Northland Mazda Service Dept thanks for nothing

[justin.mah]

So I took my car in for a regular maintenance service and oil change, no big deal. They said it would take about 1-1.5 hours, so I went to Shikiji to have lunch (cold noodle special there is great).

Anyways, Northland Mazda calls me about 45 minutes in, they said, "During our inspection we found that your brakes are pretty worn, your rear discs have about 2mm of brake pad left. Do you want us to replace it?"

"How much will it cost?"

"About $280."

So I'm not the biggest car nut around, and I haven't changed my brake pads since I got my car 7 years ago (Protege 5 2003), but I wasn't going to swallow $280 just because they told me to, even though I had no idea how bad 2mm of brake pads left was.

"$280?! Weelll.. I think I'm going to hold back for a bit, but thanks for letting me know."

"OKAY no problem" *click*

So after the service was done, they went over the inspection sheet for my car, and everything was in good order (as usual), except for my brake pads...

2mm on the rear (needs further attention, according to them)
3mm on the front (in good condition, according to them)

So I went back to the office to look up how bad 2mm of brake pads were, and pretty much everyone is saying it's dangerously low, even at 3mm... so I figured I had to get them ALL changed because I was going to drive to Vancouver soon, so I talked to rage2, and he told me to go to Integra Tire on MacLeod Trail.

Booked an appointment with them that day, and dropped off my car. I told them about how bad my brake pads were based off of the inspection sheet, and they said to me,

"Yeah that's pretty low, it will probably need replacing. We'll take a look at your brakes and do a quick inspection to see which ones we'll fix."

So I waited at the shop for about 15 minutes...

Then the service guy came back and said, "Soo... WHO was it that told you that you needed to replace your brake pads?!"

Northland Mazda... while my car was being serviced.

"Okay... well... after doing the inspection... you STILL have 50% brake pads on your front and about 30% of brake pads on the back, so if you decide to replace your brake pads now, it would be a serious waste of money."

WTF? Seriously?!

Continuing, "You probably won't need to have your brakes inspected for another couple of oil changes. After that, come back here and we'll see about replacing your rear brake pads."

Oh wow, "Thank you so much... soo how much is it for having you guys inspect my brake pads?"

"Oh... don't worry about it. Just come back when you want to get them inspected again."

THANK YOU INTEGRA TIRE FOR SAVING ME MONEY AND F*&@ YOU NORTHLAND MAZDA!

I think I will be going to Integra Tire for all my car servicing from now on, they were HONEST with me.

Anyways sorry for the rant, just had to get it off my chest. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised (I've heard stuff like this happen with Canadian Tire all the time lol).

[DonJuan]

Isn't Northland Mazda part of the Hyatt Group? That might be your answer right there...

[Willie Bobo]

Originally posted by DonJuan
Isn't Northland Mazda part of the Hyatt Group? That might be your answer right there...

No, there's no such thing as Northland Mazda. It's North Hill Mazda (owned by the Ruperall's who are just as bad, if not worse than the Hyatt Group.)

[max_boost]

Ya, Integra Tire rules. Mike/Steve/Brendan/Shane/Al etc. are all awesome to deal with. Been going there for 7+years now.

Unlike other shops, they won't ding you $125 just to diagnose the issue. They'll explain everything in great detail. Just straight up chill and honest.

My story, Benz wanted $125 to change a fog light. Mike said he'll look at it for me, took him 5 mins and that included pulling the car in and out of the bay and just said it was so fucking easy, don't even worry about it. LOL

:rofl: :thumbsup:

[Xtrema]

North Hill is brutal. Almost all stealership service departments up sell. I won't go to them if the car is out of warranty.

[Drsuce]

I had a great dealing with north hill mazda recently... We had a clients 2008 (52,000km) mazda 5 towed in for PS failure, i did a little google and sure enough there is a TSB out for the exact issue. I called over to stoney trail mazda and their service rep told me it'd be half a week before they could look at the car and that the parts were on backorder for 5 weeks!!

I called the client and explained the situation, he said he'd perfer to deal with northill because they are only a few blocks away. I made a short call over to north hill and they offered to look at the vehicle ON THE SPOT. I headed out for lunch while my driver & lot attendant dropped off the car and upon returning i already had a call from them confirming the diagnosis, parts will be in stock in 5 days. They had no problems taking over my client and taking care of the whole deal. I secured a rental via clients extended warranty and everyone was happy.

Looking at everything from my experience as a service advisor i would be more than happy to send clients there based off my own dealings with them.

[s2k_boi]

Originally posted by Drsuce
I had a great dealing with north hill mazda recently... We had a clients 2008 (52,000km) mazda 5 towed in for PS failure, i did a little google and sure enough there is a TSB out for the exact issue. I called over to stoney trail mazda and their service rep told me it'd be half a week before they could look at the car and that the parts were on backorder for 5 weeks!!

