Issues with Kramer Mazda

[MJM]

So I take my mazda in for my service. I tell them the door lock is not functioning properly and that it's still under warranty and they should fix it while the car is in for a service.

I send my wife to pickup the car, and they tell her the good news is that the part for the door lock is under warranty, but they had to charge us $129 dollars to "diagnose" the problem. I thought this was a complete load of BS but I didn't say anything and she just paid the bill.

So I get in the car Friday night and automatically realize the mechanics had screwed up my door (making an awful noise when you open and close it). They have either dislodged something or left a tool in my door. I call them first thing Saturday morning and leave my name to call back and I don't hear anything. On Monday, I do the same thing. They don't call back. I call this morning mad and the receptionist says they will have them call me back. Once again they don't. Finally I get these guys on the phone myself and they tell me they will take a look at my car but they can't say yet whether I will have to pay or not yet as something could have happened since I drove it off the lot.

PAY AGAIN? What are these guys? Brain dead? I had my door fixed when nothing was wrong with it other than the manual lock, now the door rattles and they are telling me I may have to pay another BS diagnostic charge for their own incompetent mechanics screw up? What a load of crap. I will have now taken 4 hours out of my day to deal with this (assuming I have to go back to Kramer Mazda and drop the car off again). Given my employers charges $250 dollars an hour for my services. I'm quite tempted to send them a bill for $1000 bucks for my own services based on the time I've wasted because of their own screw up.

Moral of the story is, don't buy a car from Kramer Mazda. I've had nothing from problems with their service/sales staff since I bought the thing. My salesman had changed 3 times before I even picked the car up, when I picked the car up they had not given me the free oil changes I was promised as part of the sale (and they refused to give me the entire amount they promised because they said they couldn't prove my original sales man had given them to me). I told them I needed a motion sensitive alarm for my car to which they assure me they would put in but when my car gets broken into last year I asked them why it didn't go off, the service manager told me they have no idea why I thought i had such an alarm in the first place because my model of Mazda does not support this, and now this.

[4X4]

Stories like that piss me right off. If that happened to me I'd fantasize about burning down their building... Add it to fotze's boycott list along with Clearview plumbing and heating...!

[habernac]

most car dealerships are like this I find.

[Gozer]

I'd heard a lot of good things about Kramer Mazda.

[kermitology]

I wouldn't be quite so quick to judge. I've had no issues with my car, or service, or sales at Kramer. The only thing is that I sometimes argue with them about when to service my car. I don't drive it much (36k km in 3+ years) and they always want me in there often.

[Tyler]

I switched dealerships from Sunridge (where I bought my Mazda), and took things to Kramer.

They are a million times better - I've always had great service.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. They always send me a follow-up email asking you to rate them and fill out a satisfaction survey. So make sure you fill that out. I'm 100% sure a manager will call you back to see if they can resolve the situation.

[Pagal4321]

North Hill Mazda used to be an group of clowns. But I think they have since gotten their acts together, so I'd suggest them to people steering clear of Kramer.

And the shuttle into downtown is always helpful.

But that sounds like a horribly awful experience...which is why I'm steering clear of incompentant dealerships now and trying to find a trustworthy mechanic.

[STeeLy]

To the OP: If the door lock is under warranty, they should not charge you to diagnose the problem, it should be completely free for you because Mazda Canada is actually supposed to pay the dealership for warranty work. You got ripped.

Originally Posted by habernac

most car dealerships are like this I find.

I would have to agree with you. However, I've ran into a dealership in Toronto who are really honest with me. I service my car in Gatineau (across the river from Ottawa) and their service department is beyond excellent, even give you a free wash after a service.

[REDVAN]

I don't go to any dealerships unless it is specific to the car, for example I have a GM and if it is something GM specific then I might consider taking it in there...

but since my warranty has run out, I have not taken my car anywhere other than my neighborhood mechanic. They're cheaper, faster, and more honest (most of the time). Plus, they explain stuff to me, so next time if it is some silly little thing, I can fix it myself.

