Need some advice on an ******* dealership voiding warranty - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

enRo · 11-07-2008, 08:55 PM

A couple days ago, my girlfriend decided to take her newly purchased 2007 Mazda6 v6 with 21K miles to my local mechanic for an oil change since it was due (sometimes I've heard dealers voiding warranties for that but I was told by the dealer that it had no effect). Anyway, she takes it there and my mechanic looks at the positive battery terminal and notice a very large amount of corrosion. So, my mechanic pointed it out to my girlfriend and said that he can clean it off but it will have to go to the dealer to get fixed. He goes ahead and does his thing, he sprays corrosion eater, wirebrushed it, and put protectors on it to get her through the next few days, warning her that the wire is barely holding onto the terminal.

So, the next day she goes to start the car and sure as hell, it wont crank. So I go to pop the hood and take a look for the first time and I was in aww at how much corrosion there was. I didnt realize how bad it was until I first looked at it. It was so bad the metal tip on the positive cable was barely there, and the corrosion went about 6 inches down the cable. There was literally no copper wire to be seen. The engine bay was covered in little chunks of corrosion from when the mechanic cleaned it off. So, me being me, I say "We shouldnt have to pay for a tow, Ill just run to autozone and get a connector and do a little rig job to get it to the dealer" so I wouldnt void the warranty. So what I did is I bought a brass connector and attached the metal tip on the positive cable to it and got a connection. No cutting, no splicing, nothing was tampered with.

So we take it to Open Road Mazda in Morristown (would have went to wayne, but long story short, they previously sold my girlfriend a 2005 mazda6 that ended up being a lemon, which is why she currently has a 2007). Drop it off. Today she got a call and they told her they are completely voiding the warranty because the wire was "tampered with". WTF. I called and got no answer. I called my mechanic and he told me "tell them to call me if they want specific details about the condition of the terminals when I looked at it".

Anyway, the dealer said it will cost $400 plus labor because they have to replace the entire wiring harness........ bull ****ing ****. Suggestions?

BonzoHansen · 11-07-2008, 08:58 PM

Talk to the service manager. when he says no, ask for the mazda regional manager's number. Make sure you get everyone's name, make sure they know yopu are talking their names down "now how do you spell that?" or some crap like that.

NJ Torque · 11-07-2008, 09:34 PM

Its law that they can't void your warranty by doing scheduled maintiance at other facilitys.

Like Bonzo says, Keep going higher and higher up in mangemant... Ask for a service manager, since you probably just talked to some pos advisor.

BonzoHansen · 11-07-2008, 09:38 PM

make noise, I know you can

SupermanX24 · 11-07-2008, 09:43 PM

shoulda learned after the first mazda! lol, i'm just bustin your balls. But these guys are right, they can't void the warranty for having PM work done else where and talk to the regional manager.

enRo · 11-07-2008, 09:45 PM

Im gonna take a trip down there tomorrow, with the receipt I have of the Oil Change PLUS them listing a memo on the receipt that states in exact words "Showed customer terminal corrosion. Instructed that wiring harness and positive terminal must be replaced. Customer refused because she claims it could be covered under dealership warranty."

But really, $400 for a ****ing wiring harness? Thats out-****in-rageous. They are very lucky they didnt talk to me on the phone....

enRo · 11-07-2008, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SupermanX24

shoulda learned after the first mazda!

Well thats the thing... after very long talks with the first mazda being a lemon, they voluntarily offered her a 2007 with 25k less miles and more options for the same price, so it was a bargain.

ryanfx · 11-08-2008, 01:49 AM

mazda absolutely loves voiding warranties... I got a buddy of mine on a mazda forum and that's ALL they bitch about

Jersey_TA · 11-08-2008, 03:01 AM

DEFINITELY go higher up. You will be surprised what happens when you call corporate

