ROYAL MOTORS SERVICE CENTER

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My experience has been average. I had to go back a couple of times to refill the same request. I just use them for oil change and stuff like that.

I have driven clutches all my life and have never had to replace one. Even the car that all 6 of my brothers and sisters learned on never had to have the clutch replaced. If you google this you will find 1,000's of hits of people who clutches didn't even last 10,000 miles (I got 35,000 before I had to have it replaced), but Mazda is not admitting any problem with their clutch. They outright told me that it was my fault...that a women shouldn't be driving a clutch. If they had said that to me when I first brought the car in I would have had it towed somewhere else right then and there. So I will never go there or recommend them to anyone. When my car needed service recently - at the recommendation of one of neighbors and lots of amazing reviews on Angie's List I took it to The Toy Shop out on Geary. I have never been able to say what an amazing experience about a mechanic before, but The Toy Shop did it.

Service Advisor Patty Hudec is a pleasure to work with, even when she has to deliver bad news. During routine inspection, a technician detected harsh shifting and diagnosed early stage transition failure. Patty took the car out herself and confirmed the problem with shifting. She called to advise me of this, plus the lack of A/C (evaporator leaking freon), and nonfunctioning odometer (broken part that could be replaced). Together we decided not to go forward with repairs at this time. Given the age and mileage of the car, we risk investing more than the value of the likely remaining lifetime of the car. The horizon for failure of the transmission is unknown, so we will continue to drive it while we plan for a replacement purchase.
Royal has serviced this car since we purchased it new. For the past 18 years my experience with Royal has been consistently positive--I am treated with courtesy, my questions heard and answered, and Royal has backed up its work, re-checking and repairing issues without additional cost in the few instances when the problem recurred. With a change in personnel about two years ago, Patty picked up my account, and now I always ask for her. She really does care, about both the condition of the car and customer satisfaction; and mitigates a stressful (read: expensive and technical) encounter with excellent customer service. She is knowledgable, conscientious, a good communicator, and unfailingly polite.
Yes, the dealer's service shop is always going to cost more than a nonaffiliated repair shop, and that must definitely be considered. However, if you're willing to pay a little more, you can count on good service here.

They were really friendly and explained everything. They didn’t try to sell me things that I didn’t need. They did a favor to me and put a license frame in the front of my car and didn’t charge me for it.

The manager is very good. I was having some problems with my brakes and it did take them three attempts to fix the problem. Even though that interaction was so great, I haven't had previous problems with them. The service is good.

THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT WAS VERY UNHELPFUL, AND ESSENTIALLY DISHONEST. ALMOST FROM THE DATE I BOUGHT THE CAR, I TOLD THEM THAT THE WARRANTY DATE WAS WRONG IN THEIR COMPUTER. THEY CLAIMED THE WARRANTY ENDED AUGUST, 2006 INSTEAD OF DECEMBER, 2006. THEY REPEATEDLY TOLD ME THEY WOULD CHANGE THE WARRANTY DATE CHANGED, BUT NEVER DID. STARTING IN 2005, I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE ABS SYSTEM. THE ABS LIGHT CAME ON INTERMITTENTLY. THEY DID A MINOR REPAIR UNDER WARRANTY, AND THE ABS LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN A FEW MONTHS LATER. I BROUGHT THE CAR BACK IN SEPTEMBER, 2006, AND THEY DID ANOTHER MINOR REPAIR UNDER WARRANTY, BUT THEY SAID THAT THE WARRANTY HAD EXPIRED AND THEY HAD NEVER CHANGED THE WARRANTY DATE. THE ABS LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN, AND I BROUGHT THE CAR BACK IN DECEMBER (BEFORE THE TRUE WARRANTY DATE). THEY TOLD ME THAT THE WHOLE SYSTEM HAD TO BE REPLACED, AND THAT I SHOULD NOT DRIVE THE CAR AWAY, AND THAT IT WOULD NOT BE COVERED UNDER WARRANTY DESPITE THE PRIOR REPAIRS THEY MADE. IT COST $1300.