It's either two things.

mazda dealerships have too much leeway in determining problems and blatantly ignoring some problems.

or

Mazda refuses to reimburse dealers fairly and accurately and the dealers don't want to get screwed either on questionably defective parts or on labor to install replace or test fairly.

 

I tend to to believe the 2nd option. I have heard many times dealers reported as saying Mazda would not pay for diagnostics out side of the obvious (computer reported issues). This is just my observation and may or may not be correct.

I do believe it is ultimately Mazda Corp. that dictates and enforces the level of service or lack there of we experience. I don't think Lexus became great because all the dealers said "lets give real good service."

 

<LOL>

Uninformed Reps really *P* me off. I went to my dealer this weekend to pick up a couple quarts of oil. Having a smoke outside I talked to a sales rep about Mazdaspeed versions and how I hope an MS 8 comes out soon.

He says there'll definitely be an MS 8 with FI running 30 lbs boost. Sheesh...where do these guys get their info from... You'd expect them to have a least a basic understanding of cars. 30 PSI = BOOM !!!

Chris...

 

Oh.. and dont forget how most dont do a quick TsB check on a issue you have grrr... I still need to get my printer hooked up to print a TsB up to show my Service Dept on a lil door sill rust issue I'm having (never mind the fact they still havent fixed the paint to my liking!!).

Overall they just need to adopt my lil policy of handling customers at my retail job "Shut them up and make them happy!". If I have to give a customer a item for free I do it.. if I have to shave off a few dollars to make them happy I will. If people talk good things about you more people will goto you..and if people talk bad about you they will avoid you like the plague. That and its true, people who talk about the bad do so twice if not three times as much as those who talk about the good. And with the Car market as competitive as it is now.. yeah less bad talk is best. So far thankfully my Service dept has been 50/50 so people have been hearing both good and bad.

 

Well on the brightside they have subaru beat

 

Huh?

Only in sales experience which I would call the least important. Nissan is also below them and my experience with both these companies has been superior to Mazda's.

 

My particular dealership has been wonderful with everything I have had done. Sales went great. All the service has been great. My mom has owned nothing but Mazda since 1988. My dad started out with a 1984 Mazda truck of some kind or another (I was only 3 so I don't remember). The original dealership they started out with was great. That one stopped selling Mazda so they ended up with a different one for future purchases and services and they did a pretty good job. That one was sold to a large chain and stopped selling Mazda also. We have since been using Ron Tonkin and they have been so great about everything, especially the service department. When I had a slight "inconvenience" with confusion about whether I actually needed an appointment or not they waived the fee for programming what I needed done in there, as well as giving me a discount on what I had ordered. The have called my mom in the past with her previous vehicle to ask how her service was and if her problem was fixed. I don't know how many do that!!

Now, my mom's new vehicle came from a different dealership that must be staffed by incompetent chimps. The sales people were morons. The service department, I swear, is worse, if that is even possible. They send out information for the wrong vehicle. They even sent her home with extra an key for another vehicle still on their lot!!! They couldn't manage to program a key fob correctly, after two tries so we just gave up for now. They couldn't seem to get the information on the LoJack that was already installed on the vehicle correct. They had the wrong vehicle attached to the serial numbers and a whole bunch of other BS. If other dealerships are like this one, then I can see why there are so many complaints. However, if they are like the one I go to, I can't see what the problem is.

 

The links aren't working for me so I'm just going to spout my opinion without seeing any of the numbers

I think one of the biggest problems is often carmakers like Subaru and Mazda are a small part of a dealership. I bought my WRX from a, get this, Honda/Nissan/Hyundai/Oldsmobile/ Nissan dealership. Now what do you think the rookie salemen end up selling, what brands do you think get the most focus and make them the most money?

Every good car dealership I've dealt with had a focus. The good Subaru dealerships only have one other type of car on the lot. My Mitsubishi dealership, which only sells Mitsubishi, is amazing. The sales manager, owner, parts manager, one others sales guy, and two techs all own and drive Evos. Whe companies like Subaru and Mazda let some dealership with a few other brands represent them it does nothing but hurt the reputation of that brand.

