Cardinale Way Mazda Cardinale Damaged oil pan drain plug, a $1,000 repair, denies responsibility, they performed the last 10 oil change services on my car Mesa, Arizona

2/8/2012

I bought my Mini Cooper "used" from Cardinale Mazda in June 2008. They sold me the car with FREE OIL CHANGES FOR LIFE. In October 2011 and several oil changes later, the service advisor, Steve Ross informed me that they would no longer provide me with the free oil change service because he doesn't make money off of me. Steve stated that "I (meaning me Jeannie Glover) have to spend money on maintenance service to get free oil changes" and he needs to "meet his quota" or numbers or what have you.... Well I had spent $$ on services in the past from Trani Flushes, Brake Flushes,Tire rotations, to repairs that were covered under the $3,000 extended warranty that I purchased through Cardinale Mazda. But on this one occasion when (October 2011) I took my car in to get a free oil change, they decided to do me a dis-service by treating me like I wasn't worthy of their kind. So I cut my relationship at that point and decided I would never do business with them again. 5 months and 5,000 miles later (February 2012), Mini of Tempe is changing the oil in my car. I'm informed by one of there Techs that my $75.00 oil change is going to cost me a $1,000 dollars because of the oil pan drain plug being stripped. Shards of the aluminum threading are in the tiny little oil puddle visible in the pan after all the oil has been drained out. Mini tells me they can't tighten the plug its stripped and I have to get a new plug and oil pan. "Heat coils and cheaper alternative methods only put a band-aid on the major problem". "Cheap repairs don't fix the problem". I go back to Cardinale Mazda (Service Advisor Steve), since they were responsible for the last 10 oil changes performed on my car, and he said they aren't responsible. He says from his research that "oil pans are common to replace". My Mini tech said he has replaced "2 oil pans in the last 8 years". After several voice mails to the service manger Rick, I finally get a call back. I explained the history of my service with Cardinale and the research I found on damaged oil pans. The research suggests that it's a rare case to see a damaged oil pan/drain plug and the damage is caused by someone being irresponsible, the tech draining the oil puts to much torque on the drain plug when changing the oil (refer to http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/118). It's the maintenance service that needs careful attention and when techs aren't careful when tightening the plug it damages the threading and the plug can't seal the pan. The service manager (Rick - Cardinale) didn't want to pay for the repair. He offered to fix it at a cheaper cost meaning a Heat coil or using a larger plug to rethread it, which wouldn't fix the problem, it would still need to be replaced over time. I've stopped all communication with Cardinale and I will send them a certified letter containing an invoice for $1,000 for the repair of my car. Cardinale will have 14 business days to pay me the cost of the repair. If they don't pay me within 14 business days, I'll take the necessary steps to hold them accountable for the damage to my car plus the financial stress and burden they put on me as a mistreated customer.

Regards,
Jeannie
Ex-Cardinale Customer