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View Full Version : Erin Mills Mazda & Direct Mazda - Service exp. on: 2012/01/09



MoN-KeiGH
01-10-2012, 01:51 PM
Hello TM3,

I just wanted to share my experience with these 2 VERY different dealerships I had last evening.

Quick little background, I had taken possession of my 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 on 2011/03/15 from EMM and had paid for the car outright. The experience with the dealership was neutral at that time due to the price I was able to negotiate.

Moving forward to 2012; Last week in the bone chilling weather, I had trouble with my car starting; so this past Saturday I paid Jimmy a visit for my 24k service and to test my battery to see if the starting issue was battery related. I have nothing but good things to say about Jimmy and Street Performance. Jimmy had diagnosed the start-up issue to the battery when under load and said due to the age of the car, the battery should be covered under warranty.

So yesterday afternoon, I headed straight to EMM (figured having purchased my vehicle and extended warranty from them) to explain the situation. Upon arrival at around 4:15pm, the only person at the service counter was on the phone with another customer concerning engine issues and warranty coverage. I could tell right then and there that I was going to get the run around.
Before talking to the service rep, I went and located the sales manager whom I had fairly good rapport with to explain the issue. I was advised to speak with Ravi but was intercepted by the salesman I had dealt with, so I explained the situation once again only to be told that I had to make and appointment with service for them to diagnose the issue for themselves so I grudgingly made an appointment for after work today at 4:30pm today as they were clearly not willing to listen to the customer at this point.

Upon leaving EMM at around 5:00pm, I decided to stop by to Direct Mazda on the way home to see if they would be a little more willing to lend on open ear to my plight.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by Chris H the service and parts Specialist whom I had met briefly back in March to purchase my trunk matt and bumper scuff plates. It was definitely a breath of fresh air to be treated like a human being when I was explaining my situation. Even though the service dept. was closing down on a Monday evening, Chris explained that they must test the battery with their fancy machine in order to have Mazda replace the battery under warranty.

About 20 minutes AFTER the service dept had closed for the evening, I was on my way with a new battery replaced fully under the warranty.

This morning, I called back EMM to cancel my appointment. I spoke with a lady to process my cancellation. I was asked if I would like to reschedule my appoint for another time…knowing that this lady had nothing to do with my experience the evening before; I just advised her that the issue was resolved by Direct Mazda after leaving their service dept, and that I would be submitting a formal complaint to Mazda Head office.

The only response I received was: ‘thank you for letting me know’, and the call was ended.

In short, I would like to thank Chris of Direct Mazda for going above and beyond in taking care of me and my MS3. Suffice to say; I will NOT be going back to EMM for ANY service work ever again.

The differences of the two dealerships were like day and night, a little customer service goes a LOOOONG way! :headbang

Thank you for taking the time to read about my experiences.

Hyperion
01-10-2012, 02:00 PM
I must say, that is one of the more fair reviews I've heard from a person with less than 10 posts.
Thanks for letting us know.

Jeff-TheBiz
01-10-2012, 02:17 PM
welcome...

a couple of things:


Quick little background, I had taken possession of my 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 on 2011/03/15 from EMM and had paid for the car outright. The experience with the dealership was neutral at that time due to the price I was able to negotiate.

So your experience before was neutral because you got a good deal? a bad deal? not sure i understand what you meant there..


so this past Saturday I paid Jimmy a visit for my 24k service and to test my battery to see if the starting issue was battery related. I have nothing but good things to say about Jimmy and Street Performance. Jimmy had diagnosed the start-up issue to the battery when under load and said due to the age of the car, the battery should be covered under warranty.

Yeah, Jimmy is great...

Even though I work at a dealership, many times I have considered going to see Jimmy...


This morning, I called back EMM to cancel my appointment. I spoke with a lady to process my cancellation. I was asked if I would like to reschedule my appoint for another time…knowing that this lady had nothing to do with my experience the evening before; I just advised her that the issue was resolved by Direct Mazda after leaving their service dept, and that I would be submitting a formal complaint to Mazda Head office.

The only response I received was: ‘thank you for letting me know’, and the call was ended.

Not surprised, almost every dealer uses an offsite company that maintains the appointments of service.. the person you spoke to most likely has nothing to do with the dealership.

MoN-KeiGH
01-10-2012, 02:33 PM
Hyperion - Thank you for the kind words :)

Jeff-TheBiz -
I would only express by initial purchase experience as neutral because I had read both the postitive and negatve reviews on TM3 before visiting the dealership in person. I had gone into the dealership not expecting too much; and with that....my experience was not horrible (had to fight for them to honour the price I was initially quoted tho); nor was it exceptional - Thus the neutral experience.

Hope that cleared a few things up :)

sharkbait
01-10-2012, 03:56 PM
[QUOTE=MoN-KeiGH;872912] I just advised her that the issue was resolved by Direct Mazda after leaving their service dept, and that I would be submitting a formal complaint to Mazda Head office. The only response I received was: ‘thank you for letting me know’, and the call was ended.QUOTE]

im confused as to what you would submit a complaint for. it seems that everything worked out in the end, the advisor made an attempt to look at your car at the earliest possible and direct managed to have it inspected and replaced asap.

