Do you guys allow people to do test drives? I was there with a friend who was planning to buy a brand new car at the time. His parents own hotels and has several businesses. When I first arrived to your dealership, there were two *******s who followed me around everywhere even after telling him that I was just looking. I tried zig zagging back and fourth to **** him off on purpose hahaha that ***** and he followed me like a ***** hahaha. I asked those two ****ers if i was allowed to test drive and the **** head said "no we dont do test drives and laughed"...WTF?? I saw a 2000 2.5 rs going for 19,000 grand !!!! I'd rather get a HONDA S2000. I dont even own a Subaru and i already know your dealership is ****en retarded. If you ever hire a salesperson make sure you hire a subaru enthusist instead of some guy that has a ****en strong accent and looks like a rat. Now my friend has a ****en gay *** mercedes slk drop top brand spanking new for 80,000k. I wanted him to get an STI. I was planning on buying a wrx because my mr2 was too inconvenient to own being a 2-seater with no cup holder. I'll probably buy one off craigslist. I guess you guys thought being the only local subaru owners you can just **** with people. now business is going down you're tryign to clean up your act.

 

I'm going to have to agree. I went in just this year and was called a liar by an older gentleman with a balding head when I told them the deal that Santa Cruz was running, however, I was going to buy from San Jose/Steven's Creek if they had given it to me at the same price. They did not, so I left, but before I left, the guy couldn't hold it - he had to call me a liar before I drove off. Now, I don't know about you, but that's pretty rude and down right stupid as far as sales reputations go.

 

are you talking about the white gc8 2.5rs? yea i saw car too when i was going to Good Guys next door to the dealership, what a rip!

 

I'll provide you with pricing:

15208AA060 - $7.59
15208AA09A - $7.59
^REPLACES 15208AA100
SOA5155109 - $8.03
11126AA000 - $2.20

That is what we charge RETAIL. Of course I-club members get 10% off, or anyone who purchased their cars here get 10% off retail.

 

ahah yeah. it did look really nice though. If i didn't have the internet and didn't know nothing about cars i'd probably think that was a fair price haha

 

that's the problem. stevens creek auto row is gigantic.

and in that area, there no other subaru dealers. what the closest one? carlsens...

kinda sad.

one thing i was really glad about my toyota truck is that there was always a dealer close by.

when i first got my wrx in 2001, i was bummed since i was spoiled by having a toyota dealer about a mile from work (plus back then an oil change was like $10).

 

huh finally..
you guys ripped me off... you said that idon't have to pay for my wing....
you F..kin charge me $1500. on my bill of sale.... that was my first new car and i didn't know much about buying a new car.. you said you'll give the car for $25K outof the door .......liar....i'm paying $30k.. iwas gonna take this to the court but it was too much hassle for me at that time... i will definitely tell EVERYBODY i know not to go to your dealership....

 

on that note, someone needs to open up another subaru dealership on stevens creek blvd. and charge, oh i dunno, market price!

 

ha, ive been looking for a gc8 and saw the white one stevens creek was selling on the internet. and even drove by to see the actual price, cuz i thought it HAD to be a mistake. i almost told them they were seriously on crack.... but thats preaching to the choir.

 

LOL

dont patronize him. you know exactly why YOUR dealership (not 'they', so dont scapegoat) would even attempt to charge so high a rate. you make more money that way. DUH!

the post wasnt about what kind of deal he got, it was about the entire experience as a whole, and how at every step of the way, shady practices were in place.

you may think that lying to your customers and charging them for things they dont know about is the proper way to make profit, but guess what, people dont like being lied to and wont come back. ive posted this multiple times in this thread but you arent hearing me: if you are straightforward, honest, and down to earth with customers, they will come back!!! which is better than trying to get more out of them without them knowing and having them never come back.

 

Alrighty then. You want to focus on the whole car keys issue? Fine by me. Time is short, so I'll have to be brief.

