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Car Warranty #1632900
28/05/2019 22:59
28/05/2019 22:59
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
robcal Offline OP
Making a profit
robcal  Offline OP
Making a profit

Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
Need some advice regarding a warranty kn my car. I bought a Mazda 6 from new a couple of years ago and have had no issues whatsoever with it since then until I mislaid my key. Not a problem I thought- use the spare. Unfortunately the spare key didn't work. There was a flashing red light when I pressed the button, but nothing happened.

I bought a new battery on the off chance, but it made no difference - light flashed, nothing happened though. Luckily the original key did turn up (long story) not long before the low loader was sue to arrive to get me out of the airport carpark I was stuck in grr

I took my spare in when I got the car serviced and asked to have it fixed under warranty, only to be told that the warranty was now invalidated because I'd changed the battery.

So, with something like this, do I have to use the main dealer, or can I go to another garage and ask them to reprogram the key and then bill Mazda?

Re: Car Warranty [Re: robcal] #1632903
29/05/2019 05:50
29/05/2019 05:50
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 16,603
Corridor of Uncertainty
J
Jim_Clennell Offline
Forum veteran
Jim_Clennell  Offline
Forum veteran
J

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 16,603
Corridor of Uncertainty
robcal, I have a great deal of sympathy with your story. Hard experience has taught me that aftermarket warranties on cars are not worth the paper they're written on. Good luck getting anything out of Mazda or the dealer.

Re: Car Warranty [Re: robcal] #1632909
29/05/2019 07:42
29/05/2019 07:42
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,385
Lightwater, Surrey
DaveG Offline
Club Treasurer Member 311
DaveG  Offline
Club Treasurer Member 311
Je suis un Coupé

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 8,385
Lightwater, Surrey
Take a look at the Motor Ombudsman, you could submit a complaint, have a look here

However, sometimes writing direct to the Managing Director / CEO of the UK office of the manufacturer (and/or the dealer head office) sometimes works wonders wink


1996 Portofino 20vt & 2000 Pearl White Plus
1985½ & 2016 2017 Fiat 124 Spider + XF Sportbrake
Re: Car Warranty [Re: robcal] #1633187
07/06/2019 22:31
07/06/2019 22:31
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
robcal Offline OP
Making a profit
robcal  Offline OP
Making a profit

Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
Cheers for the link to the ombudsman. Gave me the opportunity to pen a snooty email which I hope will have ruffled
a few feathers:

Quote
Dear sir, 


I wish to inform you that I have escalated my dispute regarding my car warranty to the Motor Ombudsman and to seek some clarity as to which organisation my dispute lies with. 


I previously contacted one of your representatives at Brayley Mazda, Grays,  to explain my dissatisfaction with the way my warranty claim relating to a faulty key fob had been handled. Whilst I appreciated the swift response to my email (dated 7th May), I still feel that the warranty should have been honoured, primarily for the following reasons:


1) There was no evidence that the key has ever worked whilst in my possession

2) I was informed that when the mechanic looked at the key there was clear and 'obvious damage' to the metal prongs within the key fob. Upon further inspection I believe this to be false.

3) I am yet to be convinced that the key lost it's programming because of a low battery charge, yet there was enough power to illuminate the LED light when the keys were depressed. 

4) I find it frankly ridiculous that changing a battery in the key fob has invalidated the warranty - I was informed that some customers have the battery changed by the garage in order to prevent this from happening (presumably at a cost). Whilst this may be considered as a recommendation under the terms and conditions of the warranty, I find that it portrays Mazda UK in a particularly poor light and I wonder how many other manufacturers encourage this practise. 


When giving your reasons for not honouring the warranty, both of the representatives I have spoken to (________ and ______) have explained that this is representative of the policy of Mazda UK, and that the key would not be repaired free of charge by Mazda, nor by other car manufacturers. I explained at the time to both representatives that this was disappointing and would dissuade me from buying another Mazda in the future. I would like to seek clarification before proceeding further as to whether my dispute is with Brayley Mazda, or with Mazda UK as has been suggested by Ms. O____


As per the Motoring Ombudsman guidelines, I am currently seeking an independent assessment of the key to establish whether or not the key fob was damaged by myself, or whether it is reasonable to assume that the key was faulty from the point of manufacture. This will be at a cost of £199 inclusive of VAT, but should my appeal to the ombudsman be accepted, then either Brayley Mazda, Grays, or Mazda UK would be liable to cover this cost in addition to any costs of repairing the faulty key.


