kartweb

OK so while I live in Dallas, I'll bet a lot of other folks coast to coast are having the same issues.

Mazda built a really nice car - an exotic - but the dealers have some real ******* working on them. I'm taliking morons that would get fired at a Goodyear tire store inside if a week.

I got a great price on my car. I heard all the BS about what great service they have. Here's an example of their great service;

When I bought the car I pointed out two down through the clearcoat scratches. They said they would repair it. Their idea of a repair was to buff off ALL the clearcoat adjacent to the scratches. I mentioned an airbush and their paint expert asked "whats an airbrush"? This is at one of the top rated (by Mazda) service dealers in Texas.

It gets deeper. I pointed out some gouges on the rotors at the time of sale. They told me they would put on new rotors. (25 miles on the odo). They turned the rotors so next time I need brakes they could sell me rotors. After a little chat with one of the techs it turns out they INSTALLED these rotors on a NEW car after another owner bitched about rotor wear. The factory wouldn't pay for a new set on the first person's car so they simply swapped them with a new car. (Can you say FRAUD?)

Oh thats just the start of it. I took my car in to get these things and a FQI done and they changed the oil. Or should I say, simply added oil. OOP's they forgot to DRAIN the original oil and added 4 quarts. That CRACKED the oil filler tube pastic body under the intake manifold - so now only 30 days later I have a major oil leak.

According to the Service Invoice what kind of oil did they fill it with? Get this - Quaker State SYNTHETIC.

Of course I inquired with the service manager who only got very defensive, right on down to saying Mazda factory prefers synthetic oil in the RX8.

Now I don't mean to brag, but some years ago I was among Mazda's regarded privateer engineers. I have a PhD in Physics from Duke and put Mazda in the winner's circle at Daytona (GTU class) from 84-88. I can't even begin to believe how lousy the service is at Mazda's "top rated service dealer" in Texas is.

I am looking for a decent dealer in Texas to fix the oil leaks CAUSED by these morons, and further have every intention of taking whatever legal action to make that dealer to pay no matter how much it costs me to prove. It's not a Mazda warranty issue, as they hoped to pawn it off on.

Any suggestions?

BTW, if you want to know who this POS dealer is, email me at john@kartweb.com

I am getting ready to buy a CX-7 and I can assure you who it WON'T be from.

CosmosMpower

Ouch, I took my car to the dealership near denton and they're a bunch of morons. I took the car in to get a rattle diagonsed, even told them the general area I was hearing it from. They managed to drive my car THIRTY MILES and use about a quarter tank of gas and told me they heard nothing. If you heard nothing within say the first, 15 miles why would you drive another 15?

If you do find a good service dealer/advisor in the DFW area I'd love to know about it.

toxin440

Freeman Mazda in irving where i bought my 8 from... ive never dealt with their service dept yet but their collision center (Ask for keith) has always been good to me. (after hitting a raccoon, getting backed into, and also for some other minor issues)

Cheers
Jeff

Razz1

Well Kartweb.........

1) Tthere not going to see the scrathes you mention. A dealer doesn't stand around all day eyeballing cars from every angle to find a scratch.

1a) That's standard approach to repair a scratch, even body shops do the same thing.

They are not going to paint a new car for a scratcth in the clear coat.

2) Do some reading and you will find the best oil to use is synthetic.

I would ask what was in it orginally? Maybe it had synthetic oil. ( I doubt it)

ahh....... they changed the oil with 25 miles on the car? the car contains 7 quarts of oil but we can only change 4 quarts. You say they added 4 to the 7 to get 11 quarts of oil? that boggles my mind.

That's hard for me to believe the filler cracked from this. I would think there are alot of other places for oil to go.

You mention a gouge in the rotor.

3 ) A gouge to you is a normal scratch to others. Let's say your correct. WTF They put on used rotors on a new car!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again it is normal proceed to turn the rotors for scratches/gouges.

If your brakes were squeeling and you broght them back, most dealers will turn them and add new pads.

Most of the service you describe is normal for any dealer of any make car.

The Oil part is a problem, but How do you know you had 11 quarts of oil in the car? Did you want them empty itin to a measuring container?

