This is going to prob. be a bit long. Sorry but I need to inform you all of my experience.
Unfortunately I will not be leasing a Mazda3s. Here are the details why:
I ordered a Black Mica/Black Leather Mazda3s 5door manual, fully loaded (navi, xenon/tmps, abs/sac/sab, moonroof/6cd player) from Irwin Mazda in Freehold, NJ on January 29th 2004. My next door neighbor is the Used Car Manager for the Lincoln/Mercury side of the dealership, and with his help I was able to get the lease down to $299USD/month for 36 months with $1000 down. The dealer who made the sale told me that the car would go on a priority order the following Monday (I ordered the car on Saturday). I told the dealer that I wanted the car by the end of March, and he said it was no problem.
March 15th, I hadn't heard anything from the dealership, so I gave them a call. I found out that the dealer that I made the sale with no longer worked for the dealership and that my order was being handled by the mazda sales manager. After 2 days of phone tag with the sales manager, I found out that the car was delayed and that it might not even be available until after mid-May. However he did tell me that the car was ordered on Feb. 15th. I asked him how this could be if the car was supposed to be ordered on Feb 1, and he told me that it was ordered in their normal bulk order date, but it 'had a priority order on it and it was at the top of the list" Since I didn't know if he was BS-ing me or not, I couldn't argue. I asked the dealer to seach the region to see if he could find anything and I told him that I could be interested in other colors as long as the package options were the same. He said that he'd get right onto it and get back to me if anything came up.
At this point, I began searching on mazdausa.com's inventory too see if I could do my own locating of the car I wanted. I found a few here and there, but they were either already taken, or in production overseas.
My next door neighbor said that the car 'has top priority', and the couple of times I went into to see the sales manager, he told me that everytime a dealership calls him, he makes sure to ask about the car, but to no avail.
Well, a week ago (wed. april 14th), I found a match for the car I ordered, and mazdausa.com's inventory told me that the car was at Irwin Mazda, the dealership I ordered the car from. I was a bit pissed, thinking that they had the car and didn't tell me yet. I called the dealership, and the sales manager told me that the website said that the car was in their inventory because they were the one that ordered it, but it actually wasn't in their inventory. In the conversation he mentioned that car wasn't ordered until the 26th of Feb. I was concerned at this but didn't say anything because I just wanted to find where the car was. He also wasn't sure if it was my car or not and told me to come in so we could 'look into it.'
Since I work till 6 mon-fri, I couldn't get into the dealership before saturday. So saturday, I went in and spoke with the sales manager. He showed me a piece of paper on which it said that the order date was Feb 5th, 2004 (third different date I was given for the order) and the VIN I found online matched the one that was on the order form. I took a look at the order status list, and the status for my car was "ORDERED:TBD". I was a bit confused because the car above mine was ordered a few days after mine and it said "FACTORY". I told the sales manager that I would be without a vehicle by April 28th, and I needed a car because I drive to work everyday. I asked if there was a possiblity of a loaner car for the time being and he told me that, he couldn't, but even more, he wouldn't give me a loaner. He said that because I got the car for only $300 over invoice, that it would be too much of a loss for them to give me a loaner. Also considering that they didn't have an exact date for the delivery, he didn't want to give me a loaner for an undetermined amount of time. The sales manager told me that the best he could do was call the corporate headquarters to see if he could find a more accurate ETA on the car's delivery and that he would get back to me.
On Monday I called Mazda Corporate because they can track any Mazda's order status as long as it has a VIN. Mazda was surprised I had just found the VIN a week prior, they said I should have had it only a few weeks after I ordered the car. But they looked it up anyways, and told me that the car was ordered but that it hadn't even gone into production yet. That meant that if the car went into the factory that monday, it wouldn't have been ready for at least another 3 to 4 months. I was fuming! That was the breaking point. I said '**** this, I'm done with Mazda".
That night I talked to my dad (who put the $1000 down on the car) and he suggested I go take a look at my previous second-choice car. He said he'd fire off a letter to Irwin Mazda the next day (which he did) demanding the money back and expressing his extreme displeasure with their service. (It's nice to have a father who's a lawyer). I'm not sure if he's gotten a response or the money yet, but I'm sure if he doesn't there will be hell to pay.
So monday night I went to take a look at the Acura RSX Type-S (my second-choice car) and signed that night. I picked it up Tueday evening. Now don't get me wrong, I am disappointed that I wasn't able to get a Mazda3, but I was so fed up with the service I was shown that I just didn't want to deal with it. (Oh, and I will say that I am thoughly enjoying the Acura).
I want to inform everyone, and please pass the word, that if you hear someone mentioning that they are considering "going to Irwin Mazda to look at a Mazda" I strongly urge you to tell them to go somewhere else, like Sansone on Route 1 or Schwartz in Shrewsbury.
Sorry but I won't be posting on the forum anymore. Thanks for all the help and good conversations, I do appreciate them. For those of you who got your cars; congrats, and for those of you who ordered them; good luck and enjoy them.