Your defense here appears to be that no one knew where the keys were located. If this is the case, your sales staff can add 'incompetent' to its growing repetoire of negative qualities. Are you trying to tell me that none of the sales staff, including the sales manager, were capable of checking the only 2 possible places that a customer's trade-in keys could be located? The alternative, of course, is that your people WERE intentionally witholding his keys. So you've got the lesser of two evils here - either your people are incompetent buffoons or sleazy, underhanded ****** who ride dangerously close to the line of criminal behavior. There is a third option, though, and would be a combination of both options 1 and 2. In any case, none of the options look good for you, and none of the options are in any way the fault of the customer. So you can disagree with my use of the word 'any' as much as you like. The fact remains that you have not proved my statement invalid, and until you do so, I will stand by my previous responses.

Oh yeah, you still haven't answered my question. Why is this person, the sales manager, still employed by your dealership?

 

Oh man, I'm going to get flamed for this...

Let me start out by saying that I purchased my 2006 STi from SCS. I have been there a total of two times. First was actually to take a look at the 2005 or 2006 WRX wagon. Sales guy was friendly enough, answered my wife's questions, drove conservatively, and let me drive for enough time. Didn't really press me for a sale, although I was unsure at that point whether I wanted a 2006 WRX wagon or '05 STi. Gave me his card and I was on my way. Not bad at all.

Going down the Row, I stopped by the Infiniti dealer to test drive the G35c. Salesman was SUPER pushy. Let me drive the entire way, offered to sit in the back seat so my wife could sit up front. But again...SUPER pushy.

Next was the Acura dealer to test drive a TL 6MT. After trying to flag down a salesman for 15 minutes, I was told that they didn't test drive 6MT TLs, and that even to test drive an auto I'd have to wait for 3 people in front of me to test drive first. I was thinking, "WTH...you're going to make people who want to plop down $30k+ wait on a car when you have dozens just sitting around on the lot"? Sheesh. Left there immediately.

So back to SCS. When I finally made my decision to get the '06 STi, I got internet quotes from about 15 dealers in the SF Bay Area and LA area. Two dealers in LA had lower prices, but SCS was willing to lower their price somewhat...couldn't beat the LA prices, but, factoring in the travel/gas costs to fly down and drive back up, the overall price was the cheapest in the Bay Area. Since the original sales guy was friendly enough, I decided to give him a chance (over the phone) to offer to beat the internet price I got (wasn't going to tell him it was from his own dealership!). I got a hold of him but he obviously didn't remember be and gave some cryptic answer about price..."The STi is the STi...you want to come talk STis, come on down". Hung up and never spoke to him again.

After setting everything up with the internet salesman, I went down the day the car was delivered and picked it up. Everything went really smooth except for the financing guy. Just doing his job, but he kept pushing Lojack, security system upgrade (something besides the shock sensor I guess), maintainence packages, and extended warranties. I ended up getting one of the maintainence packages (although I'm having second thoughts now...can I cancel? Or should I just take it to Santa Cruz or Carlsen to get service done?).

I haven't had to deal with the service or parts people yet, so I can't comment on that. But the internet purchasing I did was very smooth.

So that's my story...BTW, how is Oakland Subaru as far as reliable service?

 

I just spent the past 2 hours going through the majority of this thread. It was certainly longer than I intended to.

I was among the first people to buy a WRX in the bay area, way the hell back when. Early enough that people didn't know what kind of car it was, and every civic on the road was asking for a lesson in humility. I suppose, in a sense, my experience is too old to 'count' due to the changeovers (alleged or otherwise). The thing to know is, history and impression sticks for a long damned time.

I did my research. I'm a firm believer in never rushing into decisions. I'd fallen in love with the subaru, and memorized all the facts and numbers, and was ready to be counted among the owners. I was young though, and still in college.

My first trip was to SCS. It;s reasonably close to where I lived, and at this stage people didn't really know yet who was good. Ironically, they already knew that SCS was _bad_ (although unfortunately, I'd yet to discover these forums).

When I got there, it was lazy. No one really bothered to speak to me, my brother, or my mother. You'd think they would take us seriously, but no. Eventually, a middle-eastern man approached us. Although this was more of an information gathering trip (not intending to buy), I did want to see the car.

It was clear from the outset that the man had 0 knowledge of the car. No idea of evn what kind of drivetrain it had. That's a complete lack of knowledge of _subaru_, not just the wrx.

