The Letter

After some debate I have decided to write a letter to Mazda and give them another chance to solve the problem. Following is the letter I wrote Mazda. I am looking forward to hearing from them on this issue. I will keep everybody posted on any developments!

January 1, 2007

To: Mazda North American Operations

P.O. Box 19734

Irvine, CA 92623-9734

Attn: Customer Assistance Center

CC: Suburban Mazda of Farmington Hills
37911 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Attn: Service Manager

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have a warranty problem with my 2004 Mazda 6 that I wanted to bring to your attention. In fact, I have already spoke with one of your representatives (Johnny, extension 1154) on the phone last week, but he was not able to solve my problem.

I have had my Mazda 6 for more than 2 ½ years now, and for most of this time I parked it indoors. Recently, however, we were doing some renovation at the house, and I had to park the car outside. This is when I started to have water in the car. And when I say that I have water in the car, I don’t mean a few drops. At times, I had enough water on the carpet to actually make a whooshing sound when I turned or accelerated/decelerated. In addition, due to the condensation inside the cabin of the vehicle, I have frost and/or water droplets on the inside of all the windows every morning.

Finally, I took the car to the dealership (Suburban Mazda of Farmington Hills, MI – CC) on Thursday of last week. After some investigation, the dealership identified the problem to be with a grommet in the dashboard that is out of place. They also said that it was not likely that the grommet has just popped out on its own. However, since the solution did not involve replacing any parts, the fix is considered an “Adjustment” that is subject to a much reduced 12 months warranty instead of the standard warranty. Therefore, Mazda will not cover the costs of repairs that included:

• $105 for diagnostics
• $105 to put the grommet back in place
• ~$450 to replace the carpets

The technician at the dealership agreed with me that this is likely a manufacturing issue and that I should contact Mazda Customer Care. He was also nice enough to provide me with the number to call.

I was completely amazed by this. How can something like that not be covered by warranty? I was sure that I will be able to fix it with a short call to Mazda. I finally was able to get Johnny (no last name, extension 1145) on the line on Friday morning. Despite the fact that Johnny agreed with me that the problem is likely caused by a manufacturing problem, he concluded, like the dealership, that since no new parts are involved that this should be considered an Adjustment and is therefore subject to the much reduced warranty. As a gesture of “good will” Johnny suggested covering about half the cost of repairs which was completely rejected by me. Johnny would not let me speak to anyone else at Mazda.

I understand that Johnny is not necessarily representing Mazda’s final decision on this issue and I am using this letter to appeal his decision. I hope you will agree with me that having a little pond in the car due to a problem that, everybody agrees, is likely caused by a manufacturing problem, should be covered by the normal warranty on the vehicle.

At this point, I have decided not to fix my car unless Mazda completely covers it under warranty. In the unlikely event that you decide not to cover it under warranty, I intend to use this vehicle to show the world how Mazda is treating its customers.

Looking forward to hearing from you on this matter quickly.

P.S., I have also published this letter on a new blog I opened following the events of last week. I will be happy to close this blog down if and when you agree that the initial assessment was a mistake and Mazda will fully cover the problem under warranty. You can access the blog at http://mazdasucks.blogspot.com/