Shady Dealer Madness

[Srad600]

So I typically don't make these kinds of posts, but what happened today just aggravated me to no end and I'm in a sharing mood.

In 2015 my company leased a 2016 CX-5 and as part of the lease, I purchased a service agreement. The terms of the service agreement were that I would pre-pay X-amount of dollars, and Mazda would service the car at no additional charge for three years or 45,000 miles, whichever came first. That contract is good until 6/21/18, and the car currently has 37,000 miles on it. Seems like it should still be covered, right?

About 3 months ago, I bought out the lease so that my wife could get that car, and I got another lease. My wife takes the car in today for its first service since I bought out the lease. The service technician tells my wife (who is pregnant and due in seven days...) that the car has had "too many services" and they will no longer honor the service contract. According to him, the minimum service interval is supposed to be 7,500 miles, and we've had too many services done. Now, the contract that I have says absolutely nothing about service intervals...nothing. Also, the very dealer refusing to honor the service contract is the one who has set my service intervals for the past two years! They have known the entire time that it was under a prepaid contract and never said anything about a "minimum service interval" before we decided to buy out the lease.

I provided my wife with a copy of the agreement via e-mail to present to the service guy. He tells her, "oh that contract is too vague, you need to call corporate, we're not going to cover it". Well, the contract was not too vague for them to take my hard earned money. The contract was not too vague for them to service the car for the past 2.5 years. The contract was not too vague until I bought out the lease!! They are essentially stealing the remainder of my contract and telling me to go suck it. (bang)

What pisses me off is that I got my current company lease from the same dealership, I'm quite upset that I went out of my way to support the local guy only to be treated like this. I now have to lump this dealership into the "bunch of theives" category.

And, for the record my services were by the service manual. First two were 7,500 and the rest were at 5,000 (except for the recalls).
36,987 - standard service
33,955 - recall for lift gate damper
30,196 - regular service
25,042 - regular service
20,334 - regular service
15,647 - regular service
15,476 - recall fuel filler
7,500 - regular service

 

[Mr.Gadget]

I'd say you have small claims ammo there... I'm no expert but a contract is a contract

 

[mazdadude]

What I recall, was that there are 2 different plans available.
A 5,000 mile service interval plan called (SCHEDULE 2) . and a 7,500 mile service interval plan. called (SCHEDULE 1)

Here is the PDF to the CURRENT plan, page 2 of the PDF has the breakdown of the services... https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/pdf/owners/service/mazda-prepaid-maintenance-brochure.pdf

A quick look shows that if you bought Schedule 1 for 45k miles, that would be a total of 6 services. Whereas if you bought the schedule 2 plan for 45k miles, that is a total of 9 services.

It looks as if the dealer is claiming you bought a Schedule 1 plan, and then you changed your service intervals after your 15k service to a 5k mile interval.

meaning your 20,334 prepaid service was scheduled for 22,500
your 25,042 service was your prepaid 30,000
your 30,196 service was your prepaid 37,500
your 36,987 service was your last prepaid 45k service.

 

[yugrus]

You've got to talk to someone in charge for that business, not the service writer...

 

[dunhillmc]

The agreement you signed will indicate if you went with Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 service intervals. Schedule 1 (normal) will get you service at every 7500 mi, up to 2 times a year. Schedule 2 (adverse) will get you service every 5000 mi, up to 3 times a year

 

[Kaps]

Call the manager - preferably from your HR and say this has happened. Tell your HR to say - we are about to blacklist your bad dealership from any further corporate deals.
I dont like the idea of mixing personal and company transactions*. You should never have bought that car for personal use - unless ofcourse you own the business and its a small family run sort of thing.

* Also, as my corporate compliance guy would say - this is conflict of interest. Your company bought that contract - so dealer needs to service for the company - unless you paid for the pro rated service contract out of pocket - I cannot even argue that you should be getting the service.

Company pays for a pizza - eats 5 out of 6 slices. You eat the 6th. Thats ok only if you pay for the remainder contract or as i said the 6th piece out of pocket.

 

[Srad600]

I'd say you have small claims ammo there... I'm no expert but a contract is a contract

Yep, I've got it in black and white.

It looks as if the dealer is claiming you bought a Schedule 1 plan, and then you changed your service intervals after your 15k service to a 5k mile interval..

That is what it sounds like to me as well. The only issue with that is the contract I have does not state a service plan or type. It only states a final mileage or time limit. AND the dealer is the one who set my service intervals, not me?

You've got to talk to someone in charge for that business, not the service writer...

Agreed, I think this is my next step.

The agreement you signed will indicate if you went with Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 service intervals. Schedule 1 (normal) will get you service at every 7500 mi, up to 2 times a year. Schedule 2 (adverse) will get you service every 5000 mi, up to 3 times a year

It does not state anything about service intervals on the contract. If it did, I'd have thought the dealer would have brought it up before now. Bear in mind, I've been going to this same dealer for two years. They never mentioned anything until now.

Call the manager - preferably from your HR and say this has happened. Tell your HR to say - we are about to blacklist your bad dealership from any further corporate deals.
I dont like the idea of mixing personal and company transactions*. You should never have bought that car for personal use - unless ofcourse you own the business and its a small family run sort of thing.

* Also, as my corporate compliance guy would say - this is conflict of interest. Your company bought that contract - so dealer needs to service for the company - unless you paid for the pro rated service contract out of pocket - I cannot even argue that you should be getting the service.

Company pays for a pizza - eats 5 out of 6 slices. You eat the 6th. Thats ok only if you pay for the remainder contract or as i said the 6th piece out of pocket.