He only showed us the car, without caring about options, color, anything. No offer to test drive. Instead he took us back in to try to make a deal and close.

Jesus.

Entirely unattractive price notwithstanding, we simply weren't ready to buy a car that day. He became very pushy, kept bringing people to talk with us and stall. We left anyway.

At this point, I employed the power of the internet. Using a common practice, I emailed several dealerships (not even using CC or BCC) for stock and price quote. I included SCS despite my misgivings. Most dealerships returned my email, mostly Invoice+300... only one did not respond, and only one insisted that I come in to talk price. The only dealership that offered a price other than invoice+300 was SCS.

They offered invoice +200.

So now it was time to play ball. Printed out that email and went to see that man specifically. He was your fleet manager at the time, a vietnamese fellow... last name Nguyen. He insisted that we test drive. He praised my driving, and did not even blink an eye when i mis-shifted 2-->5 (was still learning to drive stick =p)... which i did twice =P He knew his facts about the car. This time my entire family came, and we actually got respect from this guy.

Now the pushy guy from before, he showed up... he was very petulant (it's a good word, i like it) because we were 'his' customer. We let it be known that we did encounter him before, but he had done 0 work with us and we were in no way his customer. I think he still pushed to get commission on the sale (which I think nguyen let him have). From the look of it, he migh have been bad mouthing us. I wish I could remember his name, but you block out bad thigns like that... Hassan? Khassan? Something along those lines. Apologies.

So anyway, back to your fleet manager nguyen. He was great. My father was honest. He wasn't intersted in negiotiating. He was set to buy the car at the quoted price right then, right there. Paid in full. Nguyen understood, and he knew (and even said) that they could bicker over a price for two hours, but frankly that was counterproductive. He made the quote, I had the email, he honored the price. There were some options I didn't care about at the time (like wheel locks =x) but it hardly mattered much.

Your GM (or whomever comes over at this point) took a little longer to get the paperwork and deal signed (also an asian man... possibly vietnamese as well, name escapes me as we had very little contact with him by comparison).

Took delivery two days later and it was done. Overall positive, but for the initial trip.

I soon learned though, that the service department was not to be trusted, and that i'd 'gotten off lucky'. I was in socal for the next 3 years, so it wasn't an issue. I recently came back to the bay area, and my first question here was "does scs still suck". This was, as you can imagine, met with a resounding yes.

To the point of the matter. I don't know if i can trust you. It one thing to apologize, but there's another thing to build trust. You stab a person and then say sorry, it really doesn't do anything. It might alleviate some guilt on your part... but the victim doesn't get much out of it. If you are indeed making good on your posts to some of these people, that's a good step. But it's really small. Like I said, that history stays on you. It's gonna take a lot of scrubbing and goodwill. You need to put yourself out there and trust others before anyone can trust you. That might mean you get taken advantage of.

But is that really something you can complain about? It;s important in any business of course to make a profit, but there are ways and there are ways to do this... short run and long run.

My feeling is... you don't really have a choice about pricing. You DO have competition, as I'm sure you are aware from this thread. Not just on the cars, but on parts and service as well. You are going to have to price lower than the 'other guys' on all things to bring people back and stick to that lower price... even if it means taking a hit in the short run.

Your people will have to take a verbal crap in the ears and still be smiling... donuts and coffee wont really work. I think Lexus is crap, but their salespeople freaking FAWN over you. You get the suspicion that they build shrines to worship you when you aren't around. And that's at the used lexus place (santa monica, los angeles). It's sick, but that's what it takes... (their business practices are somewhat shadey imo, but that is neither here nor there). Someone in earshot was explaining to service that their car 'mysteriously died' that "it started yesterday but not today'. That service rep very deftly and politely managed to get the details known... that man had been racing and apparently shreeded his transmission (it was also starting to sound as though he'd crashed his car).

