Consumer foundation offers legal assistance to customers sued by Mazda

By THE NATION

 

 

A consumer organisation has offered legal assistance to customers facing a lawsuit from automaker Mazda over their complaints.

 

Foundation for Consumers secretary-general Saree Ongsomwang said on Thursday that consumers had the right to complain about a product they had bought, and demand compensation.

 

Earlier, Mazda Sales (Thailand) Co Ltd filed a lawsuit against a group of 22 customers for Bt95 million in damages, accusing them of abuse of rights for complaining to various organisations about defects in their Mazda cars and seeking compensation. The customers had said two Mazda car models – XD High Plus and Sky Active – were found to have engine problems when speeding.

 

“I admire these customers who have come out to protect their rights and serve as an example for others. The Foundation for Consumers will assist them with the litigation,” Saree said.

 

“The company should express their gratitude to these customers, as they can honestly reflect on the problems in their products and can use their comments for product improvement. But by suing these customers, it seems the company is trying to silence the customers.”

 

She also urged the authorities to push forward the enforcement of Liability for Defective Products Bill, which will grant customers the right to ask sellers to repair their products twice, replace the product, or redeem the full amount within six months of purchase, while the onus will be on the sellers to prove that their products are not defective.

 

‘No intention to defame company’

 

Chalermpong Klabdee, legal head at the Centre for Customers’ Protection, said Mazda’s claim that the customers were abusing their rights and making excessive demands was invalid. Abuse of rights involves an intention to cause trouble to others, but in this case they were just seeking protection of their rights.

 

Chalermpong said in the end it was up to the court to decide whether this case could be considered as abuse of rights.

 

Pattakorn Theepabunrat, one of the customers whose car had a defect and was sued by Mazda, said that he did not intend to defame Mazda, but only |wanted the carmaker to solve the problem in its products.

 

“These defects in cars can be lethal, especially when the drivers face engine problems while driving at a high speed. We tried to get our cars fixed at the Mazda car repair centre, but it did not help and only cost us a lot of money and time,” Pattakorn said.

 

“Therefore, we decided to band together to suggest measures to solve this problem, but instead we were sued for our action to defend our rights.”

 

Mazda had released a statement earlier that they had sued these customers because they were asking for unrealistic terms of compensation, including that the company grant them a 10-year guarantee for their cars or cover a driven distance of 500,000 kilometres.

Mazda said it had tried to negotiate with them and offered them a six-year guarantee or 180,000 kilometres, but the offer was turned down.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30336679

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-20

Only in Thailand. 

How pathetic ,Mazda Thailand suing customers because they bought defective cars.

Great advertising, buy a Mazda car and get sued.

Well they followed the so called chain of command by trying to deal with the company first, but to no avail.

Then they obviously didn't know where to stop in those dealings - If asking for a 10 yr Guarante & 500,000 km term is true, that's just rediculous 

So why can't they lodge a complaint with Consumer affairs, that's what their there for

This is new.....but not unexpected I guess......but who would have thought that to complain about a new car' capabilities, or lack of, would bring a lawsuit from the maker?

The law and legal system here in Thailand are so backward!

I like to know, which problems these Mazda 2 have. «Engine problems when speeding» sounds strange. Did the the drives overheat the engine because they are driving too fast and too long and ignored warnings?

Another brand i will "blacklist" and never buy. Same as Ford because of how they handled the transmission problems.

 

If they dont want customers i will comply with their request.

2 hours ago, juehoe said:

I like to know, which problems these Mazda 2 have. «Engine problems when speeding» sounds strange. Did the the drives overheat the engine because they are driving too fast and too long and ignored warnings?

I, too, would like to know more detail about this issue.  I have a 2016 Mazda 2 SkyActiv with no issues so far.   What the heck can I expect?  I cannot find any information on the internet.  Maybe looking in the wrong places?????

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

were found to have engine problems when speeding.

Yep, nuff said.

Although it is not made very clear  by just stating XD High Plus and Sky Active I gather this is only those Mazda 2 and Mazda CX-3 that are fitted with the 1.5 liter diesel engine. I bought a Mazda CX-3 two years ago but with the 2.0 liter petrol engine. I was warned by a friend that the small displacement turbo supercharged diesel engines can be troublesome as he had a bad experience with his  Subaru (which has a similar engine) when pushed hard.

9 minutes ago, patekatek said:

I, too, would like to know more detail about this issue.  I have a 2016 Mazda 2 SkyActiv with no issues so far.   What the heck can I expect?  I cannot find any information on the internet.  Maybe looking in the wrong places?????

Yours is probably the petrol version and should not give any problems. See my post above about the diesel engines.

