felix3302 said:
i work at one of the best mazda dealerships in the nation and i don't understand why it seems like a ton of people have horrible experiences with dealerships...and just for the record i file for warranty reimbusement and we help out customers quite a bit...please discuss, i am interested
my point of view :
problem with dealers is that there dealers... if you have 3 or 4 around they cant go on doing stupid all the time or they will lose customers to the others..
i bought my msp from a honda dealer and he treated the car like a normal prot.. there all there to make and save a buck.. they put cheap s*** for brakes on it and i have to re do the whole thing my self... but thats nothing...
you wanna see real s*** from a dealer?
heres a good story for ya
back in 2003, my gf bought a 2002 subaru impreza with 10000 miles on it.
black, awd and fully loaded... sadly not a wrx but nice winter car.
the dealer which is ALONE in the region of the province is where we would obiously go... the dealer also has volvo and mercedez
3 months after owning the car, it started to have that dreaded piston slap that 66% of 2.5 liter boxers have.. 33% are made by fuki heavy insdustries and the other 66% from another plant hich had a terrible porblem with block cylinder alignement and other problems...
at 6 months, the car was knocking badly.. after owning 25 cars, i had a good ear for those things and took it to the dealer.. they said its a "normal"sound for a boxer subaru engine.. my response was "funny, i never heard a WRX with that sound before" so i started to google it and foun it was pston slap.. not lifters, not crack walk.. piston slap due to a very NOT present piston skirt.
over the follwing weeks i went and went to the dealer at every oil chnage i would show them.. even left it there on a cold - 30 night so they would start it up REAl cold and see how much noise it was making.. by then, it was so noiy that my old 150 000 corolla with original engine would idle beside and i wouldnt even hear it.. it sounded a like a 1986 turbo dielsel jetta with 2 blown glow plugs at start up.
back up later on that.
the next summer the AC froze.. litteraly.. there was a recall about a sensor under the dash and they had to replace it.. left the car there for 3 days.. they had to remove the dash and all... no cars available for customers.. and when they had some.. it was an old chevy lumina that you had to put in neutral at every stop light as it would die on you.. and made 8 MPG
3 days later i go get the car, takes the keys and get in.. he dash looked like they stepped on it and danced on it.. the pillars were both cracked, the plastic behind the steering wheel were cacked and the dash was scratched too.. i was furious, i went back in and dragged the guy out and showed him.. his response was "it was like that before you got here" i was ready to kill him by then... then he went back in and came out..he said he would fix this and he was sorry... 2 days later i go get the car, everyhting seems "almost new" they had a 2001 impreza and swapped the dash and pillars from it.. i made one hell of a scene as the dash didnt have the same connectors for the PRNDL viewer they have beside the speedo..the rest was tolerable.. it has scratches never the less and it didn't have any before.. i was starting to hate them and grew weary of them... i called subaru canada.. they didnt have a 1 800 number, i had to call them long distance during the day to explain my problem. which was a complete waste of time.
next came a window motor on the driver side.. couldnt even go to a drive through... took 4 months to get the part as they order the WRONG part 4 times.. when they finally got to install it, i had to drop the car at the dealer and they would drop me off to work... in a mercedes.. im like wtf... so i ask the guy which to be new there.. "whos car is this ?" he answers " someobody who had a alignement problem" im like "what?? it's a customers car ?!?!?!" he nods.. they would spend MY GAS and drive around in MY CAR to drop of other customers to their job and houses.. again i was ouraged
then they finally admitted they had a problem with engines.. by then a few had blown beofre 60 000 miles and ours was startying to show his time was coming.. i was mistreating it on purpose as it was the only way i would get an new engine..
finally after months of saying it was normal or it's cold outside they took the VIN and they would rebuild the motor.. this is where i drew the line...the car had now a 42 000 km that rougly 25 000 miles.. the problem would be piston 2 and 4.. on an boxer type engine, 1 and 3 are on one side and 2 and 4 are on the other... they simp;ly put "corrective" pistons on 2 and 4 and put the head back.. again i was in rage... they would rebuld andyting.. they would fucikng patch it up..... i call the subaru canada again while there were doing it and explain that this was not normal.. they said "yes it is" they were putting 60 microns bigger pistons with no honing, no new journals or bearings.. if i had had a neon, they would have put a new engine in it...
i took pics of the pistons..
after seeing this while the engine was dismantled from a side...i knew it was not gonna go very far after warranty before the motor gives out again... the mechanic said to me " it's good a new".. i looked at him and said " it looks like 2 cycle pistons from a motocross bike.. its s***.. and no it dosnt look new.. the cylinders look like crap and you just put pistons in this.. now do i need to break in the motor or not?? only HALF of it is new right?? " he looked at me funny and when his way..
started the car after the job was finished and it didn't make a sound... it was like new.. but not new.
took off from there and stop by the lcal new papaer and put an ad in the paper for it.. 3 days later it was sold..
then i called subaru canada again.. told them i sold the car because of the dealer.. if i had had support from them and the dealer i would have kept it..
told them about how the dealer was and what he had done.. spoke atleast a good 30 minutes explaing everything.. the guy told me this : "i can't tell you in which order they(the dealer) are but there in the top 5 of the worst in canada"
so you see, how the **** am i supose ti trust ANY dealer ??? i never leave my cars or other vehicules alone on a shop lift ever. i dont trust any of them and never will.. oh and i will never have another subaru again.. my mother in law bought a legacy a short time after my gf bought hers and she had numerous problems and had to het the engine rebuilt too.. and its noisy again after only one year.. pos...
heres the link to the dealer in question..i fear nothing from them.. they know how i feel about them...
www.fjordvolvo.com