I’ve locked the other thread, so please post your comments on Mazda dealers who you have had dealings with pesonally, good or bad, but no libelous stuff please.
No discussions please just the bare facts will do nicely. I will, in due course, lift the relevant posts from the old thread to keep some sort of continuity.
To save Geoff the bother of lifting my
review I have copied it across myself.
Well I recently bought my NC RC from
Oakmere Mazda in Nothwich and think it is about time I
wrote a review.
When I first entered the showroom it
appeared that all the sales people were occupied with other
customers, however, it did not take long before during a natural
break in dealing with his current costumer one of the sales staff
(James) had time to have a quick talk with me before returning to his
original customer. During this time we made an appointment for a
longer talk. I believe that this was a good balance between leaving a
potential customer on there own and not leaving other customers for
too long.
On subsequent visits to the dealer the
James always intermediately greeted me and was clearly helpful and
knowledgeable.
Whist the part exchange value for my
previous MX-5 was not brilliant, I think that given its condition it
was acceptable, and I am happy with the overall deal, after all it is
the bottom line that is the important number.
After placing the order I was kept
informed of progress and was able to pick the car up on the day
agreed when placing the order.
On the day I picked up the car it was
well presented. The only slight fly in the ointment was that despite
asking for euro plates to be fitted they had not been. However, James
was most apologetic and arranged to them to be fitted (which they now
have been).
As part of the after sales care I have
been offered a service plan, which is aimed at spreading the cost of
servicing throughout the year. However at over £530 for the first
three services (excluding ‘materials supplied by the Dealer not
included in the relevant Service’) I thought this was rather
expensive. Especially considering they would have my money in
advance. The other thing to note is that the the price was based on
an annual mileage of 12000 rather than the service interval of 12500.
I therefore will not be taking them up on the offer and take my
chances when it is time for a service.
I have not had any dealings (other than
handing over the keys while the plates were changed) with the service
department so can not comment on this aspect of the dealership.
Overall I felt like a valued customer,
and they made the experience of buying an new car a pleasurable one.
I have no hesitation in recommending them.
Also added to the google map
The RX-8 was a special edition model and when I went to collect the car the build number plates were missing from the sill covers - I found them 4 days later in the glove box so I fitted them myself this was after Leamington Mazda had showed no interest at all in resolving the situation.
I collected the car on 27th September and I had requested that the £400pa road tax was to start on the 1st October which they could do on a new car - in spite of my request they had taxed it from 1st September so it had cost me a months lost tax it then it took me 6 weeks to get the month refunded.
I discovered that a blanking plate was missing from inside the centre console box leaving a hole - you could see by the scratch marks around the area that someone had removed the plate from my new car, the service manager denied that they would do this then to my disbelief he proceeded to try and remove the part from another new RX-8 in the show room to put in my car (but they wouldn`t do this!)
The cars owner manual was missing it took me 3 weeks to get one after 2 further phone calls, the service book did not have the dealers stamp or any details of the car entered, the cars windows are etched with a security code which the dealer should send notice of to RETAINAGROUP as this company retains details of the vehicle in case of theft Leamington Mazda couldnt manage it so the etch code hadnt been recorded.
Mazda had an offer that if you bought an RX-8 in September you would receive £1500 cash back you have to pay this amount when you pay for the car then it is credited back to your bank account by Mazda but after 6 weeks I had not received the money I complained to Mazda UK they said that Leamington Mazda had not raised the paper work so Mazda had not made the payment back to me.
From day one I was aware that the catalytic converter sounded noisy (I have owned 2 RX-8s previously so I know what they should sound like) but I decided to monitor the noise but a week later while I was accelerating as I came off the M6 I heard a noise as if broken particles were rattling in the cat it did this twice the car was also back firing quite loudly, so I returned the car back to the dealer the following morning and explained what had happened they said they would keep the car for investigation which I agreed to with the proviso that they informed me what was faulty as the car was only 3 weeks old and I was not prepared to accept major parts being removed and replaced, they had my car for 6 days and I heard nothing, Leamington Mazda do not return phone calls so I went to the dealership to see what was happening I spoke to the business manager and the salesman but they could not tell me what was happening with my car so I handed the spare keys back and informed them that I was rejecting the car as I did not believe it was of acceptable quality, I confirmed this in writing the following day.
Later that day there was a message left on my answer phone that my car was ready for collection so the following morning I called the dealership to enquire what was going on but no one was available to let me know what was happening, later that day when the dealership knew I would be at work 2 gentleman arrived at my house and parked my car on the drive and offered the keys to my wife, my wife asked what the position was with the car but they could not tell her so my wife explained that as the car did not belong to her and as there was an outstanding issue with it she refused to accept the return of the car as it was up to myself to deal with it, the gentleman then offered the keys again but my wife refused and closed the door - these gentlemen then pushed the keys through the letter box and left my car on the drive!
