Consumer foundation offers legal assistance to customers sued by Mazda

[Jackie66]

4 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

Was gunna reply the same.

 

My close friend has a CX-5 and raves about it.

But thats in another country , where services cost 15,000 baht and , as long as you continue to service with the manufacturers outlets ( at sometimes outrageous cost )  , the warranty IS honoured.

 

BTW - surely the BMW costs a lot more ?

:D

 

Yeah the BMW does come with a 5 year full service package so no costs for the first 5 years of service.

[Dogmatix]

1 hour ago, thailand49 said:

I guess that is your opinion of the article but I see it the other way until the full story comes out?  I think Mazda did offer the help the customer just the customer wanted some outside the scope of the problem with the vehicle which was the " speeding issue "  to demand and it was a demand otherwise they continue to go online with their opinion which they did. Again the customer wanted a 10 year 500,000 KM warranty?  I think Kia offers a 10 year but 500,000 Km, what car maker offer that? Mazda came back with less, less means to me 500 was too much so they made a offer. Then why demand a 10 year bumper to bumper when the problem was isolated to the speeding. That is why I said Mazda should just fix the problem. Based on the story written and we can only go by what is written unless you know more? I feel you just can't yell fired Online, you got to stick to the issue of the problem and not want a full coverage on the entire vehicle. If Mazda had refused to fix the problem then I think the consumer have a case, based on what I read even in Thailand, with or without consumer protection they don't have a case since their demand is outside the scope of the problem being stated Online which is speeding.

 

Yes, the facts are totally unclear and I am suspicious of car companies in Thailand, having had a bad experience with Chevrolet mentioned earlier in this thread.  It is possible that the customers made some unrealistic demands but does that justify suing them for damages?  The article looks slanted by whatever Mazda's lawyers or PR people have said and possibly also badly translated. It is unlikely that anyone would admit that they were habitually speeding and then blame the car manufacture. It is more likely that they cited engine problems at speeds within Thailand's legal speed limits.  Even if the customers are totally wrong, I think that suing them is vindictive can only result in an own goal. 

 

I once worked for a consumer company in the UK and one of the golden rules I learned from the home sales department, during my initial training, was that the company never got into legal wrangles with customers, even bad debtors, as the reputational damage, if cases got into the media, was considered likely to far outweigh any financial damages awarded by a court which might not have been collectible anyway.  After the final warning letter from a solicitor the company never followed up and just wrote off the bad debts which avoided criticism of its admittedly somewhat dubious marketing techniques.         

[USPatriot]

I bought a yamaha and a dealer voided my warranty after 1100 km because they said it was modified the orevious dealer lost a bolt or machine screw and usedba different one sidnt fix the problem so i brought it to the dealer that wndwd up voiding my warranty. So i contact yamaha thailand as expected nothing , so my friend one of the oldest Yamaha dealers in america who stated to yamaha my dad or i have been buying from him for more than 40 years.  Yamaha japan called.me and told me where to pick up my new motorbike.

 

3 years ago i biy a honda pcx  a dealer didnt put oil on on the oil change and ruined my engine.

 

Dealer we have video, im sure the video showed oil not being put in so all of a sudden no video.

 

I tell everyone what dealer but not online.

[F4UCorsair]

13 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

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.

 

Your silent protest will have no effect.   You must tell them why you wouldn't buy a Mazda in the future.  Only when hundreds, possibly thousands (but that won't happen due to apathy) give them the message will they listen.

 

That's what I do with any product, lodge a protest with the seller/manufacturer, and tell them I will do a review/critique online.   I've had some remarkable results over the years, a lot of 'f*** offs' too, but I get enormous satisfaction from doing it.

[sometimewoodworker]

A significant point that has in all the poor customer bad company comments, is that if you have been following the problems in the Thai language press you would know that the "customers" were picketing and protesting the unreasonable demands in very public places. The law suits are probably in most part designed to stop the public disputes.

 

mazda in Au has an 

Quote

• A 3-year / unlimited kilometre warranty
  • This covers defects in materials and workmanship on any part original to the car
• A 5-year / 60,000 mile powertrain warranty
  • This covers the engine, transmission, and front and rear drive systems

In order to be covered by the limited and the powertrain warranties, you must have your Mazda serviced at an authorized dealership. Another key limitation of the Mazda factory warranty is that it only covers parts that are original to the vehicle or certified Mazda parts. 

