First post, what's up guys.. I've been driving my OZ lancer for about 6 months now.. and I notice that everytime I have to go to the dealership for something/anything, they give me a huge run-around and it takes a very long time for things to get done, specifically with parts that they don't have stocked. I don't know if this a dealership-specific problem or if this is widespread throughout the company. Anybody else have similar experiences? I don't want to say right off the bat which dealership I deal with and which parts I needed because I know that some dealers read these forums and that might jeopardize our relationship... but it is in the GTA.

In the initial purchase and subsequent maintenance stops for my Lancer I've had nothing but "I don't know, I'll get back to you" / "Call us back or come back in to the dealership later" sort of answers. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, and as much as I love this car, I'm thinking of dropping it due to bad customer service.

It's like once they sell you the car, they don't care. God forbid I'd have to do some sort of warranty work!

Anyways.. just like to hear your thoughts on this. Peace.

 

where do you take your car?

 

they give me a huge run-around and it takes a very long time for things to get done, specifically with parts that they don't have stocked

whats parts ?, they don't have anything in stock other than the standard option parts like mud flaps, block heaters etc... !, I just tested several Montreal dealers on a part I ordered 2 weeks ago and they still have not received it ! this will be the desmise of the Mitsu brand in Canada, poor after sale service and lack of networking, get this Gabriel Mitsubishi in Pointe-Claire has a seperate building, but the parts and service department is in a KIA dealership next door, I havent yet seen a Mitsubishi dealer with a true parts counter, most operate out of a workstation on someone's desk ! on the bright side I never have to make a appointment at the dealer, the mechanics are just sitting there twindling their thumbs if thats any comfort.

 

Trois-Rivieres Mitsubishi has their own parts counter with aftermarket stuff available. Thought I'd let you guys know...

 

Trois-Rivieres Mitsubishi has their own parts counter with aftermarket stuff available. Thought I'd let you guys know...

By a true parts counter, I mean they will have at least 80% of the parts in stock ranging from a simple push rivet to mechanical parts like yours truly hated Honda dealers ! That is what impresses me about Hondas they have just about everything you can imagine in stock and if not its next day, I never had to wait more than a day when I needed a part for my Civic !

Heres a rundown of Montreal dealers service dept.:

Cite Mitsubishi: Intermediate knowledge of what they are doing, but their mechanics are more busy working on BMWs and Porsches for Sako Leasing than your low cost Lancers.

Gabriel Mitsubishi: Amateurs, disgrace to the brand

Laval Mitsubishi: Hello, is anyone home ! the service guy is wearing a Team Honda polo shirt

Albi Mitsubishi: Never had the pleasure of visiting them yet, but if their presence at the Montreal meet was any indication, they should be pros

 

I hear what you're saying EdT... the dealership that I am going through, their parts counter was more like a walk in closet. I saw some "2Fast 2Furious" labelled after market stuff, AEM v2 cold air intakes lying around.. and then oil filters and air filters.

The mechanic at my place wasn't busy either.. he's a cool guy and I feel bad that I'm giving him a hard time over this deal, but you're absolutely right EdT, ,the poor after sale service will truely be the demise of Mitsu in Canada..

Another thing that irked me about my dealership, when i walked through the door after 3 months, I noticed that there was only one person still working there from when I purchased my car. The rest of the staff had been completely replaced. I felt awkward because I had met most of the staff when I bought the car, now none of them are there. It's quite odd.

As it stand right now, my dealership doesn't know when to expect the part. They say they've ordered it, and are waiting for it.. saying it could take up to a week. Did they offer me a loaner car to drive in the meantime? No.

I'm leaning strongly to the "sell car now and discontinue relationship with Mitsubishi" option, more out of protest than of spite for the product itself.

 

Maybe if you tell which dealership it is they will make their service better for everyone else. Also dropping the car as a protest is not in your best interest since you losing money as any car depreciates in value as soon as you drive it out of the lot.

 

Well... like I said, they are currently working on my car, so if I was going to knock them while they have my car, that might result in bad things happening.

I'm also aware that the car depreciates and that I stand to lose some money if I were to sell the car.. but I didnt buy it brand new, and so I'll probably be looking at a minor loss... I have driven it for about 6 months. But I'll worry about that later.

