chaplins VW & Subaru

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
I generally do not believe that anything in rating systems deserve the absolute worse or absolute best in any rating, unless they were truely above and beyond. However this place was just terrible in almost every aspect.

02 VW Passat w/ 40k miles.

Customer Service - While they attempted to shine their fake smiles in my direction, I felt that every question I asked was bothersome to answer. I just wana know facts about my car have knowledge for future problems and errors. Not only that but they told me to wait for a shuttle and it would only be 15 min. Being before work the shuttle actually took 45 minutes to come and I was greatly late for work.

Quality of Work - The quality of work was terrible and I still speculate and believe to this day that they created more problems then there was. I took the car in for it's "major" 40k tune-up. I had an engine light on which I had asked for the problem to be replaced. They wanted to do a diag for another 95$, which boggles me you would think on a major tune they would diag ne how. Needless to say when the car came out the engine light was still on they said it would go off when in fact it never did and when i took it for emissions it failed, yes at 40k miles, with a completely different code and problem. My mind they fixed what i asked but created a completely unrelated issue. After must web research I found 3 others who had their car 40k tuned and the same problem occured with their car after the dealership "tuned" it.

Friendliness - I gave this a 2 because they were great at fake friendliness, but they still looked down on you and you just would feel they are deep frying your soal w/ their dimeaning looks. The part that brought it up a point was, when the Shuttle actually came the Driver was probably the coolest most friendly and helping guy. Heck he is the Dealerships friendliness. I also must give Boris the service manager a bit of points as he tried, i just think they are brain-washed to feed you crap.

Overall Experience - I spent 700$ w/ them only for them to creat another 700$ worth of problems. Come on people my car has 40k miles it shouldn't be failing emissions. Also I asked them to replace a few things they only replaced half of those pieces. Overall... really... I am livid and stressed beyond belief. However, I did take the car there thinking that more problem would arise, just to prove my theory, and well they had one shot and missed. Congratz Chaplins! You have slaughtered VW and Subaru's name.

Pricing - It's a dealership... They are always expensive. They did quote me 800$ to replace one little piece of chrome trim, explaining i would have to buy the whole strip and get it paint match ect... when in reality i can just get the chrome piece. Also the fact that I spent 700$ on a tune-up for them to screw-up to me would have brought it all the way down to 1 point. But their actual bill rate an hour is equivellent to quite a few others out there, being a dealership. They bill at 97$ /hr, should you find to go there, and other places range from 85-93$ /hr depending on reputation.

All in all make your own calls, should you go I wish you luck! I truely do. I am 26 and I feel that they are prob alot more kind to older people, but hey maybe its cuz they don't ask questions or put up as much of a fight... i really don't know.. I think it's cuz they feel they can take them for more. After all what are the gonna get out of a kid w/ no money? heheh little do they know :-P

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
I have used Chaplin's since 2002 and purchased 2 new and 2 used in that time. The sales and service staff have always treated me wonderfully, even when I have had a no notice emergency repair. Aaron in service and Ben Fleming (sales manager) bend over backwards to take care of me. No, I am not related to anyone there or even good friends with anyone, other than the way they make me feel like I'm family. I bypass the VW dealer in my town (Auburn) to go to Bellevue. It's not convenient, but for me it's worth the trip. Nick Chaplin even gave me his demo car one day when I had a car problem and no loaners were available. Two big thumbs up!

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
Their technician lost OBD port dust cover upon diagnosing "Check Engine Light".

Upon next unschedule repair (covered under factory warranty), I asked to replace the missing cover. Upon completion of repair and receipt of the car, I noticed the cover had no been replaced,
I was told to come back and talk to Aaron (service consultant) who left the office. It took THREE REMINDER CALLS on my part before Michelle finally left me a message that the part was ready for installtion. I called in to thank her & offer part pick up only (it's plug & play), but instead what I received was unnpleasant & hurried reply, I lost my chance & will to thank her.

I also noticed while in the waiting room, service employee speaking ill about a cusomer inspecting his beloved Toureg, as if it is a bad thing to inspect his own car after service.
They do not understand why VW drivers drive VWs.

The word "customer service" do not exist in their service dept.
VW may want drivers, but in this dealership DRIVER ARE NOT WANTED.

I will go to Campbell Nelson, which has much better service, from now on.

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Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: Yes

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
I just moved to Seattle and did a lot of research on dealerships in the area so I didn't get screwed as a single female looking for a new car. This place kept showing up as the place to go to, so I decided to check it out. Absolutely no pressure sales--it's incredible. I left the dealership and came back three times, and each time I got no pressure. Then, as I started to shop around, I was sending Tim in Sales (my contact) the other offers I was getting from other dealerships, which were better offers than his. That's when he got an attitude. He started pulling the "I'm a poor salesman" thing, trying to play on my guilt, etc. So I made him an offer, knowing that he had the choice to turn it down. Of course, he accepted it (because all car salesman want to make a deal) and then acted like he was soooo sad/ disappointed while he was showing me all the features the car had, after I had purchased the car. He's a poor actor--I know he's still the top producing salesman there, so his little act didn't fool me. But it's great because they let you test drive the car by yourself--which is wonderful--no pressure sales! However, the Service department is terrible. Terrible structure, terrible systems, they overcharge for everything, terrible service! I hate their service department--so if you want a dealership that will treat you well from beginning to end, don't go here! But if you're interested in a no-pressure sales experience, this is the place!

