THE END!

Sorry guys for no update, I forgot about this issue (cant blame me) until someone brought up this blog during dinner.

So here is a update.  After 3 months of my car in the shop, I had it for about 1 month; less than 200 miles after I received it my check engine light came on.  Yes you know where this is going.  I immediately took my car to the dealer who checked it out and found nothing wrong with it!  The service manager gave me some BS answer that it may have been a ghost code stuck in the computer. (Remember this isn't windows, my car was tore apart for over 3 months!)

So after this of course Subaru being Subaru had to add insult to injury and charged me $95 for them to look at my car, oh and I'm just getting to the good part!  The check engine code stated that cylinder 4 was miss firing!  Yes we have a winner!

After all this I paid my $95 bucks and asked to speak to the sales manager.  I informed him that I no longer wanted my POS and to give me best dollar, he was happy to try to get me into a new 08 (at the time) WRX.  I informed him that I was done with Subaru, and will have no part with them!  He offered me some crappy deal so I turned it down.

I ended up just trading it in to the Acura dealership.  I am now a proud owner of a 2008 Acura TL with Navi!!!  Acura has done more for me the first week of owning my car than Subaru ever has done in the 3 years I owned my WRX.   I have now owned my TL for a year and love it still. I wish I could of ended this blog with a happy "Subaru" ending but that's how the WRX crumbles!

Call from dealership

So I just received a call from the dealership. They now informed me that labor will now be 24 hours. I was then asked what they I want to do with the car. I did inform the dealership I have wrote a letter to the VP and the better business bureau on how I was treated and that it took over a week for my call, and the regional service manager couldn't catch the first issue the first time around.
I even went to the length to inform the dealership that at this point the way I have been treated, and mis-leaded. Not to mention wasn't called for over 1 week, when originally told the next day. I then requested from the dealer how much they would give me for my car as is. Motor not fixed, in pieces. I am so close to just washing my hands of all this mess.
Also the dealership NOW informs me that they do use all data, and insured me that he was looking at labor times for this repair.
So here is another mis-leading information I was given from the regional service manager.

Finally A call back

So today at work I finally received a call from SOA & the regional service rep. Where to start...
So first off I was hoping that with tomorrow being my birthday I would have some good news to go with it, but see what happens when hope for the impossible?
So I was told today by the regional service rep on the phone that the WHOLE reason with my motor and what caused this was due to lack of oil, in there word lubricant. My first thought was "Wow it took a regional service manager 2 attempts at looking at my motor and who knows how many on-site mechanics, to "find" this as the problem! Good job Subaru! Whats next? You are going to tell me that I didn't have enough gas in the car after I just got done filling up, and that is what caused cylinder 3 to go, thumbs up! Not to mention why couldn't he notice this when he was there on site the first time. Well his reason was he wasn't there to service my motor and had other things going on that day at the dealership. What a load of crap, so what you are saying is that you lied to me the first time you were there. And not to mention, NOW you can tell whats wrong with the motor from pictures (that took over a week, must be some very large pictures, sent via email).
When I asked about why the dealership told me the first time, that they couldn't find anything wrong, he disagreed and said that they cant speak for him. Well my question to you "DAVE" then why didn't you call me. Not to mention why cant anybody when I ask, give me a quote on labor hours/$$ and parts! Its not like I'm asking for a million dollars, just FIX MY CAR ALREADY!
Its funny I went with Subaru because I thought they were a great cars, not to mention great company. I remember when my mom had a GM, Grand Prix, and started making some weird popping sound when she turned the wheel all the way right. Well long story short, she took it in the dealership, WITH NO WARRANTY! They replaced everything under the sun, over 4k in parts no to mention labor, and you know what she paid, NOTHING! Granted the sound was still there, but some how the dealer ate the cost. Common Subaru, you really going to let a company like GM show you up like that. I always thought that American cars were pieces of crap, not to mention service.
Also the regional service manager some how found lack of oil AFTER the fact it has already been drained and disposed of. He also told me that where ever I got it changed at might of used the wrong oil. I informed him that I am the one who changes it EVERY TIME. Not to mention I use 5w30 and 4.3 quarts, what it states in the manual.
Afterwards, I did mention that I checked the oil before it even got to the dealership, and if this such an "eye opener" why didn't the mechanic that dropped my oil pan over 3 weeks ago, notice this?
At this point I don't know If I even want these guys to work on my motor, if they cant tell in under 5 minutes that oil is low, how the fuck are they supposed to put a motor back together?
Oh yeah and "Dave" surely informed me that Subaru/dealership doesn't go by all data, times for repairs. So I requested then what does the manufacture state the time frame on this repair/parts should cost. He just informed me that I would have to take it up with the dealerships parts manager. And that pretty much made it clear, that they can charge me (and also said this to him) for whatever wrench time. Wow, and they are supposed to be representing Subaru's name.
All in all, I feel like this past month I have gotten so much bullshit, that if I could invest stock in a company that deals with reselling it, I would be a fuckin Billionaire!