Timotee
01-10-2012, 08:18 PM
Nice to hear about your pleasant experience with Direct Mazda.

I guess you were the dude wearing a black goat waiting by the service area. You parked beside a 2010 Graphite Grey Sedan, which was mine. Nice speed 3 bro! :)

S.F.W.
01-10-2012, 09:13 PM
..
I guess you were the dude wearing a black goat waiting by the service area.

I hope that is a typo...I have never seen anyone wear a GOAT

SonicBoy
01-10-2012, 10:14 PM
:chuckle

You have a good eye there Ami!

MoN-KeiGH
01-11-2012, 10:09 AM
Nice to hear about your pleasant experience with Direct Mazda.

I guess you were the dude wearing a black coat waiting by the service area. You parked beside a 2010 Graphite Grey Sedan, which was mine. Nice speed 3 bro! :)

Yup that was me! Definitely had a great experience with Direct Mazda...Sorry I seemed distracted and not very chatty; I was still worked up from the whole experience with EMM at that time.




im confused as to what you would submit a complaint for. it seems that everything worked out in the end, the advisor made an attempt to look at your car at the earliest possible and direct managed to have it inspected and replaced asap.

Pls don't get me wrong, I am never one to ever complain about anything to anyone...this would be a first for me.

I am as happy as can be right now, everything is running butter-ey smooth on my baby. In addition to the 24k service, I also had jimmy install a RMM and a pair of hella horns on top of going full synthetic.

This account of my experience isn't really meant to bash EMM, even though I had offered to pull the battery in the parking lot so it'd be easier for them to test; BUT, its more of a kudos to Chris of Direct Mazda for going that extra mile in maintaining customer faith in dealership service and providing excellent customer relations.

Chris had listened to me carefully while I was explaining my issues with the vehicle, and he knew right away that the battery would have to be replaced. EMM after listening to me explain the issue, wanted me to leave the vehicle for half day to re-diagnose the starting issue for themselves. All they put onto the work order was ‘customer having trouble starting car in the cold’.

Chris had kept the service dept. open past the closing time, had a mechanic stay after hours to complete the work while we hung around shooting the sh!t.

Once again, great thanks to Chris at Direct Mazda on a job well done and for simply treating me like a human being as opposed to a work number.

Oh, and I guess at the bare bones...it was quite lame having my coworkers 02' VW diesel Golf jump start my new 10' MS3..

I suppose submitting a complaint to Mazda HQ may not help; but at the very least, I wanted someone at Mazda HQ to know about my experiences with the two dealerships and have Chris recognized for going above and beyond the job title.



More of an aside:
The 24k service by jimmy:

My appointment was scheduled for 1pm (closing time on the schedule out front) to get 24k service + RMM & hella horns installed. Unfortunately I had brought the wrong connectors for the horns, and jimmy had to have some female connectors brought in so he could complete the installation.
Jimmy was quite thorough and meticulous in changing the oil, completing the break service, and greasing all hinges (even the ones on the gas door!)
Due to the wrong parts, and how busy Jimmy was; I stayed until roughly 5pm which I didn’t mind at all. The quality workmanship and good company was TOP NOTCH!

I’m fairly sure Jimmy hadn’t planned on being stuck in his shop on a Saturday for over 4 hours after the listed closing time, working on my vehicle.

I definitely will be going back to Street Performance and would highly recommend the shop to everyone!!

mazda72
01-11-2012, 12:31 PM
Ive had numerous bad experiences with Erin Mill Mazda, the final straw was when their tech left my oil cap unscrewed after changing my oil. Its a good thing i checked everything when I got home!

My greatest complain was that their service takes forever, simple oil changes take up to 2 hrs. I don't know about you but I think thats completely ridiculous Im not willing to wait that long and waste my precious time.

it seems like all they care about is selling cars but not customer service.

You are right about Direct Mazda, Ive had great experience with them for almost 2 years now.

garin_c
01-23-2012, 05:56 PM
Picking up my Mazda3 Sport GS SKY tomorrow :D

Barrie and the team were great to deal with!

meyers1469
02-06-2012, 03:27 PM
I am very disappointed with the Sales team here....i bought a 2010 mazda tribute from direct mazda, previous purchase was a mazda 3 @ dufferin mazda....Al the sales associate was very pleasant helped out up until the papers were signed...the purchase price (undisclosed) was for 0 down 0payments for 90days and an ipad2

i got 1 out of 3 of those things...the ipad2 i had to pay 1500 @ signing, and payments right from the get go...when i called to get my 90day deferral it wasn't accepted because the car was a 2010 not a 2011 or 2012(which wasn't explained @ the time of signing) Al doesn't want anything to help me because the sale is done and he made his money....very disappointed...