Lastly, Subaru used to have the highest retention in the auto industry. When these links work I'll be shocked if Subaru is still at the top. Now that they have more of a performance focus they have a lot of people modding and driving the snot out of their cars and then getting a "screw Subaru" attitude something breaks or they get denied for warranty work. It's the American way, why take responsibility for something when you can blame someone else.

 

i just bought my fifth Mazda... RX-7, NA Miata, NB Miata, RX-8, now Mazda6. I love the cars, but hate some of the dealers. I really wonder what is causing those dismal retention numbers -- I would suspect a lot of it is the treatment people get from sales and service and not the quality of the cars themselves.

After giving all five of the closest dealerships to me a shot, there are only two I trust to work on my cars. I realize that by being in So CA I'm lucky enough to actually have a choice as to which dealer I use; owners in less-densely-populated parts of the country are stuck with having only one dealer close enough to be practical.

 

Happy with my 8. Would definitely buy another 8 or another Mazda rotary powered car again without hesitation.

Totally dissatisfied with my dealership. It's just the incompetence that really bothers me. But they are a very new Mazda dealership so I guess that accounts for most of it.

 

i love my car but the service i get from mazda is garbage, they really treat you like S!@#, for that reason i keep thinking i should get rid of my car, but the ride is so sweet when it works that i reset my anger and go back to cool.

P.S. i truly would never buy another mazda, same thing with honda, so far im thinkin that on japanese cars TOyota is the way to go, and i dont like thinking that way beacuse it will mean my father was right.

 

Outta curiousity, which are the 2 you trust?

I can already say I flat out HATE the Alhambra dealer and I'm growing to hate the Tustin one.

 

i think i put a contact adress for mazda earlier in this thread. find it and instead of "c/o Jim OSullivan" send a letter in c/o Brian Colianni. Those of you who are having bad experiences should make sure you are heard. Give your name and the dealership and th eproblems you have had. Be proffesional and Accurate. The only way to get things changed is to make sure people hear you.

you could also email mazdavisistors@mazdausa.com and ask them to forward your email to him

 

LOL I work at a chevy/ponti dealership. Cant be that high

 

As someone who has worked in the research field, I tend not to trust most surveys. They may be quantitatively correct and these are, but are flawed in assuming that expectations of a mazda demographic are identical to a Subaru demographic or a Lexus demographic, etc. You can't compare results accurately when a baseline isn't set.

Anyhoo, I THINK Mazda service and sales do suck, but like most consumers, the car sold me. My salesperson thought the 8 was a front driver for Christ's sake

I also go to BMW, and get treated like gold. Nice. But I would never buy a car because of dealer sales quality or service.

After 2 Mazda's (Miata and the 8), best cars I ever owned...so far!

 

That happened to me as well... i corrected him. i was like.. no.. it doesnt.. the gt has more options.. like.. leather seats, this guy was like.. oh.. yeah, thats right my mistake you are right... he then told me It was a 5 speed.. i was like.. err... you mean 6? hes like.. oh... oh yeah yeah.. thats right

He was a Temp Sales man, i delt with the owner of mazda.. (Mr. Dubois) he owns a blue rx8, very nice guy, very knowledgeable, so he helped me out quite a bit

 

Well, the whole thing is, BMWs and the luxury cars are usually very nice cars, just on the expensive side. The question is is the better service worth the extra cost? Or on the flip side is can i put up with the shitty service for a great car at a good price?

The other thing is, people will expect better service from Lexus, BMW, Infiniti, Mercedes, etc because they're luxury brands. They don't expect the red carpet with the non luxury brands. So it's quite impressive that Lexus still scores so highly even though the customers expect far better service than they do for say Mazda.