This suggests that the "customers " were demanding a ridiculous warranty. The counter offer seems very good and better than any other warranty that I know of in Thailand.

 

A point is that there is not really enough information about the alleged failures to know if it is  defects or unreasonable use that caused them.

 

IMNSHO before deciding if it's a Mazda at fault situation or an unreasonable customer situation we need more detail. 

[gunderhill]

Well  done MAZDA great publicity, youv'e  not shot  yourself in the foot  more the balls.

I'm  looking for a new vehicle  soon and can now remove MAZDA yes thats MAZDA  from my list, lets hope saying MAZDA  enough times  will crank this up in any search on Google, I wont mention BAD  SERVICE or BAD SERVICE and MAZDA  ooops!

 

[gunderhill]

12 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

Was gunna reply the same.

 

My close friend has a CX-5 and raves about it.

But thats in another country , where services cost 15,000 baht and , as long as you continue to service with the manufacturers outlets ( at sometimes outrageous cost )  , the warranty IS honoured.

 

BTW - surely the BMW costs a lot more ?

I believe this practice of in house servicing was stopped in the Uk/Eurrrrrrp as  long as  service standard  was  comparable with manufacturers standards then they couldn't wriggle  out of warranty. Note  also the much  longer  warranties in other countries throughout the world.

[gunderhill]

11 hours ago, asiamaster said:

Maybe because VW did not try to squeeze 105 hp out of a 1.5 liter engine

I squeezed 150+hp out of a 1.3  Fiat engine for over  5 years. Motorbike manufacturers  squeeze  200hp out of 1litre  engines

[mstevens]

23 hours ago, colinneil said:

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

Great advertising, buy a Mazda car and get sued.

I'm surprised the mother company in Japan has not stepped in to quash what Mazda Thailand is doing because if this gets out - and I guess you could say that with this news report it now has - it affects Mazda's reputation.  To be clear, it is the lawsuit by Mazda Thailand against the consumers who complained that will leave a bitter taste about Mazda,.

[Keesters]

17 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

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. 

 

 

Making it somebody else's problem. Did you inform them of the faulty gearbox?

[Joannesjjv2499]

Maybe just maybe these engine problems occur at a speed of approximately 200 km per hour ( or more?) Just guessing .

[lvr181]

I wondered who or what Mazada was.

 

Top Mazada launches legal action against customer in Thailand who complained   

 

I guess English is not the first language of the 'headline' writer. You are excused, Sir or Madam. 

[thailand49]

9 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

 

Yes, the facts are totally unclear and I am suspicious of car companies in Thailand, having had a bad experience with Chevrolet mentioned earlier in this thread.  It is possible that the customers made some unrealistic demands but does that justify suing them for damages?  The article looks slanted by whatever Mazda's lawyers or PR people have said and possibly also badly translated. It is unlikely that anyone would admit that they were habitually speeding and then blame the car manufacture. It is more likely that they cited engine problems at speeds within Thailand's legal speed limits.  Even if the customers are totally wrong, I think that suing them is vindictive can only result in an own goal. 

 

I once worked for a consumer company in the UK and one of the golden rules I learned from the home sales department, during my initial training, was that the company never got into legal wrangles with customers, even bad debtors, as the reputational damage, if cases got into the media, was considered likely to far outweigh any financial damages awarded by a court which might not have been collectible anyway.  After the final warning letter from a solicitor the company never followed up and just wrote off the bad debts which avoided criticism of its admittedly somewhat dubious marketing techniques.         

I think we are on the same page, things are just so uncleared, when it comes to Thailand, it isn't just car companies? that use their power to push the little guys around. I like you think there is a lot missing here in the report and agree avoid bad press at all cost. We don't know if Mazda, made the attempts in writing to ask them to stop etc.. but the normal process when one don't is to file a complaint and the threat to stop is normally a $$$ attach to it. 

In this case, it was Mazda, which comes across the big guy bullying the little, thus the reason the lawyer step in to protect them. The lawyer cited basically free speech, and I'm all for that but today even Online, one can go too far beyond and if you can't back it up the lawyers get involved which is what is happening. In the end, I think this will settle itself Mazda HQ in Japan will make it go away. 

I think this topic has shown me regardless of how good their cars and truck looks but stay away. Glad to find out Ford and Chevy hasn't change much either. 

[newnative]

   Well, I can scratch Mazda off my list of car companies when I go car shopping.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Yep, nuff said.

Is the problem that they can't travel over the speed limit for the entire journey?

