My 2005 Mazda RX-8 was having some trouble running, and since it has a rotary engine, my normal mechanic cannot work on it, so I decided to take it here.
My check engine light was on and the car occasionally died if I came to a complete, or even near, stop.
The guy in charge of the repairs was nice and friendly enough, and we left it there for repairs. We let them know every symptom the car was suffering from.
A few days later they called and said they ran a test on it and the rear O2 sensor was bad. They told me they could change it for $400. I told them I also needed a new key cut, because I only had one and I didn't want to be locked out of my car.
They said between labor hours, the price of the O2 sensor, and the key being cut, it would cost about $600.
That definitely hurt my bank account, but my choices were between paying the money or having a 2,500 pound paperweight, so I agreed.
About a week later they called and said the car was ready.
They had done a 90-point inspection, and even put more oil in the car than was necessary! (If you weren't already aware, that's a bad thing.)
I went, picked it up, paid, and was on my way to Marion. After about 20 minutes of driving, the Check Engine light comes on, the Battery light comes on, the car becomes unresponsive, and dies while I'm at a stoplight.
20 minutes later.
I called 911 and we pushed it into a parking lot. My dad came by and, as I was on my way to a date, my girlfriend picked me up while my dad stayed with the car, trying to get it to start again. He finally did.
Eventually, I called him and told him that I would drive the car home, and he could leave in his car.
I had the newly cut key, and he took the original.
My girlfriend dropped me off at my car, only for me to discover that the new key they cut for me at the dealership /doesn't open the door./
I was stuck with a broken car and a bad key in a dark, whiskey store parking lot.
Once again, I called my dad, who had to drive all the way from our home, back to Marion, just to give me a key.
The car started and I drove it home, although it felt like it was going to die all the way home.
We later called the dealership and explained to them our situation. We had brought it in for them to fix it, and they had not, even after charging me $600. They told us everything would work fine after this, and they were obviously wrong, even about the key.
We asked them to please check it out again, because they'd not fixed what was wrong before, and obviously not test-driven it. We asked them to recut the key so that it would work.
They said no.
They said I would have to entirely repay if I wanted to even bring it in again.
TL;DR: I paid $600, my car died 20 minutes later, my new key didn't work, and the dealership refused to fix their mistakes. read more
