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:
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:
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.