Our initial experience with sales was very good at the Tustin Mazda location. We were deciding between something new or used, and finally decided we wanted something less expensive at this time so we bought used. They didnt' have anything that day, but sales called us a day or two later with some cars they just got in. So we went and checked them out and decided that we liked one of them. Then we went to the negotiating part and came out paying more than we originally wanted because of the registration fees and the supposed ""Dealer Certification/Testing"" that they do on the pre-owned cars prior to selling. The day came for us to pick up the car and I went home a pretty happy camper. Then a few days later we heard a strange knocking in the engine; took it in to find out the motor mounts are ""fatigued"" - car has 116K miles, so this wasn't too surprising.\r
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Then a few days later we started to smell coolant burning, so I took it in again and we were told it was a hose clamp that they supposedly fixed. Drove home, next day still smelled like burning coolant. So my husband checked and found a crack in the radiator with a lot of build up (which means the crack has been there for some time). So I called the sales guy who originally helped us to find out why this wasn't found in their super inspection. I was told to contact the service manager. Left about 3-4 voicemails over a 2 week period with no return calls. Tried to contact her at the various John Patterson locations and still couldnt' get a hold of her. So, finally one day I physically went to the dealership to try and handle this since I was getting blown off by everyone. Couldn't find my sales guy nor the service manager and as I'm explaining the situation to the receptionist John Patterson comes out. For the most part he was pretty stand-offish and rude about the situation and said that since we bought the car ""AS-IS"" then it's our problem. Then I explained that I understand this, but since we were told that it had undergone this extended inspection (outside of the required inspections) that something like a cracked radiator should have been found (if not during their inspection, then it should have been found when I took it in for the problem - bad mechanics working there?), and we should have been made aware of the fact that we were buying a car with a cracked radiator.\r
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Also, I had found out from service once I finally got a hold of the service manager that they do not do any other inspections outside of the standard required safety inspection...so the sales team had lied to us about that.\r
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Needless to say after a few minutes of explaining the situation to John Patterson all I was given as a ""fix to the problem"" was $100 credit. \r
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So, I talked to service asking if I can buy the radiator myself and have them install it and be reimbursed for the price with our credit...we were told yes. Since we could get the radiator at a fraction of the price to what the dealer would charge us, we thought this was the better route. So, we bought the radiator, took the car in and the dealership replaces it; also charging towards our credit the coolant needed. I submit the invoice for just the radiator costs (we had bought the motor mounts but did not ask the dealers to replace those). After a few weeks, I call to find out about the reimbursement, still didnt' know. The next day (today) I get a call from stating that John Patterson declined the reimbursement that the credit was only good for in-house parts or service (WHICH WAS NEVER DISCUSSED OR SPECIFIED)\r
So now I'm out the cost of the radiator.
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