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Servicing and reflashing

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Old May 25, 2004 | 08:41 PM
  #26  
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Originally posted by Choppy
Taka who? taka what?
You told him there were 2 "L's" in Phillip......now he's chucking all his spalling.......
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Old May 25, 2004 | 08:44 PM
  #27  
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Ahhhhhhhh. forgot about that

Good one Taka, thanks Gomez for clearing that up.

Just spoke to the service manager for Rockdale and can do $228 and organising a discount for www.rx8club.com.au members in NSW.

Regards
Phillip
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Old May 26, 2004 | 01:42 AM
  #28  
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Sorry taka, but is sure did happen to me in City Melbourne, they actually smacked my passenger side door... then they replaced the whole door, and gave me an mx-5 to drive around in for the time it was in the shop... I was not happy at all when it happened as you can imagine, but they were quite apologetic and sometimes things like this happen. They were genuine, if not i think i would have lost my mind!

Service departments should act correctly as they become your major course of interaction with a car company and often if you are treated badly at the service side you associate that with the car company...
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Old May 26, 2004 | 01:58 AM
  #29  
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Oh bad luck... I guess thing can happen.

Someone broken into my old car and stolen the radio. The car was in the lot and someone call me that they have rear end the car to something and repaint the whole thing for me...

There is mismatch of colour! Damn I was so mad!

You can never replace the original colour... I don't know why --- prob because I had a white car and it is turning yellow

They should have given something extra to compensate you... you keep complaining the car is not align probably... you may get a new car!!!
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Old May 26, 2004 | 08:54 AM
  #30  
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k had 20k service today
$217 with flash tyre rotation and hand wash at gold coast mazda
but the most extraodinary thing was they put 5L of oil at $50
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Old May 26, 2004 | 06:30 PM
  #31  
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Originally posted by RRX08
k had 20k service today
$217 with flash tyre rotation and hand wash at gold coast mazda
but the most extraodinary thing was they put 5L of oil at $50


GRRRR! This makes me SOOO O O O angry! How can they put 5L of oil into a sump where the clearly stated capacity, inc oil filter, is 3.75L? Dealers all around the country are doing this, and it is a clear rip-off.

Go and complain. I did, and my next service cost excluded any labour charge. But guess what! They tried to charge me for 5L of oil again. So I demanded the remainder -- 1.25L -- of the special Mazda oil to take with me.

Phew! See Hymee, I didn't swear!
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Old May 26, 2004 | 06:51 PM
  #32  
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Timbo

I can feel your blood pressure rising , thanks for pointing this out to us guys .( crooks are everywhere )

At my last service they had to change my sump so they did not charge me for my new oil .

cheers
michael
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Old May 27, 2004 | 07:46 AM
  #33  
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Greetings All,

Looking at my service docket incuded in the $270 price are:
5 litres of Motor Oil Rotary $47.62
1 litre of Motor Oil rotary (the bottle for top ups) $10.12
Windscreen washer additive $2.10
Touch up paint (This I requested) $10.71

So the service cost was actually $250 leaving off the 1 litre of oil and the touch up paint - did anybody get this for free and if so - let me know !

So I won't be falling for the oil trick again - I will take the unopened 1 litre bottle back in June when the car gets the new door trims and the dent removed and suggest that if they want me to continue getting the car serviced there things will have to change.

I have been told that I am one of the nicer RX-8 owners they know ! - this might change soon... beginning to get tired of all the misinformation.

Regards
Jeffneil
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Old May 27, 2004 | 03:50 PM
  #34  
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I got charged for an even number of litres of oil, and got the left over in a 1L bottle.

Good post Timbo!

Cheers,
Hymee.
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Old May 27, 2004 | 06:10 PM
  #35  
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Originally posted by timbo


GRRRR! This makes me SOOO O O O angry! How can they put 5L of oil into a sump where the clearly stated capacity, inc oil filter, is 3.75L? Dealers all around the country are doing this, and it is a clear rip-off.

Go and complain. I did, and my next service cost excluded any labour charge. But guess what! They tried to charge me for 5L of oil again. So I demanded the remainder -- 1.25L -- of the special Mazda oil to take with me.