[4X4]

I recently discovered "the catch" with the free oil changes I get from Heninger... I took my truck in for it's 16,000km oil change and they told me that I have to rotate the tires and do a couple other things. Should be about $100 for these things. I ask him how much they're charging me for the tire rotation and he told me either $20 or $40 (can't remember). So I said that I'd do it myself. Then he tells me that unless Heninger does ALL my service work, I lose my free oil changes.
So yeah, I'm not allowed to rotate my own tires. And I just got a new compressor that I'm dying to use!!

[Titan]

My advice to the OP is to send the same message to Kramer's gm. Threaten to send it to Mazda's ombudsman if it is not resolved within one week.

[fredr123]

We bought our 3 at Sunridge. We used to take it there for service but switched to North Hill because it was more convenient. I've been impressed, especially lately, with the service received from them.

We too have a problem with our door lock. The car seems to think the key is in the ignition at all times and will not allow you to use the fob to lock the car. The only way to lock the doors is to use the key in the door lock. We took our car to North Hill three times for them to work on diagnosing the problem during the day (drop off at 7:15, pickup at 2:45). Shuttle ride each time to and from my office down town.

Three times they tried to fix it but each time were unable to find a permanent solution. They replaced just about all of the components they could but to no avail.

Finally, on picking up the car after the third attempt, the manager of the store came out to apologize. He suggested we leave the car with them for a longer period of time (overnight, maybe even a couple days) to better diagnose the problem and try more drastic repairs. Because of our schedule, the fact that we only have one car and that we need to take our two year old to/from day car, I told them it would be horribly inconvenient and nearly impossible for us to go about our business. The manager gave us a rental for free for as long as it took for them to fix the problem.

We bought the extended warranty when we first got our car. The standard warranty would have expired about 4 months ago so I'm glad we did. We haven't paid one penny to have any of the problems diagnosed or corrected. On top of that, everyone from the techs to the courtesy car driver to the manager have been nothing short of awesome to us. In fact, I think I even heard them apologize for not being able to fix the problem the first few times. I can't remember the last time I heard a place take responsibility like that.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I recently discovered "the catch" with the free oil changes I get from Heninger... I took my truck in for it's 16,000km oil change and they told me that I have to rotate the tires and do a couple other things. Should be about $100 for these things. I ask him how much they're charging me for the tire rotation and he told me either $20 or $40 (can't remember). So I said that I'd do it myself. Then he tells me that unless Heninger does ALL my service work, I lose my free oil changes.
So yeah, I'm not allowed to rotate my own tires. And I just got a new compressor that I'm dying to use!!

again that does not sound right. I would look at the oil change agreement in detail but they can't be able to just force you to do work you may or may not agree to. If you don't have it ask them to provide it in writing. I am trying to imagine the language that would have to be used and am having trouble coming up with anything that anyone would sign. And I am pretty creative. "you are entitled to free oil changes. But if we discover any work that needs to be done on your vehicle, you have to agree to pay for that work or you lose the free oil change." Oh, look we need to repaint your ugly black with fuscia. That will be $6000 please.

[csnarpy]

i had a similar experience but not at Kramer - I couldn't get anywhere with the dealership, so i phoned Mazda Canada directly and they actually contacted the dealership and set them straight.

BTW: I found the sales people at Kramer useless and high on their horses. I ended up buying in Lethbridge (of all places), their sales people were top notch and even ended up selling me my Mazda 3 for 2000 less than Kramer.

But i now use Kramer for service and seriously havn't had one problem and they have actually gone out of their way to do some extra work for me at no cost.

[Resolute 14]

As far as salespeople go, they are just out to try and get their commission. You tend to expect them to be slimy, so when you find one that isn't, it is often a surprise. Salespeople at Honda dealerships are the worst though. I've found they will blatantly lie to your face and not think twice.