Update #2

Ok, So with no word back from SOA as of 4:45pm CST. I decided to call. Once again, I have just missed my contact at SOA. Weird. Word now from SOA is that they are waiting from word from the dealership about what they have "found" Strange, because when I was in the dealership bright an early (8:15am) they told me that They sent pictures to SOA/My contact on this matter. Looks like Mr. Keith Tilton, Vice President/Customer Relations and Loyalty will be receiving a letter. Not to mention I am also be filling a complaint with better business bureau.
I just don't get how hard it is to honor a warranty? The car is complete stock, NO MODS, no exhaust, no cold air, I don't even let me friends smoke in it! And when I was a smoker, I NEVER smoked in it!
I just don't get it, Its not like I'm asking for a brand new car, or even money! JUST FIX your product! Not give me or any other Subaru consumer a run around for over a month! I might as well be standing in line at the BMV, at least there I know I'm good for a year till I have to come back!
I can summarize my experience with Subaru and there customer care in one word. "FUBAR" You can only be nice for so long, and I think 1 month is long enough. Not to mention, no returned calls, over priced parts and labor, and the fact the dealer "KNOWS" (and I use that word VERY loosley) how much to charge for parts but doesnt have a list of the parts that need to be ordered/replaced. Oh wait, the dealership did tell me what was ordered/needed, the short block, which only makes up of $1800 of the 3k they are charging me! The rest of it must be in high performce windshield fluid.

An update as of 10/22/2007

This is an update to state what has been NOT DONE!

Ok so I called SOA today 10/22, and they said they will get back to me today. Afterwards I stopped by the dealership. I asked for #1 is my car broke down. They informed me yes. 2nd Why I am paying 3k for a short block when it only costs $1812 on all data. And why am I paying 2k in labor when it should only be 1k=14.9 hours according to all data (its what real truthful mechanics use) There answer was they are charging me for time they has already been performed, IE break the motor down. BUT wait, isn't that part of the 14.9 hours?? so what the dealership is really telling me is that they are charging me 2 break downs!!
When all this started I asked the dealer, "what the worst case this will cost me?" Service manager replied "we don't like to use the scare tactic, and give a high estimate" Cool enough said, I agree.
Then tell me why today when I went in, and asked for a list of parts I need he couldn't give it to me? (motor is broke down, they KNOW what needs to be replaced) I asked for it multi times. And when I mentioned that a short block doesn't cost 3k, and all data says it should only take 14.9 hours. His reply was b/c they like to over shoot the price, b/c then they can subtract cost, instead of adding/"hidden" cost that might scare the customer, but that makes no sense what he told me 3 week + ago. Sounds like someone is changing there tune!!
I love my Subaru, TO DEATH!! I wouldn't buy any other car, (ask any of my friends and family. I have always said "My next car would be a subaru")but after all this fuckin bullshit with SOA and the dealership, at this point I don't think I could put my faith nor money back into a company that treats you this way.!
I am not 12 years old, I know what shit cost. Not to mention My friend is a mechanic for Nissan for the past 10 years!! He has helped me weed through all the BS! I guess my next company I have to take this up with is the Better business bureau. Or I can start with this email requesting President, VP, marketing VP. (which I am going to do! Along with a Copy of my URL for this blog!)

Dear Mr. Martinez:
Thank you for your recent message to Subaru of America, Inc. We appreciate that you would like to send a letter directly to our top management. Please forward your letter to Mr. Keith Tilton, Vice President/Customer Relations and Loyalty / Subaru of America, Inc. / PO Box 6000 / Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-6000, referencing case 1041225. Mr. Tilton is responsible for our overall customer relations and is very interested in your feedback. If necessary, he will forward your message to the appropriate people within our organization.

