Jeff Schmitt Mazda

Reviews 4

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Michael Blair

I was first greeted by a young salesman who seemed to be unsure of most of the details on the cx-5 but he showed me the car and we went for a test drive. When I started to ask about price I was told to just come back when I knew I was ready to buy the car.... So I came back the next day and greeted by Catherine McMillian. She was very knowledgeable about the vehicle and its features. I went for a second test drive and spent a few hours discussing numbers. She asked me to sign a $2000 "retaining fee" to transfer the car I wanted from another dealership. It had very little information on it; just the model, paint color, and trim of the car. This was a blanket deposit trying to trap me into a sale. $500 is what I would have expected. We negotiated price and was told my X-plan is not eligible for S-plan pricing. I walked out of the dealership having signed the "retaining fee" but without an invoice, feature list of the vehicle, or any other real information. Very poor on my part but I would hope a sales person would never let a customer walk about the door without knowing the details of their potential purchase. I didnt even have an out the door price. I reviewed the S-plan pricing policy on the Mazda site and confirmed that X-plan pricing is eligible for S-plan pricing. Cat was very quick to respond to my concerns on her day off and helped me secure the pricing I should have gotten in the first place. Ideally, this never would have happened in the first place as it required me to spend more time at the dealership and responding to emails. I was also told there was an up charge for the Blue paint color I wanted but this was forgotten after my S-plan pricing. Confirmed on Mazdas site there should have been no up-charge for the Blue I was interested in. Overall, Cat helped me get the car I wanted despite having to renegotiate the price. She was very friendly throughout and took the time to help correct the X-plan issue on her day off. What I would do differently? Print out any incentives you might be eligible for and the company policy ahead of time. Bring a printout of your build from Mazdas website showing the MSRP and all additional charges. Do not sign a blanket deposit. Focus on out the door pricing, not monthly. Be aware there is a hard sell on interior protection sprays and the glass is pre-etched for security (~$300 added to invoice). Would I come back to this dealer? Yes. Would I do things different? Absolutely. Have not serviced my vehicle yet so no comment on that.

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Tim Kerby

Hard to rate my experience, because I had a mixed bag. I settled on 3 star as an average, The good (5 stars): The car. Purchased a Mazda 3, and it is everything I hoped it would be. Great car, drives like a dream, good economy, good power, some really nice features you only find on vehicles in a much higher class. The sales rep. Gabe was also very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful, though I do not think he effectively communicated or championed my budget with his manager. (See below). The bad (3 stars): The experience. I went in pre-approved and had a price in mind to fit my budget. This was promptly ignored as I was pulled and twisted into a direction I was not prepared for. Admittedly, I should of been more firm and even had the courage to walk away, but this day and age I just did not expect such old fashioned high pressure sales. Car buying has evolved, but you wouldnt know it at Jeff Schimdt Mazda. I ended up paying MSRP, with no effort made to offer me a better price, even though I clearly indicated I was there because I saw a lower price. (See below). The ugly (1 star): Prices on the website are very deceptive. The discounted "sale" prices shown are only for customers that quality for certain rebates or discounts, but this is not made clear at all. There is a disclaimer at the bottom of the web page, but you only see if it you are on an individual cars page, and only if you scroll down to look, as there is nothing to indicate a disclaimer applies (such as an asterisk after the price, for example). The sales staff are very quick and adept at navigating you around that price, so it almost feels as it is just a hook to get you in. I was sold on a Mazda 3 before I even walked in the door, but if I had to do it all over again, I would walk away if I had to endure a similar process.

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James Hill

Reggie, I feel like there was a misunderstanding as to why we walked away from the Mazda5 purchase today. We walked into your dealership today to buy that car, we’ve taken our time and looked around, test driven many cars and decided that the Mazda5 you had advertised, was the right choice for us. However, because of your misleading advertisement, you wasted 3 – 4 hours of our time and yours. I fail to see how that is beneficial to either party. Putting the “Actual” price of the car in the advertisement and explaining that there are incentives/discounts available for certain types of people, would surely fulfil the needs of you the sellers and us the buyers. I certainly don’t want to mess around spending hours on a car that is not in the bracket I’m looking to buy in, and surely you don’t want to waste your time trying to sell me a car I don’t want to pay for. I really do love the cars the Mazda put out, living in England I’ve owned and truly enjoyed driving Mazda’s. You’ve tainted that experience, not because of the cars, but purely down to your business practices. You’re argument of “every dealership does it” simply isn’t true, our experience with Ford was genuinely really pleasant, all incentives shown on the price were applicable to everyone, it felt honest and a genuine interaction of a business trying to sell a car, and us trying to buy the car we were looking for. If both you and Ford were selling the same car, the Ford dealership would have walked away with our business, based on the experience we had with you today. To be clear, my issue is not with your price on the car, simply your representation of the actual price dependent on the person viewing the advertisement. It’s simply misleading, it wastes your and my time, and honestly makes me look elsewhere for my Mazda’s.

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Judy Grant

We had the opportunity to work with two wonderful salespeople at Jeff Schmitt Mazda recently. In April 2014, we test drove a 2012 Mazda CX-9. Junior was very helpful, answering all of our questions and taking us on our test drive. We discussed purchasing options, and he was very effective in showing us the ins and outs of our potential purchase. We decided to sleep on it and come back two days later. We showed up on Saturday, ready to further discuss our potential purchase. Junior was with other customers, so Catherine McMillian cheerfully stepped up to help us out. Not only did she thoroughly explain all of the vehicles options, she was extremely effective in detailing all of the options available to us in addition to the vehicle - such as extended vehicle warranties, the Certified Used Vehicle assurances, etc...Although we opted to go without the extended warranties, she made certain that we knew what we were doing. She walked us through the sale process, the financing process, introduced us to the service team members, and make sure we were comfortable with the Jeff Schmitt Facility and everything they have to offer. After the sale, she even sat with me in the car for 45 additional minutes helping me to setup the Bluetooth phone system, ensuring that we could quickly and easily make and receive phone calls from the very beginning in our new vehicle. We have had the vehicle for three weeks now, and Catherine continues to stay in touch with us. We have been very appreciative of her dedication. I would highly recommend Catherine McMillian and the entire Jeff Schmitt Mazda team to anyone in the market for a Mazda.

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