Security Breach
Leaked telecast between Mazda reps and dealers causes an uproar

By BRADFORD WERNLE | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

AutoWeek | Published 08/14/06, 7:54 am et

Dealers Randy Hiley and Robert DeVaux thought the video Webcast they filmed July 13 was for U.S. Mazda dealers' eyes and ears only.

Wrong. The private telecast, in which they discussed customer complaints about the RX-8 sports car, was pirated and broadcast on the Internet.

The embarrassing episode shows how quickly private information can move in the Internet age. Now, the carmaker and its dealer council are rethinking the way they will communicate with dealers.

"It was proprietary information, but I guess nothing is proprietary anymore," says Hiley, chairman of Mazda's dealer advisory council and owner of Hiley Mazda in Arlington, Texas.

The episode started when Hiley and DeVaux met after the July 11-13 National Dealer Advisory Council meetings in Newport Beach, Calif. The two council reps made a routine video Webcast to update dealers about the meeting.

Among other news items, Hiley and DeVaux reported to dealers that Mazda was going to respond to concerns some dealers had raised about the RX-8. The dealers said issues with the car - including service bulletins on trouble spots such as squeaky brakes and engine flooding - were unfairly lowering their Mazda customer-satisfaction scores.

Enthusiasts complain

In the Webcast, Hiley and DeVaux told dealers: "Mazda is well-aware of the negative impact on the scores caused by the RX-8 surveys. They agreed with us that the situation had to be changed. And so, effective July 1st, RX-8 will be continued to be included in the survey, but the scores will no longer be included in the results."

Little did Hiley and DeVaux know someone would copy the video and leak it to a Mazda RX-8 enthusiast Web site, rx8club.com. The story took on a life of its own on the RX-8 owner site and on autoblog.com, an auto enthusiast site.

Some unhappy RX-8 owners took the dealers' Webcast comments as evidence that Mazda and the dealers were unwilling to repair their cars swiftly and thoroughly.

Autoblog.com asked the question: "Why would RX-8 owners be surveyed if those survey results were not a factor for the dealer in the end? And more importantly, what incentive would dealers have to give RX-8 owners good customer service if these surveys weren't being counted?"

Mazda tried to reassure owners with a press release.

"That video is only one portion of the story behind our survey," Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes wrote to members of the Mazda RX-8 forum, the enthusiast group to whom the video was circulated.

"Mazda's goal is to ensure that our dealers provide all customers, regardless of the vehicle they own, with the highest level of service and customer satisfaction. To assume, after viewing a video posted on the Internet, that Mazda would do anything to compromise this is simply and unequivocally wrong."

Like other manufacturers, Mazda conducts customer surveys to learn how dealers treat customers. Low scores can mean dealers might not be eligible for certain programs the factory offers customers.

Better security needed

Now the carmaker and its dealer council are looking at new ways to communicate with dealers.

Said Hiley: "With technology the way it is, it doesn't matter if it's video or e-mail correspondence. Obviously, somebody can get that information somehow. What it tells you is we have to find another medium to communicate with our dealer body that has some security to it."

The story has an ironic twist. After the broadcast, J.D. Power and Associates issued customer-satisfaction scores that showed the RX-8 was Mazda's highest-scoring model.

"Those people love their cars," says DeVaux. "The few dealers who sort of put this on the table may have been overreacting."

Mazda plans to review whether it even needs to keep the RX-8 numbers out of the scores.

Says Mike Ray, Mazda director of customer satisfaction and loyalty: "This was a short-term proposal. We will look at it monthly." ""