Ciao all. Good Driving! (drinks)
-Adam
Unfortunately I will not be leasing a Mazda3s. Here are the details why:
I ordered a Black Mica/Black Leather Mazda3s 5door manual, fully loaded (navi, xenon/tmps, abs/sac/sab, moonroof/6cd player) from Irwin Mazda in Freehold, NJ on January 29th 2004. My next door neighbor is the Used Car Manager for the Lincoln/Mercury side of the dealership, and with his help I was able to get the lease down to $299USD/month for 36 months with $1000 down. The dealer who made the sale told me that the car would go on a priority order the following Monday (I ordered the car on Saturday). I told the dealer that I wanted the car by the end of March, and he said it was no problem.
March 15th, I hadn't heard anything from the dealership, so I gave them a call. I found out that the dealer that I made the sale with no longer worked for the dealership and that my order was being handled by the mazda sales manager. After 2 days of phone tag with the sales manager, I found out that the car was delayed and that it might not even be available until after mid-May. However he did tell me that the car was ordered on Feb. 15th. I asked him how this could be if the car was supposed to be ordered on Feb 1, and he told me that it was ordered in their normal bulk order date, but it 'had a priority order on it and it was at the top of the list" Since I didn't know if he was BS-ing me or not, I couldn't argue. I asked the dealer to seach the region to see if he could find anything and I told him that I could be interested in other colors as long as the package options were the same. He said that he'd get right onto it and get back to me if anything came up.
At this point, I began searching on mazdausa.com's inventory too see if I could do my own locating of the car I wanted. I found a few here and there, but they were either already taken, or in production overseas.
My next door neighbor said that the car 'has top priority', and the couple of times I went into to see the sales manager, he told me that everytime a dealership calls him, he makes sure to ask about the car, but to no avail.
Well, a week ago (wed. april 14th), I found a match for the car I ordered, and mazdausa.com's inventory told me that the car was at Irwin Mazda, the dealership I ordered the car from. I was a bit pissed, thinking that they had the car and didn't tell me yet. I called the dealership, and the sales manager told me that the website said that the car was in their inventory because they were the one that ordered it, but it actually wasn't in their inventory. In the conversation he mentioned that car wasn't ordered until the 26th of Feb. I was concerned at this but didn't say anything because I just wanted to find where the car was. He also wasn't sure if it was my car or not and told me to come in so we could 'look into it.'
Since I work till 6 mon-fri, I couldn't get into the dealership before saturday. So saturday, I went in and spoke with the sales manager. He showed me a piece of paper on which it said that the order date was Feb 5th, 2004 (third different date I was given for the order) and the VIN I found online matched the one that was on the order form. I took a look at the order status list, and the status for my car was "ORDERED:TBD". I was a bit confused because the car above mine was ordered a few days after mine and it said "FACTORY". I told the sales manager that I would be without a vehicle by April 28th, and I needed a car because I drive to work everyday. I asked if there was a possiblity of a loaner car for the time being and he told me that, he couldn't, but even more, he wouldn't give me a loaner. He said that because I got the car for only $300 over invoice, that it would be too much of a loss for them to give me a loaner. Also considering that they didn't have an exact date for the delivery, he didn't want to give me a loaner for an undetermined amount of time. The sales manager told me that the best he could do was call the corporate headquarters to see if he could find a more accurate ETA on the car's delivery and that he would get back to me.
On Monday I called Mazda Corporate because they can track any Mazda's order status as long as it has a VIN. Mazda was surprised I had just found the VIN a week prior, they said I should have had it only a few weeks after I ordered the car. But they looked it up anyways, and told me that the car was ordered but that it hadn't even gone into production yet. That meant that if the car went into the factory that monday, it wouldn't have been ready for at least another 3 to 4 months. I was fuming! That was the breaking point. I said '**** this, I'm done with Mazda".
That night I talked to my dad (who put the $1000 down on the car) and he suggested I go take a look at my previous second-choice car. He said he'd fire off a letter to Irwin Mazda the next day (which he did) demanding the money back and expressing his extreme displeasure with their service. (It's nice to have a father who's a lawyer). I'm not sure if he's gotten a response or the money yet, but I'm sure if he doesn't there will be hell to pay.
So monday night I went to take a look at the Acura RSX Type-S (my second-choice car) and signed that night. I picked it up Tueday evening. Now don't get me wrong, I am disappointed that I wasn't able to get a Mazda3, but I was so fed up with the service I was shown that I just didn't want to deal with it. (Oh, and I will say that I am thoughly enjoying the Acura).
I want to inform everyone, and please pass the word, that if you hear someone mentioning that they are considering "going to Irwin Mazda to look at a Mazda" I strongly urge you to tell them to go somewhere else, like Sansone on Route 1 or Schwartz in Shrewsbury.
Sorry but I won't be posting on the forum anymore. Thanks for all the help and good conversations, I do appreciate them. For those of you who got your cars; congrats, and for those of you who ordered them; good luck and enjoy them.
Ciao all. Good Driving! (drinks)
-Adam