As there has been 1 month since I raised the complaint and I still feel it has not been dealt with satisfactorily, I am left no further option but to proceed with my representation to the ombudsman, but would like clarification as to whom I should direct my complaint to.


For further reference, I have copied the text of my original complaint, dated 7th May below, and have attached photographs of the faulty key fob, which apparently has obvious damage.


Kind regards,




Response from Mazda was interesting:


Quote

Thank you for taking the time to raise this with Mazda Motors UK.

 

I am sorry to learn of the experience at Brayley’s Mazda and appreciate how frustrating this experience must be. All Mazda Dealerships are independently owned Franchised business that we invest lots of time and money into to ensure they are performing as we expect, it is disappointing to hear on this occasion the dealership have not maintained the levels that we aspire and I am sorry they have fallen short. We do advise raising any disputes with the Mazda Dealership directly which I can see has already been done.

 

We can advise getting the vehicle booked into another Mazda Dealership for a second opinion and ask they take a look at the concerns with the key fob. We can see Essex Mazda are approx. 5 miles away so this may be an option, they can be contacted on 01268 522744. At present, based on the information we have we cannot say if it is covered by the warranty or not as we do not know what the failure is. However, if the car can be presented to Essex we can take a look at this in a bit more detail once a Mazda Warranty claim has been submitted.

 

If there is anything else I can do please do get back in touch.




Going to take their advice and go to the other dealership. I also attached photos which clearly show no damage.

Re: Car Warranty [Re: robcal] #1633188
08/06/2019 08:19
08/06/2019 08:19
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,520
Berlin
barnacle Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
barnacle  Offline
Club Member 18 - ex-Minister without Portfolio
Forum Demigod

Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 33,520
Berlin
Amazing... any electronics engineer who designs a long-life product which loses essential information when the batteries are changed should be drummed out of the business. Equally, there is no way changing a battery should *ever* invalidate a warranty, if the battery is designed to be changeable - it's a user serviceable part.

As a recent example, I recently rebuilt the key for my ten-year old Bravo: a blank from the bay, recut for twenty quid at the local key place, and transferred the entire electronics package with no more sophisticated tools than a small cross-head screwdriver. Amazingly, the battery was removed and replaced during this process. It worked, as expected, first time...


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Don't get no respect! Coupe Fiat 1994-2000 - an owner's guide <-- clicky!
Re: Car Warranty [Re: barnacle] #1633196
08/06/2019 12:22
08/06/2019 12:22
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
robcal Offline OP
Making a profit
robcal  Offline OP
Making a profit

Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 325
Benfleet, Essex
Pretty much what I said when I explained why I was cross about the whole thing. The key had never worked though, the fact they said changing the battery could have caused it to break hardly helped their cause.

I've explained to the dealership that I wont be using them for future servicing, and that when I buy a new car in August I'll be going elsewhere. They weren't interested though - I'd have thought they'd not want to lose custom over something that could have been easily resolved with better customer service.

Re: Car Warranty [Re: barnacle] #1633219
09/06/2019 17:49
09/06/2019 17:49
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 70
Rijeka, Croatia
gturcic20vT Offline
Reaping the fruits
gturcic20vT  Offline
Reaping the fruits

Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 70
Rijeka, Croatia
Originally Posted by barnacle
Amazing... any electronics engineer who designs a long-life product which loses essential information when the batteries are changed should be drummed out of the business


Off topic, but I couldn't pass a comment.
I'm sure You'd have many kind words for the monkeys that run croatian motorways... User unit that enables electronic
/stopless paying of motorway toll is run of a proprietary internal 1.5V battery, that can't be recharged or replaced by user. When empty /low voltage, the unit looses all data, because it's stored in RAM not ROM memory, and you have to buy a new unit (18€). It has 1y warranty, and usually goes flat after 2-3years.


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