presequel

Has anyone dealt with their service dept before? On the mazda site it says they're the tops, full circle and all that junk that looks nice on paper, just wondering if they actually live up to it? Has anyone had any mazdaspeed stuff installed/purchased there?

late8

Go to the Good guys/Bad guys section on the forum and there are threads that deal with your issues.

presequel

oh, i thought that was only for buying/selling experiences.

DynamicDookie

iTrader: (3)

Galpin sucks in general. Never took my car there but the last time my dad took his truck in. They replaced his power window switch and wired it backwards.

If you're handy, you're better off installing the MS body stuff yourself. There are lots of steps where I'm positive they'll rush or skip all together. Mechanical stuff....

Galpin has/had a red MS rx-8 with white stripes and the body had gaps galor. Not to mention the fact that they will charge you a lot.

yellowRX

They wash your car and they're very friendly. If you want to get work done from them, at the most I would only let them change my oil.

presequel

Hmm, well I have to take my car in for service. Thats 4 miles from my house, next closest is about 16 miles in Thousand Oaks, after that its Valencia which is about 26 miles....and after that I dont know O_O.

I was thinking of getting it serviced and maybe buying some mazdaspeed stuff to just get installed there. Gonna see if they price matched rosenthal mazda or not. If not I guess i'll have to try Thousand Oaks, but thats a bit out of the way. But if Galpin sucks then I guess I should just avoid em.

presequel

oh god pimp my ride is using galpin auto sports? is that in the mazda dealership or close by?

tiltmode43

iTrader: (15)

Still have the red w/stripes. My experiences have been great. The Service Manager owns an 8 with a few non-mazda mods on it and he gave me some suggestions on stuff to do to my car. When I brought my car in last they replaced a bunch of stuff no charge no questions. Also, because Galpin is so large, they can give you high $$ on trade-ins. I got $1000 above kbb on a Ford Explorer along with a great price on my car. And they will match prices - or at least thats what they told me.

Don't know about a MS install though - try stepping by and talking to the srvc dept.

avakiannl

iTrader: (1)

I used to live near Galpin. Great Service, always had a loaner ready to go when warranty service. Washed car, ready on time. All good. Ask for Sam.

Now I live in Glendale. Been to Star Mazda three times, service sucks. Not going back. Going to make the drive to Galpin from now on.

GT-rex

I've tried twice to schedule a service appointment at Star and they haven't called back either time. So I can already easily believe their service isn't great. I've already gone two extra weeks without an oil change because I can't even manage to get an appointment!

I've heard bad things about Galpin, including from another friend that's an 8 owner, but they're my next closest dealer. Trying to charge a fee to diagnose a CEL under warranty? Ummm...no! That's total garbage if they tried to do that. Next closest is Alhambra, but that's not really close at all either.

So far, the service end of my purchase has been seriously sucking, but at the same time, I'm at least happy that I haven't had major cause for service visits. If I really needed more service than regular maintenance, I would be even more upset. It appears Santa Monica Mazda closed down and at least that one was convenient in terms of location. Now having to venture across the city for bad service is a lot more upsetting. At this point, I'm highly tempted to go ahead and do all maintence myself because it seems most dealers' level of record keeping and thoroughness is quite lacking.

Unfortunately, that's one thing I didn't totally factor in when buying my car. My theory... For awhile Mazda made few cars that hardly anyone cared about or bought, but then they came with an explosion of desirable product. Unfortunately, their dealers still seem to lagging and offering service at the level of the "who gives a crap, no one buys these" days of Mazda. If you're going to try to charge me exhorbant prices for cheap and/or unnecessary service, how about trying to at least make the experience and quality of the work nice.

avakiannl

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about that. Seems crazy. Unless you have aftermarket parts that could cause the CEL it's not right to charge for a CEL scan or reset if it's under warranty.

avakiannl

iTrader: (1)

Don't even order parts at Star, they don't call you to tell you they are in and just transfer your call around. Even when the parts are for warranty service that they are going to perform and get paid for. When they tried to fix the squeak in the drivers seat the second time they scratched the silver part of the center tunnel plastic cover and the black door sill cover. I didn't notice until the next day and decided not to go back rather than having them lie and blame it on me.

I'm going to try Alhambra next time.