In terms of why I said protest, it's just that if I'm getting such hassles with simple parts, what happens when I need to do some major work on my car? Are they going to give me the same run-around when I have to have my clutch done? Maybe I'll have to wait a month to get that done, you know? The car is under warranty for a while still, and one would think that you would take it to the dealership as opposed to a private mechanic, especially considering how new the Mistubishi's are on the market... but I suppose that all this hassle would not be mine if I had bought a Honda or something.

But like I said.. I'll wait and see what happens before I decide to sell it.. and I'll keep you all updated. When I do get my car back, I'll post a detailed description of the situation so this will make more sense.

 

Okay so here it is:

The Dealership I was dealing with was Woodchester Mitsubishi, in Mississauga.

The problem: A tire.. I figured that the dealerships would stock some spare tires for their customers.. and I had no idea how hard it would be to find someone with a Yokohama Radial 376 - 195 60 R15. Woodchester first told me that they had to order some from Vancouver because Vancouver Mitsubishi was the only dealership in canada that has the tire.. and that I had to wat 2-3 days. Fine, I said.

I call them back today, they haven't ordered it, their parts/service manager is on a leave of absence. Fortunately, she's at the dealership, I talk to her, she says someone else is going to order the tire from Montreal for me. I say forget it, thank you for absolutely nothing.

I call some other local Mitsu dealerships, and it's the same story. None in stock, have to ship them in from Vancouver/Montreal/Winnepeg/Whereever.

I make some calls, call about 20 local tire shops, find one shop that has two tires in this model in stock.. I'm going to buy both of them.

I have nothing personal against the staff at Woodchester. They only make do with what their company provides them. The people there are fine, their mechanic is a good guy, but they just don't know how to run a business. I understand that stocking tires is not a widespread practice among dealers, but equipping vehicles with ultra-rare tires and then not re-ordering at least a few when you run out? Come on... that's just stupid.

Anyways.. This is a big strike against Mitsubishi in my book... Figure I'll drive this car until either I blow another tire or until I find an alternative.

Consider yourselves informed.

 

Well guyz, things are only going to change if the us the consumer *****es everyday until they hear us, I phone the dealer everyday to bug them, this will increase the pressure on Mitsubushi Canada if their dealers complain back for a lack of support. I going to phone Musubishi Canada now for a ranting. !, they picked the wrong guy to f**k with ! Notice Mitsubishi Canada doesn't have their phone no. or e-mail address posted WTF !

Heres Mitsubishi North America no., phone them and rant, its your previlege as a owner: 1-888-MITSU2004

 

now was the tire cheaper at the dealership or cheaper at the tire shop?

 

The price was less at the tire shop by roughly two dollars.

Part of my agreement when I bought my car, however, was that I get all parts at dealer cost for a year... not a very useful clause to throw into the deal when they can't get parts. At dealer cost I probably would have saved a couple bucks.

EdT... I'm going to call and complain, but the only person that's going to help is me.. it will help me vent my frustration. I doubt the company is going to really do anything. I'm going to ask around to some other people and see if it's like this at other companies dealerships.. VW, Nissan ETC. See what the situation really is.

Yup.

 

what kind of car do you drive?
have we meet or have you ever come to are meets?

 

I was at the mini-meet @ cooksville for about 3 minutes.. i turned in, and then left because something important came up. I saw two evo's there... a yellow and a blue one. I drooled.

Other then that, I dont really know anyone from the Lancer scene except my buddy CanadaOZ-7 or something, who posts on these forums as well.

If you want to know.. it's an '03 Lancer OZ, lowered with the tein stylish spec springs.. and I have an AEM v2 cold air intake.. the one that goes ALL the way down. I also put a system into it.

I'll post a picture when I get my new tire.

 

Hey, that's my dealership. Not mine like I own it but where I got my car from.
Never had any dealings with them other than oil change which was I guess ok. The price at Cooksville thoough is better by a few bucks plus the discount.

They don't have any aftermarket parts for sale unlike cooksville. And while they don't host events like Cooksville did, they did allow me to leave flyers for the June 13 Big Meet.

They own 3 other dealerships (Woodchester Nissan, Woodchester Suzuki and I think one more so they are not really Mitsubishi loyal people I think. They are in this for business, therefore, no different than your regular Ford or GM dealers.