Serious issue after having car serviced

[Vicksburg]

Hi all,

I'm new to this Forum and apologise in advance if my post is too long or in anyway boring.

On Monday of last week I had a 3 year service, Mazda Infotainment update and safety recall inspection carried out by my local Mazda Dealer on my 2016 CX-5 with 35k on the clock, all seemed to be OK and I took out a service plan with them. Two days later my wife called me to say that the car was completely dead and she had arranged for her Companies maintenance dept. to send a mechanic, on opening the bonnet his first words were "there's your problem" the negative battery connection was loose, on opening the positive cover this was also loose. He tightened both connections and everything was OK.

I contacted the dealership who assured me that the battery connections were not touched during the service and would not be checked unless there was a starting issue with the car and that the loose connections were just a coincidence and nothing to do with the service. I bought the car in February this year and have never had any problems with it until now. I feel it is really stretching the bounds of incredulity to suggest that both connections coming loose after the service was just a coincidence.

After the service my wife said that the panel and Ifo system lights were very dim and it seems they had defaulted back to factory settings which I assumed was due to the update and I reset them. It wasn't until Friday when I noticed that the auto windows were not working and I checked the manual to find that if the battery had been disconnected the auto windows have to be initialised, on mentioning this to my wife she had forgotten to tell me that this had happened with her also on the Monday evening after the service which seems to confirm that the battery was disconnected at some point whilst they had the car.

My question therefore is twofold: 1: has anyone had their terminal connections come loose before (I have been driving all sorts of cars for 50 odd years and it has never happened to me) and 2: any suggestions as to what course of action I should now pursue as the consequences of driving a car in that condition are endless the most serious is it could have caused a fire.

I thank you in advance for any response.

[dunhill1984]

Nope its not happened to me before and i would not go to that garage ever again- i think thats all you can do.

[NAIMKEV]

I remember years ago being told that one of my fathers colleagues had a car in a garage for a service, he turned up unexpectedly at the garage to find the engine being stopped (presumably for a worn out one)....Difficult to prove with a battery after the event, I hope this has not happened.  I would raise with Mazda UK if it was a Mazda garage.

[Mary Hinge]

I can't think why on earth they wouldn't admit disconnecting the battery not that I can think of a reason whilst just carrying out a basic service. If they'd have admitted it then a simple apology would have ended the matter for me.

[Vicksburg]

Thanks for your replies and I will now take it up with them in writing and will post any eventual outcome.

[Bert321]

I think I read somewhere that the battery needs to be removed to change the fuel filter on the diesels. Perhaps you’re got a new filter, although that wouldn’t explain why they’d lie about it.

[Vicksburg]

Well Bert you're a life saver, I have checked and yes the battery has to be removed to change the fuel filter, there is going to be hell to play now They have blatantly lied to me regarding this and to say I'm livid would be an understatement. Once again thanks very much.

[Mary Hinge]

Nice one Bert, go get 'em Vic 

[Bert321]

Happy to have helped

[Vicksburg]

Hi all,

I am pleased to report that The MD of the Dealership phoned me and confirmed that all the issues pointed out by me were in fact correct and I accepted his apologies and the offer of a free service next year.

I think it just goes to show that we should not stand idly by and accept shoddy service and poor customer service from any organisation no matter how large or small.

Once again I would like to thank you all for your comments.

[Bert321]

Great result