As I had already formerly rejected the car I complained to Mazda about the bully boy tactics of their dealership but they just put it all down to human error on behalf of the dealer and they informed me that no fault was found on my car but they had changed the spark plugs (6 days?) as a precaution.
The car still has a fault with the exhaust which appears to be deteriorating as it is getting noisier but I am stuck with the car and as I refuse to have any further dealings with Leamington Mazda so I have been left to sort the problem with another Mazda dealer.
In short if you deal with Leamington Mazda they will sell you a new Mazda and take your money but there the relationship ends, they do not return phone calls, they pay little attention to pre sale service, their after sales service is non existent, they do not tell you the truth, they totally ignore and disregard you as a customer and are prepared to ride roughshod over you using bully boy tactics when required.
The only part I played in all of this is that I purchased a new Mazda, it has since come to my notice from other RX-8 owners that Leamington Mazda are not unknown to behave in the manner which I have encountered from my own experience.
Avoid Leamington Mazda.
" The car still has a fault with the exhaust which appears to be
deteriorating as it is getting noisier but I am stuck with the car and
as I refuse to have any further dealings with Leamington Mazda so I have been left to sort the problem with another Mazda dealer."
Have you got your problems solved yet ? If so, what was the fault and which dealer solved it for you?
Couldn’t agree more with MX5Star about Leamington Mazda who are the same company as Coventry Mazda.
I took my Mk2.5 back to them because the bootlid was going rusty around the number plate lights. They said it was caused by me scratching it with my fingernails!
I contacted Mazda themselves and they ordered Leamington to replace my bootlid free of charge.
Colliers Erdington, Birmingham,
Called them to get a quote for a couple of parts I needed urgently, Phone number on website for parts was incorrect, so was told to redial after being on hold for an age, redialled and put on hold for ages again and when he finally answered the chap was rude, abrupt, not very knowledgable and kept putting me on hold after asking a question!, prices were average too.
went elsewhere!
Wolverhampton Mazda,
Called for a quote for a few parts after bad service at local garage (see colliers erdington), 10% discount for MX5OC members, chap was very friendly, asked a few questions that suggested very good knowledge and generally left me feeling satisifed, even put the parts aside without requiring cash up front!
Good Service!
Went to Elite Motors in Tooting, London looking for a MK3 2.0 Sport RC. The staff there were the friendliest people you could wish to meet. They gave me a reasonable price on my old MK2.5 and threw in various extras on the nearly new ex demonstrator that they sold me. I’m so chuffed with the car that my face aches from grinning!
Gary Farr the Operations Director dealt with our purchase and when we went to collect the car he showed us around their other showroom which contains some interesting cars. All the staff that we met made us feel special. I feel almost sad that I live about 100 miles from Tooting and can’t practically send my car there for servicing. Elite Motors are a family owned business and it shows!
Bought our RX-8 PZ from Elite Motors in Catford. Took it in for its first service and it had 2018 miles on the clock, picked it up 2 days later and found it had 2122 miles on it. Seems an employee borrowed the keys one evening and took it for a 100 mile joyride, used half a tank of petrol, put scratches on it and worst of all tuned the radio to Kiss FM. The owner/manager was absolutely gutted it had happened and bent over backwards to make amends. He also put into place procedures that meant it couldn’t happen again. Other than that the service there has always been good, staff are always polite and friendly. As the owner drives past out house to get to Catford he drops off his car for us to use whilst he takes ours in for its service. You can’t ask for better than that. Though when we bought the MX-5 we went to Drake and Fletcher (or Fletcher and Drake) as we’d lost some confidence in Elite Motors, with hindsight we probably shouldn’t have, but will certainly take the MX-5 there for its service.
Colin
From a sales perspective Chingford Mazda was appalling - i’m seriously looking for a Mk 3 at the moment and have a good budget (i’m sorry all you Mk1 & 2 enthusiasts that will think i’m not really a 5’er… but i am - just work long long hours and don’t have much time to fettle!) anyway when i arrived at the garage the sticker price had gone up (fancy!) and the alloy wheels had disappeared…
No idea what they’re like for servicing, but in sales they were rude, aggressive and i wouldn’t trust them on any level … still looking for a good Mark 3.
