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formermazdaguy
03-12-2010, 12:42 PM
I am a former Mazda service advisor,and I have been reading the posts made on the various issues raised here. I am presently the Service Manager for another Japanese product, and would like to offer a perspective on what I have read.

1. Cutting a hole in the splash shield to facilitate changing the oil is just plain wrong. Mazda Canada is aware of the dealer who is doing most of the damage, and other dealers have been instructed to replace the shields. If you have had this happen at the dealer in question, speak to the Service Manager. If the manager does not replace the cover, this particular dealer's owner is always there. Talk to him. The mechanics in question here are perhaps the 2 worst technicians I have ever seen in all my years of being in the car business, and they more often than not do this as they do not want to remove the shield.

2. Tires leaking/poor wiper blades. -- Did the person posting not read their warranty manual ? Tires are not covered by the manufacturers warranty. Wiper blades are considered to be consumable items, and not covered as well. Before you go accusing the dealer of not performing repairs under warranty, you should know wether or not it is an actual warrantable issue.

3. Poor attitude at the service counter. -- you are not obligated to return to dealer where you bought your car for anything. You can do your service out of the network, just keep your receipts. Service bulletins you may know about may not apply to your particular circumstance. The bulletins that are posted on the internet ( in my experience ) are usually from Mazda of North America - they do not pertain to Canadian cars. Each country is responsible for their own bulletins,TSB's and recalls/updates. Ask the advisor to check your VIN rather than go in and suggest that you know before the car is diagnosed. The attitude may suprise you.

4. Rust repairs do not have to be done at the dealer you bought the from, anymore that an actual warranty/recall repair has to be done by them. All dealers are able to perform warranty. Any warranty repair that you asked to pay for is usually when the dealer has asked for goodwill - they have to contribute to the cost of the repair, as usually they only get the warranty parts required at cost. No dealer is allowed to ask for payment for any regular repair - this applies to 3/80, or 5/100, or emissions.

Your service experience is as good as the dealer you choose to perform it at - try to get the one that will listen to you - if you find the advisor is a jerk, go tothe manager - it is in his interest to listen to you. Customers are the reason we all still have jobs, and any service department cannot afford to anger their clientel anymore. I don't care which manufacturer you represent.

SKYMP3
03-12-2010, 06:19 PM
For #4, my car has extended rustproof warranty and I was told that I need to go back to dealer and have it inspected every 2 years to keep the warranty valid. The car was leased at Mazda of Mississauga which is now Direct Mazda, but my main dealersip is Ontario Mazda because that's where I did the lease transfer with the original leasee.

I tried to ask Direct mazda to do the inspection instead of Ontario Mazda and they told me they will chage me XX$ (don't remember the amount), or I have to go back to my main dealership for that. Therefore, Direct Mazda is BS on me and they shouldn't charge me for inspection for rustproof???

QEWmazdaPrez
03-13-2010, 03:23 PM
For #4, my car has extended rustproof warranty and I was told that I need to go back to dealer and have it inspected every 2 years to keep the warranty valid. The car was leased at Mazda of Mississauga which is now Direct Mazda, but my main dealersip is Ontario Mazda because that's where I did the lease transfer with the original leasee.

I tried to ask Direct mazda to do the inspection instead of Ontario Mazda and they told me they will chage me XX$ (don't remember the amount), or I have to go back to my main dealership for that. Therefore, Direct Mazda is BS on me and they shouldn't charge me for inspection for rustproof???

This thread seems to be a bit off-topic, but since formermazdaguy was providing some insight, I thought I'd add to the clarifications :)

I am guessing that the extended "rustproofing warranty" that you purchased, was done by a third party, not by Mazda of Canada. The selling dealership would have made money on this and wants you coming back to their dealership. If you take your car to a different dealership to do the inspection, they are going to incur charges for their technicians to examine the vehicle, for a warranty they didn't even sell. At Oakville/QEW Mazda, if it was a regular customer, we may waive the inspection (if we were permitted to do it for the warranty company). If some other dealership charges, then that's pretty average.

Hope that helps to clear things up.

Notes about rustproofing:
Some selling dealers charge you for inspections, so ask BEFORE you buy!
Electronic corrosion modules typically don't require inspections, and are transferable to your next vehicle
If you miss even 1 inspection from a "valid" dealer, you may void the warranty
Ask if the warranty is transferable to a new owner

formermazdaguy
03-14-2010, 10:20 AM
My point was, that any rust repair covered under the factory warranty - not the added rust sold by dealers, is able to be done at any dealer. The key is that the rust must be from the outside in - surface rust is a different matter all together.

Bai
03-17-2010, 11:16 PM
1. Cutting a hole in the splash shield to facilitate changing the oil is just plain wrong. Mazda Canada is aware of the dealer who is doing most of the damage, and other dealers have been instructed to replace the shields. If you have had this happen at the dealer in question, speak to the Service Manager. If the manager does not replace the cover, this particular dealer's owner is always there. Talk to him. The mechanics in question here are perhaps the 2 worst technicians I have ever seen in all my years of being in the car business, and they more often than not do this as they do not want to remove the shield.


For this shield, I doubt there is a dealer would remove this shield when they do an oil change, I noticed them they just remove some portion of clips/screws and bend the plastic shield to access the drain plug, that's why the plastic shield is sag when they fasten it back and have a premature crack.