I've never dealt with Kramer's service people, though one of my best friends does, and she's never had an issue. As always though, nobody is perfect, and whether or not Karmer is good, bad, awesome or thieves, going to Mazda's ombudsman would be an excellent next step.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Titan

again that does not sound right. I would look at the oil change agreement in detail but they can't be able to just force you to do work you may or may not agree to. If you don't have it ask them to provide it in writing. I am trying to imagine the language that would have to be used and am having trouble coming up with anything that anyone would sign. And I am pretty creative. "you are entitled to free oil changes. But if we discover any work that needs to be done on your vehicle, you have to agree to pay for that work or you lose the free oil change." Oh, look we need to repaint your ugly black with fuscia. That will be $6000 please.

Hmm. Well now you've inspired me to look into this a little further. The guy totally caught me off guard as this is the first brand new vehicle I've ever bought. When he said it I basically thought it was kinda lame, but I just accepted it thinking "oooohhhh, so thaaat's the catch".

Strange thing is that when I brought it in for the 8000km oild change, they tried to sell me an air filter (that I knew I needed as I had done some pretty bad ass 4x4ing). It was a chick that time and she tried to sell me the air filter I told her that I'd do it myself. She said 'no prob'. Of course, then I discovered that part source didn't have '09 part numbers in their computers yet, so I had to get the filter from the dealership anyway.

[JD]

Well this news comes about a month too late as I bought a car from them last month. Fortunately there seems to be as much positive feedback as negative in this thread. Hopefully I don't have any problems.

And kermitology, I'm starting to wonder if you and I aren't the same person!

[Burninator]

I bought my Mazda 3 from them and get my service from them. I have never had any problems. I have a had the check engine light come on twice, it's was minor thing both times and they didn't charge me for the diagnostic. Also my power steering is kind of loud, and they checked it over and said it was fine (ti's just a little loud) and they didn't charge me anything.

The only thing I don't like about them is their shuttle service. I work downtown 8-5 and the shuttle runs 8:30-4:30 (or something like that) and doesn't go downtown.

[MJM]

Originally Posted by fredr123

We bought our 3 at Sunridge. We used to take it there for service but switched to North Hill because it was more convenient. I've been impressed, especially lately, with the service received from them.

We too have a problem with our door lock. The car seems to think the key is in the ignition at all times and will not allow you to use the fob to lock the car. The only way to lock the doors is to use the key in the door lock. We took our car to North Hill three times for them to work on diagnosing the problem during the day (drop off at 7:15, pickup at 2:45). Shuttle ride each time to and from my office down town.

Three times they tried to fix it but each time were unable to find a permanent solution. They replaced just about all of the components they could but to no avail.

Finally, on picking up the car after the third attempt, the manager of the store came out to apologize. He suggested we leave the car with them for a longer period of time (overnight, maybe even a couple days) to better diagnose the problem and try more drastic repairs. Because of our schedule, the fact that we only have one car and that we need to take our two year old to/from day car, I told them it would be horribly inconvenient and nearly impossible for us to go about our business. The manager gave us a rental for free for as long as it took for them to fix the problem.

We bought the extended warranty when we first got our car. The standard warranty would have expired about 4 months ago so I'm glad we did. We haven't paid one penny to have any of the problems diagnosed or corrected. On top of that, everyone from the techs to the courtesy car driver to the manager have been nothing short of awesome to us. In fact, I think I even heard them apologize for not being able to fix the problem the first few times. I can't remember the last time I heard a place take responsibility like that.

You will be paying now for diagnostics. When the extended warranty kicks in, although the parts are still under warranty the diagnostics often are not (something they fail to tell you when you purchase the extended warranty).

[Peanut]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I guess it depends on your luck and/or maybe the individual staff member you're dealing with?

I bought a Mazda Protege from them in 2000 and had it for 8 years, always went to Kramer for service. No problems with either the car or the service department.

However, I bought a "certified-used" Mercedes last year - it's piece of garbage and I've had nothing but problems with Mercedes dealerships in Calgary so far. Won't be rushing back to them for my next vehicle that's for sure.