I recently had a problem with the alarm/central locking on my Mk.2.5. This happened when I was away for a few days, on my return I tried to diagnose the problem but after a couple of hours I was getting nowhere so I reluctantly decided it was a job for the main dealer. I phoned Warrington Mazda, where I bought the car and was told they could not help me for a fortnight! At 2pm. I phoned Perrys of Preston who said bring it in the following morning at 9am. What a difference in attitude. I took the car in at the said time, by 9.45 a fault with the doorlock actuator was diagnosed and a replacement ordered which arrived the following day and was fitted, this only cured part of the problem, the alarm was still faulty. They were very apologetic and gave me a lift home [24 miles] A new door barrel switch was ordered . I went to collect the car only receive more apologies, the new part had arrived, broken in the packet and there was not another one in the country! A replacement was ordered from Belgium, three to five working days, it arrived in four, was fitted and the problems were finally solved. It was rather a protracted affair but I felt that Perrys did all they could to help in the circumstances. I know from bitter experience that once a job starts to foul up it usually fouls up completely, but they got there in the end and it was just one of those jobs which was not straightforward Cost was £335 of which £220 was for parts leaving £115 for labour. The labour charge was for diagnosis and fitting the actuator. I was told because of the inconvenience there would be no charge for fitting the barrel switch. I thought that Perrys were very fair, helpful, friendly and did thier best, after all with hourly labour rates as they are, £115 does not buy a lot of time in a workshop, and they gave me 10% discount [parts and labour] as an MX5 club member. I would certainly recommend them to members, in and around Preston, for repair work,
Regards Geoff Peace.
I have recently bought a 2003 MX-5 Mk 2.5 from Leamington Mazda. The vehicle was supposed to have had a Mazda 120 point check prior to delivery. On my return home a quick check of the car revealed that the front fog lights did not work. I checked the fuse which was ok so I contacted the salesman who said I would have to book it in with the service staff, which I did. A few days later having taken the car back they found that one of the connectors had come loose. I can’t prove that they did’nt actually check the vehicle fully before its release but I have my suspicions. No apology was given. The suspicion on the quality of their vehicle checking is based on a service I had carried out on my old 323 about six months ago. The car, which went in fine,came out with a problem with the air bag warning lights. Again another trip in, another ‘loose connector’, no real apology.
With the MX-5, after a couple of days driving around it was clear that it had the dreaded Mk 2.5 clutch judder. I contacted the sales guy who I had actually discussed this issue with prior to purchase ( had said that the car was fully checked and if there had been anything wrong with the clutch it would have been fixed!) He told me this was a matter for the service team. Their response, ‘its a characteristic of the car, not a fault’ and ‘we have loads like that’. In short they would not accept that it was a fault and said that all they could do was replace the clutch at my expence! On a car that according to them had no fault!!! Enough said. Problem with car now sorted by guys at Sam Goodwins’s in Nuneaton .
I would not have anything to do with Leamington Mazda, like a number of others on this ink.
Andy
I bought an 03 Nevada, at SGPetch of Durham City, this August, liked it so much had it waxoyled as I expect to keep it for quite some time. The guy who did waxoyling pointed out bubbling on rear of nearside sill so I took it back to the garage. They were very friendly, inspected the sill, took photoraphs and said they’d be in touch. After a week I rang them, they’d obviously not been doing anything but, to their credit, they got back to me the next day offering to do the remedial work at no cost to me. They want my car for up to a week, but are providing a replacement vehicle so I’m impressed so far. Car goes in next week, will report on how it all pans out.