Dealerhsip really shouldn't have to cover that. _duh_. Here's customer service. The service rep began to explain, in polite but clear terms how that damage could have come about (so, despite being desk jockey, was knoledgeable) and what is and is not covered... what that man's otpions were, and what the dealership could do. Upon essentially hearing that it wasn't covered, the man became hostile... ready to fight, shouting, claiming that a customer had been lost. Service rep never lost his cool, apologized (for something that is not his fault), and looked for a way to meet common ground (while keeping the dealership's interest/policies in hand).

Oh wait i remember now... the tire 'exploded'. Due to racing and a massive clutch drop that ended up screwing the back end of the car. Something like that.

Anyway this has gotten long, so let me close. I still need to get my seat-recall done. I pretty much have no choice but to go to a subaru dealership. This is an in-out affair (15 min, but depends on appointment, etc.) that's simple and easy. I have delayed in getting it done because I have a CEL problem... no mods, healthy compression tests. I am told that this is due to requiring a valve adjustment. This is a lengthy and expensive procedure that I was never notified to - and my engine is now out of warranty (started before it went out of warranty; my tech then did not diagnose it properly). This is, apparently, a problem known to subaru... one that I feel I should have been notified of well in advance (especially if a seat bolt requries a recall). As it stands, I do not trust SCS enough to bring my car in for that service... I prefer a place where I can get it done in a day and drive home in my own car, even if it means waiting however many odd hours at the shop. I am currently facing delays at my shop of choice, but as I have waited ~2mos already, I can certainly wait longer; or go to another private shop.

I understand that you cannot necessarily vouch for workmanship, but I want to know what you can offer me to make me _want_ to come back to scs for service... either seat-bolt or else valve adjustment. If you feel uncomfortable posting a time/price quote, or other above-beyond actions (I don't see why you should, but I can understand I suppose), pm me.

People say actions speak louder than words, because you can't really lie with your actions. So tell me I didn't waste 3 hours on you today...

 

Well put Jing

 

I bought my OBS from SC Subaru in 1999. I'd done a whole bunch of research so I knew what it should've gone for, and was relatively happy with the final deal. I probably would've bought from Subaru of Santa Cruz at the time, but Stevens Creek beat Santa Cruz's price, so I went ahead with the deal. Since I lived in Santa Cruz, that was my last dealings with Stevens Creek for many years.

Santa Cruz is great. They remember who I am. In 2003, at 80K+ miles, I get a CEL light. I check the gascap, but that's not it, so I head over to Subaru of Santa Cruz and have them look at it. I have no appointment, but Bruce goes off to get a CEL reader and pulls the code. For free. Turns out my knock sensor is giving errors. He clears the code and then tells me to drive a bit and let me know if it comes back.

Two days later the CEL comes on again. I call him, and he tells me to come by again so he can pull the code just be sure. I do, and yep, it's the KS again. We talk about scheduling an appointment, but he tells me, "You know, if you're mechanically inclined, we can just sell you the knock sensor and you can install it yourself. It's really easy." So, he clears it again, and I buy a new sensor and go home and replace it in my driveway. It's been fine ever since. (That was nearly 40K miles ago).

Fast forward to this spring. I get another CEL code, but now I live in San Jose, so Subaru of Santa Cruz isn't as convenient. Again, I check the gascap and it appears ok, so I pop over to Stevens Creek at lunchtime to have them check the code. Imagine my surprise when I find out that they want OVER $100 to do it! **** that! I tell them that SSC will do it for free, but they don't budge. I walk out, give SSC a call, and they just say, "Come on over, we'll check it out." So, the next morning I head over there before work. Yes it's an hour round-trip, but like hell am I going to pay $100 for a stupid CEL read. Besides, I have some friends in SC I can go have breakfast with (mmm...Cafe Brasil). Anyway, again they pull the code for free. Turns out a sensor in the intake manifold is shot. Appt scheduled, and I also schedule the 120K service.

So, Subaru of Santa Cruz will continue to get my service business, even though Stevens Creek is more convenient.


thefreak, I have two questions for you:

1) what's your current nationwide service ranking in terms of customer satisfaction amongst all US Subaru Dealers? How does that compare to Carlsen or Santa Cruz?

2) why are oil drain plug crush washers for a '99 OBS $1.50 there, and $0.50 in Santa Cruz?