No conflict of interest, I am one of the owners of the company. And the entire company is only thirteen employees, so even though we're not related we run it like a mom & pop shop. The service contract was paid for by me (i.e. personal funds) because I thought I'd be simpler with a lease. And honestly, I bought the car because it was the most financially responsible way to purchase it. My "purchase price" after the lease was considerably less than the car was worth. The company gets a tax write off and I get an inexpensive car. Win win. (Except for this little issue).

All that aside, the contract says in b&w 45,000 miles or 3 years, whichever comes first. The car (although technically it changed ownership) never really changed hands. There seems to be no real reason to simply "decide" not to honor the contract now.

 

[mazdadude]

Yep, I've got it in black and white.
That is what it sounds like to me as well. The only issue with that is the contract I have does not state a service plan or type. It only states a final mileage or time limit. AND the dealer is the one who set my service intervals, not me?
Agreed, I think this is my next step.
It does not state anything about service intervals on the contract. If it did, I'd have thought the dealer would have brought it up before now. Bear in mind, I've been going to this same dealer for two years. They never mentioned anything until now.

No conflict of interest, I am one of the owners of the company. And the entire company is only thirteen employees, so even though we're not related we run it like a mom & pop shop. The service contract was paid for by me (i.e. personal funds) because I thought I'd be simpler with a lease. And honestly, I bought the car because it was the most financially responsible way to purchase it. My "purchase price" after the lease was considerably less than the car was worth. The company gets a tax write off and I get an inexpensive car. Win win. (Except for this little issue).

All that aside, the contract says in b&w 45,000 miles or 3 years, whichever comes first. The car (although technically it changed ownership) never really changed hands. There seems to be no real reason to simply "decide" not to honor the contract now.

Yes, in your case of your ambiguous contract, I feel that Contra proferentem is also applicable.

I would give the GM a chance to fix for you, and if not satisfied, next call would be the Mazda customer service hotline.

 

[shadonoz]

If I were you, I'd be pissed, too.
But what's at stake here [aside from principles]? The cost of one service?
Is it worth your time and effort to pursue a remedy? Beyond a few phone calls, of course.
Just wondering.

 

[Buzzman12]

Call the manager - preferably from your HR and say this has happened. Tell your HR to say - we are about to blacklist your bad dealership from any further corporate deals.

Yup, bite the bullet on this one and take your business elsewhere. Lesson learned.

 

[Srad600]

Yes, in your case of your ambiguous contract, I feel that Contra proferentem is also applicable.

I would give the GM a chance to fix for you, and if not satisfied, next call would be the Mazda customer service hotline.

So I re visited the link you posted earlier and the descriptions of the services reminded me of something on my contract. Turns out you are right, there is a code (it’s not spelled out) indicating what I think is the service schedule 1 ultimate package. I didn’t recognize it as such until I re read the information in your link.

So, as it turns out, I’m the dumbass for not fully understanding my contract terms. I won’t pursue anything since, even though it’s coded, it’s there. I should have asked the question before signing.

It’s still weird that the dealer has been setting my service intervals at 5k, and performing them without issue until now, but I’ll chalk that up as simple error.

 

[Srad600]

If I were you, I'd be pissed, too.
But what's at stake here [aside from principles]? The cost of one service?
Is it worth your time and effort to pursue a remedy? Beyond a few phone calls, of course.
Just wondering.

Completely correct, this likely wouldn’t have been worth my time. It was more an issue of principle, but turns out I was simply wrong...so there’s that.

 

[Srad600]

Yup, bite the bullet on this one and take your business elsewhere. Lesson learned.

Yep. Lesson learned for me: don’t just read the contract, ask questions and fully understand all the terms. Even the acronyms...they all mean something.

Oddly enough, the service tech didn’t recognize the code either?

 

[mazdadude]

So I re visited the link you posted earlier and the descriptions of the services reminded me of something on my contract. Turns out you are right, there is a code (it’s not spelled out) indicating what I think is the service schedule 1 ultimate package. I didn’t recognize it as such until I re read the information in your link.

So, as it turns out, I’m the dumbass for not fully understanding my contract terms. I won’t pursue anything since, even though it’s coded, it’s there. I should have asked the question before signing.

It’s still weird that the dealer has been setting my service intervals at 5k, and performing them without issue until now, but I’ll chalk that up as simple error.

(drinks)

yes, my dealer also sets the "window decal" service interval miles for 5000 also, even though we bought and adhere to the 7500 plan.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I almost wonder if they set it to 5k service intervals by default. When I was still getting free oil changes, I didn't even tell them which schedule I was following, they would automatically put 5k miles on the little oil sticker for the next service.

 

[alphadog00]

I have never had a dealer offer me any of these maintenance plans. I assume the price is somewhat negotiable as i don't see it in the brochure. Is it usually good discount for those that get dealer maintenance?

 

[Puyapim]

Still, it does sound like the dealer could have been more diplomatic on the situation rather than the “you are cut off “ attitude.

 

[xwedge]

which dealership are you talking about?

 

[Srad600]

Still, it does sound like the dealer could have been more diplomatic on the situation rather than the you are cut off attitude.

I agree. The thing is when my wife presented the contract to the service guy he couldn't point to anything on it that indicated the service schedule, and I never noticed it until Mazdadude's post. That part should have been more professional.

which dealership are you talking about?

The Mazda dealer in Corona.

 

[Srad600]

I almost wonder if they set it to 5k service intervals by default. When I was still getting free oil changes, I didn't even tell them which schedule I was following, they would automatically put 5k miles on the little oil sticker for the next service.

Yup, this seems to be the case.