Poor Dealer Service

I have been leasing my 2011 Subaru Legacy for 1.5 years now. overall I have been pleased with the car, especially the gas mileage, averaging about 30-32 mixed driving. Just before Thanksgiving, I had the misfortune of hitting a deer head on. Wrecked the front of the car. The car was at the body shop for almost an entire month, waiting on parts from Subaru. I followed up with the Subaru dealer that was supplying the parts to the body shop, and ended up with multiple stories about the delays. the main one being the Subaru NA parts warehouse was being relocate. Fine. But when I caught the parts guy in a lie, it makes me wonder. Some of the parts took 3 weeks. What pissed me off was they lied to me, and due to the delays, my insurance coverage for the rental ran out so I had to eat $500 in rental insurance. I work on cars as a hobby, this was a less than two week job max. Something I confirmed with the body shop.

I have not been impressed or pleased with the local Subaru dealers here in NC since I moved here a year ago. The one I dealt with in NY was great, but down here they all seem to lack interest in customer satisfaction. I am comparing this to the service I get from the Toyota dealership for my wife's car in NC. They provide what I would expect the dealer to provide, excellent service and do not BS me.

When the lease is up, i was planning on a Subaru Outback, but now am looking at other cars. I usually perform my own service, but when I do need the dealer, I expect them to be upfront and provide the requested services, not BS. Dealers usually never factored into my purchasing of a vehicle, but with less time to work on the cars myself, I now have to consider it when I purchase a vehicle.

delerships, in particular their service departments, are hit or miss all across the country. Haven't used the toyota dealership here, but for Honda the dealer has maybe 5 different service managers, one or two are very good, but the rest can be outright maddening to deal with. It's all a matter of ferreting out the good ones.

Why the shop was relying on a local dealer to supply parts is beyond me - however, if you are having an issue, esp. if they are lying, go to SOA immediately and they will straighten it out. You could probably source the parts yourself from one of the myriad of dealerships who sell parts online much more quickly.

In any event, unless you are spending the $ on a premium nameplate where you are essentially paying extra to get the level of service you want, you never know what you are going to get.

I have been leasing my 2011 Subaru Legacy for 1.5 years now. overall I have been pleased with the car, especially the gas mileage, averaging about 30-32 mixed driving. Just before Thanksgiving, I had the misfortune of hitting a deer head on. Wrecked the front of the car. The car was at the body shop for almost an entire month, waiting on parts from Subaru. I followed up with the Subaru dealer that was supplying the parts to the body shop, and ended up with multiple stories about the delays. the main one being the Subaru NA parts warehouse was being relocate. Fine. But when I caught the parts guy in a lie, it makes me wonder. Some of the parts took 3 weeks. What pissed me off was they lied to me, and due to the delays, my insurance coverage for the rental ran out so I had to eat $500 in rental insurance. I work on cars as a hobby, this was a less than two week job max. Something I confirmed with the body shop.

 

I have not been impressed or pleased with the local Subaru dealers here in NC since I moved here a year ago. The one I dealt with in NY was great, but down here they all seem to lack interest in customer satisfaction. I am comparing this to the service I get from the Toyota dealership for my wife's car in NC. They provide what I would expect the dealer to provide, excellent service and do not BS me.

 

When the lease is up, i was planning on a Subaru Outback, but now am looking at other cars. I usually perform my own service, but when I do need the dealer, I expect them to be upfront and provide the requested services, not BS. Dealers usually never factored into my purchasing of a vehicle, but with less time to work on the cars myself, I now have to consider it when I purchase a vehicle.

Can I ask which Subaru dealer you dealt with? I just had a miserable experience with Randy Marion subaru. They tried to charge me twice for putting an oil cooler o-ring in. They "upsold" me on the job when I had it in for other work, then I bought it back 3 weeks later because the smoking still persisted, and they did the "work" again without even telling me they knew why it was still smoking. Then I had to call the next day to "check" and see if they had even narrowed down the cause of the smoke. That's when they proceeded to tell me that they "fixed the problem" and I could pick the car up. Then I get there and he tells me that the oil cooler was leaking and they "fixed" it. Then charged me another 90 on top of the 75 I already paid them.