Subaru says NO GO for warranty

For the past few years I have been a proud Subaru owner. Recently this year (Sept 07) I had problems with my Impreza. Coming home from work one night after a long traffic delay on the Dan Ryan I started to hear a knocking sound. Aware of the sound from buddies cars, I knew what it was. Luckily I was blocks from home. The next morning I had the car towed to local Subaru dealership.
When the car reached the dealership, Sept 24th they informed me (by listening to the car idle) that there was knocking and to further investigate the damages they would have to drop the oil pan. Before this was done, I explained to both customer care (800-Subaru3) and service manger at dealership that I read a article online from turbo magazine about issue with the Impreza motor with cylinder 3. He then requested for the article which I sent to there @hotmail.com account. See link
http://www.turbomagazine.com/features/0305tur_subaru_wrx_ej20_engine_build/index.html

After this work was done the dealership informed me that I spun rod bearing #3. This date was September 27th 2007. The service manger then requested for all my oil change receipts so that when the regional service manager came in on October 1st. He would "have some ammo to fight with so Subaru of America (SOA) would cover my 5 year/60k warranty on my power train. He did make it clear that IF I did have these receipts that it doesn't mean 100% Subaru would honor my warranty. The service manager then requested either to leave the car with the oil pan dropped or pull out the motor. I informed him to go ahead and pull the motor so when the regional service manger came in the following week, he can assess the damages further.
On Oct 1st I called SOA and also the dealership they informed me that the regional service manager did not show up, and that he would be there first thing Tuesday morning. I didn't receive any call till Wednesday, when I called SOA directly. They informed me that the regional service manger didn't get to see all the damage since the motor wasn't pulled. I then informed SOA for the 2nd time to go ahead and pull the motor. The following day the motor was removed from the car and the regional service manager was then able to see the full extent of the damages.
The dealership informed me that I would need a whole new short block ($3k for parts) plus labor ($2k). The service manager informed me that SOA regional service manager seen no abuse that I caused and would give me a "goodwill credit" (which coves only 1/2 of parts cost). This was on Oct. 4th.
The following week I played phone tag with SOA (Oct. 7th-13th). When attempting to follow up on your open case (mine is 1041225) you can only speak with that individual. If that person is on another call and/or gone for the day who ever answers the phone takes a message and enters it into the case. They inform you your rep will call you back, which never happened this week. Finally On Oct. 11th I called SOA again, they informed me that she was on a call, customer service rep then requested if I would like to leave a message. I then requested to speak to a manager/supervisor. SOA informed me that they would escalate my case to a manager. For this request, they first would have to review my case and call me back in 24-48 hours. This was at 2pm CST (lunch break).
Afterwards, I called and spoke to the dealership who had my car. I requested the service manager pertaining to 2 questions. First question was after this all was said and done, what would be my warranty on the motor. My second question was "What caused this and was it something I did?"
The service manager made it clear to me that they had "no clue" what caused cylinder 3 to go. And that there were NO signs of abuse from me, and from what he can and the regional service manager can tell the oil was changed regularly and there was no sludge build up. He informed me that the oil that was in the motor was still clean (recently just changed 1500 miles previous to this).
The following week after waiting 48 hours for a call back from SOA/manger. I called SOA on Monday Oct. 15th and spoke to the manager who was reviewing my case. She informed me that she is still waiting to hear from the regional service manager about the damages, and that spoke to the dealership earlier in the morning. I then informed her that I spoke to the dealership the previous week (Oct. 11th) and stated above that they had no idea what caused the motor to fail. I stated why should I have to pay for something that I may of not caused. SOA manager informed me that only the oil pan has been dropped and she is waiting to hear from the regional rep to hear more about the damages once the motor is pulled. This going forward I informed her to have the dealership for the 3rd time now, to pull the motor(1st time Sept. 27th, 2nd time Oct. 3rd, and 3rd time now Oct. 15th)
SOA manager then informed me that if I would have kept my receipts from the purchases of oil from Auto Zone (IE where ever) that this would have all been taken care of and my car would have been fixed. I then questioned her that I was told a different story by the dealership and that just because I did have them didn't mean I was in the clear. She then informed me that she would give me a call back the following day.
Here I am Oct 17th with no call back from the SOA (Subaru of America) I am also writing a letter to the President, Vice President, and VP of Marketing about my service/experience with Subaru.
I have always been a loyal customer, after my recent experience I have nothing positive to say about Subaru.