CosmosMpower

I'm lazy and have finally gotten around to bringing my car in to get the engine recall done. Where did everyone in the Dallas area bring their car to get it done and did they treat you right? Also how long did it take and was there a long wait?

I'm thinking about either taking it to Town North in Richardson. I had a bad experience with them last time but their "customer relations" lady smoothed it out in the end. Or, I was thinking about taking it to the dealership in Denton since it's closer and they fixed my sunvisor and adjusted my headlights well last time.

Coop '04

Town North is most likely the answer you will get. They are good, don't know about your bad experience but most have found them to be very helpful and easy to work with. Also very reasonable with warranty claims when it comes to judgement calls.

chr1s

I took mine to Hiley in hurst. They've been good to me in the past, but this time they weren't that great.

You can read about Toxin's saga in the RX-Discussion forum. He was IM'ing during the course of the day, it was kinda funny to see him get more pissed off as time went on. :o

CosmosMpower

Just called Classic Mazda in Denton. They actually don't have a wait list right now, and I'm bringing my car in tomorrow. They said it's about a 24 hr turnaround time and they haven't come across any cars that needed a new motor yet. Also they don't give you a crappy enterprise car, just a Mazda 6 or something off their lot.

Town north seems to be backed up till november which is crazy. As far as my bad experience it was more or less with an idiot service advisor. He told me my car would be ready and then halfway through the day told me his tech had to leave early to go to his kid's soccer game and couldn't finish my car. I live about 35 mins away and I was supposed to be in Richardson to play some basketball that night and pick up my car. I ended up bitching out that advisor when he tried to argue with me so I took it up to the customer satisfaction manager and she made someone fix my car in time like they promised before.

toxin440

i should have surfed for **** right there on their computers with internet on the showroom floor... might have made them hurry up some :-p

CosmosMpower

I heard about that whole episode first hand, I can't blame him one bit though. I'm gonna make sure my car has 1 gallon of fuel left and it's filthy dirty from the rain the other day.

94medition

Not sure where to take my 8 for the recall here. Please share your experience with the dealer you have the recall done (or other previous experience)
Eldorado is very close to my work place. They were okay for oil change, but heard some not so positive comments here. Had the brake pad recall done at Town North. Pretty happy with them (even though they did do anything with my very slightly rough idle). Other options are Classic (Denton) and Freeman (Irving). Never deal with them before. Other dealers are over 30 miles away, probably won't consider unless I really have to.
CosmosMpower, please share your experience with Classic.
I would love to have a CX-7 as a loaner. I am trying to get my wife buy into that.

CosmosMpower

Just confirmed my appt tomorrow with Classic and they don't have any CX-7's. In fact all their Mazdas are out right now since they are doing a lot of RX8 recalls. They said they'll just get me something at enterprise, oh well it's only a day.

If you call classic do not use Bobby for a service advisor, the guy is an idiot and he talks like a hillbillly. Will is pretty good though, I'm meeting him first thing in the morning, he took care of my sunvisor/misaligned headlights that town north screwed up without any hassles.

bluesunlion

DO NOT use Eldorado. They couldn't find their *** with both hands, and managed to screw up my miata royally.

94medition

Blue, I remember you had problem with Eldorado on your Miata. How did they screw things up?

Looking at Mazda's website, Town North, Freeman and Hiley Arlington are "Mazda Gold Club" and Town North and Freeman are also "President's Club" dealers. Do these certification really mean something?

CosmosMpower

Well I dropped my 8 off this morning and as of 330 pm no one has even touched it yet so I doubt I'll get it back tomorrow but we'll see. They gave me a Jeep Grand Cherokee rental car from enterprise (it's all they had left) and I saw 7 other RX8's back in the service parking lot, not sure if they were all done yet or not.

JTtheDude

I took mine to Town North a few weeks ago, they weren't able to touch it the first day but got mine done the next day. I had a Tribute for a rental, maybe just me but I didn't like it at all. I was really happy to get the 8 back.

PimpinAintEazy

I got my service/recall appt this Monday - TOWN NORTH - Penny is super sweet, and I have typically had very good experiences with them. Been going there since Apr 2004 when I purchased the car brand new... Has anyone actually had to get the engine swapped out yet? Im curious as to what the recall results have been....

94medition

I've heard that Town North's appointment for the recall is backed until Nov. Is that really true?
JTtheDude, what did they replaced in your 8?

