Subaru dealership experience

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Donald

Donald

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Mar 21, 2004
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Near the beach in Delaware
Brought in my 2015 Forester as it had a clicking sound backing out of a parking space. Figured what ever it was would be covered by 36k warranty. Dealership said the calipers were hanging and for $150 they would clean and lube calipers, not covered by warranty. They would replace brake pads which were covered by warranty. Wife approved the work.

Picked up car and they had cleaned and lubed all four calipers to my surprise since I had only indicated a problem in the front.

However one of the rear wheels had a locking lug nut (1 of a set of 20). They never asked for the key and did not provide me with the removed locking lug nut.

These are Gorilla lug nuts where all lug nuts are locking not just one per wheel. I called the service manager and he is looking into it.

I also contacted Subaru and said I should not have to pay for any of the brake work.

I am expecting the dealership to obtain a new (matching) locking lug nut.

I also mentioned that I had just bought a new 2016 Crosstrek there the day before.
 
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Your wife approved that?
Total rip off from a stealership!

If they don't fix the problem Put complaints in everywhere and make sure you give them a bad online review.. Also take them to small claims court.. Here in NJ if the company is incorporated they have to hire a Lawyer, i don't know how it is in NY
Bang them around a little like they did to you they will see the light and not mess with you again.
 
Would not have payed a dime. I got the service manager involved in a balancing problem i had when i had them rebalance my tires around 3,000 miles on the car. Service adviser gave me [censored] so i left and called the service manager and came back and watched the tech balance my tire the proper way
 
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If the calipers were sticking on a one year old car, they must be defective, even if all that they needed was a cleaning and lube.

There's no excuse for losing your Gorilla nut or key.
 
Those calipers are lubed on the pins with Si grease and covered with a boot. No way they should be dry.

Pads are not covered UNLESS there was a defect on a covered part causing premature wear/failure of an associated part.

My nissan dealer wont fix a "warped rotor" or Judder issue on a car with 18K miles. Brakes were fine until one hard application getting off the interstate where a car had stopped in the middle of the exit (!!).
I tried a re-bedding procedure. As did the "mechanic" from the scraping and groaning from the brakes on the ride home. So use the brakes hard once for 4 seconds and they are toast? Nissan?

I am calling Nissan after ONE last call to the service manager.
 
Originally Posted By: RhondaHonda
Definitely complain to Subaru corporate. Also, why just one locking lugnut out of 20?


The locking lug nut was for winter rims. When I put normal tires on in April one normal lug nut was defective so I used one of the winter locking lug nuts. I never got around to getting a new lug nut for normal rims.
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Something else to remember dealers like a positive review when the factory asks about your dealer visit. Most go nuts for this.

Yup. Its all about the CSI score. A couple bad scores from customers and Subaru could look into finding a new owner of the franchise in your area.

Anything but a top score is a failure...so 9/10 will put them under the gun. It can mess with car allocation and bonuses all the way up the the GM and owner. If necessary, get the GM involved. He knows whats at stake.
 
Brought in my 2015 Forester as it had a clicking sound backing out of a parking space. Figured what ever it was would be covered by 36k warranty. Dealership said the calipers were hanging and for $150 they would clean and lube calipers, not covered by warranty. They would replace brake pads which were covered by warranty. Wife approved the work.

Okay..this a classic dealership rip-off. If you replace the brake pads..normally you would grease the pins and clean the caliper brackets as part of the job.

Sounds like what they did by replacing the brake pads under warranty and invented a "non-warranty" "repair operation" to charge you the $150. Then they charged Subaru for the parts and labor under warranty. A double dip charge for labor ..you got free brake pads, maybe, as you noted one of the wheels was locked.

Another reason I left the retail automotive world years ago..a totally broken 1920's product service and distribution business model that only makes economic sense if you steal and cheat. If you are honest..you cannot pay the bills.
 
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Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Your wife approved that?
Total rip off from a stealership!

If they don't fix the problem Put complaints in everywhere and make sure you give them a bad online review.. Also take them to small claims court.. Here in NJ if the company is incorporated they have to hire a Lawyer, i don't know how it is in NY
Bang them around a little like they did to you they will see the light and not mess with you again.
^ How to insure they are happy to help you in the future. Instead of giving them a chance to make good ..."bang them around".
 
Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Something else to remember dealers like a positive review when the factory asks about your dealer visit. Most go nuts for this.

Yup. Its all about the CSI score. A couple bad scores from customers and Subaru could look into finding a new owner of the franchise in your area.

Anything but a top score is a failure...so 9/10 will put them under the gun. It can mess with car allocation and bonuses all the way up the the GM and owner. If necessary, get the GM involved. He knows whats at stake.


I agree, rip them on the survey. Anything other than a 10/10 is a complete fail for them. Most dealerships have the manager and service writer's pay directly tied to their survey scores.
 
I agree, rip them on the survey. Anything other than a 10/10 is a complete fail for them. Most dealerships have the manager and service writer's pay directly tied to their survey scores.

Yes they do and too many reasonable complaints then the manager and service writer go back to selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door.


Then they can hire another service crew with the same training.

Be aware that while CSI is well measured..they do have the ability to "write -off" some complaints as just crazy people with an ax to grind.
 
Don, sorry if I missed it, but how many miles are on your 2015 Forester? To me, $150 is a fair deal for a 4-wheel brake disassembly, clean, lube and replace pads on one axle. A 4-wheel brake service (clean/lube) alone has got to be $75-100, but like you say, Subaru brake pads are covered for 3yrs/36K miles I believe, so you'd think this all would be covered. I'm not sure about rotors.

I'm just under 18K miles on my 2016 Forester. If I get the time, I may do a brake clean/lube myself.

Congrats on the XV. I loved mine. I'd still have it had it been a CVT and not the clunky, herky-jerky 5spd.
 
Isn't the proper procedure for replacing brake pads involve cleaning and lubing the calipers ANYWAYS?

You need your money back. That's like having a dealership replace an engine under warranty, and if you wanted a new serpentine belt, they charged you for labor. They would have had to take the belt off anyways.
 
Herrstig Like i said if you read what i posted i wrote "if they don't fix the problem" In the meantime I would always try to talk to a manager and hope he sees it like it is and if not than it is time to play the game they started.
And as for future business they might not be so fast to pull "a stealer maneuver" the next time. We have a couple of new vehicles and bring them in for warranty work or recalls from time to time and never had a problem but they also know me from when we used to pick up and deliver heads and other parts to them so they treat me well and i always give them a good tip because they do go out of their way sometimes.
 
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