I then fought with them for a few days and he agreed to "refund" my money under the condition I "never brought my car back again". (Like I planned on it )

I worked for nissan for many years on the parts side and if a car came back with the exact same problem, and had work on the exact same "area"(in this case, both times they put "gaskets" on the oil cooler), it was referred to as a comeback. The tech and service dept. had to eat the cost of whatever repairs that were done because clearly it was misdiagnosed. So needless to say, my experience has not be stellar either. Then, to top it all off, I still have a leak (causing smoke) after taking it to them twice. Now I'm not sure if they have done anything that I paid them for.

They also used to be some sh!thole used car dealer that had some help buying the franchise. But it's experiences like this that will turn off even the most loyal customers. Much less the average "run of the mill" customers that subaru is trying to break into now. I only ask because you said your experience is in NC, and that's where I am. So I was wondering if it's the same dealer.

order parts online?

http://www.parts.com

order parts online?

 

http://www.parts.com

I took mine in for service because it was/is leaking/burning trans fluid and we replace the trans and lines less than a year ago. So I was expecting the stuff to be fixed under the warranty(12 mo, 12k mile) that was sold with the 4k transmission I bought. If I wanted to worry about issues I would have gotten one out of a junk yard and dealt with whatever issues arose from it. Everything else I buy online or through Nissan. Then have my buddy do the work for me.

That being said, dealers are not supposed to operate like this. I know when I was at Nissan(any one of the three I worked for) if things like this had happened you would fix it. If you didn't, then you would be relieved of your job duties. I hope dealers like the one I dealt with disappear sooner rather than later, as they are doing more to ruin subarus rep than build it.

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I've never experienced poor service at my Subaru dealer and loaners are free.

That's amazing that this business can stay in business in this day.

Where is yours located?

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I'm having deja vu. Wasnt this thread posted in the fifth gen forum already? Granted you may have reason to be disappointed, but it might be an isolated incident due to one employee that may soon be terminated. Talk to the dealership owner, then local Subaru rep. It's almost like you are airing a gripe or vent. I was wish you the best, but coming here to complain over and over isn't going to make you situation better. Talk to the owner. Good luck.

I'm with you on this. Just as Magic stated, I've never had poor service at the Subaru Dealer, includes free loaner and oil changes. Once and a while they wash and vacuum the car. I have a great relationship with the parts department as well. They have spent a lot of time tracking down parts for me. This is the third dealership I've dealt with and all three have pretty much been this way.

The relationship with the Service department goes two ways. That's not to say there are poor dealerships out there. If you've burnt the bridge at the current dealership and are unwilling to speak to the dealership owner, drive to another one and start fresh.

I'm with you on this. Just as Magic stated, I've never had poor service at the Subaru Dealer, includes free loaner and oil changes. Once and a while they wash and vacuum the car. I have a great relationship with the parts department as well. They have spent a lot of time tracking down parts for me. This is the third dealership I've dealt with and all three have pretty much been this way.

 

The relationship with the Service department goes two ways. That's not to say there are poor dealerships out there. If you've burnt the bridge at the current dealership and are unwilling to speak to the dealership owner, drive to another one and start fresh.

I can't speak for OP, but I did speak to the owner, and I think that is the only reason I was able to get my money refunded. But I feel it needs to be said, as a warning to other owners, that I took mine in for service twice, had the same "part" replaced twice, paid twice, and still have a leak. Both times the service manager said he, or his tech, test drove it after the so-called "fix", yet it still has the same problem it had when I took it in the first time. And it developed the same problem again on the drive back to my house from the dealer. If they have a car comeback a second time for the same issues, then you better damn well make sure you fix it properly the second time. Now I am on the third time which I will be taking to another Subaru dealer. That's why I asked OP which dealer he took it to, instead of just calling all dealers in NC out. I mean if it is a reoccurring theme, then Subaru should be alerted to it.