JTtheDude

They replaced spark plug wires and put the latest flash on it

CosmosMpower

Oh yeah when you guys go bring the printout PDF letters that are provided in the tech section thread about the recall. It states the free tank of gas and car wash, my dealer didn't even know about the gas until I showed him the printout.

I hope I get my car back tomorrow, this jeep is like driving a land yacht but it gets better gas mileage than my RX8

aggietiff28

I had a bad experience with Hiley Mazda of Arlington as of late. Although they did "fix" all the issues mentioned, but did not go over and above to win my service back as of yet. I requested a full tank of gas and a full interior detailing for my troubles (in addition to fixing everything that they tech had screwed up). In reply, they got rid of the grease on my headliner (did not detail the interior) and filled up the tank for me. What I found out later was that they also did the recall on my car while it was there and they are supposed to fill up the tank anyway.

I only have one person there that I will deal with and I am still debating whether or not it is even worth it to continue going to her, but if you decide to go there...ask for Chantell Procell. She is awesome, and the only one there that I will trust. All of my problems ocurred when I left my car with a different service advisor because she was not there and I had NEVER had a problem with them in the past.

Sorry guys...I took out the link to the pictures because I just hate to badmouth my service peeps that bad. All in all they have been great...this was just one REALLY bad visit.

Raptor2k

That's weird Tiff. I've always seen either Chantell or Don and they always give great service - quick, full tank of gas, usually no questions asked, no miles put on the car, replacing plugs/battery without me having to tell them, replaced tail light/visor/ac **** in a snap, engine recall only took an afternoon. The only thing they couldn't figure out was my marble noise at 7300 rpms, which I've learned to live with.

Maybe you just had bad luck with whatever was going on that particular day? She's there most of the time.

aggietiff28

I left my car with Don that weekend and was not impressed. I really like Chantell and like I said...I had never had any problems before...in fact I drove further from hom to get to them because they had been so good to me in the past. I am hoping that it was just one isolated incident, but it still kinda ticked me off that they did not go "above and beyond" to maintain my business when I took it back. Especially after I paid for the oil change that they overfilled (I didn't even get offered a free oil change for later, although they did change the oil again when I brought it back in just in case) and I had to drive back to them, rearrange my schedule to accommodate, was late for work when my car was supposed to be ready, etc. Right now I have mixed feelings about my experience. Hopefully they fired the tech that worked on my car (he is not allowed to touch my car again) and we can move on from it.

I trust Chantell and it is important to me to have a service advisor that I trust...especially one that knows her RX8s (as she drives one also). I am currently waiting for one of the brown/black shift **** that Chantell ordered for me (which is for the auto and will need some added parts to be put in). I think that is above and beyond what she is required to do and I am thankful for that after my experience. I think more than anything I was just "hurt." It sucks to trust a place and have that trust slammed all in one visit. It will take awhile to win my trust back, but they are getting there.

94medition

CosmosMpower, how did your recall work go? Anybody else can share his/her experience?

CosmosMpower

It went decent overall, ended up taking exactly two days. They gave me a Jeep Grand Cherokee rental from across the street. When I went in they didn't know about the free gas/wash yet so I brought in all the documentation and they told me they'd do it.

I got my car back reasonably clean, full of gas (i suspect they put 87 in since it felt quite a bit slower). They said they checked everything but didn't have the paperwork ready for me so they said they would put it in the mail. The only thing I know for sure is that I DIDNT get new plugs since I bought my car new in April and they reflashed my PCM to T flash. Car runs about the same, with a tank of fresh 93 yesterday it felt pretty good.

CosmosMpower

BTW did you sell your miata a while ago? I called a guy selling a miata in DFW a while back and he mentioned he had a grey RX8 as well. I guess it was sold before I got to take a look at the car.

94medition

Ah, it was you. I did leave you a voicemail back after the sale was final that Friday night. I sold the miata to the guy who contacted me first. He is an autocrosser. I miss my miata but I think it found a good home.

CosmosMpower

No problem, the miata was for my brother since he was looking for a first car but he ended up getting my dad's Acura CL Type S and my dad bought an 06 S2000 so it turned out better this way.

jd pilot

I've been kind of lazy about this too...I'll be taking mine at the end of the month though due to my schedule. Has anyone had any serious issues?

I've always gone to Freeman off 183. Good folks, and they take care of me there.