Suburban Subaru

Remember when you found out the government was giving billions of dollars of your tax money to privately owned companies because they screwed up and those that screwed up the business in the first place billions of dollars of your tax money to privately owned companies because they screwed up and those that screwed up the business in the first place continued to make more money in a day than you'll ever see in your life? Now remember how that made you feel... so pissed off you could barely function but with the added bonus of having nothing you could do about it? Well, thats where I am now.. . . . . . . I decided to go out and get a used car. I had a slush fund of cash and thought this might be a good use for it. After some deliberation, I decided on a Subaru Baja (yeah, I know, Baja ha ha ha). Its a love-hate relationship, but it was a good compromise between function and efficiency- plus its a Subaru, which are well known for being very reliable cars. So I find one to look at, and happened to be right down the street- great! So I go take a look see. The one they had was a little high in miles for my tastes, but they were just getting a trade-in of one that looked very promising; 5-speed, turbo, very low miles. Fantastic. So they price it- and this should have tipped me off right away - it had TWO prices on the sticker right away; the WAS price and the NOW price. As I said, it just got there- there was no WAS price. thats just a crock. I looked it over with the sales-guy. Good condition. It had rails for a bed cover. I asked if the bed cover came with it, he said it did but they didn't keep them on because they have a tendency to 'walk away' at night. Also mention the bed extender also came with the car. Cool. So I took it for a ride. Drove well, but had a very noticeable shake in the steering wheel; and other than that, seemed pretty good. Later during inspection I also found the tailgate latch also stuck in the OPEN position. No biggie, right? Some time later when I decide to buy it.. . . . . . However, with my used car bargaining powers, I got them down to what I wanted to pay (with trade in). Ended up being $2k lower than their NOW price and even more off of suggested retail. In the contract was noted the shake and the latch and that they would be fixed before I drove off with it. I also mention the bed cover and bed extender. They said it didn't have a cover but they would get me a bed extender once one came in on another Baja. OK, whatever- maybe my memory wasn't so good. I still got a good deal on the car. So with papers signed, check handed over and problems fixed (they said the tires just needed some balancing.. makes sense), I drive the 2 miles home. No problem. Driving to work was a good deal looonger, about 30 miles each way... where I notice the steering wheel shaking. Grrrr. they were supposed to fix that! I checked the tailgate and sure enough it was also not fixed. Double Grrr! So I bring it back and say hey... not fixed! I bring it back in and before the end of the day they balanced the tires... again... and fixed the tailgate latch... again..... I am called to pick it up and it was fixed. Drive to work again and shake... shake... shake....grrrrr. And sure enough, the latch was still not fixed. SO I thinks- Hey, latches are pretty easy, xxx? I take it apart myself and find my hands stinking of WD40- so both times they were fixing this they just sprayed it with WD40 and called it a day? Thats some quality service there! Turns out the hinge pit was rusty and no amount of lube was going to make it go easy. So I took it apart and sanded it down. Viola! Works like new. Now, in the meantime I've gotten a call from the manager saying I owe them money. I owe them money? I had my bank write a check from my account for the amount on my invoice. I told him I'd have to check it out. I check with my bank and yes, indeed, they had written it for the wrong amount. Great. But the Subaru place didn't catch it either and wrote PAID on my invoice. Now, I can only go in on the weekends without leaving work early, so thought I'd bring the money in on Saturday. Well, before Saturday hit I get a voicemail saying that they want their money and that they were holding my registration. WHat? They mess this up and now they're threatening me? I call back. I admit I'm a little cheesed at this attitude I'm getting. Now somewhere in the conversation I must have said 'Dude' (I work at ESPN where its the 3rd word out of some people's mouths) and this guy FLIPS OUT "Did you just call me DUDE?!?!?!?" and degrades from there to where he accuses me of trying to get away with not paying for the car! that pisses me off pretty good right there. Then it turns out that they lost the title for the trade in. Yikes, this place doesn't have their stuff together! So Saturday comes and I get the bank check, and we sign papers so they can get a copy of the title. I also make an appointment to have that shake checked out again. And since they couldn't seem to find the shake themselves, I was going to take a ride with them. While there, they had a bed extender for me. I went to put it in the car and, oops, no mounting brackets! I go to the parts area and order a set of mounting brackets. $50! For a couple pieces of stamped metal...just ducky. Next appointment. .. . . . . . We go for a ride and the tech with me can pretty much immediately see the shake in the wheel and feel it in the brakes. Why couldn't they see that before? So This time instead of balancing the tires... again .... they decide its the brake rotors and machine them. Still shakey.... Machine again... still shakey. They have a machine that machines rotors while on the car to take into account any problems with the suspension (sound like duct tape and bubble gum to me) but that apparently made it WORSE. So, they machine it down to the minimum thickness and give up. They tell me they're ordering NEW rotors and will replace them. OK... great. Sounds like a good solution and its not just balancing the tires again. But more importantly, I'm not a hypochondriac. OK, done and done.... drive to work..... and yep, you guessed it.... shake shake shake. A bit different, not in the brakes, just the steering wheel, and at somewhat lower speeds. Have I mentioned Grrr? So back I go. We take a drive together, and lo and behold, the tech feels the shake too. Hmm, odd he didn't feel it when he was supposed to have test driven it after replacing the rotors..... So guess what they do. . . . . balance and rotate the tires.... gimme a break! SO its done again.... its "fixed". I drive to work. And not too surprisingly.... there's still a shake in the wheel...... OY! Isn't the definition of insanity "doing the same thing and expecting different results"? This is definitely insane. Before going back, I bring it to the local tire place. After about 10 minutes with the car they came to these conclusions: 1- The tires are VERY new. Like so new they thought I just bought them. 2- The balancing weights are too large for the size tires on the car 3- The tires have an unusual amount of 'bounce' to them. (maybe this means something to tire people. 4- You could balance these tires all day and they would never be fully balanced. If there was a time to use 'FML', it would be right here. And here's why. . . . . -These people lost the xxxx and didn't read the check I gave them. -These people can't tell if a car has a shake in the steering or not (or don't actually check) -They do the same thing 3 times to fix the same problem. -Give me back the car 4 times as being fixed - According to CARFAX, this car has been serviced by these people its whole life -They supposedly do a 100+ point inspection for every used car they sell All these being facts, what amount of trust should I have that this car isn't going to just fall apart or have some major repairs very soon? None really. Not by the example of the fine service they've provided me so far. I've contacted them about the most recent shaking and that I took it to a 3rd party inspector. Surprisingly they're willing to take my word for the findings and replace all 4 tires. Which makes me very suspicious. But honestly, I'd rather just have my money back, give them back their car and be done with it and them. The likeliness of this happening is very small. CT does not have a used car lemon law- only for new cars. I've called Subaru America to ask for help and they said aside of filing a complaint, there's not much they can do for me. I filed with the BBB, but they don't actually have any power to do anything. I called CT Dept. of Consumer protection for advice; nobody would talk to me. They said I had to have something in writing. OK- so I wrote 4 pages of details and faxed it in. I called to confirm the fax and they said they couldn't and that I'd be getting a letter in the MAIL confirming my case number. Case number? I don't even know if I want to file a case! I just wanted advise. To make it worse, someone might get back to me in 2-3WEEKS. Yikes... there's a model of efficiency and helpfulness. I finally got a case number. And at this point its been 3 months- I still have the problem, and my sales rep isn't even returning my phone calls. More