I called the client and explained the situation, he said he'd perfer to deal with northill because they are only a few blocks away. I made a short call over to north hill and they offered to look at the vehicle ON THE SPOT. I headed out for lunch while my driver & lot attendant dropped off the car and upon returning i already had a call from them confirming the diagnosis, parts will be in stock in 5 days. They had no problems taking over my client and taking care of the whole deal. I secured a rental via clients extended warranty and everyone was happy.

Looking at everything from my experience as a service advisor i would be more than happy to send clients there based off my own dealings with them.

I've never dealt with either one.... but Stoney Trail Mazda is also owned by the same owners as Northill Mazda, same with Kramer unfortunately.... Only had dealings with Kramer and they're complete idiots too (especially the service manager)

[Drsuce]

By the way mazda's minimum spec on those rear pads apears to be 1.0mm. I would also be giving you a call requesting to have them replaced. To tell somone with that little pad material remaining that "You probably won't need to have your brakes inspected for another couple of oil changes" is not a smart plan.

Dont fool with brakes my friend, mountain driving (ie trip to van) could leave you with metal on metal sooner than you think.

Also, you didnt mention how good of a brake inspection was performed, in alot of cases the inside brake pad seems to wear a little faster and alot of lazy techs will check only the outside pad. Were the calipers removed to check both pads or was this info based on a quickie "brake depth guage on the outside pad" estimation?

Heres (http://web.archive.org/web/20050225002505/protege5.ugly.net/04-50.PDF) the link to the brake specs for your car.

Im not trying to be an ass, nor am i trying to defend them just because, but i do hate when people that dont know much about cars start slandering people/companys for simply advising them that they need somthing. Just imagine if they told you nothing, and a few thousand KM later need pads AND rotors due to metal on metal fun time, you'd be pissed... right?

[ExtraSlow]

I've had some poor dealings with North Hill Mazda. Feel stupid getting warranty work done at an independent shop for full price, but I'm starting to think that's going to be less aggravation. Do most of my own oil changes myself, got one a year done at the dealer when it's too cold out.

[wardpr68]

Was this the Integra Tire near Douglasdale? I know that place is pretty awesome.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by Willie Bobo


No, there's no such thing as Northland Mazda. It's North Hill Mazda (owned by the Ruperall's who are just as bad, if not worse than the Hyatt Group.)

THIS!

[dansmith11]

the real question is, are your brakes squealing at you yet?

every brake pad i've ever heard of has a wear indicator built into it (a little metal tab that starts to wear against the rotor when the pad is worn out).

when your brakes start to squeal, they need replacing.

[A790]

All four Mazda dealerships in Calgary are owned by the Ruparell family. Take that for whatever it's worth to you.

[ExtraSlow]

Could be why none of them have a decent reputation . . .

[Willie Bobo]

Originally posted by A790
All four Mazda dealerships in Calgary are owned by the Ruparell family. Take that for whatever it's worth to you.

Not true. Sunridge Mazda was originally owned by them, but has since changed hands (twice.)

[4doorj]

Wow sounds like integra tire is a really good company.
With team option gone maybe I will start taking my cars to integra tire for basic maintenance.

[legendboy]

go back to northill mazda and ask to talk to riaz

tell him your a friend of corey mckay and ask him wtf is up

[Squishy]

Sounds like my experience with Toyota Heninger.. I bought my car from there and after they did their inspection they told me I needed new brakes all around, they wanted $480 I believe.. I took it to South Pro to get them to look at them, I still had at least 80% brakes left.

[911fever]

A+++ thread, would read again

[tomt64]

Im willing to bet that your car was worked on by a flat rate tech who was trying to turn a shit paying job into a good paying job.

Anywhere from .3 -.5 for oil change and then if he got brakes add another 1.5 - 2.0 for doing a set of front or rear brakes. He will of just told the service advisor and they dont know any better so they just pass on the msg.

If you have never had front or rear braked changed from brand new then there is no way your rears would need replacing before the fronts UNLESS you left the ebrake engaged for a long damn time and its utilizes the pads instead of the drum design.

[J-D]

We take all of our fleet trucks to one of the Integra Tires. Never been let down!

[CapnCrunch]

I don't really get what your so worked up for. Your rear brakes are almost worn out. They said your fronts were fine. Exactly what the other place said.

If it was me, I would have just had Mazda change them, and not had the hassle of returning to a garage 3 times to get my brakes done. (You've already gone twice, and you'll have to go back to actually get them done)

Obviously you place no value on your own time. What are you really saving by running your brakes another 10-20%? $30-$60? If someone asked me to spend 5-6 hours visiting different shops for $60, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves.

[nj2Type-S]

Originally posted by 4doorj
Wow sounds like integra tire is a really good company.
With team option gone maybe I will start taking my cars to integra tire for basic maintenance.

this. good timing, too, because i'm going to need an oil change in the next couple of weeks.

they should have a beyond discount like option import, hehe. :poosie: