Do dealerships service scam???
 

My 05 has been in for warranty work since Thursday last week for a Very minor leak coming from the seal b/t the engine and tranny. This morning, I spoke with the service mgr, about the 30k service--mainly new plugs, gear and diff fluid.

He called me back and said that he could "call in" the plugs and do the ZOOM ZOOM carbon cleaning as a "warranty" issue, leaving me only to pay for the Diff fluid change and coolant flush/fill.

I guess my question is, has anyone had any experiences with dealerships (Mazda or otherwise) where service such as fluid changes were billed as "performed" but not actually done?

I know it seems so paranoid, but I normally do fluid changes on my own so that I KNOW they've been done--especially with something like the diff where I'd NEVER know if they just said hell with it and didn't even bother. I know it seems like I have no faith in people, but I've had some lousy delaership service departments in the past.

Put a mark/scribe on the diff plug to see if they do it. Also you could take a fluid sample before and after to see if they actually did the service.

Yea, I have done that with other cars in the past, but they had my 8 prior to my giving them to go ahead to perform the services. I guess I should expect my coolant to look and smell brand new, but the diff is another story.

sounds like that person is willing to help you out and actually is up to date on tsb's etc.....now its kind of hard to find a dealership that is willing to work/help on services....i know because im in the service bus. and it becomes more of an obsticle every day because of changing policys yada yada

It's for this reason exactly that I opted to give them the green light for the fluid changes to the tune of $173. I believe it's important to build a rapport with the dealer for in (and possibly out) of warranty repairs that I'd rather not deal with.

BTW, got the car back this morning. No squeaky/clicking clutch pedal. Haven't popped the hood to check the coolant yet. I probably will just "believe" that they chnaged the diff fluid. I actually really like the mgr that I've dealt with.

They didn't wash my car this time.:icon_no2: . No biggie I guess.

You really shouldn't worry about it. It falls into the mechanics lap anyways so its a matter of whether or not that particular mechanic is a honest worker anyways not the dealership in anyway, the service writer simply types out what the mechanic does and he takes over from there. If it was like where I worked then the parts will probably have to give him the fluids from there and unless he is stealing all the fluids they will do the job. Usually there is some stuff left over like coolant in a bottle and the mechanic takes that usually for his side jobs but you should be able to trust them.