Now I have a name to put to the idiocracy that is Mazda Customer Support: William Z.
Several weeks ago I sent my lemon law return letter to Mazda. A few days later William calls me. He wants to know of Mazda can offer anything as compensation, rather than going through the return process. I try to express just how frustrating this vehicle has been, and how much time I have wasted dealing with its problems; all of which he really isn’t interested in. He just wants me to name him some number so he can move on to some other project. I tell him that I am not interested in compensation, I want a new car.
William tells me that there will be some delays, as this is the beginning of their holiday hours. He says that it will need to be escalated to someone else, and that to make things go smoother I should assemble some documentation that this new person will need: sales contract, payment history, loan info, registration, insurance.
During their vacation my car acts up again, and I leave an irate message on William’s voicemail.
On Wednesday, January 2nd 2008, William leaves me a voicemail. The story has changed. Now it sounds like he is not escalating my issue until I provide the requested documentation.
Today, Thursday, January 3rd 2008, I call William. I tell him that I need clarification. I explain what he had told me before the holidays, and how it conflicts with what he left on my voicemail.
He apologizes for the confusion. That’s all. No explanation of which is correct. I had to ask which of the two cases was true. Was he holding off escalating my issue until he had my documentation. Finally, like pulling teeth, he says that is the case.
I ask for his email address, and I tell him that I will be sending him a URL, username, and password for accessing the requested documentation. He gets hesitant, and says he is not sure that is OK. I point by point go over the documentation he requested, explain that it will be on the website, and I ask him how this is not OK. He is non-committal, says he will wait for my email and let me know if there are any problems. Getting real information out of this guy is nearly impossible; and I suspect he is the person who I talked to the first time I called Customer Support.
I sent him the URL via email, and I asked him to let me know when he had finished downloading the documentation. Then I watched my logs. He very promptly downloaded the documents, but a half hour later I still didn’t have an email from the guy acknowledging receipt. (OK, 35 minutes later I finally get an email.)
My primary frustration is that it seems impossible to simply and easily find out the steps I need to do on my side. I get cryptic communication, flat out misdirection, and empty apologies when what I am asking for is clarification. I am starting to wonder if Mazda’s preferred way of handing Lemon Law Returns is to frustrate the person until they sell the car on CraigsList.
-Chris
Unhappy owner of a 2007 Mazda RX-8 GT Lemon Edition
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