Here is a description of my recent new Mazda purchase experience at CardinaleWay Mazda, a relatively new dealership located in Mesa, Arizona:

1) CardinaleWay is the only Mazda dealership in the Phoenix area that installs front license plate brackets on their cars (a front license plate is not required in Arizona, however). On my Mazda3, this required drilling two holes in an otherwise pristine factory-fresh bumper. I had told my salesperson I didn't want the bracket but it was installed anyway. When I protested, the bracket was removed, and the holes were filled and painted at no charge to me.

2) I was required to sign an agreement waiving my rights to a jury or court trial if I have an unresolved dispute or claim with the dealership. The agreement stipulates that all disputes or claims will be handled by a third-party arbitrator. Of the six Mazda dealerships in the Phoenix area, only CardinaleWay and one other dealership require such an agreement.

3) My transactions with the finance staff were videotaped and recorded.

4) I was overcharged for my vehicle's title and license fees. When I protested, the amount was refunded.

5) I canceled a pre-paid accessory installation before taking delivery of the car. The correct amount of money was not refunded, however. When I protested, an additional amount was refunded.

6) My car was not clean nor properly prepped at the time of delivery. Among other issues, I found water spots etched into the roof paint and rear window. Because I didn't trust the dealership to do a satisfactory job of removing the stains, I did it myself, spending a couple hours in my driveway carefully rubbing out the spots with a special cleaner.

7) FREE OIL CHANGES FOR LIFE: This is CardinaleWay's signature service. I was told by my salesperson that I would be able to have 20 free oil changes for as long as I own my car, and that the 20 oil changes could be done at any time. I asked if I could get a free oil change every 3,000 miles and he answered yes. Apparently my salesperson had briefly stepped out of the dealership’s self-proclaimed “No Lie Zone.” In fact, I signed a form at the time of delivery that limits my free oil changes to Mazda’s maintenance schedule, or every 7,500 miles or six months. I later asked the "Certified Mazda Master Mechanic" service advisor what brand of oil they use. He said he didn't know.

8) Soon after the time of delivery I had to have two items on the car fixed under warranty. Both items were supposedly repaired but each item had to be repaired again (this time, at another dealership) because of either faulty workmanship or the wrong part had been replaced.

9) I wrote a letter to the general manager of the dealership, the corporate owners in California and Mazda's corporate office stating the problems with my experience. I received no replies.

 

Man thats horrible, thats the same stuff i went through with my KIA. Here's what happened 1st, when i first recieved my 2002 KIA Sportage (used), i was excited cuz i finally get to drive my own car....WRONG lets just say ive had the car in the shop longer than i was actually able to drive it. The car or mini SUV as my mom calls it was so terrible, the first day i got to drive it, within that same week i had to take it back cuz the engine light was on for no reason, it took about 4 days to for Bob Bell Chevrolet to say we cant find the problem, so i took it back mesteriosly the light went off after a few hours and stayed off, alright so im driving for about 6 days before something else happens, a ratteling noise and the A/C vents were not pushing out air like its supposed to, so that took them 3 days to fix that, so im driving again and something else happens my factory headunit blew, took it back, took 2 days to fix, got it back for 10 days, then something else happens my timing belt was messing up took it back waited 2 weeks for them to say we cant figure out why this keeps happening so they took it to a actual dealership took them 1 week fix and 3 days to get back, in no time at all the same thing happens, plus my alternator belt broke. Went to complain about all **** we went through and our dealer had already quit. So atleast its not just you.

 

wow, that is a terrible place, I know exactly where that is, i almost went there to look at the Mazda's. I purchased mine at Earnhardt Mazda in Chandler, never had any problems with them so far, i have taken the car there for all oil changes (3 so far), and not a problem. they did my window tint for $150, instead of the $300 normal charge. My cousin is a fleet manager at Earnhardt, so I got the car at invoice ($15,150). Next time you have a service issue, head over to Earnhardt Mazda in chandler, good people over there. Nice to see another Mazda owner in Az, you should come over to the Scottsdale Pavilions tonight, they have a car show every weekend, I am going to be there in between the Home Depot and YC's Mongolian BBq place, with the Supra owners.

 

wait what kind of 3 do you have again? cuz i got mine for ~$12,500, and i could get a window tint for my car, any persent tint, all windows, ~$80.

 

That's where I got mine! It was a nightmare! I had problems with the financing and kept calling and calling every day for at least a week, and finally I was informed at least a month later, that the guy in charge of my finances hadn't even worked there for a few weeks. WOW.

And just to make sure...since I can't trust a word they say, it's free oil changes for LIFE, or just 20?

They (the salesmen) also kept telling me that I have 2 free details a year with my new purchase, and I called asking about it about six months later and the guy in the service dept. that I was speaking to, told me that they would never give out two free details a year and that that was never even a "deal" they gave.

So irritating.

 

Bought our Mazda 5 from CardinaleWay. (We live ~110 miles away,but thelocal dealer claimed he couldn't get a base model in White.)
We bought with the Costco online program. We conversed by email at some length, described our trade-in, etc. etc. and made an appointment for the day and time of the transaction.
So we got there at the appointed time and an "associate" took us out to describe the Mazda 5 like we had just wandered onto the lot from Burger King or something. We knew more about the car than he did.
Eventually they took us in and started filling out papers. Why they hadn't started filling these things out based on our emails I don't know. Well, yes I do - the car had not been prepped at all, still had the plastic wrap all over it. (In fact, we found some of the underframe plugs in the glove box - and installed them at home.)
Then they reduced our trade in value, under the already-low value agreed on. When asked about it, the sales manager told us, "Oh, I was taking into account the taxes you'll save based on trading in. So actually, you're getting even MORE for your trade-in than we agreed on." Hogwash! Do they include taxes when they post prices on the cars? We finally caved on that, $300, but we wanted to GET OUT. Whenever we found a problem like that - and there were several - the finance guy would start reminding us that all he did was fill in the papers. He would call in a sales guy, who would walk in nervously, tell us that's the way things were, and leave.
Then we find a $400 line item for window tinting, which we had not discussed. The windows weren't tinted. The sales manager said, sure they are - we tint them all. We called him on that and he finally agreed to RE-TINT with a darker film. (Curiously, when we took the car back two weeks later to have it done, the dealer's tint guy agreed they they hadn't been tinted before. He then tried to charge us $80 for a dark-but-legal tint.)
In short, what could have been an easy, no-hassledeal for both partiesturned out to be a 4-hour pain.

Love the car. The Dealer........

 

It sounds like they are a good dealer to stay away from at all costs!!
Old school used car dealer tactics simply are not good for business in this day and age... and never really were. But with the Internet now in the picture, word gets around about places like this one much faster and w/a farther reach than before.
$400 for tint?? Mine was only $200 and was already installed on the car.

 

Dang, I can get mine done for $180, and that is through the Stealership [8D]

 

Got my car here: http://showcasemazda.com/No complaints.

 

Wow. I don't think I'd stick around after the first one or two issues like this. Mine wanted to charge me the $150 in tint they put on the car but I told him you can't order tint on Mazda's website when building your car and I didn't give a shi about what they decided to put on it. He backed down. All in all, I've had a really good experience with this dealer and got a happy bday letter from my saleswoman.