By the way if you really wanted to make a point or get advice why didn't you post this in the section for Texas.

Ah.. Good Luck

Hightshoe

What can you say, its Texas. Would you imagine anything not shaddy happening there?

Curley

English translation, please?

BOB219

I went to buy a RX8 at a Dallas area dealership. Battery was dead on the car for me to drive, so they got the head person in the service department to get a portable battery charger. This person did know anything, inproperly crossed the positive and negative wires, and sparks went flying. I left and did not go back, purchased a RX8 somewhere else.

kartweb

The scratches was pointed out before the sale, and it's not a little scratch. It's a pair of 8" long marks visible from over 30 feet away.

They don't need to paint the car they need to follow the instructions PPG and most other manufacturers of quality paints recommend - and thats to feather the scratch with an airbrush. Personally I don't care what Earl Schieb quality body shops do. Interestingly the Nissan Dealer down the road (wife has a Nissan) quoted me $170 to fix it and they even said it needed to be airbrushed before I mentioned it. Depending on whether I have to take legal actions I'll probably have them do the work.

I don't doubt that at all. Thats not the point. The point is Mazda recommends against synthetic oil. The dealer isn't the one paying the warranty cost, Mazda does.

The car was picked up as new with 25 miles. The service was performed at 2963 miles. Performance was off considerably after picking it up. It wouldn't idle very well - that is it would practically stall with letting the clutch out a little bit. At about 7200 RPM it would stumble along with a huff of blue smoke. It developed an oil leak to a point where pulling off the freeway blue smoke was visble flowing from under the motor - in 10-20 MPH wind. About 2 teaspoons of oil on the floor after sitting in the garage overnight.

I have a 100 mile round trip daily commute and once the oil leak was obvious the oil level was checked. Looked high so I drained some off, about half a quart at a time in a clean plastic tub. After draining it down to normal level (confirmed after driving and checking several times) the volume was measured and stored in a sealed container. I may need it later. The oil was awfully dirty for a couple hundred miles out of a new motor.

After draining out the excess oil the car ran quite a bit better. More idle torque, and not stumble (or blue smoke) at 7200 RPM - thats when the 3rd port "short chmaber" valve opens BTW.

Bottom line is despite the checklist that accompanied the FQI, the oil level had never been checked. No telling how much oil it burned and leaked either, but it was quite a bit. The top of the transmission was coated as was the tunnel and underside of the car. It was pretty clearly an oversight by the mechanic that turned into a bad situation.

If you consider a depression .05" deep .85" wide a "scratch" by all means don't drive behind me at any time.

Again, I wasn't buying a used car, nor did it have a used price tag. In most states, Texas included, putting used parts on a new car and selling them as new constitutes fraud.

I probably could have dealt with the scratches. Regarding the rotors they were clearly defective (and pointed out) at the time of sale with a condition of replacement.

But the damages caused by the overfilled oil were over the line, especially after they chose to evade their previously agreed to responsibilities. Further, the Service Manager made no attempt what so ever to try to resolve the problems. This coming from a dealer who "prides themself" on being awarded the best service outlet in Texas. You asked why I posted on a national forum, in part to gauge if this is normal.

I went through a similar experience with an Audi about 20 years ago where the dealer service botched the AWD system operation along with tearing the leather seats and buffing through the pearl paint ($3000 option). After several attempts to get the things corrected by the responsible parties I hired a Failure Analyst and a lawyer. The evidence presented by the FA made the case open & shut. I was awarded over $80,000 for a $30,000 car. The outcome of the suit was in the news and had a huge impact on the business for over a year. The best part was there seemed to be a noticable effort on behalf of other dealers to clean uop their act as well.

It's not my intent to make a pile of cash from the dealer. All I really want is what they agreed to deliver and further to correct the problem they created. But if the level of mediocrity is this severe, maybe it's time for a wake up call.

Hightshoe

Thats perfect english.
thats exactly what i was talking about.

puch96

Last time I checked that was english.....

Raptor75

Welcome the the wonderful world of poor Mazda service, wait till they start telling you problems with the car are your fualt or normal.

Who needs customer service we have a "Zoom, zoom" ad campaign.