Here is what Mazda did well - the problem occurred away from home in another state on our first road trip. The service department at the out of town dealer was great. Mazda flatbedded the car back to my residence after the transmission was replaced. Mazda reimbursed us for one month of the lease payment in compensation for the 21 day total the car was in the shop before it was returned to us.
Here is where Mazda did not live up to expectations:
-Someone from Mazda corporate should have apologized. My brand new car at a high trim level had a failed and defective transmission that nearly caused us (in our view) to have a collision with a truck in the rain.
-Mazda had me rent a car during the 3 week repair/return period on a personal credit card and then apply for reimbursement (still in process).
-Mazda failed to reimburse me for any portion of our vacation (AirBnb fees) while we were dealing with the car trouble.
-Mazda made me unsure whether the failed transmission replacement (which came out to $8000 in the end) would be covered under warranty initially because we had replaced the stock tires with high performance tires due to what we thought was poor handling but was actually a defective transmission - see above re: near accident due to poor shifting/acceleration/handling. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of grief.
-Mazda did not include in the one month's reimbursed lease payment (not paid yet) any portion of the downpayment (about $9600 for the term).
Mazda - you should have done better. The transmission should not have been defective - but that can happen as a one-off even with good engineering and quality controls. But, as a consumer, I was disappointed and worried about safety. In any event, your customer service policies should allow for exceptions to guidelines and allow for reimbursement and/or replacement of a vehicle when it fails when it has less than 1000 miles on the odometer. I am very disappointed in my new car.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Here is what Mazda did well - the problem occurred away from home in another state on our first road trip. The service department at the out of town dealer was great. Mazda flatbedded the car back to my residence after the transmission was replaced. Mazda reimbursed us for one month of the lease payment in compensation for the 21 day total the car was in the shop before it was returned to us.
Here is where Mazda did not live up to expectations:
-Someone from Mazda corporate should have apologized. My brand new car at a high trim level had a failed and defective transmission that nearly caused us (in our view) to have a collision with a truck in the rain.
-Mazda had me rent a car during the 3 week repair/return period on a personal credit card and then apply for reimbursement (still in process).
-Mazda failed to reimburse me for any portion of our vacation (AirBnb fees) while we were dealing with the car trouble.
-Mazda made me unsure whether the failed transmission replacement (which came out to $8000 in the end) would be covered under warranty initially because we had replaced the stock tires with high performance tires due to what we thought was poor handling but was actually a defective transmission - see above re: near accident due to poor shifting/acceleration/handling. As you can imagine, this caused a lot of grief.
-Mazda did not include in the one month's reimbursed lease payment (not paid yet) any portion of the downpayment (about $9600 for the term).
Mazda - you should have done better. The transmission should not have been defective - but that can happen as a one-off even with good engineering and quality controls. But, as a consumer, I was disappointed and worried about safety. In any event, your customer service policies should allow for exceptions to guidelines and allow for reimbursement and/or replacement of a vehicle when it fails when it has less than 1000 miles on the odometer. I am very disappointed in my new car.
- sadmazdacx9driver, Bethesda, US