Took my sister in-law's Mazda Tribute here during the summer of 2013 to get a couple of issues before driving to Ontario - never again. I took it because the steering was slightly off centre and had a knocking sound coming from the rear. Picked up the car after they called and said it was ready. Alignment was no better (having paid $80 for it), and the knocking sound was still there (having replaced front control arms - despite telling them the sound was coming from the rear). I called and complained that nothing was resolved, and they booked it in again.
They performed a second alignment, and told me that was as good as it was going to get because the car was in an accident. I guess because it was under my sister in-law's name and registered out of Ontario (i was taking care of the service for her), they assumed I did not know the history of the car. I knew full well the car had never been in an accident. They also told me the rear knocking sound was a bad strut, and would cost $300 to replace and would require ordering. The car was under warranty, and I had to remind the lady of this (clearly their team is not quite with it). As I was leaving for Ontario in a couple of days, I told her not to bother. So, I went to pick up the car for a second time, and they had the alignment technician explain why he could not perform the alignment, and that he had told the service advisor this after the first alignment (this information was never communicated to me when i was initially told to pick up the car). I explained to a manager that I wanted the alignment waived since I would now have to take it up in Ontario. His response was that I should be charged for two alignments. I had to point out the obvious fact that the second alignment should never have been performed if they knew it couldn't be done any better after the first. I give them one star for refunding the entire amount of the alignment, that's about as good as the service got.
I drove the car all the way to Ontario with the alignment out (not very fun), and took it to Mazda in Brampton. They aligned the car with no issues, and resolved the knocking sound in the rear - which fyi was a bad lock in the trunk, and not a strut as diagnosed by Steele Mazda. How the two can be mixed up by a professional dealership is beyond me.
My advice - if you have a Tribute, skip Steele Mazda and take it to a Ford dealership, since they clearly lack the training with this vehicle. read more