A little history; please indulge me.
The first time I dealt with MX5 Mart was through trademe. Around 5-6 years ago I went back home to NZ for my honeymoon (I live in Taiwan). I wanted a car to drive around in, to show my wife NZ. I bid on a silver MX5 on trademe. I paid around $1700 for it, which was a good price. Higher kms, a bit rough but all the important work done on it. We enjoyed the car for 3 weeks and drove over 2,700 trouble free kms. I sold it for almost at I paid for it. This was the first time I had ever owned a Japanese car, and I fell in love with the MX5. It is truly a great car!
So when I went back to NZ in September this year for almost 3 weeks, I decided to buy another one. I looked at the MX5 Mart website and there was a car that fit my requirements. A silver, automatic (don’t judge me. I have long legs and driving a manual is just not practical for me), low kms and described as very tidy
Here is the ad:
Covered only 149000 kms and very tidy. New glass window hood.
Cambelt change at 103000kms.
We can change this to a manual if required.
Alarm and decent stereo.
I also emailed him about a different car, but he never responded to that email… maybe the car had been sold, I am not sure. Anyway, I bought the silver car. Because Ross was going to be travelling when I wanted the car delivered, we arranged for him to drop it off at my friend’s house in Auckland. He told me the date, which I passed onto my friend. On the date, my friend was at home and waiting… the car didn’t show up. He called Ross to ask what time he would be coming and was told that it would be the next day. My friend said it would be nice to have been informed about the date change, and Ross said he thought he had told him and said “I am telling you now”. Not a good start!
The next day he did indeed deliver the car and left the keys in the mailbox (more on that later).
But when I arrived in NZ and went to start it, the battery was dead flat. I got a jumpstart, put some gas in it and drove to Whangerei. After seeing my mother for 2 hours, when I tried to start it the battery was completely dead again. I called the Marshall Battery guy to come out. He checked the battery and alternator. The alternator was charging but the battery had to be replaced. He also told me to go to their workshop because there was an electrical problem that caused the battery to go flat.
The problem was found to be a faulty headlight switch, which meant that the lights were still on even when they were down.
I had to get a brand new (Mazda) headlight switch and battery, and with the call-out and labour ended up with a bill of over $550.
I told Ross in my first email that “I am pretty sure that you wouldn't have sold the car if you knew it had this issue, but if you had to jumpstart the car at your place before you took it up to Auckland then the fault probably existed then.
Also, I paid for a wind deflector but it wasn't fitted. The alarm siren does not work. The central locking doesn't unlock the passenger side. The speakers in the headrest rattle because the foam is rotted, so having a decent stereo isn't so good because I can't listen to it at any volume. The car was advertised as being very tidy, but the paint on the bonnet and boot is pretty rooted.”
I got no reply from him at all, even though I waited until after he came back from overseas to email him. I waited almost a month then emailed him again.
Here is what I wrote;
Hello Ross and Melody
I sent you an email in October but got no response from you.
I am not happy with my latest experience with you, and I feel the MX5 was a little misrepresented.” Then I pasted my original email text in and added:
“I forgot to mention that the "new" roof had a hole in it!
I have attached some photos of the paintwork to show that it is not as tidy as you said, and also the hole in the roof.
One other thing is that you didn't deliver the car on the original day that you said you would. My friend was waiting at home all day and it was only when he called you and asked that you told him it would be the day after.
Finally, I paid for a wind deflector to be fitted and it wasn't. I would hope for a refund of that money, at the very least.
Thank you”
...and got a very short response. “Hi Craig; We have been overseas. We dropped the car as requested and left the keys in the mail box. Sorry we forgot about the windblocker and am happy to refund if you give me a bank account. Regards Ross.”
I replied to him “Ross
Yes, I know you were overseas, but I thought you have been back for some time.
You dropped the car off, true, but changed the day on which you did so, and failed to inform either myself or my friend. I would have thought that was common courtesy.
My bank account is …..
You did not respond to any of the concerns I raise about the “tidiness” of the car, or that fact that the new roof had a hole in it, or the other items that were not working and the expensive problems I encountered on the first day I used it. Do you not have any comment about these concerns?
All in all, this has not been a good experience with my MX5.”
They then responded;
Hello Craig.
A refund for the windblocker has been made $69.
Your friend was advised that the car was being dropped off on different day and he in turn advised us to put the keys in the letterbox.
Regards Melody
They never responded to any of my concerns/questions about the tidiness of the car or all the problems I had with it (despite me asking three times). Instead, they again mentioned that they had advised my friend that the car was being dropped off on a different day, but that was only after my friend called them (on the day they said the car would be dropped off and asked them where the car was!) They missed the point completely that they didn’t inform either myself or my friend that it would be on a different day, and seemed to maintain that they had done what was asked of them. They obviously have extremely limited communication skills and understanding.
So now I am back overseas and will entrust my friend to sell the car for me. To be fair, it is reliable and starts first time now (because of the work I put into it), I got the alarm and central locking working, and did a few other minor things, but will not be able to get what I paid for it. I will try to be more honest to the new buyer than MX5 Mart was to me!
So what I go from this experience is;
1) Although I realize that MX5 Mart has some good parts and can supply many things for MX5s, I will NEVER buy from MX5 Mart again until such a time as somebody else takes it over and runs it like a proper business, with due consideration to customers and with some inkling of customer service.
2) I strongly suggest to anybody considering dealing with MX5 Mart to get any car inspected (or inspect it themselves) before buying it, since Ross and Melody simply cannot be trusted to describe them accurately, or address any concerns about them if questioned.
I couldn’t give feedback on them this time because I didn’t buy the car from trademe, but I feel it is only fair that I come onto this forum to air my grievances as it seems the only way to do so and spread the words about what transpired.
Avoid MX5 Mart, but happy driving otherwise.
