Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

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csumm69
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Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by csumm69 » Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:26 pm

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I have had a very bad experience in dealing with Ross and Melody of MX5 Mart. I am a repeat customer, but apparently they know absolutely nothing about customer service and have very poor skills in communication.
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.

mx5resto
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Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by mx5resto » Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:19 pm

Unfortunately I have also had a hard time dealing with MX5 Mart. I do appreciate what they do for the community, however having been sent the wrong part multiple times, having 10+ emails "whoops, looks like I missed those" , parts being sent back for a refund, and unable to contact them after the items had been received so no refund, and being sent very obviously faulty parts, I unfortunately don't think I can feel confident in using them. A shame as they do have a lot of parts, some of which I would like.

csumm69
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Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by csumm69 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:37 pm

Thanks so much for posting a reply to my original post. I thought I was the only one with such issues...

While we both appreciate what they do for the community, there must be a time when enough is enough and people start to push back. It seems that (in my experience) they just seem to care about the money and not repeat business. Just because they have the right parts does NOT give them the right to treat customers this way. And just because they have some good parts doesn't mean that the parts are in good condition (as your own experience has proven).

If I had the time and money, I would be tempted to open in competition to them just in order to put them out of business. I am sure somebody else must have had that idea as well..?

Surely other members of this community must have had bad experiences that they would like to share

Cheers

Keith Jones
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Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by Keith Jones » Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:32 pm

Have you checked out MX5 Spares in New Plymouth as an alternative. I have found Neil to respond quickly to any enquiries.

feetup
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Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by feetup » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:10 pm

I too have had several bad experiences from MX5 Mart (but got told to keep my opinions to myself on this forum), agree that MX5 Spares in NP seem better...

csumm69
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Hey.  They are NOT Training wheels.
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Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:40 pm

Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by csumm69 » Sat Jan 13, 2018 4:46 am

I am not sure why you got told to keep your opinions to yourself; I managed to post openly about my experience and have had no such telling off!

In the future, I will be sure to give Neil at MX5 spares my business.

quinciniho
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Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by quinciniho » Tue Jan 30, 2018 12:56 pm

Have tried to deal with MX5 Mart many times but never managed to arrange a purchase.

From what I can tell Ross is absolutely incapable of replying in a timely and consistent manner.

Melody is even more incapable and basically told me Ross will reply to me when he gets around to it.

I have a friend who reluctantly bought some parts off of him because he could not find them elsewhere and to be fair they arrived and were as described.

Overall he seems to be extremely inconsistent with delivery of product and his lack of customer service is dreadful.

I understand he has had health issues lately, however in this case I'd at least expect a business to put an out of office reply rather than just leave everyone hanging.

Avoid using if you can.

If you're reading this Ross, please contact me if you'd like to set up a functional website where people don't have to email you. I'd be willing to do it free of charge to help the community out :)
1997 Eunos Roadster SR-Limited

csumm69
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Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:40 pm

Re: Very dissatisfied customer of MX5 Mart!

Post by csumm69 » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:18 pm

quinciniho, you hit the nail on the head.

They both seem incapable of even basic courtesy. Health issues notwithstanding, they have been rude or dismissive long before that.

I am not sure your offer of designing a website for them would be good, since there still needs to be a human at the end of it all to actually ship stuff and answer questions. Maybe a new owner could deal with these issues..?

I am back in Taiwan now, and seriously miss my MX5

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