Five Star Subaru

I have always like 5 Star Subaru in Oneonta. I have bought 3 Subarus from them and have always serviced them there. I like the service department and what I saw as a code of unparalleled customer servi bought 3 Subarus from them and have always serviced them there. I like the service department and what I saw as a code of unparalleled customer service. But I will not longer use them. I went to them last week to buy a new Subaru Forrester 2014 to replace my 2005 Subaru. I was also considering a Ford Escape and was impressed with that car. I had talked with Jeff Allen on the phone and then asked for him when I went to 5 Star to look at the 2014 Forrester. I was leaning toward the Escape until he pointed out that it had performed poorly on a crash test on which the Forrester had performed best. But the extra bells and whilstles on the Ford were still a consideration from a safety standpoint. So price became a deciding factor. Jeff said 5 Star was taking about $1500 off the price of the Forrester and would give me $3000 for my old one. Ford was giving me $2000 off the top and $4000 for my old Subaru.While I tried to get him to match the Ford offer on the trade-in, the bottom line price he quoted to me and gave me in writing was $3000 less than the Ford quote. I asked him specifically and clearly, "Does this price included taxes?" His reply: "That includes everything." I said I would take the Subaru but, by this time, the finance person had gone home. I put $5000 down on the car and said I couldn't return to pick up the car until the end of the first week in August, so Jeff said he would bring the car to me in two days because he wanted to count it in the July sales. Sounded good to me. Jeff called the next day to say he would arrive with the car by 11:00 Friday morning. I said that was fine--I just had a conference call at 1:00. Around 10:30, I got a call from Jeff saying that he was going to be late because of traffic but would be here by 11:30. At 11:30 or thereabouts, he called and said he would be later (the drive would be about 1.25 hours from the delaership to my house). I said fine and reminded him of my conference call at 1:00. He said he would be at my house by 12:30 and would only need 10 minutes of my time. He arrived at 12:52. He oriented me quickly to some of the car basics and then I had to get onto my call (I was leading it) and tell the participants to proceed without me for about 10 minutes. Jeff then asked me to sign the paperwork he brought. When I went to sign the loan form, I noticed that the loan was for almost $3000 more than I had expected. When I looked at the details, I saw that he had added the tax onto the quoted bottomline price, along with other fees. I told him this was not the price we had agreed to. He claimed he never said that the price included taxes, pulled out his copy of the quote he gave me, and said that he had not included the taxes. That form showed a top line price, the trade-in deduction, and the bottom line number he had given me at the dealership. Hehad written in on the tax line on the form "8%" but entered nothing next to it, reinforcing the impressing that the price included taxes. I called his manager, Blaine, who gave me the same run-around as Jeff. They both responded to my challenge of their truthfulness by pointing out the deduction they had given me off the top. I said that wasn't the point. I should have told Jeff to take the car back but I didn't have more time to waste on trying to find another dealership and going through more negotiations. I told Blaine that I had always held 5 Star in high esteem but that this experience had shown me why car dealers had a rotten reputation. I no longer trust 5 Star and will never buy a car from them again. I've also found another place to take my new car for servicing. So 5-Star has lost my business. I talked with a friend who recently bought a new car from 5 Star and had a similar experience (not tied up in the taxes but in lack of full disclosure and playing with the numbers so that you end up paying more than you were originally told the car would cost). She also will no longer buy cars from them. More