed up. I waited for approximately 30 minutes before being told that the demo was ready to go. I received a call at approximately 4pm advising that they would not be done with the vehicle until Tuesday as they had someone come out and attempt to repair the dash rather than replacing it. I was advised the repair would not be sufficient and that it would take them about 4 or more hours to take a dash out of a vehicle on the lot and place it in my vehicle. I asked about the side strakes and he said the service director had not mentioned anything and that he would discuss it with him next time he saw him.
I received a call Thursday (11/2) afternoon letting me know that the vehicle was ready to be picked up. When I arrived at the dealership I checked everything very carefully to ensure nothing else was wrong with the vehicle. After I was able to determine nothing else appeared out of place, I spoke to him about the side strakes, he advised that the service director was coming to speak with me. After about 5 minutes he came to my vehicle and we had a short discussion regarding my dissatisfaction with his service department and that it was my opinion that I should get the side strakes for the vehicle at no cost (Retail is approx $250). He absolutely refused and gave the response of "that is why you got the bra installed on your vehicle". Since the bra was installed prior to the last failed repair attempt I did not think this answer was sufficient. I explained to him that when I purchased the vehicle I lived in Detroit (approximately 30 miles away from the dealership) and currently reside in Dearborn (also approximately 30 miles) and the 7 trips back and forth to the dealership had cost me a considerable amount of time as well as vacation days I had to use at work to be able to go to the dealership. To this comment he remarked "I knew you would never be satisfied, I should have never given you the bra in the first place" and walked back into the building, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation.
As a salaried employee of Ford Motor Company I find my experiences with Suburban Mazda extremely troubling as well as frustrating. Even as an employee of the company, at this point in time, I cannot recommend this dealership or the Mazda brand to friends, family, or even colleagues. The treatment I have received has been abhorrent, and when attempting to right the situation I am told that I "would never be satisfied".
Regards,
Chris Miller
------
As I was removing the names I noticed it didn't flow as well.. Oh well
And I told you it was long!!!
12-21-2004, 08:40 PM
#7
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Wow Detroit, that's a long story. Funny about your chipped rear window molding. I had one on my driver side that I noticed when I took delivery. I wonder if it's an assembly issue. Luckily, everything was handled nicely and had my window replaced with no issues (at Sterling Mazda BTW).
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