Refunding repairs that then appear under manufacturer recall

Rimsy

Rimsy

Rimsy

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Joined
13 Sep 2008
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So to cut a long story short I recieved a letter yesterday from Mazda UK advising of a recall for my CX-5.

One of the items was checking seals around injectors which could cause oil dilution leading to excess wear on the cams.
This happened to me around 4 months ago and was charged £1300 by a mazda dealership to fix.

Now that Mazda UK have finally admitted this is a big issue what are the chances of getting either Mazda UK or the dealership to refund the work done?

Anyone had a similar set of circumstances in the past?
 
VW refunded people who had the issue with injectors, and I believe Ford doing the same with Ecoboost engines so there is a precedence for it
 
Well finally heard back from Mazda UK and they have basically said they aren't prepared to refund as the car is out of warranty and the repairs were carried out before the recall was raised.

"Any manufacturer’s obligations towards its customer is only effective from the launch date of the safety recall and I’m afraid this cannot be retrospectively applied to work previously completed, so we will therefore be unable to assist financially in this instance."

To say I'm annoyed is an understatement.
Will certainly never be purchasing a Mazda again
 
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Depending upon how hacked off you are feeling, whether you have the recall letter and whether you can do without the car. Put it in for the recall work and cost them some money...

Or as above try the small claims court route.
 
Also keep a record of the time you spend dealing with this and put a price for your time against it, it’s all a cost that you can claim back as part of your small claims.
 
I would do a bit of reading and evidence gathering (you have all this just bills correspondence etc), then write yourself down something clear and concise stating why you believe this is clearly Mazda's problem.

Send them your statement above, telling them you consider it to be the final opportunity for them to refund you before you proceed with small claims.

When they refuse fill out the small claims form and send off your evidence etc - then wait (it takes months to even get to a preliminary stage)
 
Rimsy said:
Well finally heard back from Mazda UK and they have basically said they aren't prepared to refund as the car is out of warranty and the repairs were carried out before the recall was raised.

"Any manufacturer’s obligations towards its customer is only effective from the launch date of the safety recall and I’m afraid this cannot be retrospectively applied to work previously completed, so we will therefore be unable to assist financially in this instance."

To say I'm annoyed is an understatement.
Will certainly never be purchasing a Mazda again
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I think there is massive room to negotiate on this. I'd be hacked off if I were you as well.

I think you need to start making a nuisance of yourself to them, make a complaint, send well worded emails, even do the thing where you copy in the CEO of the company and keep pushing it. I think they'll start moving once you do that. The phrase "he who shouts loudest, gets heard" is very applicable to things like this.

If they refuse, pay £100(?) online and start a small claims court application. This will be so below Mazda to take the time out to attend, they'll contact you, probably offer the next 3 services FOC and some other stuff thrown in, rather than offering to give you money.
 
I have just fired a Tweet into Mazda'a PR machine about this (no context or link here) to see what they say.

Genuinely interested.
 
Housey said:
I have just fired a Tweet into Mazda'a PR machine about this (no context or link here) to see what they say.

Genuinely interested.
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That or their Facebook page would have been my first call (after being rejected that is). Maximum exposure for the issue at hand, and not wanting to come across as unhelpful to their customer base will help move things in the right direction.

Has certainly helped me with Audi in the past.
 
snapdragon69 said:
Small claims court would be difficult.
Who would you sue? The manufacturer has no contract with you and no duty towards you, they did not sell you the car.
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But this is a recall, not a failure of a consumable part. That is different and though they will have a legal clause it does not mean it is fair or shouldn't be tested.
 
Their
Housey said:
https://twitter.com/houseyworld/status/1058424548133982208

You will notice I have a special talent to type an when I mean and and and when I mean an

Or was that an an an
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Thank you Housey - appreciated.

Basically their stance (at least from talking to the Mazda UK CS Manager today on the phone this afternoon) is that Mazda are under no way obligated to refund repairs carried out prior to a recall being announced.

I asked "so if a customer pays for a relevant repair 1 day prior to a recall being announced which would have covered this repair would Mazda UK not refund?" and the answer was no - no refund would be applied. Unbelievably poor..

Seems like small claims is the only option but I'll send one more email as @Gaygle suggested over the weekend clearly stating the timeline and grievance just in case they are missing the point, but as others have mentioned there is a precedence from other manufacturers in these situations.
 
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