Well this has made a decision for me I was considering buying the Mazda  3 However How in all honestly can I buy a car of a company that will sue me if I am not satisfied with their product

 

My guess Is I will not be the only one making this decision Shame on you Mazda Your customer should always come first

5 minutes ago, realenglish1 said:

Well this has made a decision for me I was considering buying the Mazda  3 However How in all honestly can I buy a car of a company that will sue me if I am not satisfied with their product

 

My guess Is I will not be the only one making this decision Shame on you Mazda Your customer should always come first

Get the petrol engine no problems with that. Only the diesels (and only when used in extreme conditions) 

We bought a new Mazda 2 in 2010. It had a ghost problem with it gear box under specific conditions the automatic gear box didnt work correctly. We complained with no results. Just before the warranty period finished we sold the vehicle. 

 

 

If I stand back and look squarely at the above issue , I guess that this must be a matter of the peculiarities of Thailand and its strange Thai  legal system.

Lets face it , Mazda is an extremely reputable Co. of International standing and must have dealt with huge issues in many  different countries and always come out of them with the Mazda name untarnished  - or we all would  be avoiding  that car maker like the plague. Instead , Mazda has a very good name.

 

So this is the way Mazdas lawyers have decided  to go about this matter and perhaps , peculiar to  Thailand , there exist possible worse  legal implications if they dont  'countersue'.

Of course , there also exists the possibility that the wealthy Thai controllers of Mazda Thailand are acting in the preferred  authoritarian manner of their class when it comes to 'warranty'  , and Mazda Head Office ( in Japan?)  is only now becoming aware of the mire ,  but I doubt that.

And  I doubt it because I think the first thing Mazda Thailand would have done is  to attempt  to offload any problem  straight onto the parent Companies books . Thats usually how things are dealt with here.

 

On another issue I believe that warranty obligations are the reason that Phuket Chevrolet no longer exists.

The word was that the Chev Cruze was so riddled with problems no dealer wanted any further commitment in time and labour honouring the warranties  - so just closed down. I know from experience that Chev would not redo work that they had done incorrectly  on my car unless I paid for it  ( so twice ) !

 

Certainly, a brand to be totally avoided if this is the way they treat their customers.    

You will buy our poo

15 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

If I stand back and look squarely at the above issue , I guess that this must be a matter of the peculiarities of Thailand and its strange Thai  legal system.

Lets face it , Mazda is an extremely reputable Co. of International standing and must have dealt with huge issues in many  different countries and always come out of them with the Mazda name untarnished  - or we all would  be avoiding  that car maker like the plague. Instead , Mazda has a very good name.

 

 

Wrong. "Extremely reputable Co.'s" do not sue their own customers over complaints. 

This defamation law is not unique to Thailand, I think many of the commonwealth countries have the same law.

57 minutes ago, patekatek said:

I, too, would like to know more detail about this issue.  I have a 2016 Mazda 2 SkyActiv with no issues so far.   What the heck can I expect?  I cannot find any information on the internet.  Maybe looking in the wrong places?????

 

I also have no problems with my Mazdas (8 vehicles since 2008).

7 hours ago, colinneil said:

How pathetic ,Mazda Thailand suing customers because they bought defective cars.

Great advertising, buy a Mazda car and get sued.

...and we all know where they learned about these weird defamation suits.

11 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

You will buy our poo

Wrong. "Extremely reputable Co.'s" do not sue their own customers over complaints. 

This defamation law is not unique to Thailand, I think many of the commonwealth countries have the same law.

i think he meant up until now

My wife's always had a Mazda, but never hsppy with it or the service (so...? sue me) After this unncessary and aggressive law suit against unhappy customers, we won't ever be buying another. 

Consumer protection in Thailand , put a claim in with them against Ford in September 2016 and they've still not managed to force Ford to come for a meeting  .This one will be interesting to watch.

Though the consumers were probably a bit misinformed to not accept the offer of a five year warranty, when a multi national company sues it's customers, it is never a good thing. Not good for it's image. Not good for the generation of goodwill. I have never owned a Mazda, but I would never consider buying one, after hearing this story. Silly. Surly. An abuse of power. A miscalculation. Bad advice. Bad strategy. Just bad news. 

Never had any plans to by a Mazda and after this story Mazda it will probably be the last brand I buy here, I also think their designs are ugly. Toyota and Honda has worked well for me in Thailand during the last 30 years.

Isn't mazda a Japanese company? Surprised they would allow this to stand (vs issue a recall or some way for buyers to get the waranty service hassle-free.

Sent from my ASUS_Z010D using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

26 minutes ago, juehoe said:

 

I also have no problems with my Mazdas (8 vehicles since 2008).

If you have had 8 of them in 9 years you either have a huge car collection or some sort of "problems".

Many times consumers are complaining things that are clearly beyond the scope of warranty. To make matter worse, the people working in these brands have no clue as usual in Thailand, of how to handle customer complains and follow-up rectification is there are any. I personally feel these brands have been cornered by ridiculous demands!

99% of the population are in denial about one thing or another , trying not to lose the proverbial face; now it seems even car makers are at it, trying to deny responsibility for their design and production errors...SAD Company!!!

Should have taken the 6 year 180k package offered.  Can't get much better than that.

Somebody in the parent Mazda org better weigh in and save their brand from the numpties running things in Thailand.  Gunna be lots of broken faces on the floor before this is over.