I booked my other car (RX-8) in @ Colliers Mazda of Acocks Green Birmingham for the 1st (12.500 mile) service and was given a date 2 weeks later as for convenience I wanted it done on a Saturday morning, I explained that several times I had been having trouble with the low oil level warning light coming on whilst driving @ speed on a motorway although the oil level is always kept @ the correct level, this was duly noted and would be attended to.<o:p></o:p>
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I arrived @ Colliers to find they had no record of my booking as someone had cancelled the service including my problem with the oil warning light but never the less they would complete the service on my car, I was informed that my car would be ready @ 12.30pm but they would call me if it was ready any earlier.<o:p></o:p>
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At 12.20 pm I was called to say that my car was ready to collect so as Colliers is approx` ½ an hour away I arrived just before 1.00pm and went to the service desk to collect my car, after several minutes wait with no one in attendance I asked the sales receptionist who was attending on the service reception to be informed that there was no one there as they closed @ 12.30 pm and they had all gone home but I would have been have been told this when I bought my car in (I was not told this and as I was informed my car was ready @ 12.20 pm I could not have been there before they closed anyway) <o:p></o:p>
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I enquired how I get my car back to be told that it was locked away in the workshop and I would not be able to get it until Monday morning, pointing out that I need my car to get to work and as I was starting to lose my temper a little one of the salesmen hearing what was going on said he would check if anyone was in the workshop and lo and behold one of the service staff was still there so it was arranged that my car would be returned to me.<o:p></o:p>
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My car was driven out of the workshop and I enquired about the faulty low oil level warning light to be informed that there was nothing wrong with it, I asked what I was supposed do every time it comes on (as it had done several times) was I just to ignore it and again I was just told there was nothing wrong with it I pointed out that if the oil level was actually low I wouldn`t know if the sensor was giving false readings all of the time and as oil level was a critical factor in an RX-8 engine this was not acceptable – again I was told there was nothing wrong with it.<o:p></o:p>
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Then it came to pay the bill which was £200.01p this I pointed out was ridiculously expensive for a first service I was told this was the correct amount for 1.5 hours labour @ £90 per hour plus parts etc (having owned previous RX-8`s I knew the going rate for a first service was £130 -£150 for local West Midland dealers) but never the less that was the amount I had to pay to get my car back.<o:p></o:p>
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I noted on the service invoice that the oil I had been charged for was 5 litres of Shell Helix Ultra which is a full synthetic oil, from day 1 I took the decision to only use Mazda Dexelia oil so I queried the use of the Shell oil with Mazda customer service along with the time allowed for a 1st service & the quantity of oil required (the handbook states 3.5 litres) I was informed via Mazda technical that the Shell oil should not have been used and the time allowed was 1 hour, the quantity of oil used should be 3.5 litres.<o:p></o:p>
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So I had been over charged for labour, overcharged for oil and an oil not recommended by Mazda had been used, armed with this information I contacted the service manager @ Colliers & revealed the facts as given to me by Mazda with the result that I was refunded £66.69p for the cost of the service along with the invitation to have the oil changed again! an invitation I declined as I pointed out that they cannot be trusted to carry out the work they are paid to do, I in turn insisted that they supply me with 5 litres of Mazda Dexelia oil which I would change myself as I did not trust them to do it - this was agreed.<o:p></o:p>
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In view of the fact that Colliers Mazda had grossly overcharged for their service work some days later I telephoned both Colliers Mazda dealerships to check on their prices, at the branch where I had my service completed the quote was still £200 whilst at the other branch the quote was £211 so they were still overcharging!<o:p></o:p>
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I then asked the service manager why they were still quoting an overcharged price I was told that the prices were set by the management & that was the cost if I was not happy with this I should complain to the Site Director.<o:p></o:p>
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In the past I have found Mazda dealers to be quite poor but surely this must be the worst Mazda dealer ever – make your own mind up!
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Bought an 03 Nevada from SGPetch, Durham City, in August. Had it waxoyled by ‘Waxworks’ of Morpeth at beginning of November, (did a very good job), who advised me that nearside sill was starting to bubble just in front of rear arch. Took it straight back to SGPetch, they booked the car in and repaired it to a high standard; no fuss, no cost to me, everyone very friendly, cooperative and professional. Haven’t used them for anything else but will have no qualms about going there again.
Rockingham Mazda - Corby Northants.
I bought my used MX5 from this dealer just under 12 months ago. I found the sales and service people to be very polite and professional. The only fault with the car in the time I’ve owned it was the indicator relay which failed after 1 month. This was replaced with no charge and with good grace by them.
Today I took the car back for its MOT and service, and I remain very impressed with the fact that in addition, the car was also valeted inside and out, and I was provided with a courtesy car all in the standard service price!
The place is always bustling with customers, which says a great deal for how highly its rated.
I can thoroughly recommend them
I can’t fault Williams Mazda in Bristol - always courteous and can’t do enough to help - I don’t even have to tell them I am a MX5 OC member - they take off the discount before I even get there and unlike the local BMW garage, if you want a courtesy lift, it is both ways (whereas the BMW garage expects you to make your own way back to them!). I suppose my only little niggle is that they didn’t come back to me once with a price for some work but I wasn’t that bothered about having it done …
I too have had no problems at all with Rockingham Mazda, Corby. They’ve serviced my Mazda 3 for 2 years following the demise of Autohaus Mazda in Northampton, with reliable and courteous service. I purchased my MX5 from them before Christmas, and again they dealt with me in an open, honest, friendly and efficient manner, and gave me what I regard as a decent deal.
Trevor
We’ve used Donald in Bury St Edmunds for some years now. Have always found sales and servive staff very helpful and polite. Bought several Mazdas, new & used from them. The most recent being a new MK3 18 months ago. Since purchase she has had her suspension lowered very slightly by them and the time taken was exactly as promised, they even lent us a car so we could go shopping 
(took wife with me), also had first service done there. Last two visits were for rusting wheel nuts which were replaced without question. All credit to Shaun the service manager there. 