Curtis Campbell

Review of Vancouver Mazda-Dodge

I purchased a 2016 Certified Pre-Owned CX-5 here i...

I purchased a 2016 Certified Pre-Owned CX-5 here in (January 2020, currently late October 2020) and while the sales experience was fine, I have had to deal with them several times since and it has been an incredibly terrible experience and they blatantly mislead customers. I know dealerships are salesmen and want people to come in as often as possible, but none I have been to have ever done it so egregiously as this one.

After suffering a dead battery earlier in the year due to my error originally (left my dash cam plugged in over a week) they made it incredibly difficult and I actually ended up stranded.

I took it in after it had died twice within a 2 day period and a long drive, and unplugging the cam. They allegedly charged the battery, tested it and it cost me $70.

It died again a few days later (4 or 5, no cam plugged in), and I brought it in a second time. They said they would charge it fully, test the battery and inspect for draws etc. Why didn't they do this the first time instead of just assuming I did something wrong? They did this (didn't charge me, which is kind of amazing considering how they run their business), and it died again, while driving and I needed to tow it from downtown Vancouver.

After the tow, on the THIRD visit, it was clear they did not properly test the battery either of the first two visits, which they should've done the very first time I brought it in, and determined it needed replacing, which they charged me for (It was $220).

They also sold me an 'oil changes for life' package which I was stupid enough to buy. This is good for 2 oil changes per year or 3 depending on mileage.

However the service department will push you to come in 3 times a year regardless (oil change every 4 months), which will end up costing you on TOP of the oil changes for life. They also deliberately set the maintenance schedule (which they didn't tell me existed when going over the features of the car) to be as often as possible. The default is once per year or 16000km, which is also recommended in the owners manual. 4 months is for 'the most severe usage' of the vehicle, which obviously Vancouver is not. Their response is 'technically it is recommended by the factory, but it's up to you to determine a schedule'.

Instead of being honest to a customer who they think doesn't know better, they chose to try and take advantage. I wonder how many other people they do this to?

When I called them out on this, and that I wanted a refund for the oil changes for life (it was $1000), they told me it is non refundable. Oh its also not transferrable to other dealerships, so be warned about that.

So all said and done, I get $70 service credit, which is apparently only good enough for a jump start, and a note that probably says I'm a problem customer so they'll roll their eyes when I walk in.

All trust is gone and I guess I'll eat the $1000 because there is no possible way I'm going back.