Trust me I know. Happend to me and the vette 2 weeks ago. Just ask Kelsey(1_Hot_SOM_WS6). P.S. Thank you Kelsey

jims69camaro · 11-08-2008, 05:04 AM

all of those levels of management are there for a reason. if you don't utilize them, it's as if they are there for nothing. not that all they do is customer complaints all day, but you'd be surprised how the higher up you go the more attention to your problem there is. and if you call someone and they say they will call the store and speak with the manager, but you hear nothing back, call them again. still nothing? call their boss. no one likes to get called to the carpet for something as easy to fix as a customer complaint. sometimes it takes someone out in left field to get the job done, so don't be shy about calling a regional manager for a different region. that always gets results, especially if you can get them to listen to your problem.

enRo · 11-08-2008, 10:14 AM

Update: Called and asked for service manager... spoke with him. He said "You took terminal off the positive wire". I sorta laughed a little bit, and I replied with "There was barely any terminal left. I couldnt even snip it off (good thing i didnt) because it was so corroded" . Then I replied with "All we did was preform a routine maintenece at my local mechanic and he pointed out that there was so much corrosion the terminal was barely holding on". And he then replied with "You have to come down here and show me what you did." So its off to the dealer I go...

Do I have to choke a bitch?

BonzoHansen · 11-08-2008, 10:18 AM

Yes

(I wanted the wayne brady one, but this one made me laugh more)

enRo · 11-08-2008, 06:53 PM

Got it straightened out. Turns out they needed their eyes checked... they said that I cut the connector off the positive wire... it was still there. They didnt see it. Thats how bad the corrosion was. Got a ride in a new TL while I was there. Very tempting to buy

1_Hot_SOM_WS6 · 11-08-2008, 08:43 PM

Good thing that you got it all worked out. I was going to say def go higher and make some noise. they dont like that, they really dont like when you advise that you will be contacting corporate.

qwikz28 · 11-08-2008, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDaddyKane

Got it straightened out. Turns out they needed their eyes checked... they said that I cut the connector off the positive wire... it was still there. They didnt see it. Thats how bad the corrosion was. Got a ride in a new TL while I was there. Very tempting to buy

how new? the new ones have a super weird front grill. cool cars though

enRo · 11-08-2008, 11:41 PM

It was an 06 i believe, not the new new ones, but pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

maroman88 · 11-09-2008, 01:56 AM

glas u got it worke dout.... i think the new new TL is uglyyyyyyy

qwikz28 · 11-09-2008, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDaddyKane

It was an 06 i believe, not the new new ones, but pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

yeah i drove my friends type s. didn't like it better than some of the competition but its pretty damn nice. FWD kills it, but luckily the new ones come with acura's slick AWD system. i'm still a huge fan of the older body styles circa 99-03 i believe. awesome cars

Frosty · 11-09-2008, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maroman88

glas u got it worke dout....

Drink much?

Frosty · 11-09-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwikz28

yeah i drove my friends type s. didn't like it better than some of the competition but its pretty damn nice. FWD kills it, but luckily the new ones come with acura's slick AWD system. i'm still a huge fan of the older body styles circa 99-03 i believe. awesome cars

I always loved the 3.2 CL Type-S's. They're getting cheap, they'd make a kick ass daily driver.

qwikz28 · 11-09-2008, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty

I always loved the 3.2 CL Type-S's. They're getting cheap, they'd make a kick ass daily driver.

even better

sweetbmxrider · 11-09-2008, 01:31 PM

glad it worked out. that would have been absolute bs.

czipodrive · 11-12-2008, 12:58 PM

I took my Speed 3 into Morristown Mazda. Spoke with the service manager about a simular issue but it was just battery corrosion. The Service advisor was this older guy and he tried to sell me a battery service at 8k miles for like $50.. I got pretty upset and asked for the Manager. Young guy came out. charles or chris or something.. He was actually pretty cool about it. Told me if I promised him a good survey he'd take car of the battery cleaning for me free. I agreed and he cleaned my battery and put some spongy red and blue things on it. Everythings been cool since. Gave him a 100% on the survey and he called up and thanked me. Gave me some free oil changes too. Odd to hear that he tried to screw you over.

Maybe I should try Wayne.. anyone have any experience with Wayne Mazda?