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Reason for Visit: Sales

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
I spent hours with the salespeople at Chaplin's. The entire time they talked up their 30 day guarantee. When I agreed to purchase a car at a certain price, I included this guarantee in writing as part of the deal (as any smart consumer knows to do). Fast forward another 2 hours, when paperwork is about finished. Suddenly they REFUSED to put their guarantee in writing, saying I "had to be able to trust them" (my friends had a good laugh at that one). When I pointed out that this was part of the agreement, they said it didn't count because I didn't have that in writing (how's that for hypocrisy?). They even admitted that putting the guarantee in writing cost them nothing if they planned on sticking to their promise, but refused to provide that piece of mind to a customer, saying they would rather lose a sale than put their promise in writing. They got their wish!

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
Here is my recent experience with Chaplin&#8217;s...<br><br>I purchased a re-build stock radio unit for my VW Passat&#8217;99 from them (for some reason they just don&#8217;t sell new units, only the rebuilt ones). With this unit plugged in I didn&#8217;t have any AM reception. Some technical details: The radio system in VW Passat contains the radio unit itself, the active antenna on the roof and the cable between them. The stock radio unit provides power to the active antenna amplifier through that same cable. Without power there is no AM reception. Not getting any AM, I then purchased the new active antenna at Chaplin&#8217;s, replaced my old one, but this didn&#8217;t fix it. I then brought my car to Chaplin&#8217;s asking to diagnose the problem. Paid $80 and was told they found the cable being open circuit and needing replacement which would be another $660. I declined and checked the cable both myself and at an independent shop, both finding it operational. With my old aftermarket radio working great with that same cable and antenna (and with a special adapter for active antennas) it became almost obvious that the rebuilt unit I have purchased was faulty &#8211; not providing power to the active antenna. <br> With all these facts presented Chaplin&#8217;s has declined to replace the unit saying they would need to investigate further and challenging me to pay for all the time they would spend on this. During the second appointment they brought in another rebuilt radio, plugged it in and showed me it wasn&#8217;t working in the AM band either. In their opinion this constituted the proof that something else was faulty, which would be the cable. It took me another round of arguing to make them do a simple test with a new cable between the radio and the antenna, while constantly being insulted with remarks like &#8220;Sir, who do want to diagnose the car?&#8221;, &#8220;Who is going to pay for all that?&#8221; and even &#8220;Sir, I can bet my job on it &#8211; it is the cable which is faulty&#8221;. Anyway, for the third appointment I brought the car in with headliner already loose so it would be a 5 minute job for them to try the new cable. 1.5 hours later they called me and told that they have put in the new cable and the new antenna and now the radio which I have purchased was working great. Now, with their tech person (Louis) and service advisor (Marcie), both standing around the car, I had to first disconnect their new cable, attach the old one (which was still in the car) and find everything still working great. They immediately told me that they have also replaced the antenna. For that I had to get my old antenna from the trunk, attached it instead of the new one, and find everything still working great. Now I rushed to check the serial number on the radio against what I had in my receipt, and the service advisor immediately told me that this wasn&#8217;t exactly the radio I purchased but rather the one they tried the last time. Well, I had a serial number for that one too and started checking it when the advisor told me that they accidentally gave me the wrong receipt for that one and that the correct receipt was right there &#8211; in her hands. With the situation quickly escalating to &#8220;What the f*ck is going on here?&#8221; the tech admitted that this is, indeed, a different radio, and so, yes, both the original one I purchased and the other one they tried last time were not working, and, yes, this has nothing to do with either cable or antenna.<br> No, they didn't refund the original $80 diagnostics fee , and no one even apologized.<br>

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of chaplins VW & Subaru:
STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE.<br><br>I take my VW TDI (Diesel) Beetle in because check engine light is on. They diagnose and say its the glow plug. So any one that knows something about cars knows glow plugs are for Diesel engines like mine. So to this point we are just fine. <br><br>Well, they fix the glow plug and tell me I need an oil change. They change the oil but change the oil for a Turbo 1.8 liter engine. So they have to take out the wrong oil and put in the correct diesel engine oil. Mo foes charged me for both. Oh my, don't get me started. To make it worse the oil filter for the diesel is way different than the regular gas 1.8 liter engine. How they messed that up I will never know. Plus they just changed the glow plug. Hello!<br>So finally they get done. After hours on the phone they never appologize once. Then they tried to ridicule my wife because, &quot;she didn't tell us it was a diesel engine.&quot; My wife took it in for the light not for the oil anyway. Plus you changed the glow plugs, 2 + 2 ='s 4 right. Morons!<br>So we are about to leave and we notice the gas guage needle is straight down (pointed at 6 o'clock). Broken. They try to say it was like that when we brought it in and we have to pay to fix it. I said, &quot;wait a minute, we brought it in to have the car looked at and the Engine Light was on and if that was broken (the gas needle) they couldn't even notice it at first.&quot; Also, it wasn't broken they broke it.<br>So, 2 weeks later they finally fix this and after hours of complaining no charge to me. Yeah no charge to me but they charge my extended warranty company the bill. The billed the extended warranty company for the thousands of dollars of repairs (they caused) and paid the deductiable to get a way with it. <br>I have since reported this to the Better Business Bureau. This company is horrible at service, horrible at fixing things and they are crooks.

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