[evadgib]

If I were one of the 22 I'd fire a volley @ Mazda/Ford global headquarters and watch as it rolled downhill. 

[asiamaster]

13 hours ago, MartinBangkok said:

My car has a 2.0 litre engine with 225 hp. Runs smooth as silk at all speeds.

not a diesel I suppose?

[Fallangpakwan]

I've stuck to Toyota in Thailand since 1981 and have had about 3 minor problems over that time in 2 of the 9 or so vehichles; one of which made in Australia.

[asiamaster]

3 hours ago, gunderhill said:

I squeezed 150+hp out of a 1.3  Fiat engine for over  5 years. Motorbike manufacturers  squeeze  200hp out of 1litre  engines

Not a diesel engine I suppose? As I posted earlier but nobody seems to notice this whole issue is about the 1.5 l diesel engine as fitted in some of the Mazda 2 and CX-3 models. I was warned about getting the small diesel engines as quite a few other brands (Subaru) have had problems with them.

The Mazda petrol engines (most of them) are excellent and very fuel efficient.

[Skeptic7]

Mazada? 

[realenglish1]

19 hours ago, asiamaster said:

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

Why would you want to deal with a company that takes you to court because you don't like their product Get real dude

[Darbar]

Mazda have just massively tarnished their name in Thailand, with this action now being public, will cost them a LOT of lost sales, and deservedly so!

 

This kind of response from a manufacturer who can't' / doesn't stand by their product is shameful, and should be made public. 

 

In the developed world, car companies will bend over backwards to protect their brand image and reputation.. In Thailand, even for an international company, Mazda has taken the cowardly 'Thai' way out and it's backfired on them massively.

 

10-year guarantee / 500,000 kilometres is insane.. The owners were crazy to ask for this.

 

6-rear guarantee / 180,000 kilometres is a very fair offer (I think the best on the market right now is 5 Years / 100,000km from Mitsubishi). The owners should have taken this, if Mazda had offered this AND the defect to be fixed (not sure if that was offered).

 

Let's see how this plays out in court.

 

[Airbagwill]

This highlights the lamentable state of consumer law and enforcement in Thailand. It actually permeates all aspects of consumer righrts from cars to holidays to simple small purchases in stores of electronics and consumer goods of all kinds.

Partly because of the law and partly because of the low expectations of customer service many people have in Thailand.

 

I wonder if Mazda have considered what this sort of action will do to their international reputation?

[Krataiboy]

They should have stuck to making light bulbs.

[lvr181]

I bet the 'bosses' in Japan are furious about Mazda Thailand! Perhaps they should terminate the relationship and get rid of the Thai idiots!

[F4UCorsair]

It's a shame, for Mazda, that they're handling this so badly.  They make great cars, certainly those models in Australia, made in Japan.

 

I've had 5 over the past 15 years, three different models, and they are outstanding cars with great economy, a little behind Honda, but superb finishes.

[F4UCorsair]

6 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Mazada? 

 

That's that place in Israel where the ancient Israelites held out against the Romans, and then committed suicide to avoid being captured, about 30 BCE..

 

Oops.......that's Masada!!

[captspectre]

at first I was going to write  Mazda in Tokyo, then I rad that it was mazda in thailand that was raising all the hell!  that is self explanatory! the face stuffand all the other petty things that the thai's seem to hold on to. but the most important thing about this article is that the company does not have to repair any defects? in the civilized world that is called "recall" and in the civilized world you can sue to have your car replaced or repaired if it is within the warranty period. 

 

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, captspectre said:

at first I was going to write  Mazda in Tokyo, then I rad that it was mazda in thailand that was raising all the hell!  that is self explanatory! the face stuffand all the other petty things that the thai's seem to hold on to. but the most important thing about this article is that the company does not have to repair any defects? in the civilized world that is called "recall" and in the civilized world you can sue to have your car replaced or repaired if it is within the warranty period. 

 

So sad - Thailand NOT 'civilised world'. Boasting about Thai 4.0 does not help either.  

 

A feudal society still left in its own time warp I think. Sad to see. The "leadership" seems to have very little vision beyond self- aggrandisement! 

[Airbagwill]

3 hours ago, F4UCorsair said:

 

That's that place in Israel where the ancient Israelites held out against the Romans, and then committed suicide to avoid being captured, about 30 BCE..

 

Oops.......that's Masada!!

I see customer service has progressed little then?