Need Help w/ Warranty Issue

dsm_rally

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02 & 03.5 Protege 5
I hoping to get some help with a service/warranty issue I'm having with my dealership and Mazda. The dealership is Concours Motors in Milwaukee, WI. I've purchased 2 new Mazda's from them and financed one of them through Mazda Credit. First, a little background....

I drove my '03 Protege 5 home from work on Friday, 6/17 with absolutely no problems. Saturday morning, 6/18, I went to the garage to start the car. It wouldn't start the first time, it just turned over and sputtered. Tried a second time and it started but died immediately. Tried a 3rd time and it started and stayed running but the idle would drop and then catch itself and the revs would come back up. It was doing this repeatedly. While it was idling strangely, I also heard a knocking sound from the engine. I couldn't tell if the knocking sound was coming from the block or the head so I immediately turned the car off. I checked the oil, which I changed 3 weeks ago, and it was full. I then walked away from the car and drove my wife's car ('02 Protege 5) the rest of the weekend.

Yesterday morning, 6/20, I had the car towed to the dealership. Later that morning, the Service Consultant called me and said that they believe the knocking sound is one of my rods. He then started asking about the "aftermarket" oil filter on the car, in this case a Fram filter. I explained that I change my own oil. Well, you can probably guess where it went from there. I need to provide proof of at least 3 oil changes since I bought the car, otherwise the repair won't be covered under warranty.

Unfortunately, I don't have the receipts for the oil and filters I've purchased over the last couple of years. I'm pursuing other ways of getting those purchase details, but in the mean time I'm hoping someone at Mazda and/or Concours will step up and do the right thing by OK-ing the repair being covered under warranty without me having to waste my time.

So far, no one at Concours is budging. I've left 2 voicemails for the Service Director but he hasn't called me back yet. I called Mazda Customer Care and they gave me the same story. I need to provide proof of the oil changes. I asked to speak to their manager but they wouldn't transfer me. That's right, they refused to let me speak to a Customer Care manager.

So that's where I'm at right now. Does anyone who's had a similar issue in the past, have a contact at Mazda that was willing to do the right thing by a Mazda customer? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Any tips would be hugely appreciated!
 
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sorry to hear about this. i am bad at keeping my receipts....hope you get this resolved.

PM'ed you!

-R
 
have you tried calling mazda corp? like the 1 800 number. I am sure they might be a lil more customer orientated. especially if you own 2 of them
 
SkinnyJoint said:
have you tried calling mazda corp? like the 1 800 number. I am sure they might be a lil more customer orientated. especially if you own 2 of them

Yes, I did call the 800 number I found on Mazda's web site. The guy I talked to said he coudn't do anything and then refused to let me talk to his Manager. Nice, huh?
 
This story is sooo bad it's almost unbelievable, but I've had problems with Mazda in the past. And I've got a nightmare story that is too long to share here (with a not perfect, but OK ending) We have 4 dealerships in town and I've been to 3 of the 4 for warranty work, and my car has had about 5-6 warranty issues! My best advice (as this has worked for me) is to explain that you will take your business to another Mazda dealership if they wont fix it (I hope this is an option) as most likely another dealership will do the warranty work. Usually when faced with going a step further than they would like, versus you leaving directly from there dealership and going to another and loosing your business forever, they will step up.

However they appear to know more than you may be letting on??? What's the deal with the oil changes? Did they find something that looks suspicious? Have you had a problem with your car in the past that you didn't bring up??? It seems like they found something? what did they find that has led them to believe your car was not taken proper care of???
 
LASERBLUE135 said:
However they appear to know more than you may be letting on??? What's the deal with the oil changes? Did they find something that looks suspicious? Have you had a problem with your car in the past that you didn't bring up??? It seems like they found something? what did they find that has led them to believe your car was not taken proper care of???

All they've seen so far, as they haven't started tearing down the engine yet, is a non-OEM oil filter. That's what led them to start asking about oil changes. I have changed the oil at roughly the correct intervals and have had no other issues with the car and never brought it in for service before.
 
First off, you should come to the meet in Madison this weekend! (see the Wisconsin section).