Phew! See Hymee, I didn't swear!
Timbo... I will scan the last oil change for you. They charge me 4 L but it cost near $50 ($48 if I remember correctly)

I guess 5L for $50 or 4L for near $50 does not make a lot of difference.
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Old May 27, 2004 | 11:03 PM
  #36  
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Originally posted by takahashi
Timbo... I will scan the last oil change for you. They charge me 4 L but it cost near $50 ($48 if I remember correctly)

I guess 5L for $50 or 4L for near $50 does not make a lot of difference.
No, I wouldn't quibble about 0.25L of oil either, but to not be given 1.25L AND to be charged for it SUCKS

It is a scam which seems to be widely perpetrated by Mazda dealers and I, for one, am not going to stand for it

Oh well, I guess this simply means I'll be sucked in by some other, possibly more expensive scam, such as the $50-for-a-$2-part etc. But where I know, I act! (thumping table smiley)
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Old May 28, 2004 | 02:18 AM
  #37  
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sorry you guys but its a rrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppppp off
I got 6 year warranty at the BIG Mc at sutherland but they are the only ones that can service the car @$220 each
Well u know where u can stick that
I buy my mineral oil and filter and get it done for less than $30
dont fall for it
Just by the buy Nick at sutherland is great I get no **** from him he just fixes what I ask for, really great
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Old May 28, 2004 | 05:49 AM
  #38  
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Well, of course you can do an oil and filter change yourself for less than $30, but that is not the point. The RX-8 is a reasonably complex machine, and one would hope that competent dealers, who have have access to technology such as the WDS, are able to do a reasonably competent job in maintaining the machine as Mazda specifies.

If they don't then we can expect to see warranty claims (short term) or poor resale (long term), both of which are damaging to Mazda's reputation.

As to how much they charge -- well, how much choice do most (non-commodity) vehicle owners have? Here in Canberra, there are just 2 dealers, commonly owned. Their service charges are pretty much the same. Had I purchased a BMW, Benz, Alfa, Lexus, Saab, Volvo my choice would be narrowed to one.

The dealers do give you an estimate of servicing costs as part of the pre-buyer information, if you ask for it, and certyainly, my dealer has been pretty close to that.

As to quality? Well, I have a rotary specialist do interim services every 5K -- they cost me $90, and they let me know if they see any issues I might want to draw to the attention of the selling dealer under warranty. That's about as good as I can hope for.
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Old Jun 1, 2004 | 01:32 AM
  #39  
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Am not sure which is the best thread for this.

Just had 30,000k service done, including "G" flash and recall on the heat shield.

Car does seem to have better mid-range power but too early to tell.

The big news is that I received the service for free, nix, nothing, no charge, not even parts -- all because of my earlier, polite but assertive complaint about oil overfilling, over-charging and so-on. And, the remaining 1.25L of the 5 litre Mazda pack in my car for any any refills between now and next service.

A big cheer for Slaven Mazda in Canberra, who are at last 'getting it'

I just want to say this because I suspect we all have very high service expectations, which are rarely met. However, IME, if you point the problems out to the dealer politely, they will do their best to make you as happy as they can
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Old Jun 1, 2004 | 02:31 AM
  #40  
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Talking

Strange , as soon as i got the G flash i could tell the difference straight away Timbo you are spending to much time on" BEST BEHAVIOUR " mode .

Assertiveness has payed of and got you a free service , hmmmm
maybe i will try and be more diplomatic with Mazda head office possibly resulting in a freE RX8 HA HA HA .

cheers
michael
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Old Jun 1, 2004 | 07:37 AM
  #41  
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Just got my 20,000km service at Grand Prix Mazda Aspley. I bought 5L Mazda rotary oil for $48.83. However, they filled my car with TXT Super Performance Oil, 3.10L @ $13.95/L. Interesting. AFIK, TXT is a Castrol synthetic. At least I only got charged for what they put in.

They did the re-flash, got the creak out of the passenger seat by re-setting the seat, and gave me a VIP discount (I think because the courtesy shuttle was late picking me up).

Basic service charge was $112.50 + $5.00 waste disposal + $18.00 for wheel balance and rotation.

