I

read an interview with Keizo Okue, president director of Mazda Motors Indonesia, published in The Jakarta Post on April 22 with great interest. As the proud new owner of a Mazda CX5, I was delighted that this under-appreciated brand was finally coming into its own.

However, it is with great sadness that I have to inform Mr. Okue that his projections for the future of Mazda in Indonesia will probably take longer than he expects due to the incredibly lousy service at Mazda dealers.

 I bought my vehicle from Mazda's Bogor dealer months ago. The salesperson, Jensen, went to great lengths to convince my wife and me on the advantages of owning a Mazda CX5 by coming all the way to Jakarta from Bogor to allow us to test drive.

The vehicle was issued to us with a temporary license plate valid for one month. Jensen assured us that it would take only around 10 days to complete the official documentation for the car so I could then apply for a personalized plate number.

One month later, there was no sign of the document. Instead, I was given an extension letter for the temporary plate I was driving around with, and repeated assurances that the document was on its way. On the day the plate expired (April 16), all communication with Jensen came to an abrupt halt. He did not reply to my messages nor did he pick up the phone when I called.

In desperation, on April 22, I called Mazda Bogor, and demanded to speak to the person in charge. I spoke with someone named Arya, who claimed to be in charge of organizing my document. He promised me that he would have it ready in a few days.

While I waited, he said that he would send me another temporary plate, which he said I would receive by Saturday, April 27. He also told me not to worry about driving around town with expired plates. No license plate appeared on Saturday, of course. On Sunday, driving on the toll road with my wife and our two young children, I was pulled over by the police for driving with an expired license plate.

I called Arya and then I called Jensen. Nobody picked up. I then got an idea to call Arya again, but this time with my wife's cell phone. Of course, not recognizing the number, he promptly picked up. I put him on the phone with the police. He was not able to provide the police with a convincing response.

The police, luckily, were very understanding and let me off with a warning. But they have made it clear that my Mazda CX5 will not be welcome on the roads again without legitimate papers.

I am not able to drive anywhere until Mazda Bogor decides that I have suffered long enough and finally gets the papers done.

Rajesh Menon
Jakarta

Editor's note:

A letter of complaint received recently has been forwarded to the concerned party.