As for your problem, people always say to keep your receipts from s*** like that. As was said, try and lean on them by saying you will never buy a mazda again, change dealerships, etc. I find it strange they b**** about the filter, since many people go to jiffy lubes and s*** that use pennzoil and s***. If all else fails, find another dealership, and before you take it, put an OEM filter on the car ;)

Oh yeah, and threatening lawyers tends to help in some situations!
 
wow that sux. im guessing though that, since a rod prolly is ****** up or a bearing, they just dont wana have to tear down the motor and rebuild so there finding little bulls***.
maybe??
 
SkinnyJoint said:
wow that sux. im guessing though that, since a rod prolly is ****** up or a bearing, they just dont wana have to tear down the motor and rebuild so there finding little bulls***.
maybe??

They're not tearing down the engine yet because if I can't produce proof of oil changes then the warranty won't cover it. If the warranty won't cover it then I'd be liable for the cost of tearing it down and I'm not prepared to make that call yet.
 
yep they are just dicking you around. Don't wanna spend the time to properly fix the problem. Take it to another dealer and see what they say. Don't mention the first one. And I agree w/mogi - put a stock oil filter on before you go if you can...
 
I may end up taking it to another dealership but I don't think I'd bother with changing the oil filter. They'll look in their system for the Mazda service record for my car and see that no service has been performed by Mazda.

At this point, I have a call in to the owner of the dealership. I'll wait to see what he has to say and if he doesn't offer to help then it may be time to get an attorney.
 
Hold on a minute. DON'T put a different filter on the vehicle. You don't need to be accused of any fraudulent behavior.

Now, your dealership is dicking you around. You do not have to have an OEM filter on your car. If that were the case, you would have to go to the dealership to get your oil changed for the warranty to be valid. That is a seperate service than the purchase of the car. The dealership can not make you do that.

If there is something wrong with your oil, then YES, they can make you prove your oil changes. If there is nothing wrong with the oil, then you should be OK.

There may be certain oils that Mazda allows. That would most likely refer to oil weight rather than brand though.

As far as getting a reciept for oil and filter that you purchased, you would be lucky to get one on record IF you used a credit card.

Go to another Mazda dealer if you can.
 
1st your owners/wty manual does say that you need to keep records. Sure Mazda would like it if you took your veh to the dlr for service or at least bought the factory parts. And this is just the reason why.

BUT they can not deny you wty unless the engine shows signs of abuse or neglect. If you have changed your oil according to the service manual then it will be reasonably clean. IF you honestly did as you said and never abused the car then you should have no problem authorizing the dlr to tear it down because they will not find anything you could have done wrong. Right? Also make sure you stress to the dlr and Mazda you have bought 2 cars from the same dlr.

Threading to sue would do jack. Other that makes the dlr and Mazda harder to work with. Be nice it will get you a lot further that is you are an ass to the people you have to deal with. <O:p
 
i think fraudulent would only apply if you took it back to the same place with a different filter. if you took it somewhere else, how would they know you had a fram on there first? i dont see why it matters anyway. that is bulls***!!
 
Well, I'll let you all know what happens in the end. It's easy to say that they should honor the warranty when they crack open the motor and see it's clean but try telling that to all of the people I've talked to today. As far as using my credit card company to get receipts, no luck there either. I actually used a check card and my bank doesn't have any helpful information. As far as going to another dealership, I'm considering that but don't know if it would do any good. i suspect my electronic record is now "flagged" and another dealership would see what's going on. Besides, I don't want to run the car with a potentially faulty rod and/or bearing so I'd have to have it towed to another dealership and that might be enough to put me over the edge. I'll talk to the dealership owner tomorrow and see what happens next.
 
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I bet it isn't even a rod/bearing, odds are your poor startup is due to the EGR and the knocking is probably from the VTCS/VICS screw ;)

wouldn't that be something!
 
mogi said:
I bet it isn't even a rod/bearing, odds are your poor startup is due to the EGR and the knocking is probably from the VTCS/VICS screw ;)

wouldn't that be something!

That would be something but I pretty sure it's not the case. It was a pretty louding knocking that I could actually feel in the clutch pedal.
 
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