A pleasant experience. And I didn't have to be "assertive".
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Old Jun 3, 2004 | 09:28 AM
  #42  
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I just did my 10,000km service at City Mazda and was charged for 5L of oil also. Funnily enough when i asked them for the extra oil, iI was told that they had used more than 5L! Maybe for another RX8 also???? When I told them how much oil our cars take, they gave me the extra 1L. Then to my dismay they knew nothing of the "G" flash.... I suggested they find out about it. Why does it seem that many Mazda dealers seem to "know nothing" about so many things?
Anyway, just venting....
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Old Jun 3, 2004 | 05:22 PM
  #43  
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vfst,

The problem you encounter is the "clerks" behind the desk often now little about what actually happened to your car, or the other technical things like flashes that we talk about. Basically they are doing paper and key shuffling, and swiping credit cards. (No disrepect or offence intended for those service advisors reading this. If you are, then you are probably a little more interested than the others!)

The vast majority of car owners wan't it like that. But for a lot of us "petrol heads" we like a closer contact with the techicians. A small niche I suppose, but I think we appreciate it if these service centers accomodate us.
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Old Jun 4, 2004 | 01:58 AM
  #44  
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I just had the 10k service done at Paradise in Adelaide. Quote was $210 on the phone, quote was $240 when I got there but they had written the correct price down when it was booked in so $210 it was.

The oil charge was for 5L of the Mazda Rotary oil and I was told the remainder was in the car (I forgot to check, so they courier'd it out to me when I found it not there, but it is supposedly meant to be in there usually).

There was a flash upgrade (I'm a Sept 03 build) but of course the service desk dudes didn't know what mod level and the techo had gone home.

All up, sufficiently happy, and many thanks to all you board residents as I wouldn't have thought to check for the surplus oil otherwise!
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Old Jun 11, 2004 | 10:11 AM
  #45  
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Greetings All,
Many thanks for listing the prices paid - I talked to Nick at Sutherland today and mentioned to him that their 10,000km Mazda Service for the RX-8 was the dearest in the country ! He disputed this but I said I have heard from quite a few people and your price is way above any I have seen - even Rockdale (their closest competition)

Nick said that Sydney has higher overheads and higher labour costs than other places especially Queensland and Western Australia so that would explain the extra costs...

When I said that even Rockdale was at least $25 cheaper he suggested that Rockdale used additives with the oil to put in the cars to lower their costs - now I was just about to leave work so I couldn't clarify this point but I am going there next Friday to have the dented door fixed and front door trims replaced so I will clarify that with him.

As it stands my 10,000 service was $250 incl 5 litres of oil and I called the Gosford dealer today (closest to our home) and asked them their 'total cost' for the same service - $225

For my inconvenience taking the car back next Friday for problems they or their suppliers have caused I basically said I wanted travelling money and he offered 10% discount on the next service but if they are STILL more expensive than other nearby dealers that won't help much - I want more :-) He said he would 'look after me' so we shall see how far he is willing to go to keep us getting the car serviced there.

I also want to know if they have the latest (or any) flash upgrade and why it wasn't done on the service.

So watch this space and all will be revealed after next Friday !
Regards
Jeffneil
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Old Jun 11, 2004 | 02:03 PM
  #46  
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Oops - Samone??? Wayndotte, MI ?

Forum gremlins attack yet again!!
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Old Jun 13, 2004 | 12:58 AM
  #47  
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Virus attack! or someone using someone else's account. Don't use cookies in public computers.

After the 10K I think I am still at "F" flash I feel no difference.
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Old Jun 13, 2004 | 09:01 AM
  #48  
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Greetings All,

No this is NOT a case of me using someone else's account - I don't know who this Samone is or why I have been logged in as them when I am Jeffneil (who started this thread incidentally) and always have been - AND I am using the same pc I always use - my own.

Any tips from the boffins ? I can't seem to find a way to log in again as myself - so I am trapped as someone I'm not :-)

Regards
JEFFNEIL
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Old Jun 13, 2004 | 09:09 AM
  #49  
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Delete your cookies. Then close all of your browser windows, then try logging in again.
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Old Jun 13, 2004 | 09:11 AM
  #50  
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Me again,

Well I deleted the cookies and that seemed to delete me from being Samone - then I had to try to post a reply to something to get me to be able to log in as Jeffneiol and all seems well again :-)

Regards
Jeffneil
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