 

I was in a dealership a few weeks back for an entire morning. While I sat waiting in the showroom I never saw one salesman, not one. I also witnessed around 10 different customers walk in and walk around the showroom aimlessly before leaving. Finally, the receptionist actually just started taking people on test drives because she couldn't find a salesman. It was a complete joke.

I was talking to one guy because he was looking at the Miata or Solstice for his wife. He stood and talked with me for a few minutes before finally getting frustrated from the lack of service and left. Also, I wrote this in another thread but a few people came to look at the Mazda6, and then were drawn to the RX-8 but didn't know what it was.

On the reverse, though, I went to a Porsche dealership with my old man about two years ago. It was on a Saturday so he wasn't in his suit, but because he was looking at cars he wore his Rolex anyway. They completely blew him off and though there were lots of salesman none seemed interested in talking to him. So he bought a BMW instead.

 

My #1 choice is West Covina Mazda. #2 is Tustin, but I haven't used them nearly as much as West Covina. I cannot recommend Claremont, Puente Hills, or Orange (what used to be Anaheim) Mazda.

 

Yes, they expect far better service, but they get it 'cause they PAID for it, and "free" maintenance programs go a long way too, especially considering that most Lexus buyers don't even consider that they PAID for it in the purchase price. So again, this kind of comparo will always be dumb.

Last time I was at BMW I got classical music in the john, cappuccino and biscotti in the waiting room, and Money magazine to read. Last time at Mazda, there was **** on the toilet seats, stale coffee with whitener, and day old papers. Still sucks, but I wasn’t too peeved because I didn’t pay a premium for my 8, whereas the BMW (motorcycle) was nearly twice as expensive as comparable bikes.

 

I like the car.

I like my dealership.

Based on my experiences, I'll buy Mazda again.

 

That meant Mazda is on top of Subaru according to the list. I will try to spell it out better next time.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/carrev...ity/index.html

 

I will not go back to the dealer we bought our 8 from. Every time they touched my car they messed something up. Complete incompitance!

I get all my service/warranty work done at another dealer that sells nothing but Mazda.
They do sell Volkswagen but the dealer is split (2 buildings)
Mazda service in one building, VW in the other building.
They give me the "Royal Treatment". I answer all the survey letters with the "superior" box checked. They have a customer satisfaction rep call me whenever they do something to my car and ask "how the service went" The girl that calls me is the same each time and she is very nice and curtious. I give the same answer every time ,,,"Excellent" she is very nice and seems to care as to how I was treated and how the service went and did they fix it right ,any problems? Do you have any suggestions on anything done or we can improve ?
My service writer calls me by name when I come in for something.
The service manager calls me by name,when do you get that?
They comp'ed me 2 oil changes due to me having to wait an extra half hour one day.
They have never argued about a problem not being "warranty"
They installed two new black rubber strips under the rockers because they were kinda drooping down a bit. Warranty. No arguement.
When I drive in it's ,,"May I have the Key"
Will you expalin in detail the problem,or show me,or take a Tech for a drive.
"Hertz is on their way to pick you up. Here is the voucher ,,we will take care of it.
Thanks, we'll call with an update tomorrow.

It is the way that I am treated that makes me want to do business with that dealership.
They truely care about the customer. ME !
The other dealer we bought the car from treated us like crap.

This is how all dealerships should be treating their customers.
This is "SERVICE".
If they all did this maybe Mazda would get a better rating.

BERGE MAZDA in Gilbert, Az. I will give them a FIVE STAR RATING

 

My personal experience has varied between dealers. I wouldn't purchase from the initial dealer I went to. The salesmen creeped me out (pushy, arrogant) and kept trying to tell me it was stupid to put a lot of money down on the car. Added with the fact that they did not have the Skinka, I went elsewhere.

Now, the dealer I purchased from was completely different. Polite and knowledgeable staff. Heck, the salesmen came out to meet me as I was getting out of my car (like I had an appointment or something). They basically fell all over themselves to sale me that Shinka (even when the car had sold itself).