You must be new to the internet forum world. Adults, children, teenagers, seniors, are all opinionated. A story like this leaves room for criticism because it only tells one side, and it shows attitude and natural bias towards a dealer, without them being able to defend themselves. I'm sure they wanted to throw you out window by the time that all ended. Like I said before, don't try and prove yourself to people. And of course. RULE #1. THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. IF THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG, PLEASE REFER BACK TO RULE #1.

 

I want to know how you pulled that one off. I drove 150 miles from where I live in Alabama to Stone Mountain Mazda after they had quoted me $400 under invoice for a MT RX8 GT package. When I got there, there was a $499 "processing fee" and they weren't going to give me much at all for my trade. Maybe I just talked to the wrong salesman or something, but needless to say, I didn't get to buy an 8, and I am badly wanting one. I'm hoping that maybe Chevy will take the rebates off and I will be able to get something for my trade. Until then I'm stuck with an SUV when I really want the 8.

 

For the most part, you are. Unfortunately there are others that have to be dealt with too, this being a public forum and all...

 

He expected people to look at one side of story, and not consider anything else. Now he knows that's not how life works, let alone a public forum.

 

A tangent that I don't see mentioned yet - dealerships have two sides - sales, and service. You obviously weren't going to be returning to that dealer ever for service, right? I don't know whether that affected their treatment of your transaction, however - where were you going to take your new RX-8 for service? The flash is a service issue, it didn't have to be a sales issue. If you've read up on the RX-8 here, and know of the flash issues, then you probably know of MSP-04 which says that all 8s should be checked for the M flash, and it should be applied if not. No debate about needing it, it simply gets done. So, IF you had taken delivery of that 8, with or without the M flash (since they wouldn't confirm it for you), you just needed to get it checked at your first service appointment at the dealer you intend to service the car. Not really that big a deal...

Regards,
Gordon

 

If you'll notice, the service bulletin also states that all dealer INVENTORY is supposed to be re-flashed. They did not provide adequate verification that the re-flash had been performed. No reason for me to accept a car below Mazda Standards.

 

Gee, Dad, thanks for the life lesson.

 

Obviously, they should have done it. BUT - the reason for you to accept a car "below Mazda Standards" would be to get a better purchase price than you could have found closer to home, then simply have the flash done by your local service department at your first service visit - no cost, no inconvenience. I still fail to see how that flash was a show-stopper. Yes, you established that the service department at THAT dealer was crappy and useless - again, so what? You were never going to go to that dealer for service, so I'd be trying to keep my car OUT of their service department, rather than insisting that it go back in...

Regards,
Gordon

 

PS3380: It really helps to have leverage before you go to the dealer. When I went to Stone Mountain, I had already visited Jim Ellis, Sandy Springs, and CarMax. CarMax was (and still is, as far as I know) offering an 8 w/ Touring pkg, rear spoiler, and less than 2,000 miles for $25.9k. The problem was it was in Green, not in the Titanium Grey I wanted.

When I visited Stone Mountain, I told them I would love to do business with them but that they probably could not beat the numbers I was about to throw at them. I also said that if they could not match the price, no hard feelings, but I can overlook the Green in order to save $5000 dollars. The Sales Manager immediately gave me a competitive offer on a brand new Ti Grey w/ the same options. With the Touring pkg, rear spoiler, AND GA's only 100k mile powertrain warranty, they eventually sold me at $26,500. I had a Chevy SUV w/ over 105k miles on it, and I was able to trade it in for $3,600 ($5,000 appraised online). That, along with all the rebates, brought it down to $23,000 and change. Not a bad deal, eh?

No salesman or dealership is perfect in their interactions, but for the most part, the guys there have been attentive. PM me and I can send you names of persons I have dealt with there.

Mark

 

No problem son. Hope you can learn from your experience. Sorry I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear.

 

I've been following this thread, since I pick up my own RX-8 tomorrow, but if they hadn't told you about the damage up front, would you have even noticed after they repaired it and had the car ready for delivery for you?

Not meant at all to be disrespectful (and I suspect that I'd be in your state of mind if I knew that my car was damaged up front), but I just throw this out as food for thought and for you (and maybe all of us) to question whether we're stressing out way too much about this.

 

Valpac: Just as a sidenote, if you want to see what dealers have whatever car you're looking for, check out http://www.gacardealers.com/carfinder.htm . You can enter all the details you want, and if anyone in GA has your particular car in their inventory, they'll e-mail you. Hope this eventually helps you find what you're looking for.