You guys have really got me pissed off...
 

at the dealer where I bought my '11 MS3 after just 3 days of browsing these forums.

First I learned about the "personalization" they were supposed to do, but never offered me. Then I discovered that there was no mounting on the front bumper for a license plate, so they put two big screws through the bumper insert to accomplish this task. Now if I sell the car to someone who doesn't need a front plate, I'm gonna take a hit from the holes. Yes I realize there are solutions for this (new insert, plugs, etc) but I'm pissed off that they didn't let me know they were doing this and give me the option to say "no thanks". :cussing:

I will be paying them a visit this week and asking them to replace the insert and do the personalization they owe me.

</rant>

dude just drive the car and enjoy it. there are plenty more important things in life than a hole in your bumper on where the license plate bracket should actually go.

have a good day.

Thanks for the advice, I'll just let the dealer do whatever they want regardless of whether it is right or not.

Sounds to me like the OP got shitty service. Car dealerships should be kissing your ass for purchasing from them so I agree with not being offered the choice to have the car personalized.

As far as the holes in the front bumper, well maybe you should have done some research on that first. It's a standard thing for them to do. Unfortunately. If you bitch enough they might fix it for you since you got half ass service on other things IMO.

i had the same stuff happen to me when i bought the car, the license plate was already drilled for and everything, and they didn't tell me anything about the personalization, so far i have almost 13k miles on the car and still enjoy every day i drive it. and i have yet to stop by and get the personalization done.

I'm just over 13k too, and I enjoy the hell out of the car; no complaints there. My gripe is with the dealer not (a) letting me know they were going to drill holes in the car before they gave it to me, and (b) not giving me everything I was entitled to. I bought 2 cars from this dealer on the same day so I expect better. To top it off, when my wife went in to get service done on her car they basically told her that if we didn't fill out the online survey crap the asked us to do when we bought that she would probably get sub-par service. I'm glad I didn't fill it out then, but I will sure as hell fill it out now.

wait till you find out about the toe in. LOL

having to replace the tires under 20k is not funny

I'd be pissed too

we'll the dealerships don't have an option about not installing the front plate bracket, here in Cali you have to have a front plate by law. it is illegal not to have one and u will be ticketed and pulled over for it, and they even give u a ticket if they saw your can in a mall parking lot just parked there with out a front plate.

so dealers have to take per-cautions, and not be the ones blamed for not installing the front bracket to put a plate on and be liable for it. so that the customer would say, they never installed it for me and i'm gonna sue the dealer.

Front plates ugly anyways

i live in NJ they do the same here is think most states will benift if the state only allowed 1 plate they will save on the cost of getting the plates made / destroyed for the cost of the two and then they will have alot of happy residents. also but then they will need to install camaras on lights in other direction to catach ppl that run lights. well my .02cents on front plates and how we all hate them. atleast my theory would help the state save cost rather then shutting down local dmv outlets and firing workers.

I am in Pa(doesnt require front plate) and they had to get my car in VA... The car had a front plate on it becuase it HAD to. States with front plates drill the holes BEFORE the car is even on the lot. This is part of the PDI. You didnt have a choice. Get it fixed if you dont like it.

What's "personalization"?

Mine didnt tell me about he personalization either. from what i could gather they write it up as a warranty line to get paid for it, which is why you get a one time only visit to get it right, and from that point forward if you want to change any options they charge you like 1.0 or 1.5 hours labor.

the girl i went to when i asked about it acted like i was crazy for requesting some of these options and wasnt sure if my car even had anything like that, and would "have to look into it". dealerships arent anything special. just another place for people to make money.

assholes will be assholes. advisors could care less if you just bought a new car. they would rather see a 5 year old car who is actually customer pay instead of warranty claims/oil changes.

So fix it if you dont like it-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...6-15-42_56.jpg

u mad bro?

lol at per-cautions.

a whole new grill insert is like $110 from mazda, comes pre-painted.

this whole thing is mazdas fault not the dealers, engineers should have made a bracket for a front plate that doesnt require drilling into the bumper, like the old miatas had. dealer has to install plate by law before car leaves lot.

I didn't get personalization either... will next week when I stop in though. The only thing I want done is the smart turn signals... holes in the bumper, fuck no. I live in Mi so luckily we don't need the front plate. My car came from a dealer in another state though and when my dealer got it in and I was picking it up, he said "oh, and you lucked out, they didn't drill holes in the bumper for the front plate"... I said "no, you're lucky they didn't or you wouldn't have sold a car" LOL.

That is BS that the dealership tells you to get away with it after the fact. If you tell them you want one without the holes in it, they will get you one. Ive done that on my last 3 cars in various states.
Each time I get the "ITS THE LAW and we have to do it, see this shiny new car with the drilled bumper, buy this one now please" speech.
Being firm and telling them either fix the insert, or find me a car that hasnt been drilled yet or Im not buying it, has changed the tune every time.

On my 2012 MS3 They has a gray one i could have purchased but I refused because of the bumper being drilled. When they found me a black mica coming off a truck I specifically told them I would refuse the vehicle if they drilled the bumper when it showed up. Week later, the car showed up and in the trunk was the mounting bracket with a sticky note on it that said DO NOT INSTALL!


This is the same "ITS THE LAW" you hear about window tinting, yet there sure are a lot of cars out there (lots of them coming from dealerships) that are a lot darker than the law allows. Money talks and can change anything.

OP I had the same thing happen to me. After a month of having the car I noticed when replacing the temp tags with the new ones, I saw that the license plate was off centered and they drilled three holes when attempting to put it on. Not to mention they used the wrong bracket and didn't offer personalizing. I brought it back to the dealer and they ordered/replaced the grille. Despite the painless 5+ hours spent at the dealership (mostly because the personalizing was giving them a hard time) I was happy with the results. Just ask them, it won't hurt.

I don't know how many times I have been reading this forum and thought to myself that I am glad I live in Indiana where I don't have to worry about this stuff.

Now excuse me while I go buy my liquor for tomorrow because I can't buy on Sunday.

I had the same problem, toe in. It killed the tires. Dealer blamed it on bad roads. I fucking hate dealers.

What is this personalization you guys are talking about?