A few weeks ago, I purchased a vehicle from the Mazda dealership in Evanston. During the purchase, I was pressured into buying an additional service, LoJack, for $500 despite initially declining it multiple times. What followed was one of the most disorganized and unprofessional customer service experiences I have ever had. The day after purchasing the car, I attempted to set up my LoJack account, but it did not work. Over the next several days, the app repeatedly stated that my vehicle could not be found and instructed me to contact the dealership. When I finally did, the first employee I spoke with could not even locate my account and stated that the service must not have been properly set up at the time of sale by my salesperson. I was told the salesperson would contact me. When the salesperson, Daler, reached out, there was no explanation or apology. Instead, I was casually told that I needed to come back to the dealership to "update" my equipment. I had just purchased the car the week prior and live 40 minutes away. I asked why this was necessary and was given no clear explanation, nor was there any acknowledgment of the inconvenience. I then asked to speak with a manager, which only escalated the issue. There was still no apology for the fact that a service I paid for was not working. The manager, Anthony, claimed that I likely failed to activate my account within a required timeframe and therefore needed to bring the vehicle back in. I explained that I attempted to activate the account the very next day. He had no response other than repeating that I would need to return to the dealership. Because of this, I scheduled an appointment with the service department and took time off work to address the issue. After waiting approximately an hour and a half, I was told that the LoJack equipment installed in my vehicle had malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. After the replacement, the service still did not work. The service department did not know how to proceed, so I contacted LoJack directly. LoJack customer service explained that when new equipment is installed, it must be re-registered under the customer's name by the dealership. When I relayed this information to the Mazda service department, I was told that nothing further could be done and that I would need to drive to another dealership an additional 15 minutes away. This was especially frustrating because during the sales process, the dealership had no issue coordinating and driving between facilities to complete the sale. Once the purchase was finalized, that coordination and accountability disappeared, leaving me to navigate their internal disorganization on my own. After driving to the second location, the employee simply looked at the serial number in my car, something that could have easily been communicated over the phone. This unnecessary back and forth wasted hours of my time and required me to take time away from work for an issue that stemmed entirely from the dealership's errors. While waiting to speak with a manager, my original salesperson made eye contact with me in the waiting area but did not approach me or acknowledge the situation. Given that he was aware of the issue and had recently completed the sale, this lack of engagement and follow-through was unprofessional. When I later spoke to Anthony in person, he denied suggesting the issue was my fault and claimed I misunderstood him. Although he acknowledged the situation was mishandled, he never apologized. I was then told that the person responsible for managing LoJack accounts was unavailable and that I would need to wait several more days for access. I was told that if the service still did not work, I would be refunded, as if this were a favor, despite the fact that I had already paid for a product that never functioned. When I asked Anthony for Mazda's corporate contact information, he said someone would email it to me, stating this in a way that made it seem beneath him to provide it directly despite being feet away from a computer. I have yet to receive that information. Immediately after leaving the dealership and getting into my car, I observed several employees, including the manager, gather in a visible office area and engage in laughter and conversation while looking in my direction, which further reinforced the lack of professionalism and seriousness with which my concerns were handled. The core issue here is accountability. If a dealership aggressively pushes an add-on service, staff and management should understand how that service works and be prepared to support it. Instead, I was blamed for their mistakes, passed between departments and locations, and treated as an inconvenience once the sale was complete. This experience reflects a lack of leadership, consistency, and customer care. Mazda should review this dealership's management practices to prevent this from happening to others. I would strongly caution against doing business with this specific dealership. read more