Crappy Radio Reception

[bolognajacob]

First off, I have a 2004 V6 Hatch with the Bose that I bought new. I have had really bad radio reception since it was new and I have had it in several times to be looked at, but am always told it is normal. I have driven other 6's that get great reception, night and day difference to what I get. Anyways, I got pissed off again when I drove someone else’s vehicle and they had a station on (static free) that I used to be able to listen too before I bought my Mazda so I decided to take back in but to a different dealer this time. I bought the car at Holiday in Fond du Lac and have gotten great service there but I have since moved and now took it to Amato Mazda in Milwaukee. At first it seemed to be a pleasurable trip to the dealer, came off as really caring about your problem and seemed to really wanted to get to the bottom of my crappy reception since its been looked at several times before, but not fixed. The service rep told me he would try and get a new head unit for it because that is the only thing yet to be replaced. He called me and said he was going to swap the head unit with another 2004 6 with the Bose and see if there was a difference. About an hour later I get a call that my car is done and the original head unit was put back in because there was no difference in reception. At this point I get suspicious because I have looked into removing the head unit and know there is a lot of time involved in removing it. So I get to the dealer after the service guys left, and I picked up my key from the receptionist and was going to leave but… I look at the things I have hanging from the air vents, those are not moved, the air vents are in the same place I had them, the things in and around the ash tray have not been moved, the glove box is still locked and everything is still exactly where I left it. All those things have to be removed in order to get the head unit out. I then paid attention to my lack of cleaning and the nice film of dust I have on the whole front panel, none of which had been disturbed. I am now wondering how the hell they swapped out my head unit without touching it. I have an invoice that states: “Customer states poor radio reception; no problem found, swapped with similar vehicle – reception stayed the same, operating as designed”. This is now on record with Mazda and it really pisses me off. I hate being lied too. Looking at the “Full Service Report Card”, where they check everything over and top off fluids, there is a check next to “window washer fluid” that it was checked and filled. Looks pretty empty to me; I wonder how often this shit happens and how often it goes undetected. I’m sure Mazda Corporate is paying Amato Mazda for all this labor that they never performed. I also had it in for a recall that I got a couple notices about so I thought it was a good time to get it in.

I will be giving Mazda Corporate a call as well as the General Manager of Amato.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Does anyone else with a 2004 and a Bose have really bad reception??? Drives me mad!

Sorry for the long post.

[Jer446]

I have an 05 and i get the same thing, terrible reception. i figured it was normal.. If you figure out the problem.. let me know..

[awh]

i had bad radio reception too. the tech put my car next to a few others, and tested them. said i had the best of the bunch. still the mazda radio reception sucks compared to other non mazda cars. you can test signal strength by holding down the power button and the preset 2. shouldnt be as weak as it is.

[my88gtx]

First off, I have a 2004 V6 Hatch with the Bose that I bought new. I have had really bad radio reception since it was new and I have had it in several times to be looked at, but am always told it is normal. I have driven other 6's that get great reception, night and day difference to what I get. Anyways, I got pissed off again when I drove someone else’s vehicle and they had a station on (static free) that I used to be able to listen too before I bought my Mazda so I decided to take back in but to a different dealer this time. I bought the car at Holiday in Fond du Lac and have gotten great service there but I have since moved and now took it to Amato Mazda in Milwaukee. At first it seemed to be a pleasurable trip to the dealer, came off as really caring about your problem and seemed to really wanted to get to the bottom of my crappy reception since its been looked at several times before, but not fixed. The service rep told me he would try and get a new head unit for it because that is the only thing yet to be replaced. He called me and said he was going to swap the head unit with another 2004 6 with the Bose and see if there was a difference. About an hour later I get a call that my car is done and the original head unit was put back in because there was no difference in reception. At this point I get suspicious because I have looked into removing the head unit and know there is a lot of time involved in removing it. So I get to the dealer after the service guys left, and I picked up my key from the receptionist and was going to leave but… I look at the things I have hanging from the air vents, those are not moved, the air vents are in the same place I had them, the things in and around the ash tray have not been moved, the glove box is still locked and everything is still exactly where I left it. All those things have to be removed in order to get the head unit out. I then paid attention to my lack of cleaning and the nice film of dust I have on the whole front panel, none of which had been disturbed. I am now wondering how the hell they swapped out my head unit without touching it. I have an invoice that states: “Customer states poor radio reception; no problem found, swapped with similar vehicle – reception stayed the same, operating as designed”. This is now on record with Mazda and it really pisses me off. I hate being lied too. Looking at the “Full Service Report Card”, where they check everything over and top off fluids, there is a check next to “window washer fluid” that it was checked and filled. Looks pretty empty to me; I wonder how often this shit happens and how often it goes undetected. I’m sure Mazda Corporate is paying Amato Mazda for all this labor that they never performed. I also had it in for a recall that I got a couple notices about so I thought it was a good time to get it in.

I will be giving Mazda Corporate a call as well as the General Manager of Amato.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Does anyone else with a 2004 and a Bose have really bad reception??? Drives me mad!

Sorry for the long post.[/b]

I am new to the list and had the same problem, with the car I eventually purchased, on my test drive. While I was still at the dealer, the service tech found the antenna wire was not fully pluged into the radio. It also has sirius and they both work great. It's been 3 months and all is good.

-David

[monoto]

Sorry for the long post.[/b]

Long posts are no big deal, but long paragraphs are very tedious to read. I saw this one and almost didn't even bother trying.